Another Kodak POTD in Times Square!

I was so excited to find out that this image above was chosen as the Kodak Picture of Day for December 15th!  It was a thrill to have this picture up on the Kodak billboard in Times Square for a full 24 hours.  This image is special to me because I took it last December. My son, Thomas, was my model holding the ornament.  I used this photo as the cover for our Christmas cards last year.  I had almost forgotten that I had even entered it. 

Honestly, I didn't know about it until the big day had already passed.  Our family was so busy with the Living Nativity play that I had not checked the Kodak website all month.  I usually visit a few times a week as I really enjoy looking at the photos that get chosen.  It truly is an exciting feeling to have one of my shots chosen as one of the 365 shots that are chosen each year! 

The Golden Coin

I was asked by our church to shoot a picture of a little boy dropping a gold coin into a Salvation Army bucket.  They wanted to use the image in order to advertise for their Living Nativity play.  Even though we are new to this area and we have not seen the Nativity before, my husband Kendall is producing the play this year!  

The main story of the play is about two boys who learn about the miracle of Christmas from a salvation army bell ringer.  If you want to know more than that, Kendall says "come see the play and find out." :)  Needless to say, we are quite anxious to see the whole thing, which includes a realistic nativity scene with donkeys, camels and sheep (oh my)!  It takes nearly two hundred people working for several weeks to pull this off, but the church is amazing, how people just come together and get it done.

Thomas was our little hand model for the image above.  Poor little guy, it was rather cold, but he was a real trooper. He held as steady as he could over and over again until I was satisfied with what I captured.  Kendall was the bell ringer in the background and he was quite a trooper as well.  Overall it was a great learning experience!  I am pleased that they decided to use the image on their web page for advertising purposes for the play!

Cable Bridge

Last week we went up to Ritzville, WA to meet our wonderful friend Lynn.  We have known Lynn since our college days at the University of Idaho.  She now lives across the big pond in Cornwall England.  We feel so lucky to have gotten to have a bit of her vacation time back here in the States spent with us.  It was so fun to reminisce about our college days with her, talk about our current lives and look ahead to what the future may hold for all of us.  She leaves tomorrow on a jet plane back across the big pond to her new life in England. I miss her already! But, thanks to facebook we keep can keep tabs on each other on a regular basis. Ah, the marvels of technology.  

The above photo is what we captured on our way home from Ritzville. We have heard about the Cable Bridge since we arrived in the Tri Cities in August.  We had never really taken the time to stop and check out the bridge.  Of course since we pulling into the Tri Cities right as the sun was setting it seemed like a great time to go check it out! It was a might bit chilly and the wind was blowing just enough to make the late autumn air even more cold.  We searched for a place to park as we raced against the sun.  There is a lovely paved trail that you can walk along the Columbia River and take in all of the beauty that the river has to offer.  I got this shot from that walk way just as the sun was sinking behind the mountains.  I did not realize how immense the Cable Bridge is.  I was actually having a hard time getting the whole span of the bridge in frame. I always knew that the Columbia River was mighty but being that close to the river and seeing how large that bridge was,  made the Columbia even more impressive.  

It really was a spectacular sight. If you are ever in the Tri Cities area I highly recommend you check out the Cable Bridge.  If you can check it out at sunset that would even be better.  The sunsets around here are indeed beautiful!

Let It Snow

Lately I have been working on getting all of my images organized and backed up.  While looking through some of the images I came across this one of Thomas, my son, taken almost two years ago when we went to Idaho to visit his grandparents for Christmas. It was a fantastic vacation spent with our extended family.  The icing on the cake was when it snowed the second day we were there. All of the kids were so excited!  I loved this image of Thomas trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.  It represents to me all of the carefree fun we had that day.  Do you remember the last time you stopped and tried to catch a snowflake on your tongue? You really ought to try it. There is nothing better than letting out our inner child once in awhile.  Just think of all the fun you can have!

COJ Waterfall

This is a little waterfall that I found on the grounds of our church. It is tucked away in a beautiful little prayer garden.  The water runs from up above the little falls from a coy pond and then makes its way down under a foot bridge then ultimately falling down to this area.  I had noticed about a week ago that the trees were really starting to drop their leaves and at the time, this little area had just a leaf or two floating in the water.  Yesterday, between breaks in the rain, I decided to venture over and see how things were progressing.  I was so excited to see all of the fall color that had accumulated during the week.  

My next goal was to experiment with leaving my shutter open for different lengths of time to see what worked the best for achieving the silky water look.  I have experimented with this technique a few times  but it is really a work in progress for me.  I plan on visiting this little water fall again as the seasons change to keep playing with getting that silky water look.  The image above was one of my favorites from yesterday. 

Just Golden

I couldn't resist posting this leaf image.  This is another shot from our walk to the local park. The light that afternoon was so beautiful. I must admit, that is one of  things that I have loved about the new area we live in...the sweet golden light that I have been seeing on these late autumn afternoons. It just bathes everything it touches giving it a wonderful glow.  This day was no exception.  I found myself looking up into the canopies of the trees which seemed to cover me like an umbrella.  I was mesmerized by all the of different shades of gold and orange.  The tree limbs and branches really stood out against the blaze of color.  It was an awesome sight that is for sure.  Fall is truly one of my favorite seasons!

An Afternoon Walk

We took a late afternoon walk with the kids this past Sunday. It was a gorgeous afternoon here in Richland.  The air was crisp and cold...invigorating really.   Kailtyn had found this little street (above) with a park nearby on a recent bike ride she had taken and she was anxious for us to see it.  She really wanted me to see all the trees that were there and see them in all of their seasonal glory.  Of course she encouraged me to bring my camera along. I feel like the most lucky mom in the whole entire world.  My kids are always telling me about something they saw that they thought I would like, usually followed up with the phrase "Mom it would have made a great picture, I wish you could have been there!"  I truly value the times that we can spend together and I am so blessed that they understand my craving to take pictures and capture the beauty that I see around me.  I hope that I can teach them to value the beauty that is around us all the time.  I just want them to learn to take the time to slow down sometimes and enjoy the world and everything that surrounds them.  

Windy Day at the Park

Okay, so I had heard about how windy the Tri Cities can be sometimes. I  have to admit, I thought "Oh, it can't be that bad! ". What is a little bit of wind?  I mean really,  I just moved here from a very rainy, sometimes blustery location not too long ago.  I thought I could handle a little bit of wind. 

On Monday we decided to do a little bit of exploring around here to see if we could find a nice park to take the kids to, maybe do a little bit of leaf peeping, skip some rocks, you know, do all those fun things that you remember doing as a child.  Those things that you would like your children to experience. 

When we first got to the Two Rivers Park that afternoon it was a beautiful Fall day.  It was a bit breezy but it helped to create a nice atmosphere.  The leaves were falling ever so gently from the trees and drifting on the breeze.  The kids were running and laughing just having a great time.  One of those Hallmark moments. 

We found a place to the skip some rocks and watch some ducks and geese on the water.  I started to notice that the wind was picking up a bit.  All of sudden it was blowing so hard that I thought I was going to blow right over.  It was one of those winds where, if you have long  hair you will know what I mean, it was a face wrapper wind! My hair was being blown so hard it was wrapping around my face so I couldn't see.  You could see the wind as it blew across the water, literally. There were huge ripples across the water as far as you could see. Not to mention the leaves were coming down from the trees in droves. They were actually pelting us as they came down.  It really was quite the experience! 

Of course, we couldn't leave until we had taken a picture of the kids enjoying themselves at the park.  After some obligatory moaning they settled themselves onto a makeshift bench and started posing.  After shooting off about 15 shots this was the best one of the bunch!  Does it look like to you that they were holding onto each other for dear life? Afraid they might blow away at any moment?  I love the expression on Kaitlyn's face, it screams "If I just smile she'll quit bugging us and we can get in the car where we will be safe."  I was also cracking up secretly to myself when I opened this image because it looks like she has her brother in a slight head lock. If you look at the girls' hair you can see it was pretty windy, thank goodness Kaitlyn had her hair back in a pony tail, otherwise there would have been no way to keep it off the top of Thomas' head!  Overall, I was pretty amused by this image.  I also have to share that there were geese sneaking up behind them as we were shooting the pictures.  I think they were secretly afraid that they were going to get their bums pinched at any second! Oh, the fun of a Kaiser family outing. 

A Sea of Daisies

I took this shot while I was waiting one afternoon for a bride and her bridesmaids to get ready for their photo time with me.  I had seen these flowers while I was scouting out the location the day before the wedding shoot.  I thought that I might take advantage of the few minutes of "down time" that I had that day.  

When I look at this shot I see a fun and playful image.  It almost seems as if they are saying "Over here, look at me....look at me!" that is, if flowers could speak. Next time you are walking by a bed of flowers try to stop and take a look at the beauty that is waiting for you there.  

The Cabin in the Woods

Here is yet another image from my trip to Coeur d'Alene.  This was taken somewhere along Hwy 3, also called the White Pines Hwy. This highway does not follow along the lake but rather meanders back toward I-90.  It is a gorgeous little drive that goes basically from the town of Harrison, Idaho all the way back towards Wolf Lodge.

As I wound my way back towards I-90 on this road I came around a bend and this pretty little scene is what I saw off to my right.  Luckily, there was another little turn out that I could pull off onto so I could take a few shots. I was immediately struck by the gorgeous reflections of the trees and the cabin in the little lake. Overall it was quite a beautiful scene to see in person. I could hear the birds off in the distance calling to one another while the wind rustled through the grasses and trees. Quite magical really! I sure wish I could see this scene every day and watch as it changes with the changing seasons.   

The Columbia River Gorge

It definitely feels like Fall has arrived here in the Tri Cities.  We woke up to a frosty, cold morning and we had to get out our gloves and warmer jackets. As I was driving around this morning I was thinking about how we live a in new place with new Autumn scenery to see. 

I couldn't help thinking about some pictures I had taken last year during October.  The one above is one of my favorites. I had planned in advance to take a day and drive down the old Scenic Highway in the Columbia River Gorge.  I was very sad to wake up that day to a rainy, misty morning and the weather forecast did not look promising for the rest of the day either. But, I decided to go ahead and go anyway.  

The picture above was one that I overlooked during my initial pass through of the images from that day.  It sat discarded in the toss pile for months. For some reason I decided to look through those discards a few months ago and I was drawn to this image. The more I looked at it, the more it reminded me of the different moods of the Gorge.  I decided that maybe it was a keeper after all. 

Even though it was rainy that day I had made the best of it!  We ended up having a great adventure that day, rain and all! This image will always remind me of that day we spent as a family and the many moods of the Columbia River Gorge. 

Thunder Bay

Here is another one of the images that I captured on my recent trip over to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  I fell in love with this location.  I just wish it had been just a little bit later in the day though for lighting purposes.   I found this dock located on Thunder Bay. There is a little turn out where you can pull off the two lane road that winds up through this area.  It was such a beautiful little spot with a great setting. There was a slight breeze and you could hear the lake water as it lapped up against the side of the little dock. 

This was one of my favorite lake images from that day.  I now wish that I gotten down just a little bit lower when I shot this. Maybe not completely laying down on my belly but pretty low. Although, now that I think about that I am sure it would have been quite a sight to see for all the logging truck drivers as they went barreling down that road! 

Curious Snail ~ My Backyard Visitor

As we are getting used to living in a new environment I am always on the look out for new things to see. Perhaps some new vegetation or wildlife that I may come across.  A few weeks ago I did not have to go very far at all to find something new.  I was amazed to find this little guy on my back deck,  bright and early one morning.  You see, where I come from we have the shell- less variety of this kind of critter, i.e.  SLUGS! 

I was quite taken with this snail and his/her beautiful shell.  I was amazed at how intricate it is. This snail was quite fun to watch as it " booked "along our deck.  I was able to fire off a few shots.  I am sure if the backyard neighbors saw me out there stretched out on my belly with a big camera glued to my face I can be certain that I was the talk of the neighborhood that day!   Hope you enjoy seeing this little snail as much as I did.  Next I am hoping to get some shots of the quail that live in the tree on our corner! 

Sunset in Ritzville, WA

I have decided to switch over to using blogger.com for my blog entries rather than through my photography web page. I hope those of you who were reading my blog through my web page will be able to find me on here now! This is a much easier way, for me....who is internet challenged, to post my blog entries. Plus now I won't have to bug Kendall all of the time. I plan on keeping my web page so you can still visit that site if you like. You can also go there and read any of my old blog entries. (www.ktmphotos.com)

A week ago I took a little trip over to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I had the pleasure of meeting my uncle for a tasty lunch and time of catch up. In addition to a fun visit, I was able to pick up our beef for the whole entire year ~ home grown Montana beef ~ yummy!

As many of you know, Northern Idaho has a special place in my heart. I had planned to take my camera along (of course!) so that I could take some shots of Lake Coeur d'Alene, which is an incredibly beautiful lake I might add. I spent a couple of hours driving on some back roads and taking some shots. It was a much needed time to myself where I could try to get "into the zone" without the kids complaining about why we had "to stop again and take more pictures?" Much to my surprise, my favorite image of the day was not of the lake but occurred on my way home. About half way home I stopped for some gas and a coffee and the photo above is what I captured there on my little lay over. I was thinking about this image for the rest of my journey home....how you go out searching for something with a plan in mind, only to find what you were probably looking for all along came when you were least expecting it. You know, being in the right place at the right time but having no idea it was going to happen! Hope you enjoy this image as much as I did taking it! I plan on posting some more of the images that I took that day over the next week or so.