Summer is a great time to make some photography memories and take great pictures for you child’s Baby Memory Book! Young or old, all children love to get outdoors and have some fun! The summer sun lends itself to some great pictures, especially in the early morning or late evening. I would avoid the highest part of the day as this will cause some harsh shadows on your child’s face unless, of course, you have a great shady spot to work with. Here are just a few ideas that come to my mind for setting up some great shots for your children:

1. Take them on a fun nature walk and see what kind of fun critters and focal points you can find. There are all kinds of fallen trees to climb on and great creatures to discover! The best part is that you will be able to get all of their great expressions on the camera!
2. Have a watermelon spitting party! Kids love these and the pictures are so much fun! A nice setting would be near a barn, but if you don’t have a barn, you could always just lay out a colorful picnic blanket and let the fun begin!
3. Pull out your sprinkler! Bright bathing suits, beach balls & sunglasses will make for a ton of gorgeous pictures! The kids will have a blast playing in the water and you’ll get the pleasure of some wonderful memories to treasure!
4. Find a beach! Even if you do not live near the beach, you can usually find a nice little sandbar on a river or lake nearby. Take the sunglasses, shovels & pails, and have a blast!
5. What could be more fun than blowing bubbles? There are so many colorful bubble bottles and different kinds of wands! The picture possibilities are endless. If you are like me and have a dog that loves to chase bubbles, you can include him in on the action. That always makes everyone happy around here!
6. BONUS- Some of you are going to get me for this one, but why not give them that water hose and some mud pies?!? Think of the awesome pictures you will get as your children have a blast making mud pies! I still say kids just don’t get dirty enough these days!

These are only a few suggestions; there are so many options on these long summer days. Take a look around the area you live in. Let your imagination run free, some great ideas will pop right into your head. Creativity is the key to great memorable pictures.

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After digging through all of the images I could choose from, I chose this one… I always choose this one! It is so special to me, for some reason… it tells such a beautiful story without giving away any intimate details!

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If you would like to participate in an I Heart Faces challenge, or just see more babies this week…

The original picture:

and here are a few variations:

Tutu I made for photo shoot.

I have been saying for months that I wanted to make one of these precious little tutu’s for a photo shoot… I FINALLY got one made for a family photo shoot I will be doing this afternoon at Turkey Run State Park! I am so excited, it’s going to be sooo FUN! Previews to come soon~

After helping a fellow photographer with her website, she graciously let me pick out one of her beautiful prints in return for my work! We had a very nice lunch… it is always nice meeting new people! As we finished up our lunch, she gave me not only the print I chose, but also another one because I had a really hard time making up mind which one I wanted!

I absolutely LOVE them both! They are BEAUTIFUL! You did an excellent job Amy!

If you would like to see all of the prints Amy has available, you can visit her at Joyful HeART.

Thanks again, Amy!!

I just love when all of the trees in my yard are blooming and the world around me waking up from it’s long Indiana winter’s sleep! I have so many, but thought I would share a few today… I will try to get more posted soon!

I am still trying to figure out what this little critter was! He fuzzy, looked like a bee, but very fragile looking like a mosquito!

After a week or more of reloading WordPress, etc. I finally got into my directory to see that there was no folder for what would supposedly be May in my uploads folder! I worked on this for a while… then finally remembered to check my settings from where I switched over! Sure enough… all I had to do this whole time was remove the “memories” portion from my uploads default settings! Such a simple solution… and when I think of all I went through to get there… YIKES! I don’t know why it never clicked with me before!! Anyway, I have it fixed now… so it’s time to start some posting!