Fall at the Arch

I had a different picture in mind when I went to the Arch.  But, because of all the construction going on, I wasn't able to access the area I wanted.  Disappointed, I turned my focus to other areas and was not disappointed with the results from this little trip.  Autumn is not at its peak yet in St. Louis, but just look at the color already! 

I've been waiting patiently for fall to arrive, just seems to be taking forever this year.  I know that it's inevitable, that it will arrive.  I anticipate it with each passing day...searching the horizon for the colors to change.  Isn't that like life, if we anticipate the change, it won't be a surprise.  It won't catch us off guard if we are searching the horizon, but it may take our breathe away because it's so beautiful.  Some changes are good, some are bad, however, I think it's fair to say that we all face inevitable changes.  Be on the lookout, be expectant.  It's exciting...just anticipating it! 

Photo Vacation

Several weeks ago, I got a call from my Aunt Bonnie, who is also a photographer.  She wanted to come spend a week with me.  She was excited, I was excited.  We spent most of the time photographing each other and my mom, visiting sites around town, editing photos, learning how to use her studio lighting kit.  It was awesome to share my love of photography with someone who is as excited as I am! 

 

Our first outing took us to the Botanical Gardens where I helped her understand natural lighting situations and how to meter correctly.  We got some fun photos.

 

We spent the afternoon the next day out at the Sandy Creek Covered Bridge where we played with exposure bracketing and more portrait taking.  We had a blast, laughed a lot!  Another photographer thought I was giving a little seminar.  I'm sure it kind of sounded like that!

 

 

 

Bonnie may have taken this next one...

 

The last on-location photography we did was down in the Soulard district.  Even my mom was getting in on the fun with camera in hand.

 

 

Towards the end of the week, we finally had to call the company that made the transmitter and receiver for the studio strobe lights cause we could not figure out why in the world we couldn't get them to work.  Turned out to be a malfunction in the parts.  So once we got that worked out, we were finally able to do some in studio portraits.

 

 

 

Gardens in Spring

One of our favorite places to go in St. Louis is the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Every time you go, it looks different.  The landscape is a living canvas.  You can imagine Spring with all it's beauty is a wonderful time to be there.

Easter Weekend

The kids came home for Easter weekend, which was a really good break for me.  Got away from the computer and business related stuff and just had some fun family time.  Ari talked us into going to our favorite BBQ joint down in the Soulard area, Bogart's.  They have some pretty awesome BBQ.  If you've never been, you really must try.  After lunch, we took them to Laumeier Sculpture Park and walked off some of that great meal.  We went to the Saturday night Easter service which allowed us to sleep in and relax Sunday morning.  Later that day we took a walk down along the river.   The weekend turned out to be really nice with the sun shining brightly on Easter morning!  That was really a gift because the day before I commented on how it just doesn't seem right that it should be dreary or rainy on Easter, a day we celebrate new life and new beginnings.  We sure wish Beki could have been here with us.  Being her first holiday away was not easy for me and I hope she knows how much she was missed.

 

 

I didn't carry my camera with me this day, so I ended up using my cell phone!

 

Ummm....oops, didn't see this one until it was too late!! 

 

Orchids

Did you know that there are over 20,000 species of orchids, more than twice the number of bird species and four times more than mammals.  That's pretty impressive.  God must have loved these little guys!

I look forward to the Botanical Garden Orchid Show every year.  The display is captivating and beautiful.  I captured a few to share.  There are so many it's really hard to choose which ones to include.  Wish I could share them all.