Happy Birthday DD

Do you remember being 7?

I do!

I remember there was something about that age...

something innocent.

The future was before me;

I was discovering it,

but I wasn't really thinking about it.

I was enjoying being small;

doing cartwheels and handstands,

running until my breath ran out,

playing games that lasted for days,

building Lego that I'd never take apart.

Life seemed so full 

and not much got in the way of my living it.

I think 7 is a golden age,

before thinking really sets in ~

it is the age of SILLY!

Enjoy 7 little man!!

(Taken June 11th 2012)

Photo Challenge ~ Best Face Photo from 2011

WOW ~ such a tough call. I have taken so many 'faces' this year, and so many of them I would consider 'best' for one reason or another. But I wanted my entry to be one the judges would come back to over and again to look at ~ one that would stick in their mind above all the many other entries there will be ~ and THAT is tough!


Pretty much all my favourite shots have been processed in Black & White ~ there is something about BW that just speaks to me, especially when it comes to faces. Something of a person's soul can be seen when all the colour is stripped back. 


In the end, this one wins over, simply because it the picture that springs to my mind often & certainly every time I am asked what my favourite shot of the year is.


I know it's not technically perfect, but it is perfectly HIM ~ my little soft, but serious, six year old son (also my sixth child). And there IS something about this picture that just makes me just want to keep looking at it and coming back to it. I can't put my finger on it, but it's there. 

To see my other top picks of the year click here.


And to join in click the i♥faces button at the top of this post.


Go For It!

Communal Global ~ ATW Tuesday ~ A Dose of Dunnes

 

It's the very last few days of the summer holidays here.In fact 'summer' never really seemed to get off the ground really, and now autumn is fast approaching...
But before the children all head back into their 9-4 routines we made the opportunity to have some friends to stay ~ soul friends ~ you know the kind you meet one day, and they instantly become a part of you.
We met Jack & Tracy 14 years ago, when our eldest was a few weeks old and they walked into the little church we attended at the time. She was pregnant with her first and by the time he was born we were close enough for me to be her birth-partner (and actually 2nd midwife in the end as the official 2nd arrived too late!).
We have remained close friends down the years, despite two inter-continental moves (them not us) ~ to South Africa (Tracy's homeland) and back!

And our children ~ well they are soul mates too!

Bugs & J are months apart and have always been buddies, since they were babes.

L is Minnie's age, but of course a boy, so he sits happily in the company of Minnie & Taz.

S & Lilo are BFFs (when they're not squabbling) and are like Ebony & Ivory ~ to look at they could hardly be more different, but together they are beautiful! 

JD absolutely adores DD ~ and can you see how much the feeling is mutual...

JD is a self-employed 'Handiman' ~ seriously ~ his work is BESPOKE!

DD followed him everywhere...

(this USED to be a boxed-in panel-glass door, now it's just a box, after Bugs slammed it one day and all the glass inside smashed to smithereens! JD and Paul spent a while taking the glass out and replacing the boarding ~ and DD had to help!)

In his spare time JD loves to whittle ~ he's made me a beautiful solid oak walking stick ~ you have to feel this thing! All hand-made and crafted with love. Now I am told I have to get it dirty!!

The girlies spent the whole weekend in a make-believe world of princesses 

& gymnasts...

...who like to eat slightly sour damson plums!

It's always sad when these guys go home :(

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

How have you spent your last few days of the summer?

Share with us over at Communal Global today ~ just link up :)

Communal Global ~ "Around the World" : MINI-SHOOT II

Today I went and captured two willing volunteers.

Edited with PresetHeaven's 'Wedding Look' mostly + a few tweaks.

To see the individual photos head on over to my flickr page

And when you are done, don't forget to share your Tuesday with us over at Communal Global.

CCF - "DD chats"

I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane! This is my soon-to-be 5yr old son (DD), when he was Oh so small! He was cutie! I took this on my old Olympus P&S ~ my very first digital camera . The edits are done this morning ~ very quickly so as to not miss the 50 boat! All CCF welcome!!

Original

Camera:	Olympus C220Z
Exposure:	0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture:	f/3.2
Focal Length:	6.1 mm
ISO Speed:	80

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Initial Gimp edit

(levels, sharpen, remove red-eye, light beige hue layer)

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PSE7 edit

(crop, unsharp on eyes, two rose hue layers (one as Soft light, one at screen), )

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PSE7 edit 2

(used coffeeshot splendor BW action and tweaked to taste)

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Lightroom edit ~ using gimp edit as a base

(cropped, rotated, applied aged photo, punched and sharpened for portrait (adjusted slightly))

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So what do you think ~ what would you do? If I had time I would definitely work with the background more and try to maybe loose the doll. I think the flowers are distracting too ~ I never thought about these things at the time, I just snapped away!! But I am glad I didn't miss this gorgeous shot and that I even have it to work with :)

More CCF to be found over HERE ~ make sure you pay a visit. There is so much to learn :)

PS ~ If anyone wants to play with this photo just click on the original and enlarge, then right click and save the picture to your computer ~ that is the original size!

If you want to start from an edit, you will have to make do with a slightly smaller version (though still pretty big). Same method as above!