Cream of the Crop~ by Mel

Children's Entry

This week's i heart faces contest is all about the creative crop. There were two definitions of cropping. One was cropping a photo you already had taken and making it into something new. The other definition was a cropped look that came when you took the photo. With both of my photos I chose the latter in terms of my cropping. To be honest I rarely ever crop items after the photo is taken. I try to hit the shot straight out of the camera if I can. I had a few photos (in my large photo library) that I had cropped after the pic was taken that I considered using this week's contest but ultimately these two photos won out. There is no before picture of either image as they are in the original from. (except for some post-processing for color and borders that were added)--My children's entry is a picture of one of my Kindergarten students. (Along with my passion for photography comes my passion for teaching) I caught him hard at work and I had to capture him. My adult's entry is my husband intensely looking down the field ready to make a big play at the annual family "Turkey Bowl." I snapped this image of him and really liked it. I realize there is another person faintly showing in the background but I left him in as I thought it added to the image. To me this looks like an old newspaper photo or something. And aren't men all legends in their own minds? :) Both of my images this week are straight out of the camera crops that have caught life in the moment...that is what I LOVE about taking photos. Real, true, and honest moments are what it is all about!

Adult's Entry

Head over to i heart faces and see many other images that are the cream of the crop!

Have Your Cake...And Eat It? ~by Mel

Children's Entry
This week's i heart faces contest is all about messy.  This children's entry is not a photo I took in anticipation of this contest, in fact it is really one of the only messy photos I had in my collection.  My niece Rylan recently celebrated her first birthday and much to all of our surprise she was eating quite gingerly with a spoon.  She was not even really eating much cake at all.  We all sat and watched her as if she was some magic act about to reveal her trick.  I think she must have been pondering why we were all staring and she must have believed we are all crazy adults to watch her so closely with our wide opened eyes. So after all of this intense gazing people started to clear out. I of course braced with my camera still sat there snapping away...I mean you can never have too many pictures of a one year old not eating cake right? Anyway finally when the spoon was out of site and someone guided the cake into Ry's hand she began to eat it and she put on quite the cute little show. She was making fun faces and really enjoying this little slice of Heaven. This was towards the end of the cake eating and her expression is just priceless. It is almost like she is saying..."Okay cuckoo people...show is over!"
 


Adult's Entry
My adult entry is a happy newly married couple. At first I didn't think I had any messy adult photos to enter but upon reviewing my images I found this one that I think works for the theme. There is nothing like that first bite of wedding cake. Although, when I got married we had a very strict "no messy face" clause. Anyway I thought this was such a real and cute moment and we can't fault the groom too much here as he has not done the complete smash. And hey...cake is making a second appearance. I would say that cake is coming full circle here. From a first birthday to a wedding day. Who knew?

Head over to i heart faces and see what kind of mess you can get into!

Birthday Girls~by Mel

So my two sweetie nieces were both born in the lovely month of February and we set out on Valentine's Day to do a double photo shoot with them. You should know that my niece Avery (the older one) is just turning three and the actual first children's photo shoot that I did was for her year and a half photos. There is always something magical about taking photos of family. We did some new and creative things this time and I think these are my favorite photos to date.

Happy Birthday Girls! All my LOVE~Aunt Lissa

ps-Shout out again goes to my hubby for helping out with lenses and also for balancing me on his shoulders for some pictures! (that had to hurt!)

I have posted quite a few for now and may post more later.  Or you may see a video! :) 

Striving for my best ~ by Mar

In the spirit of the season of Lent, I have decided to give up my free time! As a part time teacher and photographer and full time mother, I spend a lot of time at home. I have found myself very unmotivated lately, so the Lenten season has given me the kick I needed to improve myself in so many ways. I spent my down time today trying out new effects with my photo software to make a great original photo "SPARKLE" even more! I give iHeartFaces credit for posting this "Fix it" tutorial. I have really enjoyed following their site (even though I haven't had the time to participate in their weekly contest....this could be another goal for my Lenten Project!) So here's my example of making a great photo really sparkle!

This is my daughter Eden. I happen to think she is already beautiful, but look how the sparkle layer, evening skin tone, and sharpening her natural eyes makes the top photo even better! The bottom photo is my original image.

Life is Black and White~by Mel

Kid's Entry

This week's i heart faces contest focuses on images processed using black and white. I myself adore black and most pictures in my home that are of my husband and I (professionally done) I had made into black and white. There is just something about how much you see the expression of the subject and the emotion that comes through when there is nothing else to be distracted with like bold colors or other bells and whistles. Black and white can capture as nothing else can and there are so many ways you can do black and white--bold, subtle, soft or dramatic. The options are endless. This week the contest focuses on straight up black and white--no tinting or adding in other colors to the BW. The feel of black and white is like nothing else and while I love to live life in color I enjoy processing my photos in the glorious world of black and white!
In my kid's entry I think you can really focus on the expression in Avery's face and I love that she is not doing your typical smile. I find this expression much more interesting. In my adult's entry I photographed a new Mom and her love and care is easily seen as she cradles her precious little one.

Adult's Entry

Show off some of your own black and white images or just browse many other beautiful photos at www.iheartfaces.com.

"Wonder"ful~ by Mel

Kid's Entry


This week's i heart faces contest focuses on the feeling of wonder. Wonder can mean so many things and can be expressed in many different ways. The world seen through the eyes of a little one in wonder is certainly something to behold. I love watching children and their eye expression when they are trying to figure something out or when they are seeing something new. They notice things that we as adults miss. In this photo Rylan is certainly wondering about something...maybe it is why I am constantly snapping photos of her? :)
In my adult's entry Erin's eyes are saying it all. Perhaps she is wondering what her daughter will be like or who she might take after. Maybe she is wondering about being a Mom for the second time and contemplating the joy that is motherhood. Only she knows for sure and the mystery of what her thoughts are in this picture are part of the charm. The wonder of being a mother is certainly a beautiful thing. Incidentally the baby Erin is holding is Rylan. (the little one pictured above...wow how she has grown!)

Adult's Entry

Head over to i heart faces and see many more "wonder"ful faces!

Happy Valentines Day~ by Mel

So I am a few minutes past Valentine's Day in my post but I am just getting the chance to sit down and give the recap. It was an amazing day filled with love, photos and fun. To start it off, I found out that I had won 5th place in the i heart faces photos contest for my silly picture of the Kramer family. You can see the post below and visit www.iheartfaces.com to check out this awesome site. Anyway back to the rest of my day. Chad and I got to spend time with some of our family and sharing the day with them was just a blessing. The family of which I speak is my sister in law Erin, brother in law Jason and my adorable nieces Avery and Rylan. We did an early morning photo shoot at their home and then later in the day we headed outside for something different than we have ever done.  I have to say out of all the pictures I have taken so far,  I think these are my absolute favorites!   You will see why once I do a full post of images coming up!  After all the photo taking we had some dinner together and watched a movie. What a way to spend Valentine's Day. Above you will see a sneak peak with much more to come!  Thank you to Erin, Jason, Avery and Ry Ry for sharing your day with us.  We enjoy every moment we spend with you and we LOVE you! 

On this day I reflected on the LOVE in my life. Someone I am ever grateful for is my husband Chad. In lieu of traditional Valentine gifts we wrote each other poems this year. Now while I am a writer and poems come naturally to me, Chad is not and he worked very hard to craft me a touching piece that I will treasure forever. I see the love of Christ in him and he shares that unconditional love on a daily basis. I can only hope that every person on life's journey can experience love such as this.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Okay...I could not resist! I had to post one more photo for a sneak peak. I made this one into a Valentine and it was a breeze to do so. If you have not yet heard of picnik, you should check it out. It is very user friendly. You can make all kinds of fun designs and it is for everyone. I even made my Kindergarten students their Valentines using this awesome site!  

Silly~by Mel

Kid's Entry

Silly...Silly...Silly! That is the theme for this week's i heart faces contest. Above you will see my entry for the children's category. This was one in a series of photos I took of Landon and Brittanie his Mom. She was chasing him around and had finally captured him. His expression is PRICELESS. This is a beautiful and silly moment between mother and son and it was one of my favorites from the day. The emotion on his face is just fun and you can almost hear them laughing.

Adult's Entry

For my adult entry I selected the photo above with the family posed by the barn. As I was thinking about my photos this one came to mind. This was a family photo shoot I did back in the summer of the amazing Kramer clan. Of course we had to have a little fun so I asked them all to make a "silly" face. Here is the end result! Even with silly faces they are quite a good lookin' group!


Check out i heart faces to see the other entries and enter one of your own! www.iheartfaces.com

The Boys Spread Some JOY~by Mel

Yippee! I won third place in the i heart faces weekly contest last week. The theme was JOY. To see the photo you can go down to the post marked "joy"--it is the photo of the football guys. It is an honor to win and both Mar and I will be participating in the contest this week.

JOY~ by Mel

This is week 3 for the i heart faces contest. So far the past two weeks were "anything goes" categories. This week however the theme is "JOY." These entries are different than my previous posts as they were not part of a photo shoot per say. They were just moments that happened organically and I was there to intercept life as it was. These are people in the moment no strings attached. I wasn't aiming for any particular outcome I just turned my camera and captured life as it evolved.

About my kid's entry for this week- This is as student in my Kindergarten class. (I am a teacher as well as photographer)- During the warmer months (oh where did those go???) I took my camera gear out to the playground and took some photos. This was the second in a series of 3 photos that I snapped of this particular student. She was running, enjoying the sunshine, elated with the JOY that childhood can bring. I love the look on her face, the way her arms are flailing, the subtle way the light brightens her skin, and the bounce in her hair that looks like a Pantene commercial. I thought I'd try to give it a bit of a vintage feel in it's processing as there is something so nostalgic about the capture. Seeing childhood memories in photos can help us all sit back and remember our own days of play and childhood joy.

About my adult's entry for this week-So can you think of anything more joyful than guys and their incessant LOVE of football? From fantasy football to the reality that is this picture it seems that it brings joy to the masses of the masculine kind. (and hey lots of ladies love it too)-- This particular photo was taken at the annual "Turkey Bowl" that my husband along with his brothers, many of his uncles, cousins and friends play in the day after Thanksgiving. This year I decided to take my big boy zoom lens (other wise known as Canon 70-200) out to the field to get some shots. Now while I am used to taking lifestyle portraits and am not as versed in the sports setting I do have to say that I found it actually enjoyable to shoot the boys as they were in motion. I almost got ran over a few times but it was great fun and I have lots of memories from that day. This is one of my favorites. (PS- my hubby is the one on the far bottom right corner wearing the Browns hat--isn't he handsome?) Notice how he has a camera ready smile? That smile got me. Hook. Line. Sinker. Done! Being married to him...now that is JOY!



Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com and enter their weekly contest. It is sure to bring some JOY into your week!

I Spy Ashlyn & Avery~by Mel

Shout out to Angie Roth Arthur designer of these super collages and  co-creator of i heart faces!

Can you spy two familiar faces in these collages put together by the iheartfaces team? Last week my photo of Avery (in the collage below) didn't win a top spot but made into the collage! I find that to be a special honor since 100's of photos were entered. This week we my photo of Ashlyn (in the collage above) was also selected to be included. There were only about 48 photos chosen for collages this week out of 330 so I was pretty happy to see one of the faces I entered included. It is really neat to see all those precious faces together in such a way. So many lives and stories are represented. You can check out the other collages, the entries for the week, and last week's winners posted on www.iheartfaces.com. 

(and you know I'll be back at it again next week!) 

i.heart.faces (kid's entry) ~by Mel

Isn't she a doll? This is Ashlyn and she encompasses all things that are beautiful about children. Eyes that sparkle, an infectious smile, and charm that is easily visible through a camera lens. I was taking photos and she ended up putting her hands on this fence in such a natural way and I had to capture that moment. My camera went click and here is the result! (Don't you just love natural outdoor light?  And I also love the little wispy hairs that children get when they have been playing!) 

I heart faces is at it again with their weekly contest. Head on over to their website and enter a photo or just browse many others for ideas, inspiration and encouragement. Just click on their button below and you will be taken to their website. Or you can click on this link: www.iheartfaces.com