easter // portraits

On Easter Sunday I took advantage of pretty outfits +Spring-ish blue skies  and took some portraits of the kids & animals. We have a bundle of new little chicks here, peeping and calling and huddling cozily together under the heat lamp. 

Their downy yellow backs are soft to the touch and their eyes blink sleepily, but soon they will be growing feathers and hopping about with relish. I hate how fast babies get big, yet it's the way things are. Life passes so quickly. 

Nevertheless, I love watching these new little ones grow right in front of me. It reminds me how precious and fragile each creature is, great or small. And how much more valuable you and I are to God. 

Do you have new animals? 

xo,

lucia 

ps - 1000 followers? oh my word, friends...thank you! i am pretty honored to say the least. 

march photo challenge finalists + april challenge: sunlit portraits

I am so excited to announce the five finalists for last month's challenge, "night." It was a hard one--for as beautiful as the night is, it is indeed hard to capture!--but your photos were spectacular. I decided to go with five finalists this time, instead of ten. Thank you all for joining me and sharing your talent; I hope you'll scroll down to the bottom of this post to see what April's challenge is!

 by Alison
This is an utterly amazing shot. Some serious telephoto-lensing here, plus a quick capture--great work, Alison!

by Amanda
Wow. The colors, composition, lighting--this almost looks like the dusty red sunsets of Africa. Gorgeous.

by Cassandra
A beautiful, creative view of the fireworks in Disneyland! Stunning.

by Raquel

I like how Raquel captured the sun's last little peek above the black silhouette of the trees--and the fishermen, perfectly captured on the still golden waters. Lovely!

by Maya

This is hauntingly beautiful--I like how the trees frame the sky, yet almost seem as though they are leaning over you. 

Lovely work, ladies! The poll is up on the sidebar--vote for your favorite and we'll announce a winner next week! 

---

I am in love with natural lighting. Back-lit portraits are my favorites; there is just something about the golden-ess of the sun framing a person's face and hair that is stunningly gorgeous. 

Thus, for this month's photo challenge I thought I would run with that! 

April photo challenge: Sunlit Portraits 

So. Ready to take on the new challenge?

Grab your camera (or your computer's picture folders, whatever is most handy), take an amazing shot, and then come back here and link up your blog post, flickr photo, or whatever you want to use to link it up. Just fyi:

-"Linking up" means to copy & paste the link to your blog post containing your photo, or the link to your photo on flickr, into the linky box below. Just submit your name, and voila! You're all "linked up." 

-Please include the button in your post, or beneath your flickr (etc.) photo, give the link to this challenge. That way, others can join in, too!

-If you can, visit other entries and give them some support. :) Everyone likes a comment or two! 

Have fun--I can't wait to get started. :) This challenge ends on April 31st, 2012. Finalists will be announced soon afterwards, and we will all vote on a winner the following week. 

  

<center><a href="http://one-beloved.blogspot.com/2012/04/march-photo-challenge-finalists-april.html" target="_blank"><img alt="lucia, etc." src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/9465/photochallenge.png"/></a></center>

the miscellany & the lovely.

It's been a miscellaneous & beautiful week filled to the brim with sunlight, jelly donuts, camera clicks, Cadbury chocolate eggs, new chicks, fresh flowers and bike rides down quiet country back roads.  Easter weekend was all azure skies and balmy breezes, and my camera was out almost every second.

On Saturday I helped photograph the annual Megga Easter egg Hunt at our local county fairgrounds. The midday sun was bright and un-photogenic, but the kids were beyond adorable (dang, there were over 1,000 to choose from). It was my first shot at event photography, and I have to say I'm pretty smitten. I wandered around at my leisure into the petting zoo, the face painting and the egg fields taking pictures to my heart's content.  This is the type of thing I could get used to.

On Easter Sunday we had some family over for a full spread, and basked in the warm sunlight. Food + sun are my "one weaknesses," as Miss Lane of Lark Rise to Candleford would say (just FYI: favorite.show.evah.). We talked and laughed and played around in the glowing embers of dusk, just like we used to when we were little. That's the funny thing about family; you can always, always be yourself with them. Even if you change.

Maybe that's why the miscellany and even the mundane are always the loveliest.

What did your Easter look like?


ps- never fear, the march photo challenge finalists will be announced soon-ish!