This was another spontaneous Sunday afternoon photo shoot. The light was perfect and I picked a large tree trunk as the background. The braids help make the picture. And look at those eyes! If you have been following this series you have seen Ava before. I have been taking pictures of her and her two sisters since each of them were two or three years old. This is one of my all time favorite portraits and my most favorite image for July 31.
Bob (my brother-on-law and photo buddy) and I were at Brainard Lake in hopes of capturing some nice landscape images. But it was cloudy and drizzly, and occasionally raining. We retreated to the car to eat a late snack/supper. We ate and talked and watched the rain drops on the windshield.
It was the last night of SPECTACULAR and this interpretative dance was part of the closing Communion service.
Our grandson Finn at one month old. This is my favorite photo for this date.
If you have been following this series, you have probably guessed this is another photo from SPECTACULAR, the annual July event at Graceland University. This is my favorite image for July 27. I love the expression on her face. You might be wondering how she got splattered with grass.
In pottery class at SPEC, an instructor helps a camper at the wheel. This is my most favorite image for this date. I like the symbolism of experienced hands guiding younger hands.
I have been to SPECTACULAR several times to photograph the events, including this soccer match. This is one of my favorite sports images because of the intensity in the player’s faces. This is my most favorite image for July 24.
My brother-in-law and photo buddy, Bob Walker, arrives at SPECTACULAR. (More about that in a minute.) This is my most favorite image for this date, for a lot of reasons. If you have been following this series, you have seen Bob before at Bear Lake in Colorado.
This is far and away one of my most favorite images and my most favorite photo for this date. Melissa and I and our three children were hiking up the trail from Bear Lake to Flattop Mountain. Not only is that a special memory, Melissa and I and my brother John were hiking the same trail August 13, 1969. Melissa and I were engaged at the time. I have a photo of Melissa and my brother at the same exact spot.
I was up on Trail Ridge Road at Rock Cut. Pika were everywhere, gathering grass to stash away for the long winter. They have about about 3 or 4 months to gather enough food to last through an 8 or 9 month long winter. This was the only pika gathering flowers.
If you have been following this series you have detected a common thread to most of the photos over the last several dates. They were created in California. Today is no exception.
If you have been following this series, this photo should look familiar. It is one in a series of photos of our children at this sign taken from 1979 to 1990. This series is a special favorite and this is my favorite photo for this date.
Doris, my mother-in-law, has a beautiful Lantana in her back yard with numerous orange blossoms. On three consecutive trips to California I would occasionally notice a hummingbird feeding at the Lantana. I would grab a camera and lens but the hummingbird would be gone.
It was a very busy week in Fremont California. Doris, my mother-in-law, turned 90 years old and birthday preparations were in full swing. At the end of a long day we were headed back to the house. Our daughter Janae walked her grandmother Doris up to the front door. I grabbed my camera and snapped this image. It is one of my all time favorite images, and one of my two most favorite photos for this date.
We were in California for a family get together and I ended up out in the yard taking casual portraits. This is our grandson, Andrew. This is one of my most favorite photos for this date.
I was heading toward San Francisco and I liked the way the tunnel framed the bridge. I was deliberately in the center lane so the towers would line up. This is my favorite image for this date.
It was a remarkable sunset at a pair of my favorite lighthouses. This is one of my two most favorite photos for July 11, and one of my all time favorite lighthouse images.
Samantha is an Ohio model and we were in a local park creating images for our respective portfolios. It was a beautiful, soft light kind of day that is perfect for portraits. This is my favorite image from our photo shoot, and one of my two most favorite images for July 10.
You can’t see all of them in this image, but there are 10 small U.S. flags in front yards along this side of this street in my neighborhood.
Park of the Pines is a campground on beautiful Lake Charlevoix near Boyne City Michigan. One night at summer camp I went to get a camera and tripod to photograph Jupiter in the stars of Scorpio over the tents, one of which had Christmas lights. I love the mix of warm and cool tones. This is my favorite image for this date.
Terran and I were still testing CamRanger the next day (see the July 4 post) and this is our favorite action photo for the day. It is also my favorite image for this date.
Our son, Jim III, married Jennifer on a hot day in the Los Angeles area, July 4, 1999. This is my favorite image for this date.
We were at the Unites States Military Academy at West Point New York. We ended up at Trophy Point, overlooking the Hudson River at dusk. This is my favorite image for July 2. There are tours at West Point and it is a fascinating place to visit.
This is another hard date to pick a favorite photo. If you have been following this series you know there are about 3400 images in my “favorite photos” folder, which would average out to about 9 photos for each date of the year. But some dates have a lot less, or none at all. The folder for June 30 has 38 favorite images to pick from.
Finn. Our first trip to see our youngest grandson. Of course this is my favorite photo for this date.
Sitting on my front porch this morning, I learned the courtship ritual of American Sparrows is not unlike the ritual of the African Bishop’s Weaver.
This photo of our daughter playing T- ball is one of my two most favorite photos for this date. It is also one of my favorite childhood photos of Janae.
Our son, the baseball pitcher. This is my favorite image for June 25.
Rebecca is a professional model currently living in New York City. One of our goals was to do a photo shoot with Rebecca covered (except for her hair) in silver metallic body paint. This is my favorite photo for June 23.
My wife spotted this metaphid jumping spider at a garden center. It kept jumping on to her whenever she got close to look at it. I tried to photograph it but it kept jumping onto my iPhone, or my hand. Besides, my phone minus a closeup adapter could not handle the task at hand.