4th of July Fireworks

You know how sometimes you are using a slow shutter speed and/or your camera just functions that way and you come out with really terrible, blurry pictures that make you automatically hit delete....and then there are other times when you come out with really cool stuff like this:


I love 4th of July because I love taking pictures of fireworks. This year I didn't get very many because I have a terrible case of hives and couldn't stay out in the heat very long. But I did get the cool one above and a couple others during the daytime that my kids thought were cool.

For some really cool ones (that I'm very proud of) that I shot last year, click HERE.

See more great Outdoor shots at Outdoor Wednesday!

Outdoor Wednesday - Snow III

As promised last week, here are more snow shots. These are from the snowfall we received last week. Here in Arkansas, we are lucky to get one good snow - and a good snow for us is a couple inches. The first big snowfall we got 7" and this one we got 6". The kids are loving it, but we've missed 7 days of school so far, not so much fun when June comes and we're still in school!

See more great Outdoor shots at Outdoor Wednesday!

Outdoor Wednesday - Snow II

Last week I posted several pictures from out big snow we received here in Arkansas last week. This is a continuation of those photos, with a more nature photography feel. I love to shoot nature, but have the opportunity near as often now that I'm usually focusing on my two boys. But I love it when I get the chance!

As I type this, we have another 6" on the ground outside. I can't remember ever really having a winter where we had two large snowfalls - 7" inches that we had during this snow is a very rare occurrence here in Arkansas - much less to have them less than 2 weeks apart. This has truly been a winter unlike many here have ever seen. And of course I shot some more photos today - I'll be posting those next week!

See more great Outdoor shots at Outdoor Wednesday!

Outdoor Wednesday - SNOW!!

We have had a great few days of being snowed in! Here in the south, a couple inches of snow can shut down a city for at least a day - 7" of snow can shut it down for...we'll we're not sure yet, school is still out! While we usually get at least one snowfall a year, it sometimes isn't even enough to build a snowman. But exactly a year after a catastrophic ice storm, we finally got our big snow!

It started late Thursday evening as sleet and a little freezing rain which continued through the night until around 9 a.m. Friday when it finally changed over to snow. One unusual thing about this storm is that it snowed throughout the day. Normally here, it snows at night and you just wake up and it's there. Many were disappointed when they woke up that morning to find nothing but sleet and very icy roads. But my husband (a weather man at heart) was quick to tell me that this was exactly what it was suppose to be doing. In the end, we got around 7" as of Tuesday afternoon, we still have a lot of snow on the ground and schools are still closed. From Thursday evening until this morning, I had only been out of the house a total of 1 hour to run to work to shoot photos. A friend called last night and said - enoughs enough, lets get out of the house. And just to show you want we have been driven to - we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese! You keep a mom locked up long enough and she'll do just about anything for a little adult interaction!

My kitchen window all frozen over from the freezing rain the night before.

My husband took this a couple hours before the snow stopped.
I love how bright it is outside when snow is on the ground!
My footprint in the snow.




Gotta love pics of the kids in the snow!
Check back next week - I've got lots of great outdoor shots that I've not yet had time to edit. Snow and ice are so cool to shoot!

See more great Ourdoor shots at Outdoor Wednesday!

Photography - Sun Flare/Wash

This week I thought I would join in on I Heart Faces weekly photo contest. This week's challenge is sun flare, sun burst, sun wash. I took this photo of my youngest son three weeks ago and love the effect the sun had on it. This is straight out of the camera, no Photoshop work at all.

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