Elaina celebrated her first birthday today (July 4th) and I think she liked her cake and ice cream! Born on the Fourth of July and with red hair to boot! She’s really a fire cracker for sure!

When celebrating birthdays with kids, don’t just show them all neat and well groomed, but also when they’re messy and having a great time! The messy part cleans up pretty easy and having the ability to capture a moment like this is priceless and a memory that will live for ever.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and processed in Photoshop CS6.

Over the winter I had an old oak tree fall into my yard and while I had planned to cut it up for firewood, my niece Chrystal and I decided instead to turn the area where it fell into a Meadow Garden where I can take photos of wildlife, flowers and insects. This is the first picture from the area of some daisies that we planted. I think I’m really going to like this area!

If you’re a gardener and you’re planting areas of your yard, do so with pictures in mind! That way you won’t have to venture very far to capture those nice photos of butterflies and the likes!

Photo shot with the iPhone 5s and processed in Photoshop CS6.

Today’s challenge photo is of two of my brothers, Danny and David, along with my niece Chrystal, working on repairing the awning over her son, Brad’s, front porch here in Madisonville, Ky.

Brad is serving in the United States Air Force and he, along with his family are currently stationed in Colorado and we’re taking care of his house here.

Don’t limit your picture taking when photographing your family. Take pictures of the things you do in everyday life as later down the road you’ll be happy you did.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and processed in Photoshop CS6.

Kids and ice cream… they always make for a good picture!

Today Chrystal and I took Elaina to Dairy Queen for a treat and for the first time, at least with us, she held her own cone! Of course she kinda got it all over herself, but she didn’t mind at all. Never dropped the cone either, but we did end up taking it from her after she started eating it from the bottom and it started flooding out. Great time and great memories… that’s what a camera is there to capture!

I’m not sure which I like more, Elaina with the ice cream or her aunt Chrystal’s expression.

I’m sure when she’s older and looks back on this she’ll say something along the lines of… Uncle Jimmy… why did you!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and processed in the Snapseed App.

Sometimes a photograph doesn’t have to be technically sharp or perfect to be a keeper, such as this one of Damion and his Viking Hat. There’s just something about the lighting, his pose and even the water bottle that really work together to make this a pleasing picture for me.

So when looking through your pictures, if you find one that you really like, but it’s not technically perfect… keep it anyway!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App using the Loftus lens and DC film.

The young ladies, and the older ones as well, are drawn to Damion as we see here in this photo from church today! They all swoon over him every time we bring him to church as we see here with two of them playing with him and his hat!

With phones built into just about every phone on the market today there’s really no excuse for capturing moments like this, where ever they happen.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and processed in Photoshop CS6.

Ok, this post says the 28th of June and that’s when the picture was shot, but I’ve been seriously behind on posting here to my blog, even though I’ve been shooting my challenge picture everyday. So with that being said, over the next couple days I’m going to work on catching up!

This photo is of my niece Chrystal and brother David, who came over to help me with some landscaping in my yard. She has worked hard off and on for the last few weeks in helping me with getting my yard finally landscaped. She has a really good eye for landscaping, not to mention determination… as she dug up five stumps from the yard! It’s great to have family!

Here we’re unloading our third truckload of mulch that we created using a wood chipper after clearing underbrush and some old firewood.

It’s always good to capture photographs of the daily events that happen in your life. While they might not seem like that special today, many years down the road you’ll realize that they were.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

Today’s iPhone Challenge picture is of a CSX southbound loaded coal train at Pembroke, KY.

I love trains and while I usually shoot them with my Nikon D800 camera, today I arrived at Pembroke planning on shooting a Amish Buggy crossing over the railroad tracks with my iPhone 5s.

Well, the train showed up and the buggy didn’t! The buggy had stopped down the road at a bank and while I thought about shooting it there, I just wasn’t happy with the way the scene looked.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the standard camera App and post processing was done with Snapseed and Photoshop CS6.

Sherman is one of my four cats and today’s iPhone Challenge picture is of himself enjoying  some stretched out time on the front porch this afternoon.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Loftus Lens and DC film setting.

When photographing kids, or anyone for that matter, keep an eye out for dramatic light! It can really help enhance your picture and draw your viewer into the subject such as this shot of my niece Elaina.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Loftus lens and DC film setting.

Today our local photography club met at a local restaurant called Oasis and I captured this chair in the lobby for my iPhone Challenge photo of the day.

I like how Hipstamatic with the lens Loftus and DC film settings give the soft edges to help draw your eyes into the scene.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s and some post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

Today I captured Damion and his mom Ashley sharing some quality time together. I know a lot of folks say kids are too wrapped up in computers, the internet and so forth, but I’m of the opinion that in today’s society, if you don’t know how to use it, you’ll only be left behind in the future.

While Damion’s only almost two, we (the family) try to insure that he and his sister have a full rounded experience with everything in their life.

It won’t be long at the rate he’s learning, before I buy him is first camera that will really take pictures.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5’s built in camera and post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

At today’s Pearson family reunion, in Springfield, Ohio, I wanted to get a shot of my Aunt Jean, my dad’s last living sibling,  with Elaina, Xavier and Damion. She is their great-great-great Aunt and I really like how this one turned out! The interaction between Aunt Jean and Damion as Elaina and Xavier look at the camera and everyone with good expressions and eyes open!

I shot this using the burst mode on the iPhone 5s. It does a great job for those times when you have several little kids that have short attention spans! If you’ve not used it give it a try! Just hold down the button on the camera and everytime you hear a beep it’s taken a picture. You then will need to go to your camera roll and pick the shot you like the best and save it as the iPhone will save all the images from a burst into a folder.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5’s built in camera and post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

Today we headed out on a road trip to Ohio for a family reunion and I captured this shot of my nephews Xavier and Damion helping to unpack at the hotel. I shot a lot of potentials for today’s iPhone Challenge picture, but this one won out as I love the saying on Xavier’s shirt and implied action. Of course their version of helping to unpack is to get out their favorite toys!

Photo was shot with the standard camera app on the iPhone 5s App and post processing was done in the Snapseed App.

I love the lighting on today’s iPhone Challenge photo! It’s of my great-niece Tracy and her daughter Journey during their visit this weekend.

Don’t be afraid to shoot with your iPhone in tricky or low light situations. Worse case is the picture won’t come out, but if you don’t take it then for sure it won’t!

Photo was shot on the iPhone 5s with the Hipstamatic App using the Loftus lens and DC film setting. Post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

Today’s iPhone Challenge picture of my niece Journey. She. along with Tracy and Tim her parents, were in town for a weekend visit and this is the first time I’ve been able to photograph her since the day she was born! I love this shot as it looks like she’s looking deep into my soul, even though I know she was looking at the funny looking thing I was sticking in her face! She’ll get used to it!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Loftus lens and DC Film.

My niece Elaina has recently started crawling everywhere. We actually thought she’d go straight to walking as she was standing alone before she started crawling, but now she’s doing both and loves being able to get around.

Today’s iPhone Challenge photo is of her zipping past on her way to somewhere to get into something, probably her brother’s train table, as she loves to pull all the pieces apart.

Sometimes when photographing kids it’s better if your pictures have a little blur and off kilter action to help provide impact.

Another car for my Machines Series! Found this one on my normal drive to town this morning to Madisonville, Ky in the front yard of a friends parents house and waited till I was headed back home this afternoon as I thought the lighting would be better. I wasn’t disappointed! It’s a 1937 Hudson Terraplane,

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the Loftus lens and DC Film setting. No post processing other than adding the watermark.

Damion does a pretty good job of clearing tree stumps! Well, he helps a little at least and provides a lot of fun, great memories and pictures for my daily iPhone Challenge.

He and his great grandma stopped by my place today while my niece Chrystal and I were working in the yard, where we are in the process of removing several old tree stumps. Of course being the boy that he is he ended up in the hole with his aunt Chrystal, right in the middle of it all and had a blast, as did we watching him! Not bad for someone turning two next month!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s with the standard camera app and post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

Today’s iPhone challenge photo is of Damion and Taelor playing peek-a-boo before church today. Taelor is my second cameraman for videoing our services every Sunday and he and Damion were having such a good time before church started that I had to get a shot.

When taking pictures of kids, keep an eye out for fun moments like this! They make great visual memories!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the standard camera. Post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.

I really enjoy blues music and I usually attend the Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival at Henderson, Ky just about every year. This year I got a call from the Gleaner newspaper asking if I would be available to cover the event on Saturday for them! That’s what I love about my job, oh wait, it’s not really a job, but wait, I get paid, so it’s a job? But, I’m retired… well, pretty much so. Anyway, today’s iPhone Challenge comes from the festival and it’s a shot of  Ryan Perry, with the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, from Tupelo, Miss., as he plays to the crowd of festival goers. His guitar is handmade from a Ford Muffler!

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App using the Loftus lens and DC Film. Post processing was done in Photoshop CS6.