Family time at the Ocean

I spent my Friday at Ft. Williams in Cape Elizabeth, Maine with my mother and three of my five nieces. It was a beautiful day! There was a nice cool breeze, sunny, about 73 degrees. We enjoyed our time with lunch from Amato's, of course. Then we walked around and I explored the fort with my nieces while my mother sat on a dedication bench staring out over the Ocean and soaking it in. It is one of her favorite places to go. I think she enjoyed the time alone sitting and enjoying the view. Family is definately important and completing little things like trips to the ocean can mean so much. I hope everyone takes some time to enjoy their family over the 4th of July long weekend!!

Insect Phobias

 I spend a lot of time taking my photographs outdoors. This is funny to me that my best photos come from outdoors and from natural lighting when I am the worst outdoors person there is. I am terrified of anything smaller than a bird that flies. I think I feel safer with the lense in front of me and being able to look at life the way it is supposed to be seen. Plants, animals, insects all have their purpose but its hard for me to see unless I have my camera in front of me. It's bizare to have such an attachment to a piece of equipment but, alas I confess. I wouldn't step close to a bee, spider, or anything else but with my camera I can take a shot of one and really see it, granted from a distance, but I get the chance to understand. I am made fun of frequently about my squeals of horror over flying insects or creepy crawlers. Who knows perhaps this feeling of safety behind the lense will build a sense of security in the real world with these flying demons.

And now for a real post....

 As it states in my profile, I am a childcare provider and spend almost 10 hours - five days a week with little ones running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I love my job but lets face it, working with kids is exhausting and emotionally draining. I find time in our outdoor adventures to escape behind the lense once and awhile and look at them in a totally new perspective. Kids are so funny when they see you raise that camera up they instantly jump to a pose and smile as big as their little cheeks can go. How rare it is to just capture a moment, but sometimes its possible. An even greater moment is when I hand the camera off to one of the kids and tell them to go wild take pictures of whatever you want. Not only am I showing them how enjoyable capturing an image is so maybe someday they might want to delve in to photography as well, but they also get to feel important in taking control of a piece of equipment that can save the images they want to see again... here are some images captured by the kiddos I work with... It is clear the intentions are to capture cute moments, take a picture of their friends, and sometimes to just snap a picture (as you can see with the shot of the floor). Kids love the responsability and enjoy seeing these pictures even though they cut out half of the face, miss the person while they were looking, or heck even just snap it while pointing it at the floor. So, why does it seem so important to adults to make everything so... "perfect"? Why do we have to have a smiling face in our lense, or the perfect angle of an animal or plant, or the perfect lighting behind or on an object... why do we care so much when we can take a note from the kids and realize its the little things in life that count! A small package delivers a big punch daily when I work with these kids, and it inspires me to look at all my photographs that I take... for something interesting in them, not just the perfect pose, smile, or captured moment.

Hi!

Okay so, I'm new to this whole blogging world! I have been working on building my skills as a photographer . I love capturing a moment that is just so precious you can't help but smile! I look forward to sharing all my future work with anyone who wants to enjoy it and also just random tidbits of life thrown in! So Please be patient with me as I learn the ropes and I will do my best to keep up!