Stepping Stone Photography: The Trouble With Being the Photographer

I hear it is like a lot of other professions where people go into business for themselves--your own stuff takes the back burner! Yes, I love to take photos, especially of my own kids and of the things we do together as a family, and I think everyone should have gorgeous photos of their children on their walls! ...which is why it is ironic that our walls have been mostly bare, and the last snapshots I actually had printed are from August of last year (and they aren't in albums...they're still in the boxes they were shipped in! *cringe*), and that is also why, I'm sad to say...I have only JUST gotten around to converting our 4th of July pictures from their RAW file format! Shameful! I know I shared a few in the days following, but those were the only ones I'd had the chance to look at, and I hadn't touched them since. :(

I'm going to make it a priority, though, to get caught up on my own photos...I hope I can keep up with it, but I realize my family's memories shouldn't be left in unprocessed RAW digital files because I'm too busy working on everyone else's! :) So, I recently ordered a canvas for my living room, of my two lovely daughters, and I am going to share my 4th of July photos with you all now...the ones I should have shared months ago! Wish me luck that I can keep this up, and that soon I will have many beautiful framed prints of my kids on the walls, and plenty of albums full of recently-printed snapshots of the fun stuff we've done together!

So, without further adieu, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th (*wink*)! We really put a lot into that holiday, and I'm happy to share a few of the 258 photos (no, I'm not kidding) I took that day:

We started out at the park, where the kids played on the equipment for awhile

Unfortunately, the strong sun gave me lots of deep shadows and bright sunspots, but I did manage to get one nice shot of my younger daughter when she sat in the shade for a few minutes. Love the skinned knee and pout face!

After the park we put the kids down for naps, then everyone gathered at our house to watch the parade. Here they are, waiting for the parade to start:

This was unfortunately one of those days where my daughters were doing everything in their power to avoid looking at the camera. I did manage to get some cooperation out of the younger one, but I have this vague recollection of saying to my older daughter more than once (as I often do when she will not allow me to photograph her), "Fine, but when you're 16 and wonder why there are no pictures of you, don't come crying to me!" :) Ah, parenthood.

Getting her candy fix :)

Love this expression!

Next we returned to the park to ride the ponies! This is their favorite part, although my younger one had never ridden before--the last time we tried she chickened out. So I was THRILLED that she did it this time and loved it!

My little nephew got his first pony ride too!

Teasing the sheep. LOL

(guess she was saving the rest of the food for the goat!)

Feeding the llama...

...and of course we have to brush the calf. Actually my oldest one was pretty much chasing down every animal she could find, waving that brush. Poor things, hehe

After a fun-filled afternoon at the park (and following the trailer fire I posted about back in July), we headed to my parents' house for a meal and to hang out a bit before the fireworks (fireworks pics were also posted in July). Here the girls are begging their daddy for more of those snap-poppers that you toss on the ground. They loved them!