Playing in the tide (mental note: Bean needs a new swim suit)

It was a beautiful spring day at the beach yesterday. It was one of those kinds of beach days where you are enjoying the gorgeous weather and you forget to put sunscreen on your kids (oops) and then thank the heavens above that they did not get too fried. (My brain hasn't yet transitioned into the warm weather beach packing groove. By the end of summer I will have mastered the beach packing/sun screening routine.)

"The Littles" (as we like to call 'em) spent some time down in the tide doing a little tide dancing.

Mr. Little may be little, but he is one studly tide jumper with killer vertical skills.

Bean really wanted a spin on the boogie board.

It was her first ride of the season. That big smile is actually an exclamation:

"Mom! It's freeeeeeeeezing!"

(It's the Northern Pacific girl, by summer you'll get used to it.)

What's with the cut off sweats Bean is sporting? So glad you asked. She informed me that her suit was too small. It was doing a little cheek ridin' and she did not appreciate flashing her toosh.  (I can totally empathize.) Geez, I just spent money on her brother yesterday for new pants. And he is going to need new shorts soon as all his school shorts from last fall are now above the knee. Key word here people: above the knee. In case you do not have a ten year old son--hem line placement soooooo matters. 

I really do not want my kids growing any bigger because I miss their smallness, their cuteness, their innocence, and, it means I'm getting older. But really, when it comes down to it, I just cannot afford their growth spurts.

Does anybody else feel my pain? 

Anyone?

photography note: full bright sun is a bear to shoot in, especially at the beach (or snow) with all that light bouncing off of the foam in the tide. Sometimes you just gotta work with it. One thing you can do is turn your subject with his/her back against the sun so the face is in the shade. But in my case the Littles were running around in the water and I had no choice but to just take what was given. Your light meter will want to expose for all that bright sun and pull everything to the middle mostly likely giving you a weirdly underexposed shot with deep contrast and dark faces. So I had to play with the shutter speed and trick my camera into keeping it's shutter open just a little longer than it wanted it too to let in more light. (You can also use a polarizing filter on your lens for those kinds of scenes, which will help cut the glare. But alas, I have not bought one for my newer lens. And I'd forget to use it.)
AND, most importantly, I also decided to just not stress about getting the kids in perfect exposure, or worry about blowing out highlights. Instead I decided to play with composition. For most of them, I placed the kids up into the top of my frame where the shallow depth of field made them a little blurry and I could focus on the foreground. I like it sometimes when the subject is a "suggestion" or a "hint" of a subject. It creates a perspective in which the subject is thrown into the peripheral vision of the viewer. Almost like you were a part of the scene but your thoughts were not focused on the subjects. You know when you're in a day dream and you realize your eyes have de-focused making everything just dreamy blurry? Make sense? Anyway, I like those kinds of photos. :)

Just sharing, because some of you photography friends often ask me how I do things. I am NO expert. But it occurred to me that I might share some of this stuff for those that care and that are learning like me. I love hearing how other photographers do what they do. I love it when they freely share. So there you go.

And if you've got suggestions too from your experience, please do tell.