I Heart Faces Photo Challenge ~ In The Distance ~ Photo Challenge

Joining in this month with...

This was taken on our holidays last summer.

Now we are looking forward to this summer's fun :D

Iheartfaces Photo Challenge ~ "Play"

I'm entering iheartfaces photo challenge this month.

I don't enter these so often these days, but how could I resist with a theme like 'play'!

I had about a gazillion pictures to choose from ~ with 8 children MOST of my pictures have some kind of play theme!

In the end this one won out ~ I just love the way the three of them are lost in their game  with Daddy, and are having so much fun :D

Why not join in ... the prize is excellent this month!

Iheartfaces ~ Beautiful B&W

I ♥ BW in a seriously BIG way! 

You only have to take a look at this post to see that... Best Face 2011

It's been SO hard to choose an entry for this week ~ esp as iheartfaces have upped the stakes somewhat ;)

In the end BABY gets a feature.

If you follow me at all, you will know I shoot lifestyle ~ and I try not to edit too much of that 'life' out of my pictures, which means you get to see Baby with all the 'crusts' of the day left firmly in-situ ~ sorry folks! But for me that's part of the beauty of Baby ~ the soft freshness, and the grubby 'life' of crawling around on the floor all day!

Photo Challenge ~ Hugs & Kisses

Kisses 4 Sis'

Don't you just love the stage where they haven't yet learnt to kiss properly ~ they more like 'eat' you!! ♥

It was a tough choice this week between the picture above, which has to one of my favourites lately, or THIS one, which I took on photo-shoot. This couple had recently been through some sadness ~ I think you can see it, don't you?

Photo Challenge ~ Oh So Silly!

What's to say ~ this picture was my instant choice!

My eldest son & eldest daughter hooning around ~ as teens are inclined to do!! :D


Entering for this weeks iheartfaces photo challenge.
Why don't you check out all the silliness for yourself ~ and maybe even join in!!

Photo Challenge ~ By The Book

There's no shortage of books in this shot!!

Taken during an ordinary day at our house ~ 

this is our 'school' room, with lessons in full swing, on the first week back in September!

This wasn't the first shot that sprung to my mind for this theme, or my most recent, or even my favourite 'book' shot, but when I trawled through the many I have, I stopped here ~ I like this one for the story it tells. It really is 'just us'  ~ I hope you and the judges like it too! :D

To join in with this week's book-y theme on iheartfaces just click the logo at the top of the page and link up to your blog post.

See you there :D

Photo Challenge ~ Family Fun

This picture has to be one of my recent faves!

It's taken on my son's first birthday. He had a bowl of bubble to play with, but was very unsure about the whole thing! Do you see the white spots on my Nanna's trousers? That's the water that my husband was squirting over everyone ~ to try and encourage baby to enjoy it! (you can see more HERE ).  I just love all the different expressions on all the faces ~ even my mum's look of slight disdain at the silliness of it all! ~ real FUN!!

To join in with all the fun @ i♥faces this week, click on over and link up to your 'family fun' blog post ~ see you there!

Best Face Top Picks of Mine ~ 2011

I had to make a decision ~ it was tough!!

These were my nearlys, in particular order...


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Which would you have picked? Any of these of the one I went with?

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!

I♥Faces ~ On Your Feet! ~ OPEN TABLE

'Open Table'

"Come to me, ALL who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
(view on black)


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

This week's challenge at i♥faces is to "enter a creative photo that includes human feet in it (no faces necessary)."


I have a bazillion 'feet' pictures, but I wanted to choose something a little 'different' from what I think most people will enter...

I figured there'll be a lot of perfectly adorable baby feet ~ I have LOTS of those!

I figured there'll be quite a few 'funky shoes' & 'bench' type shots ~ yup, got a fair few of those too!

But I thought MAYBE this might be a bit different...

 I love that there are different genders, generations & personalities represented around this communion table 
~ and you can read them all by the feet :D

I♥faces : Photo Challenge ~ Autumn Splendor

What's to say ~ this time of year is so pretty!

Head on over to I♥faces for more Autumnal Glory :D

I♥ Faces ~ Photo Challenge: Black

When I saw this SOOC I was stunned.  I did very little to it, bar sharpening and a touch of brightening.

This is my friend's very handsome 10 year old, 

his JET BLACK hair contrasting so beautifully against the crystal blue, evening sky.

To see some more stunning 'black' images head on over to i♥faces.

I♥faces ~ Let Them Be Little!

The theme of this challenge immediately made me think of this capture of my youngest boys this week. 

To me 'let them be little' is all about an old-fashioned childhood.

To read the story behind this image see my other post today :-)

To see all the other sweet images entered for this week's challenge head on over to i♥faces :D

iheartfaces ~ Photo Challenge ~ Pet Week

A few weeks ago I did a photo-shoot for a friend.

Sam is a dog trainer with her own business and she needed some promotional shots as well as some family ones.

Koda is her beautiful Northern Inuit dog.

But Koda is also a cheeky adolescent and this picture just made Sam and me laugh aloud ~ it just about sums Koda up somehow!

Why don't you join in with this weeks pet theme over at iheartfaces? ~ see you there!

I ♥ Faces - Photo Challenge ~ "Water"

This was taken on my old Powershot S3, two summers ago now. I can't believe it was that long ago ~ it seems like only yesterday.

Still one of my favourite water shots, it gets a post even though it's so old.

I'd probably edit it different now, but it's good to see where you've come from and where you going...

It's not the sea, but our local brook and the children were having a blast :-)

To join in link up your Water post, over at iheartfaces.

I ♥ Faces ~ "From a Distance"

WOW ~ was this a tough choice this week! I whittled it down to 16 shots and then it was agony!

I shoot from a distance A LOT ~ I have 8 children, they are always on the go. I like to capture life as it happens and hardly ever make them 'smile', so shooting on a long lens is the way I play, but HOW to choose just 1?


I wanted to end up with something out-of-the-ordinary, something that was a different take from that of the masses, a picture that stood out as different, but also one that was 'clever', well composed, well lit, pretty, interesting, nicely processed  & tells a story (after-all, every picture should tell a story, yes?)~ worthy of a placing maybe! Hmmm!

So here it is ~ I hope it fits the bill! :-)

I also thought it might appeal to Dan's (this week's judge) sense of style ;-)

I hope I get to share some of my other choices with you sometime, only many did not have 'faces' in as such...


Don't forget to check out all the other fabulous entries this week over at iheartfaces...

I ♥ Faces - Best Face Photo from May

This has to be one of my favourite pictures this month, although it was very hard to choose..!
In the end this is cute AND funny ~ what's to not like ;-)

I ♥ Faces - May Flowers

I ♥ faces, but seriously, I also ♥  flowers ~ big time!

Can you tell ~ I just can't get enough!!

This week over at iheartfaces there is no judge and no faces!

But the beauty is astonishing, non-the-less :-)

Join in the fun ~ head on over to iheartfaces