what ____ looks like | month six

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january has brought some new changes, in regards to my personal photography. i've started a 366, which i'm so excited about. i've also started a monthly project with my kids, which i'm hoping to share about tomorrow. i've also had some pretty amazing a-ha moments this weekend, which will take a while for me to properly compose my thoughts, to share.  but for today, here's what our everyday-kind-of-days in january looks like... new years day. net-fishing and shell hunting with friends.

first fire of 2012.

37th birthday.

really wanting a fish replacement.

one of our favorites at the petting | horse riding farm.

new barn cat. someone stole our favorite siamese.

homework on the bunk bed.

friends visiting orlando, from DC [they were our next-door-neighbors in san diego]. so happy to see them.

swimming together at shades of green.

showing me her orange telescope with twisted jammy pants.

double hooping.

TV and ipad trance.

flipping. every. single. day.

tricks for treats.

testing out a location by the petting farm.

she has the best laugh.

riding lessons.

an afternoon at the beach with friends.

attacked by the crazy gulls [they stole the cracker from his hand].

silly at mcdonalds.

first bike ride to and from school.

just laying there.

shooting a new dress for courtney courtney.

freshly groomed.

charley watching sky work on her laptop.

she was creating this -- sky and ryder when they're grown up.

bronchitis sick day, after four hours in the ER (IV, antibiotics, oxygen, labs & chest xray). he was SO brave.

and more sickness.

how i found her one afternoon.

shower night.

playing in front.

a weekend with jock sturges.

a break for the models.

in the hotel, when the day is done.

there’s a circle of 12 photographers participating in this what ____ looks like monthly project.  i hope you’ll check them all out [clicking link to link]. next up… stephanie moore | tucson senior photographer.

what ____ looks like | month four

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another crazy month. come and gone. i'm not really sure where it even went. but thank goodness i have some pictures to remind me. here’s a bit of what november in tampa, florida looks like [kind of crazy to still be catching butterflies, swimming, wearing shuts and running around barefoot]…

finding and holding a butterfly, in our front yard.

ALWAYS dirty, dirty feet. kids play outside barefoot every day.

one of skyler's gifts to me. they usually end up on my inspiration board. that's where she likes them.

yep, this is how i found them one day.

the barn nursery. sky loved holding the piglet until the barn dog became interested. then she got too nervous.

we so love seeing the new additions. these were the new ducks, who are now pretty big. last time we were there, they were in the geese pen and the geese were crazy protective over them [and loud]. we're waiting on baby bunnies to be born. any day now.

more new barn friends. with each visit, we always seem to find new friends.

the deer were so timid when the barn first got them and now they love to be pet.

this guy scares me. i finally was able to take a picture of him, but not without hissing at us.

sometimes i like to explore the other areas of the barn with the kids. sometimes they don't.

the only place ryder wanted to take flat stanley was...under water.

location scouting for my editorial shoots.

playing on a tire swing. sky was doing all kinds of tricks. she's pretty fearless.

sky also seems to sit on the couch every way except how she's supposed to.

ummm...homework and TV.

there’s a group of 12 of us participating in this what ____ looks like monthly project.  i hope you’ll check them all out [clicking link to link]. next up... stephanie moore | tucson senior photographer.

being grateful

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i love this womani am grateful for this woman and all she shares with us she reminds me what it means to be good and grateful and not-so-serious in this crazy, mixed up world of ours

while in kansas, i started a grateful 365 project. to be completely honest, something went off course and i never finished. and then we moved. and then i was sent really off course. but seeing hailey's video has me longing to start another one. although i'm taking the daily pressure off and simply calling it my 'grateful project'. can't wait to see what comes of it.

how can anyone ever go wrong with a project that reminds them of all they have to be grateful for...each and every day.

hope you enjoy the video...

please don't forget to check out their 365 grateful site -- 365grateful.com

last but not least, here's a few photos from my 2010 (iphone) grateful project...

beyond the assignment | forever seven

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max mikulak...

forever seven.

this morning, i received an email from jason houston that max's series, forever seven, has been published in issue 3 of fraction J magazine. and i couldn't have dreamed of a more perfect theme to have max's photographs be a part of -- beyond the assignment.

For this issue of Fraction J we were looking for projects with several specific traits. The work, first had to be journalistic, at least in the sense that it was a reaction made in real time to real events and a subject's story truthfully told. But the more important distinction was that the photographer stuck with the work, not from any attempt to create something sellable for some specific market, but because it meant something to them—and where. The photography also has to be a functional element of the concerned involvement, but not the reason for it. In the end it was very difficult to draw these lines and find that balance, especially when it came to the personal documentary projects, many of which were reflecting on external situations. But in the end, the portfolios we ended up with span an appropriately broad and inspiring range of responses.

i hope you'll take a look.

thank you fraction J for this incredible opportunity to share. i am so, so grateful!!

can't stop thinking

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...about the julie project -- a MUST SEE photography project!! © darcy padilla

an amazingly raw, powerful, heartbreaking, tragic, incredibly-told story. a story like i've never seen before. brilliant photography. an incredible 18-year commitment. simply phenomenal. and painful.

but the project is so much more than the photographs. it's the presentation. the words that accompany the photos. the video on the home page, where the photographer shares some thoughts. the sound clip of the little boy talking to his mom. the photographer's statement, which she closes with

I hope you can’t stop thinking about Julie’s story, I hope it makes you feel. I hope it makes you look at the world differently.

truly... i. can't. stop. thinking.

please take some time to view darcy padilla's the julie project.  and definitely allow yourself time because once you're in, it's almost impossible to get out...until you're done.

have you seen this?

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because it's so worthy of seeing. and reading.  and reading again.mr tolendano's days with his father.

i saw this project quite a long time ago, but i don't think it was complete back then.  and today, somehow while blog hopping, i came across it again. and viewed it again. pausing at each and every frame.

the photos are amazing. mr tolendano's words... he and his father's story. equally amazing. and beautiful

i sit here with a lump in my throat.  tears in my eyes. for the story, the beauty, the kindess that mr tolendano shares.

please take a few minutes. to view. and read. it's so powerful. and it will make you think. i promise. on one level or another.... it will make you think. and appreciate.