Clique: Texture Tuesday ~ The Gratitude eDition Returns

Welcome to CLIQUE!

I can trace my love of photography back three generations, to the early 1900s and my paternal great-grandfather, Henry Mattson. I have a really cool photo that he took of the old family homestead in Minnesota, sometime before 1910. According to family history, Grampa Mattson frequently took photos of his world - the people and places that he loved.

It warms my heart to know that this love of photography didn't skip any generations as it passed down to me! I am blessed to have such a legacy and I hope to pass it on to my own children and grandchildren some day.

I experience a physical and spiritual thrill whenever the Lord shows Himself in His marvelous creation around us and in the people I meet. My dream vacation would be to spend a year or two just traveling around the US, stopping at little out of the way places and photographing the interesting characters and the beauty of nature to be found along the way - those things that draw me closer to GOD and help point others to Him, too.

There are many things I am grateful for this holiday season and one of them is my dear friend and Sister-in-Christ, Jess Jennings. Jess and I first met several years ago when we attnded the same church. We were both avid scrapbookers and our friendship grew from the twice-a-month crops held at the church. Quite often, Jess and I and the hostess of the crops (a mutual dear friend) would remain till the wee hours of the morning - not working on our layouts, but in deep discussion about life, families, the Lord...

Time passed and Jess and I kind of drifted apart for a few years - not due to anything negative, but our lives just took different paths for a season. Just within the past year, Jess and I have reconnected and what a blessing! Though we no long attend the same church, nor do we gather at scrapbooking crops, we are still connected through our relationship with Jesus Christ -- and our love of photography! While I wasn't looking, Jess has really developed her skills and creative talents as a portrait photographer and she is in high demand.

This past Saturday, she invited me to come up to a church camp where she had scheduled several families to get their Christmas portraits done. I have been to this location several times over the last 20 years or so and it's always a lovely place to visit. However, I'd not been there in winter and happily agreed to swing by to visit with my friend, as well as try to get some nice winter landscapes :) The following seven photos were taken that day and the first one shows Jess doing her thing - shooting a lovely family out on the lake at the Birchwood Camp in Chugiak Alaska. **Note - it was the parents' idea to be photographed without coats!

Straight out of Camera

Formula:

* Cropped photo to 8 x 10
* Added layer adjustment
* Duplicated photo and set to SOFT LIGHT
* Added Kim Klassen's MusicLovin - OVERLAY 35%
* Added Kim Klassen's SeriousMagic - LINEAR DODGE 65%
* Added clipping mask I made
* Added text - Hello Sark & Century Gothic fonts

Be sure to visit Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen Cafe to see the lovely and creative images submitted for this week's challenge!

~ klb

13 comments:

Teresa said...: What a beautiful set of photos . . .lovely work. It's wonderful to have friends you can reconnect with and it's as thought you've never left off :-) Teresa x . . .your sister in Jesus :-))); November 28, 2011 at 10:16 PM
kareninkenai said...: very beautiful photos, kim... thanks so much for sharing. you have "the touch" - kareninkenai (yes, must be close) with {texture tuesdays}; November 28, 2011 at 11:20 PM
johanna said...: wonderful photos, especially love the trees!!!; November 29, 2011 at 2:55 AM
Gardening in a Sandbox said...: Beautiful photos worthy of a greeting card. V; November 29, 2011 at 3:10 AM
Kathleen said...: Your photos are wonderful! You use the light so beautifully.; November 29, 2011 at 4:30 AM
Leah C said...: Oh so pretty! The scenery is sooo beautiful:); November 29, 2011 at 4:36 AM
Pat said...: Great family portrait! The snowy svenes are beautiful.; November 29, 2011 at 5:00 AM
deborah said...: magnificent photography!; November 29, 2011 at 5:14 AM
Unknown said...: What a glorious post. I loved the music, the photography and the sentiments. What a great photo of your friend memorizing moments of family.
Karen; November 29, 2011 at 6:12 AM
Angie said...: Oh Kim, your images are so lovely-so wintery in feel, they make me long for a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows! And can I just tell you how much I love the family portrait you've shot?! Really wonderful! I can't wait to look over more of your images, your blog is simply lovely. :); November 29, 2011 at 7:03 AM
yvette said...: What a wonderful place..breathtaking!; November 29, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Sheila Rumney said...: Lovely photos! Just love the snow!; November 30, 2011 at 7:46 PM
MacrinaQuin said...: your comment on Kim's latest post - http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/california-dreaming-and-finding-gratitude.html - really settled close to my heart. thank you for sharing. will drop in here-and-there if you don't mind a new visitor.; December 3, 2011 at 7:51 PM