Mint

They call the Florida Gulf Shore, the Emerald shore...and there is parts that are emerald green, but here the ocean looks mint to me. 

I love going to the beach, to hear the waves hitting the shore line, the grand feeling of endlessness, the serenity...It's really not a vacation for me unless the beach is involved...

I was taking family portraits on the beach and I was just getting frustrated because they were not coming out like I envisioned...(anybody ever have that problem?). I kept telling the kids not to get themselves full of sand and not to look like they were squinting and it was humid, my camera was just not reading the right exposure and I had just given up. I started walking up towards the house, Sophia went to kick up the sand and she was walking by the shore. I looked back and I thought she was just beautiful with her white dress against the color of the water.

When she saw me coming, she hurriedly tried to get the sand off her leg but I told her to just do whatever she wanted and this is the image I got...still a little posed...(I mean can you blame her, I had just been telling her how to pose) but still the best sincere smile of the whole shoot....

by the mint water...

Crooked=Not Straight

I have always had a fascination with trees. Big, wide, oak trees...standing always so strong and protective. It's interesting now because we have this tree in the backyard that my kids will fight over who is going to be in the nook of the tree. It wouldn't be weird to find my son or daughter just sitting there reading a book...I just love trees. The best thing about a tree is that no two trees are identical. They seem to stretch their branches which ever way they want, really with no rhyme or reason...

I used to work at a landscape company when I was just out of high school and I remember going through the tree yard....and the guys would have these trees separated to the side...because they were not sell-able, because they had to many crooked branches...And one day, a lady comes in and noticed what I had noticed that the "crooked" trees where put aside and not cared for as much...to my delight and awe, she spent thousands and thousands of dollars to buy those "crooked" trees. She said they were trees with character, fun trees, climbable trees...I couldn't agree with her more...

All Dressed Up

I had another image in mind when I saw what the theme was for this week, I had imagined Bibi in a flowy dress and soft colors, curls and her great smile...I guess because I've known her since she was 7 years old it's stayed in my mind that she still a little girl...but she's all grown up now...no longer the little 7 year old who would peek through the door when I was in the house...

And a beautiful young lady she is, both inside and out.