Food Fun Family

Carefree Summer Days #PSF

Lolli — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 02:42:30 +0000

I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot this week, despite the fact that I don’t usually do that anymore.

It was a nice change of scenery.

The nature park and botanical gardens where I’ve taken so many pictures before was more vibrant and alive and colorful than ever. Or it least it seemed so this week. It was a gorgeous day…too early to be too hot or muggy.

The family that I photographed is one of my favorite long-term clients (again…I don’t do this for just anybody anymore) and there was something rejuvenating about walking around the beautiful gardens and capturing as much beauty as I could in an hour. I mostly took pictures of their little 4 year old girl…but I couldn’t help snapping pictures of the mama goose and her goslings or the bird I saw in a tree.

I’m ready for a little bit MORE change of scenery. June and July are full-time travel months for me. I’ll be hitting everywhere from Chicago to Florida to the Grand Canyon in the next several weeks. As much as I’m looking forward to it, though, I have an equal amount of anxiety. There is SO much to do between now and then!

Oh! To be carefree and be able to enjoy these early days of summer for the beautiful, warm, sunshiny weather, the afternoons at the pool and the evening walks on the weekend.

Soon. MY carefree summer days are coming soon.

What have you been up to this week? Now it’s time for YOU to show me your best shots from this past week. Link up below and have a fantastic weekend!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

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An InLinkz Link-up

Hiking to Silver Lake in the Uinta National Forest #PSF

Lolli — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 04:34:24 +0000

After driving over 3200 miles across the country and taking a day to rest (and to do lots and lots of laundry) we thought it would be fun to take a “quick” 5 mile hike with the cousins.

Let’s just say that 5 miles straight up and down a mountain is very different (and much more strenuous!) from hiking in Maryland.

We came home exhausted, covered in dirt, and thirsty beyond belief (again…we were prepared with enough water for a 2 1/2 mile each way hike at home, not in the dessert mountains). But we had a fantastic time, saw spectacular views, and created memories with cousins that will last a lifetime.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake Reservoir

For those of you considering hiking to Silver Lake in the Uinta National Forest here are a few things you should know:

The 3-mile dirt road drive is not regular car friendly. Drive a truck or SUV. Leave the minivan at home. It’s a rough road full of switch backs and large stones and holes…and our van barely made it. But we did make it.
The 2.2 mile hike that starts at the Silver Lake Reservoir and ends up at Silver Lake is straight up the mountain (or at least it feels like it). It is full of unbelievable views and plenty of shady spots to stop and rest (because you probably will want to stop to rest). It is not a hike for the weak. My tachycardia was going wild the entire hike up to the lake (my heart rate was between 120 and 180 for the whole hike…probably not the smartest choice for me!).
Going down the mountain is much easier and much faster.
We had kids from 2 to 18 in our group, and the two youngest had a hard time with the hike. All of the kids above 8 were just fine with the hike (but they were very tired).
Silver Lake is COLD, even in mid July when the air temperature is in the 90s and 100s. But after hiking in the heat, that cold water felt incredible on our feet. A few people even got in a little deeper…
Pack lots and lots of water.
Plan for a full day outing. The hike up to Silver Lake took us a few hours, where the hike down took an hour to an hour and a half, with a rest stop of about an hour at the lake.

And now, I need to sleep…That hike wore me out!

What have you been up to this week? Surviving the heat and the craziness of summer?

Be sure to link up your posts below!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

To play Give Me Your Best Photo Story Friday, check this. Copy this code into your post and sign the link list:
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An InLinkz Link-up

Butterfly Garden #WW

Lolli — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:27:38 +0000

After 2 fun days at iRetreat 2014 at Hershey (where I-can’t-believe-I-call-myself-a-photographer forgot to take a single picture!!) my Hershey-local sister and all of the kids ran up to Hershey Gardens for a quick run through the butterfly gardens. I had my Samsung NX300 with me (side note: I am becoming more and more hooked on the compactness and lightness of my NX300 and my sister was so jealous…so I told her to come back at the end of the month when I’m giving one away…).

Anyway…back to those butterflies…

I could only manage to grab a few pictures from my camera tonight (I’m exhausted!) so I’ll show a few more at the end of the week!

What have you been doing this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Meadowside Nature Center #PSF Give Me Your Best Shot

Lolli — Thu, 29 May 2014 22:00:21 +0000

Yesterday, my friend Lisa and I headed to the local Meadowside Nature Center to catch some photos of bugs and birds. Although the bugs and birds were all slightly camera-shy, I did manage to catch a few.

I brought my Canon 60D with 70-200mm zoom lens and my new, smaller Samsung NX300 with 20-50mm lens. Can you tell which photos came from which camera?

What have you been up to this week?

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

To play Give Me Your Best Shot Photo Story Friday, check this. Copy this code into your post and sign the link list:
<center><a href=”https://foodfunfamily.com/tag/give-me-your-best-shot” target=”_blank”></a><a href=”https://mychaosmybliss.com” target=”_blank”></a> Hosted by <a href=”https://mychaosmybliss.com/” target=”_blank”>Cecily</a> and <a href=”https://foodfunfamily.com” target=”_blank”>Lolli</a></center>

An InLinkz Link-up

The Hike #WordlessWednesday

Lolli — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 02:48:12 +0000

The following pictures are from a little family outing that two of my kids and I took with some friends over Spring Break. I brought my big camera and then forgot all about the pictures once I got back home.

We call this place, simply, “The Hike.”

If someone in the family asks for clarification, we say, “You know, the hike. With the water.”

Someone recently asked me what this place was called. I had no idea.

We drove past a small parking area off the side of the road to Walmart and Target for years before we finally stopped to see what was beyond the parking spot…and why people would park there in the first place.

We discovered a whole new world beyond that unpaved parking lot. It has continued to be our special place – our escape from the world (and it’s right down the street from church!). It was fun to share it with friends.

What have you been up to lately? Link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain #WW

Lolli — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 23:53:10 +0000

After a late morning photo shoot this Saturday, my 10 year old, Reese, and I hiked about 7 miles up and down Sugarloaf Mountain. It was a gorgeous day for some mountain hiking (even if the mountains out here are hills back home in California!).

Baby Geese #WordlessWednesday

Lolli — Tue, 28 May 2013 23:45:56 +0000

I saw a family of geese while I was out at a photo shoot this weekend, and couldn’t resist stepping away from my clients for a minute to catch a few nature shots…

Are you playing along with Wordful or Wordless Wednesday today? Link up!
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Our Special Place – #PSF Give Me Your Best Shot

Lolli — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:56:35 +0000

We have a special place. It’s a few minutes away from our house, but when we go there, we feel like we’ve been transported to an entirely different world.

Yesterday, while the bigger kids were all in activities, AJ and I visited our special place for the first time this year. It was a perfect night, and the animals were putting on a show, too.

AJ named the deer “April,” and he was disappointed when April didn’t show up again on our hike back to the car. The red fox we saw in the distance got the simple name “Red.” Red was too fast to catch a good picture.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Disneynature’s Wings of Life Review

Lolli — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:41:40 +0000

Last night, AJ, Reese and I sat down for an uninterrupted hour and a half. I didn’t do laundry. I didn’t blog.

We watched bees and birds and bats.

There were a lot of oohs and ewws and WOs! And there was a ton of learning.

Just in time for Earth Day 2013, Disneynature has released their latest film, Wings of Life. Over the last several years, corresponding with Earth Day each year, Disneynature has produced the incredible and inspiring “Earth,” “Oceans,” “African Cats” and “Chimpanzee.” I had the thrill of participating in the world premiere event for Chimpanzee last April, and was excited to hear about this year’s new installment.

About Disneynature’s Wings of Life

Wings of Life is a visually stunning, high-definition super-close look at the world of butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and bats, and their (human) life sustaining collaboration with flowers. Wings of Life was directed by Louie Schwartzberg (“America’s Heart & Soul”) and narrated by Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep, and is available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Digital and On Demand today, April 16, 2013 — just in time for Earth Day.

Speaking of the movie, narrator Meryl Streep said, “In the chaos and craziness of our day-to-day lives, few of us stop to consider what’s happening behind the scenes in nature that makes our lives possible. This film is a stunning adventure that literally takes flight alongside all kinds of winged creatures — butterflies, bees and bats — each working hard to pollinate our planet.”

Director Louie Schwartzberg said, “For me, the joy of doing this film is to be able to explore worlds that humans can’t easily experience—bats sipping nectar in the middle of the desert at night, orchid bees expertly manipulated by a bucket orchid, exotic hummingbirds flying like airborne dancers, and a clustering monarch colony with millions of butterflies. I hope to share the spectacle of nature and to spark in others the sense of wonder I have about the natural world.”

Wings of Life used multiple cameras, both time-lapse and high-speed, and plenty of time and patience to capture amazing detail in the lives of some of our favorite winged friends. Wings of Life production used the best digital cameras — one capable of up to 1500 frames per second, and another which used a pinhole lens, allowing the cameraman to get within millimeters of an insect (while still retaining a clear view of the background). As a photographer who loves to capture still shots of nature, I was blown away by the color, clarity, and detail that they were able to capture on the film.

Who Will Love Disneynature’s Wings of Life?

My 7 and 10 year old were both fascinated by the winged animals on the screen, especially since my son’s 2nd grade class is currently growing their own batch of caterpillars and butterflies. He loved seeing an up-close and personal view of the same creatures that he’s studying in school (I even considered lending the DVD to the second grade team). By the end of the movie, AJ was asking if he could get some more caterpillars for his birthday.

Wings of Life is perfect for kids of all ages – especially those who love nature and bees and other flying creatures (In case you’re worried or curious – there are no spiders). Wings of Life will teach as well as inspire, but it’s not an animated song-and-dance movie.

Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF)

To celebrate the debut of “Wings of Life,” Disneynature has made a contribution to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) to protect pollinators worldwide. The DWCF has already supported more than 20 projects across North America focused on protecting pollinators and their habitats. Grants have helped conservationists save endangered butterflies, expand habitat for honeybees and educate children about the importance of pollinators and how they can help protect them.

Special sneak peek of “Bears”

The “Wings of Life” Blu-ray Combo Pack includes a sneak peek at Disneynature’s 2014 “Bears,” which will premiere on the big screen. “Bears” follows two mother grizzly bears and their experiences and life lessons with their impressionable young cubs and is set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop. I can’t wait for it to come out next Earth Day!

About Disneynature:

Disneynature was launched in April 2008. Its mission is to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to share a wide variety of wildlife stories on the big screen in order to engage, inspire and educate theatrical audiences everywhere. Walt Disney was a pioneer in wildlife filmmaking, producing 13 True-Life Adventure motion pictures between 1948 and 1960, which earned eight Academy Awards®. The first four Disneynature films, “Earth,” “Oceans,” “African Cats” and “Chimpanzee,” are four of the top five highest overall grossing feature-length nature films to date, with “Chimpanzee” garnering a record-breaking opening weekend for the genre.

Disney’s commitment to conservation is a key pillar of the label and Disneynature films empower the audience to help make a difference. Through donations tied to opening-week attendance for all four films, Disneynature, through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, has planted three million trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, established 40,000 acres of marine protected area in The Bahamas, protected 65,000 acres of savanna in Kenya, protected nearly 130,000 acres of wild chimpanzee habitat, educated 60,000 school children about chimpanzee conservation and cared for chimpanzees.

Follow Disneynature on Facebook: facebook.com/Disneynature and on Twitter: @Disneynature.

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Disneynature’s Wings of Life at the Monster’s University press event last week but no compensation has been received. All thoughts about the movie are my own.

Surrounded by Beauty – Give Me Your Best Shot #PSF

Lolli — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:36:05 +0000

Only photographers go on outings for the sole purpose of taking pictures. And only bloggers go on outings for the sole purpose of taking pictures for blog posts.

I’m doomed.

After spending the week either sitting at my computer or running errands at the store, I needed to find some inspiration.

I found it this morning at 6:50, as I was driving my oldest daughter, KitKat, and her friends to the high school. We passed the lake – part of our normal drive – that was covered in a light mist. If I could have stopped right then, I would have. I had to be satisfied with returning to the lake after the kids were all in school.

Thank goodness for this much-needed break and the reminder that there is so much beauty around me. So much to appreciate and enjoy.

…even if I did get a few strange looks from my fellow path-walkers as I stood in the middle of bee-covered bushes to catch a few close-ups with my non-macro lens. Sigh.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli