candids – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Playtime

I had the opportunity to do an extended family photo shoot, and these adorable cousins were having so much fun together. Even though they see each other often, they were so excited when they got together, and their enthusiasm made the whole shoot go off splendidly, even with the chilly weather. Big kudos to their parents and grandparents, who let them be kids and have moments like this, even if some might think they are wasting time (they weren’t, because I loved taking this photo).

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF KIDS (OF ANY AGE) BEING KIDS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Animals

Final challenge of 2021! What a year. As we look back on this year, I hope we can all find things to be grateful and joyful about. We welcomed a new grandson in November and had a wonderful Holiday Season with friends and family. I am grateful to all of you who participate in these challenges. I love seeing your creativity and a little bit of your lives in the photos you share.

I took this photo of a friend’s horse in June 2020. They have two horses, and this one was very friendly came up to the fence to greet me. I have always loved horses, even though I have never owned one myself. I grew up near several horse pastures where some of my friends’ parents pastured their animals. It was always fun to ride them up and down our short street.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF ANIMALS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Attitude

I know I post a lot of pictures of this cutie, but she loves having her picture taken, unless we are doing an actual photo shoot. This photo just makes me so happy. She is a sassy, smart, sweet, and all-around amazing person. She knows what she wants, and she is not afraid to make it known.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT DISPLAYS ATTITUDE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Natural Lighting

I love not having to set up lighting. Flash stands and additional lighting is the bane of my photography existence. I love, love, LOVE natural lighting. I love shooting outdoors because I usually don’t have to worry too much about lighting (golden hour is ideal). I grabbed this photo of my sister-in-law at our family cabin one morning last summer when the lighting coming in the kitchen window was just perfect.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF USING NATURAL LIGHTING.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: From the Side

This is my very good friend, Emily, who is an amazing runner. She and her husband (who ran for the University of Utah) have a tendency to win most if not all of the local 5K races. Emily ran for Brigham Young University and the USA team, training for the Olympics until she became pregnant with their oldest child. That oldest child has recently placed in the top 10 nationally for his age group.

So now that I’ve done all the bragging about my friend that I should, on to the challenge topic: from the side. I love how shooting Emily from the side gave me the opportunity to capture the focused look on her face as she’s waiting for the race to start.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT CAPTURES YOUR SUBJECT FROM THE SIDE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Really Big Toys

We were out of town for the US Independence Day holiday, so I’m combining the challenges for this week and next week today. Hurrah!

While visiting our daughter and her guy in Spokane, Washington this weekend, my husband got to check off one of his bucket list items: drive a vintage tractor. Our kids have an amazing property in the area above Spokane of twenty acres of forest. They’ve been clearing some of it for animals (chickens and soon sheep and pigs) and a huge garden (about an acre). We had a blast, and Tyler showed Russell the 1951 tractor and how to run it. He had so much fun.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING LARGE TOYS OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: That Face!

As much as I love doing portraits, I really enjoy taking candid photos even more. You get to see someone’s real personality when they aren’t worried about how they look or if their hair is perfect. My niece is actually really good about me taking her photo, whether in a formal portrait setting or grabbing a quick shot like this one.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A CANDID (SUBJECT OF YOUR CHOOSING) PHOTO OR TWO.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Joy

I know this photo isn’t in focus. This awesome dad of identical twin girls was having fun running around with them, and as you can see from their faces, the girls were having even more fun. These little sweeties were so much fun to photograph. And even though I have some great portrait-quality photos, this is the one that makes me smile the most. They love their dad, and he loves them to the moon and back. Not only are they showing so much joy, but I had a lot joy sharing this time with them.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT FEATURE JOY.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Water

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The recent weather in Utah has been a display of the bizarre. We have gone from record highs to snow. The snow pack has started its annual decent to the valley streams, rivers, and lakes. I had the opportunity to take this young man’s photos last weekend, and we went to Sugarhouse Park. I’m not sure which creek this is; it feeds into a large pond (almost lake) in the middle of the park. His mom told me that this is his favorite city park because of the creek and lake, so it seemed the best place to take photos in his first-ever, official grown-up suit. We had a great time taking fun photos, and he had a great time watching twigs and small branches float along the creek and observing the ducks in the water. A great time was had by all.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES WATER OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way

I snapped this picture as the couple moved from one picturesque location to another. I love the happiness on the bride’s face. I also love that he is helping her with her train.

For more from this challenge, visit Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way.