[the zoo]

While in Chicago for spring break a few weeks ago, we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo.  The zoo, which was built in 1868, is one the oldest zoos in the country.  It is also free and open year round.  Since I have fond memories of visiting the zoo as a child, I was excited to be able to share the experience with my own children.

We had a beautiful, sunny (although chilly) day to enjoy the animals, the gorgeous spring flowers and trees, the stunning Chicago skyline and most importantly, time together as a family!

Linking up at Sweet Shot Tuesday

Chicago’s Michigan Avenue at night

Last week our kids were on spring break so we decided to take a quick, overnight trip to Chicago.  We were fortunate enough to get a hotel through Hotwire that was across from Water Tower Place and right on Michigan Avenue.  I’ve always wanted to play around with night photography, but our little town doesn’t really lend itself to great nighttime, street shots, however, Chicago is the perfect place to play around!

It probably would’ve been better to actually be down by the street, but I’m still pretty pleased with how these came out from our hotel window on the 8th floor.

I placed my camera with my 24-70mm lens (on an upside down plastic trash can for stability) right next to the window.  Because I wanted to catch the movement of the traffic, I lowered the shutter speed and used the timer on the camera so once I pressed the shutter, I didn’t have to touch the camera again until after the picture was taken.

I took quite a few as the sun went down, but these two are my favorites…

ISO 200 … shutter speed – 0.50 sec. … f/2.8 … 24mm

ISO 640 … shutter speed – 1/10 sec … f/2.8 … 24mm

It was a lot of fun to try something new and I can’t wait to be able to try night/street/motion photography again.

[linking up for Sweet Shot Tuesday]

happy

I am slowly working through my pictures from our visit to the Frederik Meijer Gardens a few weeks ago and found a few more that I love…

Oh I am such a sucker for flowers.  They just make me happy.

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.  [Psalm 68:3]

[linking up for Sweet Shot Tuesday]

Pretty in Pink [Sweet Shot Tuesday]

If you’ve been visiting my blog for any amount of time, you probably know that one of our favorite places is the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  As my Mom put it yesterday when we visited, “It’s just a happy place!”  And it is.  Especially during the Butterflies are Blooming exhibit which is going on right now.

We went to see the butterflies, but also to enjoy the spring flowers that were blooming in the conservatory.  The shot below is my absolute favorite from the day and since my daughter’s room is pink and green, I’m thinking I must get this one printed and framed.  Or perhaps order a canvas.

f/2.8 … 1/640 … ISO 400 … 100 mm … auto WB

And yes, since it was a butterfly exhibit that we visited, I will have LOTS of butterfly pictures to share in the coming days as well!  Just have to get caught up on my editing…

[Linking up for Sweet Shot Tuesday]

[simple]

I captured this shot over the weekend and just love the simplicity of it…

 

[linking up at Sweet Shot Tuesday]

Seeing Red

I captured these a few weeks ago in my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s back yard.  Aren’t they stunning?  I tried to look at them from many different perspectives and am pleased with the varying shots I was able to get.  I kept my editing simple and clean so as not to stray from their already amazing natural beauty.  Praise God for his creations!

I’m linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday at Life with My 3Boybarians.  Be sure to pop over to see all the amazing captures this week!

Classic Cars

Saturday morning our family flew to a nearby airport that was hosting their annual fly-in/cruise-in pancake breakfast.  It was the first time that I’ve had the chance to photograph classic cars, but I’m hoping it won’t be the last.  Old cars have so much character and I’m thrilled with what I captured.  I’m thinking these might look great on the walls of my son’s bedroom.

Tomorrow (or sometime this week) I hope to share some of the airplane shots I got as well.

I’m linking up to Life With My 3 Boybarians for Sweet Shot Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by!

An Evening of Kayaking [Sweet Shot Tuesday]

Last week we spent seven days camping in one of our favorite spots – Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Northern Michigan.  I took over 800 pictures and am slowly working my way through them.  When I edited this series of shots, I knew that these were the ones I wanted to share first.

On our second to last evening there, my parents agreed to stay with our kids so that Joel and I could take an after-dinner trip down the Platte River by kayak.  During the day, the river tends to be very crowded with people canoeing, tubing, swimming and kayaking.  But in the evening, the river is more or less abandoned.  As a result, our trip was quiet and peaceful and because the evening light was so gorgeous, we enjoyed God’s amazing creation all around us.

This special time with Joel, on the river, enjoying God’s creation, was definitely a highlight of our trip.  The memory of that peaceful experience will stay with me forever.

To see more sweet shots, visit Life With My 3Boybarians.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  Have a blessed day!

Cousin Cuteness!

My sister and her boys are currently on their way back to Colorado after a week long visit.  We’ve had so much fun over the past several days and it was hard to say goodbye last night, especially because it might be a year before we see each other in person again.

Thankfully, though, we have lots of memories to hold close to our hearts until the next time.  Memories of bowling, playing in the rain, running through the sprinklers, swimming in the pool, exploring Science Central, watching movies, playing with legoes and lightsabers and transformers … memories of just being together!

Stay tuned for lots more pictures of cousin time…

[To see more sweet shots, you can just click here to visit Sweet Shot Tuesday at Life with my 3 Boybarians.]

Sweet Shot Tuesday

I think it’s been a few weeks since I’ve linked up to Sweet Shot Tuesday.  But when I captured these shots last week, I instantly knew what I’d be sharing for this week’s link up.

I just love these flowers – especially the contrast between the bright, vivid colors of the center of the flower compared to the soft, subtle color of the flower itself.  In fact, they remind me of fire and ice … hot and cold.  They are just so pretty!

All three shots:  100mm … f/2.8 … ISO 100 … 1/100

If you want to take a look at some other “sweet shots,” you can check them out at Life With My 3 Boybarians.  Thanks for stopping by!

Purple

Today marks the beginning of a series of posts dedicated to color. I have a ton of pictures to share from recent weeks and I thought it would be fun to group them together according to the predominate color found in them. And because purple was always my favorite color when I was a little girl, that is where we’ll begin. Some of these shots were taken in my mom’s yard, some in my own and some are from our recent visit to the beautiful Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park…

For these next several pictures, I used Kim Klassen's "Golden" texture...







Thanks for stopping by for a visit!