some day i'll learn the art of less-is-more in capturing a day through my lens, but last sunday was not that day. {this is my journal of our f̶e̶e̶t̶ day.}

{...and maybe the longest post i'll ever do. most days, i'm lucky if i even take a personal photo, much less blog about it. i'm far too busy for that lately. but this was a special day... one i'd like to not soon forget... or ever. that's why i'm documenting it in specific detail in this monumental post. partly for me. mostly for isaac to read when he grows up, since he's too young to remember these days. and partly for you if you are so inclined to look... if you've got an hour to spare.}

entwined

today is our twelve-year wedding anniversary. so i thought i'd post part one of the photos from our yesterday celebration. and i couldn't think of a better image to start with from our time out in nature than this image of two leaves entwined like two hands.

i like to think mr. b. and i are entwined... and now there's a new miniature leaf in the mix with us, too... a colorful blend of two larger leaves.

we've made it an anniversary tradition each year to first go to our favorite coffee shop, and then venture out to a bog in our area that has become our favorite nature spot. it is truly beautiful. every year, i'm more amazed than the last at just how pretty this place is, compared to all other nature preserves around here. we almost feel transported away, from what we feel is typical in this part of the midwest, to a magical and enchanted land... it's that pretty.

but enough using words to describe this place. i'm gonna post my photos from the day instead.

with one last preface to the photos, though... like i said, this is just part one. i'm posting the shots i took in two separate posts, because i have found that when i take autumn photos, they often seem much too saturated... even if i try to adjust the images in photoshop. they never seem really true to life the way i saw the scene with my eyes. {maybe because i don't have the settings on my camera adjusted properly??} so after recently tweaking a new free photoshop action that i found online to give me this muted/unsaturated look that i love, i found that it lends itself well to these fall shots by keeping the richness of them, but reducing that less-than-desirable saturation. {i know it's a look that's not for everyone, but i like it. i was playing around with it to use in the editing of some engagement shoot images a little while back, and really came to like what i came up with. i'm curious what you think of the look.}

anyway, the rest of my photos didn't really need that adjustment because i liked them closer to what they were straight-out-of-camera. and i didn't think both looks would go well together in one post.

so here is subdued, muted part one. sharper, brighter part two will come next.

because some of you asked for updates from time to time...

 

as you might know from my last post, i've decided to stop blogging regularly. but since a few of you asked for updates every once in a while, i figured today would be a good day for one such update... and some photos to go with it.

october 15, 2011 {yesterday} was a very special day for us three b's.

we decided to go back and do exactly what we did one year ago for our anniversary... it only seemed fitting, because last year, we went to our favorite coffee shop in the morning and then to a local bog {nature preserve} to celebrate ten years of marriage by walking around and enjoying a beautiful autumn day. as we walked around the bog, we talked about the fact that we might never have children and how we had come to terms with that possibility... and even if that were to be our lot in life, we were content and happy to have each other.

little did we know that isaac was already growing in my belly as we were expressing those very thoughts. we were to find out the next day when my suspicions about why i felt so "different" led me to buy a pregnancy test.

this is why we just had to take isaac back there this year for our anniversary. it was a truly special day.

. . . . .

anyway, here is a short "moving picture" i made of mr. b and isaac walking toward me on one of the trails...

and here are a few... a bunch of photos from our day. {enjoy!}...

{mr. b took this one... obviously... at the coffee shop. isaac was not cooperating here. i think he was just ready to get going to the bog.}

{he's doing a little better here, but still antsy to get going.}

 

{now we're at the bog... isaac started out in a good mood. but it did not last long.}

 

{isaac was still smiley, so i used a picnic table as a tripod to get a shot of us all.}

{extending your arm out as far as you possibly can always works, too.}

 

{isaac's mood is still good. but after a little bit of walking, he began to seem uncomfortable.}

 

{yep... there it is... that point when his contentment turned to discontent.}

{i'm so glad mr. b is getting more and more comfortable with the camera so that he can take some pics of me with isaac. i love this one of us.}

 

{this is one of my absolute favorites of the day. oh, those feet!}

{i loved this one, too... a close-up of me holding him.}

 

{after several minutes of crying as we walked, he finally settled down... i guess he was pretty exhausted.}

 

{as is usually the case when we all go on a walk, mr. b and isaac are often way ahead of me, because i lag behind to take pictures. here they are on the trail that leads out to a little lookout tower. it took quite a while for us all to get there.}

 

{once i finally caught up to them, i got some pictures of them sitting on the steps... they turned out to be some of my favorites of the day.}

 

{love those paws!}

{this shot was my very favorite from the day. if i was only allowed to post one photo, this would have been it.}

 

{hey, look who's in a good mood again!}

 

{after walking the entire loop {about two and a half hours}, we took a little rest before heading back home.}

 

. . . . .

 

{and now for the nature photos i took. this above photo was specifically taken for my picture inspiration assignment... called "hand-held".}

 

{the above shot is one of my favorite nature shots of the day.}

  

{i'm not sure what this plant is, but i loved the white berries on the red branches.}

{the big open fields of prairie grass were the most fun for me to photograph.}

{and once i got home, they were the most fun to process, too.}

{i enjoyed trying out all sorts of different processes on these photos.}

 

{this one is pretty close to the original.}

{but i went for a more vintage effect on the above two shots.}

{and now back to the s.o.o.c.}

{last, but not least... a few photos of the many colors of leaves we saw throughout the day.}

there you have it... that's what the three of us have been up to lately. we came home, took naps, and then ordered some delicious carry-out thai food. can you believe we're in the thick of autumn? it came so fast! it seems like it was just june, and i was nine months pregnant!

i hope you are enjoying your fall season. i'll try to pop back in around thanksgiving... or maybe before.

xo