Dreaming of Warm Summer Days...

Being cooped up at home with sick kiddos has me really longing for warmer weather.

Frosted Tree Branch

Well, hello there.  I know it has been a long time since I've posted.  Being a mom, PTO treasurer, and a regular volunteer at my boys' school has kept me super busy.

Hope the holidays were good for everyone; I know we were blessed beyond any expectations this year.  God is always good.  

And for your viewing pleasure a close up look at the beauty there is for us to behold!

The Fourth of July

The 4th of July has to be one of my favorite holidays.  I love the atmosphere waiting for the fireworks to start and the fun of it all.  This year we were able to stay at the hotel near our favorite display.  I had to capture the essence before the show, the glowing lights and all.

The start of the show.

I see the American Flag represented in this image below!

The finale!

2012 Hot Air Balloon Championship

Balloon launch Friday (5/25) night in Frankenmuth, MI

Solar Eclipse - May 20, 2012

Enjoyed an evening shoot on this beautiful Sunday.  The Solar Eclipse prompted this shoot and although here in MI we were only able to see a small bit of the beginning it was still a fun event to watch and photograph.  

Moon Kissed Foiliage

Another image from Saturday's Super Moon Adventure.  This is the best shot of the "moon" I was able to accomplish.

Super Moon Bust May 2012

Here is one of my favorite images from the Super Moon Adventure that I went on last night.  The sky was pretty overcast so we didn't see much of the moon but my cousin and I had a lot of fun playing with long exposures.  This image's settings were f3.5, 30 second exposure, ISO200, 18mm focal length, and was taken at 10:50pm EST. There was minimal editing done in Lightroom and Photoshop.  This was actually the second location that we visited in hopes that I would be able to get a reflection shot of the moon on the water.  We're hoping to go back tonight if the cloud cover lets up.

Pink Passion

I received a tulip plant as a thank you gift from my son's school.  We took it outside and well it was a good thing that I took pictures at that time because it only took a short time and all the petals were blown off from the wind.  Such a beautiful plant I look forward to its blooms next Spring.

Tree Swallows

Going through looking for images to share; I've been a trouble blogger as of late.
Here are some Tree Swallows that I saw last year around this time. My first sighting ever of this beautiful bird. I just love the irradescence of the wings.

MI Mighty Mac

I've entered my image in a photo comtest and would love any and all votes I might receive.

http://contest.wacom.com/entry/218584

Thanks everyone!

I'm Being Published

I am super excited. My image is going to be published in the Great Lakes Bay Region Official Travel Guide. I can't wait to see my image in print.

Double Rainbow

This is an image that I merged together to get the full rainbow. On the right side you can see a faint double rainbow. This was such a weird day. I left the store and saw the double rainbow. I stopped took pictures then moved to a better location for shots. My cousin, who was with me, and I watched the rainbows fade. We started to head home and BAM! the rainbows appeared again. I frantically tried to figure out where I could safely pull off the road and take more pictures. Found a place and the image above is the result from this little endeavor. And to think I almost waited to go to the store at a later date.


Info from Wiki about double rainbows:

"In a double rainbow, a second arc may be seen above and outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed (red faces inward toward the other rainbow, in both rainbows). This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets. The region between a double rainbow is dark, and is known as "Alexander's band" or "Alexander's dark band". The reason for this dark band is that, while light below the primary rainbow comes from droplet reflection, and light above the upper (secondary) rainbow also comes from droplet reflection, there is no mechanism for the region between a double rainbow to show any light reflected from water drops."

MI Lighthouses

For our family vacation this summer, we took a small tour of North Western Michigan. In three days, we enjoyed visiting 5 of the many lighthouses found in MI. Above are three of my favorite images that I took.

High Flying Flag

We took the boys to see all the antique fire trucks on display Saturday in Frankenmuth.

The boys loved it, as did my hubby and I. We walked around and then had a picnic lunch; it was such a nice relaxed day, despite the heat.

The above image is actually a composite of two images I shot that day.