Stopping to Smell the Roses

I took this photo at the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church a few weeks ago. We were there for my mom's induction into her college's Honor Society. I was busy snapping shots of the amazing stained glass and the gorgeous pews when I looked up and found this: a gorgeous green glass dome. If I hadn't taken the time to look around, if I'd just concentrated on the ceremony I was there to see, I would have missed this beautiful photograph.

It's easy to get sucked into every day so that I forget to notice the little details. On those days, I'm glad I've got photographs like these to remind me what happens when I stop to look around.

Chloe

It is definitately a rare thing to capture an image of this gorgeous girl that isn't blurred beyond recognition. At two years and some months old, she is constantly in motion exploring the world around her. She's always giving my photographic skills a workout. Trying to freeze frame a whirling dervish like my Chloe is a wonderful way to learn (and relearn!) shutter speed basics!

I took so many thousands of photos of her when she was a baby. It was all so easy then. She was beautiful in her newborn baby way, and she had yet to learn how to crawl, scoot, cruise, walk, or run away from my camera.

These days, I've learned, I have to be devious. I have to catch these rare moments of stillness when they present themselves, and that means being on the lookout for the shot 24/7. Often I fail, managing to capture nothing more than the swish of her hair as she turns tail and runs, laughing all the way. But then there are days when the sun is shining and she is laughing and I get lucky.

I get this. Blonde hair and a smiling face and a little pink tongue peeking out. One shot like this is worth all the thousands that end up in the delete pile.

Chloe - May 16, 2009 - Huntington,WV