Summer is here. We skipped spring and jumped straight into the heat of summer.

We had a couple of incredibly hot days, and while we had plans to go to the playground on one of them, we decided that the sprinkler would be a better option. My kids were SO excited.

Don’t let Gus’s face fool you.

This is how he really feels.

And Reed?

And Lena?

Much fun was had! We also had some friends come over for a bit.

It was her first time in the sprinkler.

Here’s my big boy looking moody. He was really just trying to make a body print on the concrete.

And Gus decided he wanted a nap. (His words, not mine!)

Telling me about what’s going on in the sky. The clouds and a plane overhead.

That’s what’s going on here. Anyone else getting in some early summer action?

Any photographer will tell you that editing is a huge part of their photography. I thought it would be fun to show you the same photo edited a few different ways. Obviously, this is more geared to my friends reading this who love photography.

First, the technical. The settings were: ISO 320, F/3.2, 1/250 sec. Shot in raw, edited in Lightroom. For those photography nerds out there.

Here’s the unedited photo, just converted exported from the raw file to show you how it looks. It still looks okay, but a bit flat.

The being said, I really like the way that the light is hitting his eyes.

This next edit is a pretty light edit. This is how I’d edit a picture of my kids playing in the grass on a beautiful day. Just simple and bright. It’s okay, but it’s not what I was going for with this portrait of Reed. Too peachy and smooth. It barely looks different.

If we’re going for Goldilocks here, this is the opposite of the one above. It’s way too contrasty and dark. I have a matte edit which I was a huge fan of for awhile, but it really looks too heavy-handed on most portraits of my kids. The beautiful light in his eyes is practically gone which how much contrast was added here. And there’s also a ton of “clarity”, which adds that roughness to his skin. It’s the kind of thing you see in a portrait where they are trying to emphasize grit, but I’m not a fan of it here.

This was my favorite color edit while I was playing around with the processing. Now, it looks bright to me, but it’s a pretty straightforward edit. Just contrast and sharpening added. I think it would be fine if I made it a bit darker still on his skin.

So, into the world of black and white.

Here’s a matte black and white. It’s okay. I’m good with it. Love? Eh.

But, this photo is my favorite of all of them. I love the simplicity and intensity of it.

There you go. One photo, six ways. Which is your favorite?

A sweet friend of mine has put together a joint online auction to help us and another family raise the funds for hosting. We’ve had a ton of wonderful donations and I’m so excited to share it!

Here are a few of the awesome items in the auction. A few. There are so many more, so you should go check it out!

For the mama in your life:

Clockwise from Top Left: Starfish shirt (Women’s Large), Vanilla Honey Brown Sugar Scrub, Superman was adopted shirt (Adult Small), White Chewbeads.

For the little caregiver in your life:

Left: “Let everything you do be done in love shirt”, Kids Large. Right: (toy) Mai Tai Carrier from the Crazy Kukla Boutique.

For the little lover of all thing pink and purple:

Clockwise from Top Left: Doll Bedding Set from the Crazy Kukla Boutique, Necklace from Miss Polly’s Pearls, Matryosha doll headband with removable bow, and a Rapunzel inspired tutu from Jillian’s tutu boutique!

The auction is running until Monday, May 12, at 10am PST.  Come and bid!

We met up with some friends at a kid’s carnival on Saturday. It was small and not very busy, but it was just my speed. I love doing fun stuff with my kids, but I cannot stand crowds. So, it worked out well.

Big brother helped little brother out with some of more difficult things. 

After the slide, we headed over to a large inflatable obstacle course. The attendant said, “I don’t know if the littlest one climb the big wall.” Referring to the last challenge, a high inflatable wall. I told him to let him go, and we’d see. Gus was already starting the challenge and there’s no stopping that kid.

Gus struggled a bit with this first part of the obstacle course, a smaller set of inflatable tube-like things that he kept slipping under. So, Reed helped him over that part.

But the “big wall”. Reed tried to help him with it, but he wasn’t able to get up it himself and help Gus up. It was too tall for Reed to either boost him up from below or pull him up from the top.

So, Gus did it by himself! And got to enjoy the slide on the other side.

Lena enjoyed the obstacle course, slide and other activities, too, but she really wanted her face painted. The line was really long, but she was certain that she wanted it, so we waited.

And, she got to become a butterfly.

She was so happy with her face paint.

How was your weekend?

Another month is down in my 365, taking a photo every day for a year.

April was an exciting month for me. I passed the halfway point in the year. I also started Moose Prints and got my first prints from a real, professional lab. And, I took many of my new favorite photos this month.

April 2014 Must Capture:

• At least 5 Objects that I touch everyday
• April Showers (the rain kind)
• Macro (taking photos of little things– like flowers)

Did I complete my “Must Capture list for April”? Um, no. I totally forgot about the “5 Objects I touch everyday”, which was supposed to be a way to keep up the 365 in the last bad-weather month and capture some details of my life. But, I don’t mind that it didn’t happen. I’m pretty pleased with what I did capture.

May 2014 Must Capture List:

• End of the School Year
• Start of Summer Fun
• May flowers

Other April news, we made our first deadline for our hosting fundraising! We had to raise $1400 by May 1, and we, with the help of all of YOUR generosity and a God who is bigger than any wild deadline, had $1530 raised by the end of May 1st. We still have $1170 by June 1. We have an auction coming up and of course, you can still order prints or book a mini-session from Moose Prints.