Photography Archives - Page 2 of 4

Million Dollar View

This million dollar view was literally the climax of our trip to Montana!

After looking at the best things to do in Glacier National Park, I knew the Highline Trail was at the top of my list of things to do with our limited time at the park. From everything I read, it offered some of the best variety of terrains and views and a relatively flat 7.5 mile one way hike. Towards the end of the trail, I knew there would be a harder trail called the Garden Wall Trail that we could take for a view that would be worth the steep hike up.

I am not a seasoned hiker, but I envisioned completing this hike and was up for whatever challenge it would present. Jonathan and I set out on the trail about 10 am knowing that we would be on this trail most of the day. We had beautiful weather and the trail lived up to its expectations with ever changing terrain and beautiful meadows of wildflowers. We joked that the national park service had strategically planted special effects along the way to keep the hike interesting. At times we felt like we were participants in the Hunger Games with swarms of gnats, flies, cool waterfalls, rocks to climb over, mountain goats along the path, marmots playing hide and seek, rock slides, and warnings to carry bear spray… just in case.

We got to the optional Garden Wall trail in about 3 hours. Little did we know that 0.6 mile vertical hike would require multiple stops to rest along the way, but everyone coming down said the hike up was definitely worth it!

Once we finally reached the top we were able to view Grinnell Glacier sitting right below the backside of the mountain. I thought we were at the top until I saw a small outline of a person up on an even higher rock viewpoint. So, up I climbed to get the best possible view. I hauled my camera in my backpack all this way, so I wasn’t leaving without getting the best picture I could. After climbing up and joining the crowd of adventurous adults, much younger than myself, I snapped a few pictures and then saw the ominous dark clouds moving in over the East side of the mountain. I climbed back down and joined up with Jonathan and we agreed we better start heading back down the mountain before we got caught in the storm. That impending storm got us off that mountain A LOT faster than it took us to go up! When we made it to the bottom, we had to choose… hike back the 7 miles we came to get to our car and potentially walk through rain or continue on to the chalet we could see 0.8 up ahead where we could take shelter under cover.

The effects kept coming… we walked through big rain drops all the way to the chalet. It was a refreshing rain that got us wet without actually soaking us. That storm did settle in for about 30 minutes and we were undercover for most of it. The temperature dropped at least 20 degrees with the rain, and quickly warmed back up with the sun.

We decided to try the 4 mile Loop Trail that would take us back to a parking lot. We met a young couple along the trail that we were able to hitch hike a ride back to our car. By the time we made it back to our car, it was 7 pm. It was a great last day to our trip and an experience and million dollar view I’m sure we will tell our grandkids about one day.

Have you taken any memorable hikes that resulted in your own million dollar views?

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Categories: Family, Life, Photography, Spoiled Rotten Photography

Behind the Wood Shed

If you can’t find my Father, you can usually find him behind the wood shed chopping wood for fun or clearing the next trail through the woods behind his house at Arkadelphia Acres.

For this year’s Spoiled Rotten Photography Personal Project, I knew my Father would be the perfect subject to use to mimic the inspiration piece of art I chose. While I was recently in Bentonville, Arkansas, I was able to visit the Crystal Bridges Art Museum.

While visiting Crystal Bridges Art Museum, I discovered this painting called “Tobacco Sorters.” What caught my attention was the contrast in subjects and to me it told a story of a grandfather telling his granddaughter about life or the industry in which he worked. I chose to tell a similar generational story in my image with my Father who has always chopped wood for fun and his only grandson. I wanted the lighting and finish to depict the roughness and texture of the piles of wood and my Father’s weathered skin.

I captured two images that I felt mimicked the composition and theme of the original painting. I chose to call these, “Passing the Axe” and “Behind the Wood Shed.”

My Father…

You may never knew what he is thinking or feeling, but his mind is always processing the next project and path he wants to clear. He was born to have his hands in the dirt and not much slows him down!

His example has taught his 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren how to be satisfied with the simple things in life, the value of hard work, and using the resources you have been given wisely.

I am thankful the timing of this photo project allowed me a rare opportunity to photograph my Father alone, in his element, as a tribute for Father’s Day this year.

These yearly personal photo projects have become a great way for me to tell the stories of my family’s heritage and legacy.

Do you have any portraits of your family members that tell a story for the next generation to know something about them?

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Categories: Family, Life, Photography

Country Girls

My city girls are country girls at heart! They love tending to animals and don’t mind getting their hands dirty to grow something. It has been a blessing for our family to be back in Birmingham, and close enough to run up for day trips to play on my parent’s land, Arkadelphia Acres.

Meet the Ladies… **Gertrude** – a Barred Rock, **Goldie** – a Buff Orpington, **Winnie** – an Americauna

At Christmas we gave my mother a chicken coop. If you missed that story, you can go back and catch up. She recently got everything put together and fenced in to house her first round of chickens. We were able to buy a couple of laying hens from our friends at McLean Acres, that quickly made themselves at home and resumed their egg laying schedule.

Do you remember the Target Universal Thread prairie dresses that everyone kept making fun of? Well, my girls actually really liked the pattern of them and I scored 3 for us on clearance. I envisioned a fun photoshoot with these dresses once my mother got chickens. I don’t know who came up with the #TargetDressChallenge, but I was all over that idea and the girls were actually excited about this photoshoot!

I couldn’t help but laugh how much they looked like Mary and Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie! Funny thing is, their personalities match the characters too!

The wildflowers were at their peak, so we had fun in the field across the street until I stepped in an ant bed, and cut our ending short.

These girls of mine may not officially be country girls, but they sure play the part well! As much fun as it has been watching these chickens interact with each other in their coop, I am already imagining the fun we will have when goats enter the picture for the Sauter/Bailey/Baggett family!

Hop over to Instagram and you can view the Country Girl Reel!

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A post shared by Elizabeth Bailey (@elizbailey02)

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Categories: Faith, Life, Printables

Verses to Dwell on for a New Year

Do you have Bible verses that you cling to and dwell on at the beginning of a new year? The first of the year is met with a fresh start and new intentions. Many people set resolutions, others choose a guiding life word for their year. My mind works well with themes and I have always fallen into the second category. My word for the year is “dwell” and I am committed to spending more time in God’s word than ever before. I have always been a book and paper reader, but I have chosen to follow the digital BibleProject | One Story that Leads to Jesus, One-Year plan that can be found in the YouVersion Bible app. I figure my phone is always with me, so there is no excuse for not following the plan with daily reminders. 🙂

Back to themes… I wanted a simple way to pull together verses that would help me focus to begin my year. This year, unlike any previous year, there is a stirring to turn down the noise of the world and turn up the words of comfort and hope as God’s children, we are given for our future within the pages of the Bible.

This list of 30 Bible verses would be a great exercise to read through, as you begin a new year or possibly a new season, for promises of renewal and strength that are scattered throughout the Bible.

I hope you will find refreshment for yourself as you read through and dwell on this set of 30 verses for your new year.

BibleVerses-NewYear Download

Click here to download the set of 30 verse cards.

You can take the files for the individual cards and print on a home printer or send to your local one-hour or home delivery photo lab. I sent the files to my local Walmart and printed 30 4×6 prints at $.09 each. A complete set cost about $3 and will be durable for toting around.

Ideas for using individual verse cards

Slip them into your daily planner or calendar
Hang on your bathroom mirror as daily reminders
Send to a friend in the mail
Flip through and read verses on the go as you are waiting in lines
Share the digital .jpg on your social media
Save the files to an album in your phone for easy flipping
Commit each verse to memory as you read each day

Let me know how this reading plan and printable cards work for you. Also let me know if you would be interested in having additional thematic verse cards and suggested reading plans! I have ideas for other sets that could be created.

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Categories: Life, Photography

One Photo A Day in 2021

I am committing to taking one photo a day in 2021! Would you like to join me? In 2010 I completed a Project 365 album where I took a picture every day (or most every day) and printed 4×6 prints to slide into the album with a short journal card. It took dedication and determination to complete the year long project, but it is one of the most rewarding albums to pull out and flip through daily memories and watch my babies grow, even if I never journaled past the month of April.

Today we all have cell phones we carry around in our pockets that make recording memories much easier than pulling out and setting up a DSLR or digital camera.

Recently my iphone send me a notification that it put together a 2020 memories video by grabbing random images that I had taken throughout the year. Those 3 minutes of scrolling images had me in tears with joyful memories lived in the everyday moments of 2020. It was then, I made the commitment to myself to intentionally take a photo a day in 2021. I’m sure I will share some of the images along the way, but behind the scenes I will be building a folder of images to tell the story of our 2021.

Take the liberty to make this photo project your own. Your finished project may look like 4×6 prints in an album, a photo collage for each week that you print, a digital online album that family can access, or a favorites album stored on your cell phone.

10 Reasons to Take a Photo A Day in 2021

Improve your photography skills
Watch a baby or child grow throughout the year
Have an album of memories from the year to look back on
Find joy in your every day
Easily share your life with friends and family
A way to be creative
Taking a picture is sometimes easier than writing words to express how you feel
A chance to see your world differently
The satisfaction you will have at the end of the year with a completed project
Constant content to fill your social media channels

I would encourage you to share the photos you take day to day, week to week on your personal social media. When posting on social media, use the hashtag #OneADay21 so we can all follow along with your photo journey in 2021. Make sure you like The Way Home Life Facebook page so you can follow along with the resources I hope to share with you along the way.

I have created digital date overlays that you can download and add to the corner of your photos with a photo editing software, before you print or share your photos.

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Categories: Faith, Life, Photography

The Great Conjunction of 2020

The Great Conjunction of 2020, or “Christmas Star” captured people’s attention all over the world on Monday, December 21. I have seen some amazing images that were taken through telescopes and cameras.

I went out with a 50 mm lens that was capable of photographing the planets as seen with the naked eye from earth. Jupiter and Saturn definitely looked like the brightest stars among others in the southern sky. I saw images online taken through telescopes and with telescopic zoom lenses that were able to isolate the planets up close and actually see the details and rings around Saturn along with the planet’s orbiting moons.

Much like the great solar eclipse in 2017, this was a once in a lifetime astronomical event that everyone wanted to see and capture a memory of. What struck me as I saw friends posting their pictures on social media last night was many unmet expectations. It was cloudy for those in the Northern states. Cell phone cameras turned out blurry blobs of light. Views may have been blocked by trees. It was if people expected to walk out and see a glorious giant beaming star of light as often depicted by artists in children’s Bibles of the Star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to Jesus.

Lesson Learned

It made me think… It really does matter the perspective with which you view the planets (that appear as bright stars with the sun’s reflection). Or with what lens are you choosing to view the event? Given a clear Southwestern view, you couldn’t miss the bright splendor of the 2 planets side by side with your naked eye. That view could be enhanced with a telescope or telescopic camera lens to see detail and accompanying moons.

Wasn’t it also true with the timing and arrival of Jesus the promised Messiah? Malachi, the last prophet over 400 years prior, left the Jews with the hope of an Elijah who would prepare the way for a Savior who would enter the world at just the right time. Yet in the 30 years that Jesus lived on this earth interacting with so many, how many failed to have the right lens to recognize who he was and the simple message that he brought for a promised kingdom greater than an earthly kingdom they were looking for.

Whatever you believe to be true with the planetary alignment and timing of it all in 2020, Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture. He is the Word. He is the Light. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through Him. Jesus has fulfilled every single prophetic word.

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
John 1:9-12

I hope The True Light has brought you peace and comfort in 2020.

I enjoyed being able to enjoy this astronomical event with 2020 vision. Were you able to catch a glimpse of the Great Conjunction of 2020?

You can view some great images shared from around the world HERE.

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Categories: Faith, Family, Life, Photography

Among the Trees

Life is lived among the trees.

Nearly 40 years ago my father began planting cedar trees in rows on a couple acres of land in Lawrence County, Alabama. This land was were my mom’s grandparents settled years ago and much of her family has dwelt and developed their own homes within 1/2 mile of this property. In the 1980s my parents owned the old white house that belonged to my great-grandparents and it was a place we would visit on the weekends. At one point my parents considered raising their family “in the county”, but things worked out better for them to stay in the Birmingham area for job and school opportunities. The house became too much to maintain for my parents, and was sold to my aunt who always dreamed herself of living in it with her family.

My dad kept about 5 acres of land to the side and it became his playground for the next 20 years or so. We would still often “go the country” on the weekends and stay with my grandparents. My dad meticulously planted rows of cedar trees along the land, built a split-rail fence, cleared brush into the woods and down to the creek. It made him happy to be outdoors working with his hands. They say when I was younger, I was his little shadow, often following along behind with my own wheelbarrow. I remember in the preteen years begging to drive the tractor and help cut grass.

My parents thought they may one day retire to this land and build a house among the trees, but God had other plans in the works for where they would settle to retire. About 10 years ago, my dad sold his remaining acres of land in Lawrence County to one of my cousins, who has since built a beautiful home for his family among these trees.

During the week of Thanksgiving, we took all the Sauter cousins “to the country” to recreate a favorite portrait that we originally took in front of the old wooden corn crib back in 2010. My mom and sister and I enjoyed walking through what use to be an open pasture and seeing the beautiful, magical meadow of full-grown cedar and oak trees that shade this land, that has been so well loved over the years.

I absolutely adore this picture of my mother that we snapped on our recent trip! It is such a full-circle moment, and if you know my mother you know she definitely lives among the wildflowers. She has always been as strong as a weed, blowing in the direction she was needed to land to produce life and cultivate those she was tending to. She is able to bloom wherever she is planted, and I hope her and my dad are able to enjoy the fruits of their labors among the trees at Arkadelphia Acres in Cullman County in the years to come.

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Categories: Photography

Fall Family Mini Sessions 2020

I am excited to be hosting Birmingham Fall Family Mini Sessions 2020, on Saturday, November 7 at McCallum Park in Vestavia Hills.

This is the perfect opportunity to get your whole family photographed together for Holiday gifts and Holiday card images, in a beautiful fall setting.

McCallum Park is a hidden gem of a park tucked in behind Vestavia Hills High School on Rocky Ridge Road. There are bathrooms onsite if needed. Bring a change of clothes or shoes and hike some of the gorgeous trails or pack a picnic lunch for your family. There is even a cute book library, you can bring a book to trade. There is a playground and open field that would be great for the kids to run and play after your session, away from the area I will be set up to capture family portraits.

The long-range weather forecast is calling for beautiful Fall weather and Auburn and Alabama football have an off week, so there are no excuses for not taking your family on this outdoor adventure together.

With the $300 inclusive session fee you will get an 8×10 mounted print and at least 10 digital images.

CLICK HERE to reserve a time slot for your family for Fall Family Mini Sessions 2020.

Check out the post from the Auburn Family Portrait Day if you would like to see some of my recent work.

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Categories: Photography

At Home With the Schneiders

It was a joy to catch up and photograph the Schneider family at their home this week. They have precious memories together as family in this home and have brought home their precious boys to this home in recent years.

I met Mom through photography 5 year ago. She remembers the portraits I took of the girls back then and it was time to get updated family portraits to include the boys.

The family has sweet memories together playing in their backyard and I love that the boys were able to show me all their tricks on the playground during their portrait session. Sometimes it is those candid shots that bring out their true personality.

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Categories: Photography

2020 Auburn Family Portrait Day

It was a pleasure getting to be in Auburn a few weeks ago for 2020 Auburn Family Portrait Day at Auburn Oaks Farm. Paula Davis organized Sarah Van Hecke Photography, Paula Davis Lifestyle Photographer, and myself to donate our time and skills to raise money to help fund Christian adoptions through Sacred Selections.

I enjoyed getting to see many couples and growing families that we knew from our time in Auburn, as well as meet new local families. Many of these fifteen families have themselves been blessed by the gift of adoption.

We drove down to Auburn as a family and took the girls by the places we lived in Auburn and the school where I started my teaching career. A lot has changed in the last 20 years!

Auburn had their first win of the season, so we ended our evening checking out Toomer’s Corner in all its TP’d glory.

For those who joined me last year for Fall Family Portraits in Birmingham, this is the sweet baby boy you helped bring home to his forever family. One woman’s brave sacrifice yielded one of the best Christmas blessings for this family and a host of “mamas” to love on this little guy in the middle.

I believe 2020 Auburn Family Portrait Day was a success!

I have already been thinking of ways to bring this multi photographer fundraising event concept to the Birmingham area. Let me know if you would like to be one of the first to know when a similar event is planned, and I will make sure you get first pick of a session slot.

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