I love my country.

I do not love the direction she is headed. More than anything, I would love to see her brought back to her former days, more along the lines of what our founding fathers had intended.

There is always hope. There is another generation and I consider it an honor to raise up my son to be a man who respects God, his elders, and his country. To know what it stands for and why it needs protecting.

The other day my son told me “he wanted to be in a battle” and to “be a hero”. Of course, as his mother I wanted to yell,“stay safe, no!”. But I kept my fears to myself — we need a nation of men and women who are weary of “safe”.

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“Where will our country find leaders with integrity, courage, strength—all the family values—in ten, twenty, or thirty years?

The answer is that you are teaching them, loving them, and raising them right now.” — Barbara Bush

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{ About the Images Below }

These images are dedicated to my God, first and foremost, and to my country. A love-song, in imagery form, as to what it means to be an American. Dare I say a Patriot.

Lastly, my prior military husband helped me with this session and we were sure to protect and respect the flag during the shoot.

© 2011 Skye Hardwick – Do not use without permission

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“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heavenand will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14

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Stay tuned for more images from this series.

If you are in the San Gabriel Valley  CA area and would like to have your child a part of my Freedom Project, please drop me a line. Especially from those who have a loved one who is currently serving our country.

Furthermore, to the Photographers who may be reading. I am writing an article for my Soulographer Inspiration Blog about connecting your heart to your images using this series as an example. Keep watch for that one!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d appreciate it if you would share it with others who would enjoy it.

Until then.

- Skye xoxo

My husband, Gary, and I both have a love of the country so we thought we’d incorporate a country look and feel into our special day. Especially for me as I miss the lush fields and run down barns that I am used to back East. For the most part, quite a different world here in SoCal (not hating on CA as I can shoot outdoors here all year long – nice!). Our ceremony was held in a historic mennonite meetinghouse and our reception was down the road in a big red barn. Both were built in the early 1800’s and needed a lot of cleanup beforehand, but we had a great crew to get things done (thanks to Gary, Josh, Carrie & the folks at the museum).

Getting ready for the details of the wedding … well let’s just say I actually need a break from antique shops (did I just say that?) because I hit up so many looking for the perfect elements to add. Now that our big day has passed, we have more quilts, candles, apple crates and the like than we know what to do with. Don’t even get me started on the mason jars (which we used for drinking glasses). Also, I couldn’t have done it without Etsy – tons of farm-inspired treasures there!

Major props to our fabulous photographers Leigh Taylor and second shooter Beth Armsheimer – working with them was so much fun. Even when my veil was left behind at the hotel (and arrived literally as I was headed to the ceremony – thanks Holly!) they were there to calm my  nerves and tell me “this is normal” and they were right …all was okay, more than okay … it was a dream.

To view all the preview images from our special day, please head to Leigh’s blog.

{ ***** VIEW MORE WEDDING IMAGES ***** }

Here are a few favorite images …. images below copyright Leigh Taylor & Beth Armsheimer.

Don’t worry, once we receive all the files I’ll be sure to post a few more. { wink }

I’ll leave you with a portion of a favorite quote we included in our wedding programs:

“When you make a promise, you tie yourself to other persons by the unseen fiber of loyalty. You agree to stick with people you are stuck with. When everything else tells them they can count on nothing, they can count on you. When they do not have the faintest notion of what in the world is going on around them, they will know that you are going to be there with them. You have created a small sanctuary of trust within the jungle of unpredictability: you have a made a promise that you intend to keep.” – Lewis Smedes

Be blessed.
xoxo
- S

Furthermore, many of you may share a similar love for literary favorite redhead, Anne of Green Gables. Admittedly my favorite books and movies (though, the third movie I’d rather forget…) all have to deal with Miss Anne Shirley and her beloved Green Gables. As a young girl I cherished the role model of a bright, strong, quick-witted and passionate young woman her character portrayed. And that hair!

This little sweetie had amazing red hair and a beautiful bounty of freckles. I know, I know, many people who have freckles don’t really care for them. I have naturally curly hair and go to great lengths to avoid that reality. *Smile* But, all in all, I couldn’t get enough of her in front of my camera.

I receive a lot of questions in regards to the clothing in my sessions; yes, I do style all of my sessions in one form or another. This session features one of my favorite designers “Woven Play” ..they have such a unique and artistic take on children’s costumes (the butterfly costume below). Just heavenly!

As soon as I began to edit this session, this song “She’s a Butterfly” by Martina McBride came to mind. One of my favorites.

“She remembers when she first got her wings
And how she opened up that day
she learned to sing
Then the colors came, erased the
black and white
And her whole world changed
when she realized

God bless the butterfly,
give her the strength to fly
Never let her wings touch the ground
God bless the butterfly,
give her strength to fly
Never let her wings touch the ground”

On another note … I’ve been receiving many emails asking when I am coming to Pittsburgh for sessions this year and I’m happy to announce soon I will be posting the 2010 dates. Leaning towards end of July and possibly a few fall sessions. Gary and I are having our wedding ceremony early October in PA so that will take most of my focus during that time. In the meantime you can go to the Work of Heart website for more information on PA sessions. Just click the “Investment & Details” page and next click “Pittsburgh Sessions”.

Ps. You can now find Work of Heart Photograhpy on Facebook!

You would think with all the barns abound one could find one to rent for a wedding reception (there’s only one in the immediate area of Pittsburgh that I can find) — if anyone knows of any farm or rustic places available for rent, please let me know!

My son is pretty easy to photograph; I suspect only due to the fact that I don’t take him out to do “shoots” as much as I did years back. When I lived back east I took for granted how easy it was to find shooting locations. In many places you couldn’t throw a rock without it landing on a potential shoot spot. California makes you work a bit harder; though I will say this, in California I can do outdoor work all year long!

The first one is my absolute favorite. How can I possibly choose which ones to print and how large? Perhaps put a gallery wall together. The blue tractor was at the bed & breakfast we stayed at in NE Ohio — they also had a beaten up old ladder fire truck and a run down property next door too. Loved it!

Here is our Christmas card for 2009.

Front

Top Inside.

Bottom Inside.

Back.

– John Eldredge

“Sing … Sing a Song…”