Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14

Last year I started a devotion called Prosper: A 40 Day Prayer Journey to Seek God’s Will for Your Photography Business by professional photographer Scarlett Lillian.  I finished it but never did complete the very first task it challenged me to do on day one…to write a blog post about my heart for God.  So now it is almost a year later and I have decided that I need to revisit it.  Since the last time I completed Prosper we have moved to a new state and I am starting my business from scratch again it seems.  New locations to find and new clients to photograph…however, being a military family all this starting over is not new to me.  So now here I am ready to share my heart.  It has been put on my heart as a reminder that it is not only clients that I will be working with but other photographers and vendors.  So I have decided to break this up into two parts even though they both deal with the same basic premise, love and serving.  This week I really want to speak to my clients and potential clients.  Next week I would like the chance to speak to my colleagues.  So please feel free to comment below on your thoughts or what maybe is being spoken to your heart after reading this.  You can also email me if you would like to keep it more personal.

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above from instagram follow me @ kgilbert

(I think Confucius must have known some photographers.)

Now head on over to my dear friend Jane Brown’s blog of Jane Brown & Co Photography!

Whew!  We are finally back into a routine it seems following our latest road trip over the boys’ Spring Break.

A couple of years ago we bought our first annual National Parks Pass.  That was the best decision my family has made on vacations!  Our goal: to hit EVERY National Park Site once in our lifetime.  Did you know that there is an entire club devoted to visiting all the National Parks!  It is the National Park Travelers Club and though we aren’t ones now I know we are going to be members soon enough!  After our first couple of visits to National Parks in the South West Region we got the boys a National Park Passport that they get stamped at each visitor center.  They love doing it.  And we make a point to hit every National Park Site we can while on the road.

This Spring Break we chose to take our crew down through southern Florida.  We hit DeSoto National Memorial in Bradenton, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Refuge on Sanibel Island, Big Cypress National Preserve near Ochopee, Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park and the Canaveral National Seashore.  See, I told you we like to see the National Parks!

The first that we visited we were unable to reach the visitor’s center before they closed, so sadly, no stamp at this stop for the boys.  Maybe we will stop again another trip just for the stamp.  But the actual grounds were open until sunset so we went and explored.  It was quiet and an easy hike.  It was really foggy too.  But there was a small beach where we got to see a couple of small sharks swimming around and check out some plants that we hadn’t noticed before.  Here are a few images from that Park.

I am not sure if it was the area or the weather or the time of day but we really didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife here.  But oh just wait!  In the next few days you will see all the wildlife we DID run into!  Some a little bit bigger then others!

Happy Travels!

K

P.S. If you are interested in getting a National Park Passport for your kids you can purchase them online here before your next trip.  Also, don’t forget to buy your annual pass at your stop in a National Park Visitor Center or entrance!  It is well worth it!

National Parks Passport Program

Sugar and sweets make me happy.  Making things off of Pinterest makes me happy.  Realizing that the DOF was too shallow after the homemade pop tarts are consumed does not make so happy…I would have liked to reshot these.  This is SOOC and could use some WB work too.  But alas we are on the road and I want to get this out.  I’ll just have to make them again when I get home.  My boys were VERY happy that I made these too!

Enjoy!

Now head on over to Valerie’s blog to see what makes her happy this week!

Cheers!

K

This week the theme for our 52 week blog circle is WIDE ANGLE.  So, I took an inventory of what I have in the way of wide angle lenses to use this past week.  My first L series lens was the 17-40mm f4.0.  We bought it as we prepared to galavant across the southwest and wanted to be able to capture the sweeping views we would encounter in National Parks like the Grand Canyon, Arches and Zion.

So of course my first thought was to photograph a landscape image but that was just too similar to something I have been able to accomplish before.  What I had not tried before was turning my wide angle lens on people and pets.  I love the look of portraits of dog noses with a fish eye lens but with out one of those I was going to see what I could do with just my 17-40mm.  So I set off to try to capture that wide angle distortion.  Photographing women and girls with a wide angle lens is probably not going to win you any fans.  But little boys think it’s funny to see themselves “puffy” (as my son put it) and dogs’ noses just beg to be photographed in this manner.

Note: On a crop sensor that 17mm is actually not as wide, more like a 27mm.  However, even with that focal length I figured I should be able to get something fun.  Here is what I came up with for my WIDE ANGLE this week…Noses

Now head on over to Valerie’s blog to see what she came up with her WIDE ANGLE image.

If you want to read a little bit more about using wide angle lenses take a look at these articles from LenRental.com and another from Jim Harmer at ImprovePhotography.com.  If you are on Pinterest, I have both these articles pinned in my Photo Tips & Tricks board that you can repin from.

Cheers,

K