It Doesn't Get Much Better Than a Homemade Tent

I was going through and organizing the My Pictures folder on our computer today when I ran across a folder of photos that never made it onto the blog. A fun thing that we do sometimes after dinner is meet our friends, the Cobbs, at the park that's just down the road from each of our houses. Contrary to what you might imagine, I NEVER take my camera with me. First of all, it's always a wonderful time of fellowship with our friends, and I don't want to miss out by having my left eye plastered to the back of my camera all night. And secondly, six kids (born just four years apart) set loose at the park has disaster-potential written all over it, so the four of us take the "all hands on deck" approach to maintain safety. And sanity.

With that little "Safety First" speech behind me, now it's time to tell you that I did, in fact, take my camera with me on this particular evening. I had just gotten my new lens in, and with a weekend of sessions coming up, I needed to get in some practice. After all, no two lenses are created alike. (Besides, Izzy was occupied with trying to climb on the hanging bar like she had seen Molly do)...


I had heard that this particular lens was difficult to work with when it came to lens flare, so Grace patiently sat while I shot her picture over and over into the sun to see what kind of flare I got.


No flare on this one...but I love it!


With the sun issue checked off the list, it was time to move on to something else. I could get good shots of stationary objects all day long, but catching crisp action shots is a whole different story.


Done...although not very well in the low evening light. The next task was less technical and more about telling a story, which is one of my biggest goals in a photography session. Anyone who knows Izzy knows the significance of this shot...


This next one is just a fun series documenting how difficult it is for little kids to get up into the ridiculously high swings at the park...


And oh, if you could have heard Jack squealing about sliding down this pole like a fireman!


Finally, little Ben seems to be quite smitten with Isabel. He hugs and kisses her every time he sees her, and in this photo, he was even helping her up the steps of the playground equipment.


He's such a sweet little guy!


The last item on my to-practice list was working with color. I love me a good black-and-white photo, but I have the best time grabbing every bit of color I can out of a shot. That's why I particularly love these next two (although Josh loves the first photo more for the fact that Izzy's only wearing one shoe)...



Once I was done with practicing, I couldn't resist the opportunity to get some "just because" shots. I love these little guys...


...and girls.

And Isabel? You can't say she's not determined...


On a different note, we had Bethany's little ones over here for a while today, and watching the five munchkins run around playing reminded me of a couple of photos I took a few weeks back that I never posted (I'm noticing a "forgetting to post" theme here)...



Ahhh, I remember the childhood days of tent-building. So much fun!!