Scaveneger Hunt: Pain... Part Two

This past weeks scavenger hunt was quite challenging... the topic was Pain-Something that causes pain, but is not a person. This was a very challenging topic for me, and surprisingly enough ended up being quite an emotional post. If you missed it, click here for my portrait of pain.

I wanted to share one photograph with you that Lisa submitted. I have known Lisa for years and last year I had the opportunity to photograph her family with their newest edition. If you want to see some of the photos from that session of her beautiful family, click on her name!

Lisa has done ballet for practically her whole life, now... I am not sure what she is going to do. She has three boys.... and I mean BOYS! I am not sure they will ever be doing ballet, but when she thought about this scavenger hunt, she came up with this image.Isn't it perfect!? I love it! It completely shows her dedication and devotion to ballet and also the pain that a ballerina in pointe shoes goes through! Thank you for submitting this image!

Next week the assignment is.... NOSTALGIA- Sentimental recollection: a mixed feeling of happiness, sadness and longing when recalling a person, place or event from the past or the past in general or Homesickness: a longing for home or family when away from either.

If you want to participate, send me your image to sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com and I will include some of them on the blog! Don't be shy! I have had a couple of great shoots and some other exciting news about Sara Montgomery Photography that I have yet to share with you, so stay posted! Have a great week!

Scavenger Hunt: Pain-Something That Causes Pain But Is Not A Person

How do you take a photograph of pain? How can you portray the feeling of your heart breaking or your soul crying? How do you portray the loss of words and the numbness pain can cause in a simple image? I thought about this all week long and wondered how I could express so much emotion, especially without a person as the subject of the photo. I tried my best... Can you feel and see "pain" in this long and weathered staircase? I thought I could, until Friday. Friday I came home and checked my email...Now...Now I feel pain. My dear friend.... I am praying for you.

Photography Scavenger Hunt: Lock or Something Locked

I was so lucky last week. I spent the week in Miami Beach, Florida. We arrived right when the Superbowl was starting. We stayed at the AMAZING Fontainebleau resort. They were hosting the New Orleans Saints... so needless to say, there was not much rest to be had on super bowl Sunday! I spent 5 nights relaxing on the beach, by the pool, walking the board walk, going to the spa... ahhhhhh how relaxing. We have never left our kiddos for more than a night, and have not gone away since our honeymoon (nine years ago) so we were over due! We were SO lucky to have my wonderful mother stay with our girls, and I think they hardly noticed we were gone, which made the trip even better! Now the only bad part is that my luggage is still in Wichita, Kansas (I have no idea how it even got there, I flew threw Atlanta!!!)

I am using this trip as my excuse for not taking a photo for the Scavenger Hunt last week, which I must say was one of the more challenging topics. It was, "How I see myself (today)". Check out Connie or Cheryl's blogs to see what image they took to portray this. They did not let you down!!!

This week the assignment was A LOCK OR SOMETHING LOCKED. When I was relaxing on the beach I saw this....I was shocked to find this old rusty lock on the beach in Miami... I thought it was quite fitting for this week. If you like locks, you should check out Jessica Claire's fine art photography. She has a whole selection of Lock Images. Connie took a ton of amazing images of locks this week as well, be sure to stop by her blog and see them all.

Next week the topic is... (drum roll)... PAIN - SOMETHING THAT SHOWS PAIN, BUT IS NOT A PERSON . I would love to see your images and share some of them on the blog! Email me your images to sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com .

A Family Is An Amazing Thing

A family is an amazing thing. The love is sort of unexplainable. How can you express how much you love your child and what you would do for him. How can you explain what it means to have a spouse for your best friend, someone who knows your thoughts without you saying anything at all? What is better than a mother's love for her son?What can you compare to the relationship between a father and son?How can you even dream of making that family any better? I know the answer to that question.....

Add a baby girl to the equation! This little cutie... Ben... is going to be a big brother! I hope this little girl is ready for her big brother! He will keep her on her toes! I am sure they will play a lot of hide and seek...He will teach her to climb...He will probably get a little frustrated with her at times!...He will definitely be able to make her smile and laugh...and maybe... just maybe he will share his chocolate cupcake with her...O.K.... maybe not!!!...I had a wonderful time with this soon to be family of four! I am so excited for your new blessing that will be arriving this month!
God Bless your family and your new baby girl!

Photography Scavenger Hunt: Beloved

This week the topic for the scavenger hunt was "BELOVED". There is one specific image that I took of a client that kept popping up in my head. I have never shared this image before because it is such an intimate moment between a mother and child, but when I thought about what BELOVED means, I am not sure how I could express it better than sharing this image.This beautiful baby boy would reach up and twirl his mommy's hair when he was nursing. His eyes just stared up into his mommy's face. It was so beautiful, and I was so honored to be able to share in it with this mother. The love between a mother and child, what could be more pure?

This next image was submitted by Cheryl. I love this image. What a beautiful little girl, and WOW... look at those lashes! This image is so quiet and serene, her parent's will cherish this image forever!Next weeks topic is: How I see myself (today)... These topics get more and more challenging every week! Please take time to think this one through, there are many different ways you could portray this. With that being said, phewww... this one could be hard! It can be (and will be for me!!!) difficult to make yourself vulnerable with an image like this. Please continue to submit your images for the scavenger hunt! Be brave, and send your image to sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com .

Make sure to head over to Connie's site to see her "Beloved" image!

The Safi Foundation

I am so excited to say that the 2009 holiday special was a smashing success! Last year I decided that I would donate a portion of every holiday session to The Safi Foundation. More specifically we chose to support a couple of projects that they are working on. First is the Safi School Project. The Safi School Project is a non-profit organization that improves and supports secondary education in Tanzania, East Africa, one school at a time. Safi is in its second year working with its pilot school in Arusha, TZ.

Second, we have chosen to support The Water Project. Currently there is no water supply for the school for drinking, cooking or washing. The water they have is gathered in buckets from a nearby ditch or stream. It is not clean and it takes a great deal of time and energy to get it. In times of drought, which are not uncommon to this area, there are times that they have no water supply at all. The well will provide a sustainable source of clean water and will also help them maintain a garden to support the diets of the students and their community.

I am so thrilled to announce that Sara Montgomery Photography and Live With Grace will be donating $700 to these two amazing projects. I would like to thank all of the families that helped us raise money for this amazing project. Here is a slide show with an image from each of the families that helped raise these funds. Thank you again to all of you! (If you would like to hear music with the slide show, click on the speaker button on the top left of the show.)

If you are interested in supporting the Safi Foundation, please visit their site. You can also follow their blog and see what they are doing right now in Tanzania! Thank you all.

Photography Scavenger Hunt: Stripes

OK, so I think I am really going to like this photography scavenger hunt. I was thrilled to have a couple of people email me their "stripes" images, and I will share those with you in this post. I thought all week about what type of "stripe" image I wanted to take... and I kept coming back to the same thing, so I went with it.

Here is my favorite "STRIPE" image.
Now... what I think I like most about this image is how I got it. And, what I like maybe more than the image itself is the emotions that it stirs in me. My girls are at the age right now that everything is done in rainbows. They even sometimes say their favorite color is rainbow. Every picture they draw has a rainbow... their jeans have rainbows on the pockets... they have rainbow stickers and stamps... rainbow lip gloss... and the list goes on and on and on.
In these images, they are both wearing a pair of rainbow Baby Legs (which they also LOVE, and were actually both featured in one of their catalogs about a year ago). What little girl doesn't need a pair of rainbow leg warmers, they are great! My girls keep growing up and getting older... I just want them to freeze, and it is not working for me even when I ask them to stop! These photos, will HOPEFULLY help me keep the memories of their youth alive forever. When I look at this simple image of their colorful legs, I will remember their toes and their rainbows... I will remember them playing peak a boo...
I will hear them giggling... I will see them being silly... I will hear them telling stories...
And... I will remember the love between two sisters.Now, enough about me and my images. I was THRILLED to have a couple of photos submitted for this weeks "stripes" assignment. Check out this image...
This great leaf image was sent to me by an amazing woman, my mom! She has always loved photography and takes great photos! This one was taken in Florida, and I love it. The whole frame is filled with these huge green stripy leaves. Wonderful shot! What a great idea for this weeks theme!

Rachel sent in this next image of her adorable boys in STRIPED shirts!
I love this image of these brothers. It is amazing how she captured each one of their personalities in one shot! Great soft lighting and beautiful brown eyes! Way to go Rachel!

Thanks to everyone for participating! Next weeks topic is BELOVED . Start thinking about it now.... Email me (sara@saramontgomeryphoto.com) your favorite image and I will feature some of them on the blog! Be sure to head over to Connie Riggio Photography to see the fun "stripes" image she featured this week.