July in Black and White | Personal Images

So here we are.. it's August and soon we will be moving our little family up a little bit north to Denver Colorado.  July was a really wonderful month for our family.  I spent a lot of time experimenting with my Black and White images... I have recently been drawn to dark and moody images. I am really in love with embracing the shadows right now...  it also helps that I rarely can get my children to give me their real genuine smile on camera.  Tomorrow Lilian starts school as a SECOND GRADER!!!  Holy Moly!! Life seems to be going at this extremely rapid pace and keeping up with it can be really draining.  I am happy that this summer has been relatively calm- in terms of client sessions.  It has given me time to really focus and refine who I am as photographer... for now... because it seems that I am always changing and evolving. I can't stay stagnant with my work for long.. I have to be growing and changing.  So here is a little peek of my personal images/personal growth.  

Apple Annies Peach Picking | Personal Images

Every year we try to head out to Apple Annies in Willcox Arizona at least once for the Peach Picking Festival.  It's always a lot of fun picking about 20lbs of peaches with the girls.  This year Aria was tall enough to reach some of the lower branches and she was able to get her own sweet peaches.  They encourage you to try the peaches while picking them, especially the soft ripe ones.  Their peaches never disappoint.  This year we froze about 15lbs of peaches and I made peach turnovers and a peach and blueberry cobbler.  

After we picked our peaches we headed down the road to their farm and hit up their veggie patches to get some fresh zucchini, squashes, peppers, egg plant and corn.  We left the farm with a beautiful rainbow of fresh food.  We always encourage our kids (and ourselves) to eat as close to nature as possible.  I have often been asked how I get my kids to eat fresh vegetables, the answer is simple, it's what we eat at home.  It's the food they know. We also help them along by encouraging them to pick their own food so they can see where their food comes from.  Don't get me wrong they eat their fair share of junk and processed foods too but somehow along the way, I believe we found a nice balance.