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

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things back at home, but I will miss my wonderful family & friends here on the east coast. Not to mention, my clients as well!

I hope you enjoy what is left of summer. There still is time for a smore or two!

Today let me just gush on how much I love Cs4! About three months ago I upgraded from Cs2 and although there is always some sort of learning curve with new versions of Photoshop, I love it! Especially Bridge — Bridge is how I comb through my sessions and sort the good from the not-so-good.

Now, you can totally customize the look of Bridge – below is how I have mine set up. Nice and easy (IMO). Just simply drag things around (put your cursor on the lines you want to drag) to change the look of your Bridge.

My fave feature is the compare (where you can compare two images side by side, obviously) and then the magnifier tool (which I use all the time!). I don’t do any actual editing in Bridge, just a way to view. In the example below I used the features with web sized files, but you can only truly appreciate its ability will full sized files.

Used on an edited full sized image, you can use the magnify to see the sharp quality of the eyes

Each photographer has their own editing style and process with which they edit. Photoshop, CaptureOne and Lightroom seem to be the most popular. One day I would love to give Lightroom a whirl, but I’ve got too much on my plate at the moment to try something new. Especially since I’m quite happy with my editing process at this time (if it ain’t broke …). However, if you are looking to learn more about Photoshop, I cannot recommend enough anything by Scott Kelby or NAPP.

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

The last image is of my lil’ subject being a great helper by carrying my the cart I use for my on-location sessions. I love that cart (got it at a shabby chic antique shop) – put all my stuff in it and funny how the kids seem to love to push it. :c)

I used to live outside of Pittsburgh, which is full of amazing shooting locations. Lots of old and run down. Here where I live now in California …everything is either new or the color taupe. {wink} Or so I thought. I get asked all. the. time.  … “where do you find your awesome shooting locations?” —-> honestly, by simply looking! You got to get out there, even during every day tasks such as grocery shopping or picking up the kiddos from school. Below are a few quick finds of mine … all I did was driving behind the row of stores on the street on one of the backroads. Good potential.

Pictures taken with my point & shoot while driving in the car.

So get out there and look — you’ll be amazed at what you can find. Happy location hunting!

Image shot at f1.8 … to test her out. Love my nikkor f2.8 zoom, but it’s hit or miss with full body shots tack sharp like this.

And while I’m here … must share this storyboard taken by photographer Heather Land in Louisiana. She attended my Monroe Workshop where my Isaiah was watching from the sidelines during the shoot … as his Mom I just love what she captured! Of course my fiance Gary doesn’t get it (asks, “where’s his face?”), but it melts me. Going on the wall of my soon-to-be new office. Thanks again Heather!

Finally, I ordered a new one from my favorite B&H Photo and lo and behold, Nikon has a NEW version of the lens … yay! So wish me luck as I bribe my son Isaiah to be my model here shortly as I try it out. (Hopefully) …pictures to follow soon!