Once in a while I’ll get in front of the camera (I much prefer to be the one taking pictures, though).  This photo was taken by my friend and fellow photographer, Cheri, during a weekend writing trip exactly one year ago (I added texture and enhanced the color in Photoshop).  We stayed at a beautiful house on the beach with inspiring views of the ocean…and we were amazed at all the sunshine that graced us during our time there.  I am sooo ready to return.

I found this darling vintage, turquoise, children’s toy telephone, all rusted and ready for a photoshoot.  I hoped my boys would be interested in taking pictures while holding it and found myself laughing as they chattered into the phone with animated antics.

Last February in the backyard, I set up my digital camera on the tripod, adjusted exposure and aperture, then asked my youngest daughter to ‘snap’ the shot.  It took a few tries, but we were finally successful in getting at least one sharp image.  I like the color contrasts here of the green, brown and black… and of course sunshine in February is always a beautiful thing!

This girl is pure sunshine… even on this cloudy day that I photographed her.  More images of her coming soon!