Our little dancer

About five weeks ago my daughter had her second dance recital. Her teacher had organized professional photo shoots for all of the dancers, but unfortunately I was unable to make it to either of the designated dates so we couldn't take part. I figured - why not try to take some shots of her in her costume myself? And as I love using natural light, I thought that doing it outdoors would be a lot of fun.

After the rain

Last week a very large thunderstorm came through Leesburg. It didn't last very long, but we were hopeful that it would break the awful heat and humidity we had for the previous few days (for the most part it did). When the storm broke, I could see the sun shining through the clouds into our backyard and didn't want to miss the opportunity to snap a few pictures. 

In the woods

On the first Saturday in June, I took the kids over to what we call the "dinosaur park" in Ashburn, VA. I think the real name is just Ashburn Park, but as all of the playground equipment is shaped like various dinosaurs, we like our name better. One of the coolest things about the park is that it's not just a playground - there's a very nice walking path that extends quite far through the woods, as we discovered that day!

Clouds

The weather here in VA (and I think around most of the East coast, if not the country as a whole) has been pretty all over the place this June - cold like March/April one day, burning hot the next. We've had some pretty big storms come through as well. One plus of this crazy weather is that the clouds have been absolutely breathtaking. What's even more impressive is that all of these photos except one were taken with my iPhone (Camera+ app). I guess that goes to show that you don't absolutely need a digital SLR to take a good photo - just a good eye and interesting subject!

In the ferns

The "woods" behind Evan's parents' house have a section that looks a bit like a sea of fern fronds. While we were outside playing there a couple of weeks ago, Natalie looked so beautiful walking around in them that I just had to snap a couple of photos!

Great Country Farms

Welcome back! Sorry for the long time in between posts, but I've been rather busy with some other things this month. Because of that, I haven't really taken many photos that would work on here. However, I do have some of the trip I took with my kids to Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA; I posted earlier this week on my family blog the photos I took of the kids and the things we did. Here, I've got some of the more landscape/artistic ones that I took.