alison bickel photography

Whew!  It’s like a whirlwind most days around here.  I’ve started to think that my children do not know the meaning of the saying, “lazy days of summer”.  It’s fun though…lots of days at the pool, riding bikes, playing with friends and whatever other adventures we can think of.  It hasn’t left me with a lot of time to catch up on my favorite blogs, but as I was doing just that last night I thought it might be fun to share a few here.  Just click on the links below.  Enjoy!

Tara Whitney

Baked Bree

Deb Schwedhelm

i love life

Creative Mama

Run like a Mother

Also wanted to post a favorite new picture, part of my ongoing project to get in more pictures with the boys.

Lastly, I came across this quote the other day on Simone Hanckel’s (another fave) blog. With my affinity for quotes I loved it instantly.

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice”

~Robert Frank

Definately something I’d like to aspire to.

alison

I spent yesterday in the trees.  Literally.  It was field trip day for the third graders and I was lucky enough to go along.  We ventured down to Nebraska City to visit the Arbor Day Farm.  For those of you that don’t know your Nebraska history this area was home to J. Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day.  We spent the day walking the trails near his home, learning about the HUNDREDS of trees he planted as well as the passion and logic behind his cause.

After several cold and rainy days last week we were gifted with the most perfect weather.  Each of the classes had a guide that took us on the trails and to the various stations for learning.  We even watched a movie about memorable trees that have made appearances on the big screen, like the big tree in Forest Gump, Shawshank Redemption and Star Wars.

My favorite part of the day was the time we spent walking the trails.  I loved that parents were encouraged to hang in the back of the group so the children could really pay attention, also giving me a chance to snap a few shots.  I got so caught up in taking pictures I had to run to catch up a couple of times.  ;)

Just a few details captured along the way…

If you pay attention you never know just what you might find…

After a morning walk on the trails we headed to the outdoor classroom to learn a little about “the web of life”.  It was a great lesson on how we are all connected and if one part of the web is broken, everyone is affected.

Going through the greenhouse to see how hazelnut trees are grown.

After the movie and lunch we were back on the trails.  Passing Skunk Hollow, luckily we didn’t see any….  ;)

This time our destination was a tree house–50 feet high.  Ben just kept saying, “wow mom, that is a long way down.”

And finally the Exploratory Classroom where the kids could run and play. It is a beautiful shaded area under a huge old tree.  I think I could’ve sat there all day…or maybe taken a nap in one of the hammocks.

All in all it could not have been a more perfect day for a field trip.  Ben and I came home happy and exhausted from spending the day in the sunny outdoors.  He has already asked when we can head back…he wants to show his brothers all he learned.

I’ll leave you with some wise worlds from J. Sterling Morton himself…

alison

PS–It must be my week, because I was back in the trees again this morning photographing a very special little girl.  Images from her session coming soon!

I came across this article the other day on the Creative Mama (great blog) and shared it on my personal facebook page. It’s about how, as mothers, we rarely put ourselves in photographs.  Photographers or not.   I was surprised by the number of people that responded, finding it to be true for themselves too.

This is something I decided to work on after a recent school project drew it to my attention.  Samuel needed a picture of me for a Mother’s Day thing at school.  I had one picture.  It got me looking through the rest of my files only to find that there are hardly any of me and the boys.  A few years ago I was really good at it using my camera remote to get pictures of us, but have since changed cameras and no longer have it.  It was always fun to use, I just haven’t replaced it.

In the article I especially liked the part about teaching someone else to take pictures with your camera.  Samuel is always asking me to take my picture or use my camera.  This past Sunday, Mother’s Day, I took him up on the offer and this is what we got…

I’ll admit I did a little photoshopping to it, sharpen and color boost.  But the composition and focus is all him.  I love it.  I’m also thinking we may have another photographer in the house.  How fun!

alison

Enjoy your Tuesday!

alison