Today’s challenge picture is of my nephew Kenneth who arrived last night for a summer visit. Being a teenager with no real responsibilities for the summer, this is one of his natural states, at least in the mornings.

Of course since there’s two little ones, his niece Elaina and Damion, in the house this year that kinda make a lot of noise, he usually stays up late after they’ve gone to bed. Besides, it’s summer. Still I love capturing a shot or two of him sleeping as I’ve done this every year for past several. Again, a nice memory well worth capturing on camera! They sure do grow up fast!

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

I really like how today’s iPhone Challenge photo turned out, of a teen running with a football, at the Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, Tn. Plus the folks with the Segways, clouds, bold lines of the steps and the railings leading the eye into the picture, all work together in this shot. My only wishes were that the buses weren’t in the background. Sometimes you go with with you have in front of you and make the best picture you can.

Photo shot with the iPhone 5s and processed with the Snapseed on the phone.

What can I say… Elaina was playing on the floor, surrounded by her and her brother’s toys, and I couldn’t pass up shooting this picture after her mom gave her something to drink.

When I stepped over her to shoot the picture she gave me this adorable look and I knew I had the shot I wanted. I only got off about 4-5 pictures before she was bored with the camera and off to other things.

Photo shot with the iPhone 5s and processed with the Snapseed App on the phone.

Today I shot another Veterans portrait for my upcoming exhibit at the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts in the Anne P. Baker gallery this November here in Madisonville, Ky.

This little guy decided that my camera bag was quite comfortable and decided to make itself at home. Always keep your eyes open and be quick as you never know what will  present itself as a picture. The more you shoot with your camera phone, or any other camera for that matter, the better your pictures will get.

By the way, the exhibit will open on November 11th with a reception at the gallery. Everyone’s invited. It will be a series of 100 black and white portraits of Veterans from Hopkins County.

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

Today we took my nephew Damion to the movies to watch the new “Earth to Echo” and as we were waiting for the movie to begin I caught this shot of him enjoying popcorn with his Aunt Chrystal.

While most smart phones aren’t the best for shooting in low light situations, unless you use the flash which I hate, but if you take your time and are patient you can capture nice memories for your family scrapbook.

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

Damion tried on a empty flower pot this morning as his “hat” and I was fortunate enough to catch this shot of him. I think it makes for a great childhood portrait of a little boy at play, or at least a great memory!

Remember, you don’t always have to include the faces of the folks you photograph. Sometimes a better picture only shows parts of them.

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

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.