Winter at Balls Bluff Park

Yesterday I posted photos on my family blog of us hiking in Balls Bluff Park. In addition to those photos, I took some artistic shots - first of the snow in the woods (this screamed out to be converted to B&W)

Reindeer in Richmond

A week before Christmas, my husband and I spent the night in Richmond so that he could cast his Electoral College vote. While having dinner downtown, we stumbled upon a town light display and I wanted to grab a few pics. Lit deer everywhere!

Geese

These photos were taken of geese at a lake in Crump Park, Richmond, VA on the day after Thanksgiving. All were shot using my 75-300mm telephoto lens; however, we were still pretty close to these geese!

Paxton Manor in the Fall

The weekend before Thanksgiving I took the kids out for a walk around our neighborhood, and we headed up to Paxton Manor. I previously took photos of Paxton Manor in the spring...on the whole, I think I like how it looked in the fall much better. The colors in the area were gorgeous, peaking right around that time.

Fall photos 2: Guest photographer!

In my previous post, I showed some of my favorite photos from touring through Leesburg this fall to capture the foliage. My daughter came with me and used my Canon point-and-shoot; she's getting pretty good and I really like some of her captures! It's fun for me to see what she pays attention to and wants to shoot.
Note that I did not make any changes to these photos - they are just as she shot them.

Fall in Leesburg

Exactly one month ago today I headed out locally in Leesburg to take some photos of the beautiful fall foliage before it disappeared.

Nicholson-Phillips family: Portraits

I have a few more favorites from my photo shoot from earlier this month to share here.

The Nicholson-Phillips family

Earlier this week I did my first-ever commissioned photo shoot for a friend of mine! I was so excited to finally do this - and to start with a family of 8 was quite the experience! We shot at the entrance to Red Rocks Wilderness Overlook in Leesburg, and despite missing the best setting sunlight, I captured some beautiful shots of their family.

In the pumpkin fields

About 3 weeks ago my sister and I took my kids to a farm in Ashland, Va for some fun fall activities. The farm included a tractor ride out to pumpkin fields, and the scenery was too beautiful too ignore.

Photography lesson in Charlottesville

About 3 weeks ago I spent two days in Charlottesville, VA - the weather was stunningly beautiful while there, and I took my camera with me in hopes of being able to get some photos taken. Luckily I was able to shoot at both UVA and on the Downtown Mall.

Enchanted Forest

While in Wageningen, NL we stayed at the hotel pictured below - the Nol in't Bosch. The decorations inside were very pseudo-Victorian, but not where it mattered (e.g. bathrooms, which were quite modern). I didn't get many photos of the inside, but managed to get a couple of neat shots of the outside.

Canals in Amsterdam

I posted previously on my family blog a few photos from my two days in Amsterdam, and some explanations  for the places we went are there. I thought here I'd just show my favorite photos of the canals in Amsterdam (and a few other sites)...enjoy!

National Arboretum

In early September we went to the National Arboretum in Washington DC. For photos of the kids and a few other things we did/saw, click HERE. It's very lovely; we didn't walk around very much; many of these photos were taken from the tram ride around the Aboretum.

Sunset on the Sound

I just posted on my family blog some photos I took of the kids playing in the Albemarle Sound at sunset. I wanted to share my favorite sunset photos as well.

Outer Banks beach photos II

Last month we returned once again to the Outer Banks. Just before our trip I received my present to myself for having a good year at work - this lens, recommended by a friend. I hadn't really had a chance to play with it before the trip, so of course a couple of hours on the beach was a perfect opportunity to take some photos.

Family portraits at the beach

On our very last night in the Outer Banks last month, I wanted to head down to the beach after dinner and take some photos at sunset. However, upon our arrival at the beach access we were told by people leaving the beach that the flies were really bad, so we chose not to venture all the way down. Instead, we stopped at the gazebo at the top of the dune and took some photos from there.

Outer Banks beach photos

While the vast majority of photos that I took while on vacation at the Outer Banks last month were of our children, I did manage to get a few nice ones of the scenery around us. Here are my favorites.

Telephoto lens + condensation = art!

I encountered a "problem" while we were at the Outer Banks at the beginning of July that I had not yet experienced: because my telephoto lens was primarily kept inside of my camera bag, in the air conditioning, when I went to pull it out on the beach the lenses (internal and external) were covered with condensation! When I took the first few pics I saw that they were a little faded, but didn't realize the condensation was to blame; it was only on the second day I did this that I really noticed it. So, while the photos are faded/slightly blurry, I actually like how they came out - I like the slightly old fashioned feel!

Downtown Leesburg

A couple of weeks ago I met my friend Debra in downtown Leesburg to take some photos. She's an amateur photographer like myself, and we've been discussing doing something like this for a while. I was glad we finally had the time to spend a couple of hours walking around. We originally wanted to go into the "country" outside of Leesburg, but that was in the spring - we're now thinking we'll leave that until the fall when the leaves change, as that will make for more beautiful photos. For our first outing, we focused on the beauty of downtown Leesburg. Debra has a photography blog as well; if you want to see her photos, click here

Beach Sky

We spent the week of July 4th at the Outer Banks, NC. I've got well over 600 photos from our 10 day vacation, so I'm trying to organize them as best as I can. One of the things I photographed during the week (when not taking photos of the kids!) was the sky.