2016 August 5-on-5

It's been a year since I started this 5-on-5 project.  When I looked back to my first post last year I saw that I had posted about Lauren and I picking black raspberries, so I thought it rather fitting that this month I had documented our blackberry picking- different berry- same concept.

We do A LOT of picking in this family, usually out of our own garden or from foraging. We are blessed to have an abundance of blackberries that grow in my dad's fields.  It isn't always easy picking and we usually end up scratched and in the case of this year, with poison ivy. But, it is absolutely worth it.

It doesn't get much better than eating berries warm and juicy from the sun.

 I've been teaching Lauren how to use my older camera.  She is becoming quite the pro at back button focus and captured me picking.  I love all the tall grass/weeds in the foreground.

 Berry picking is hot work, especially at the end of July when temperatures soar and the humidity is stifling. Even though her skin was red, blotching and sticky it made me want to capture the beauty of her hair blowing in the hot air of a perfect summer day.

Continue the 5-on-5 circle of documentary goodness by visiting Hannah Nielsen a Portland Documentary Family Photographer 

Senior 2017- Hillsdale Michigan Senior Photographer

What's inside of you, what's inside of me?
The hands that made the moon and stars
The mountains and the seas

Made you wonderful, beautiful, marvelously
Let the whole world see your true beauty
The whole world see your true beauty

True, true, true, true, true beauty

~Mandisa

June 5-on-5

Year five of dance.
Time has flown by since we slipped those first pair of little ballet shoes onto your feet.
Pink tights, leotard and shoes, you were hooked.

Now you don't need my help adjusting those pesky tights or slipping you shoes on over your heels.  You've got it now. And as I watch you dance I know that you have.

You are making strides.  It may not always come easy, but I see your dedication.  You don't just dance at the studio, no you twirl and plie', hop and leap, all around the house, practicing your art.

This year brought tears.  What beauty you exuded.  From the time you began getting ready to your last practiced and preformed step, it was perfection.  It was the rite of passage from a little girl to the beginnings of a young lady and my heart cried out with joy, pride, and an abundance of love for my precious, darling, baby girl.

Dance strong, dance sweet, dance love, dance heart, dance soul....  DANCE!


Continue on with the circle of documentary 5 photos on the 5th of the month with the talented Jessica of Samarie-Lei | Houston Family Photographer .

May 5-on-5

She climbed up on the bar stool and leaned over onto the counter.
"What are you up to?" I asked.
"Caleb and I are going to play war, " she responded.
"War? Do you know how to play that?" I asked glancing over at her.
As she bounded away to get geared up, she threw over her shoulder, "Nope, but it is the only thing he will play with me."

When you are the only girl with three older brothers, desperate times call for desperate measures. So, you dig out one of the myriads of play guns shoved into an overflowing storage tub and grab a camo backpack stuffing it full of essentials, like a blanket and a doll. Because you never know when those might come in handy when you are involved in war games in the back yard!

For more documentary photography that portrays a story and a little slice of life visit the talented Melissa  of Melissa Kayser Photography.