Happy Hump Day!
And do pop over to The Long Road to China to see more photography.
Hi, I'm Wanda. I am a happy woman, wife to Danny for...oh....lots a years and finally Mom to THE most adorable little girl from Hunan, China - Dahlia. And now we have been blessed again with another daughter, Milana, from Zhejiang, China. (The 2 best things I've ever done!)
We live in the Montreal area. After a loooonnngg wait for Dahlia's little sister Milana (pronounced - Mee-lana, like banana), we finally brought her home in August 2009. Dahlia came to us in Nov 2004 (at 20 months of age)and a year later we began the application for another baby - at the time the waiting period was around 8 months. Almost 4 years later (say what!?!)we, at last, brought Milana home.
This began as the story of our journey to bring Milana home and life with her big sister, Dahlia. It now continues as we live as a family of four!
God.
My (growing) family.
Hangin' out with my girlies.
My wonderful friends (you know who you are!).
To laugh (out loud and a lot!).
Music.
Painting. Hugs.
Long chats with my buds.
My garden.
To read (ha...when I can!).
Sunshine.
Spring, Spring and more Spring.
Building things.
Cooking.
Decorating.
Parties (ahem).
The internet.
Life.
Movies. A.I.
Dancing with the stars.
So you think you can dance.
Travel. Umm..did I say laughing my head off.
Oh Gee...everything actually!!
30 comments:
Milana's hair is so long now. =)
I love the soft glow you put in some of the photos... just lovely!
lovely photos love the black and whites
Beautiful Girls you have. I love the black and whites
Wanda... Can I just tell you your photos look marvelous! You really have come a long way. Just taking that one photography class has made such a difference. I guess since you are such an amazing artist, photography naturally has come your way.
Your little one is so beautiful. I think my favorite is the second to the last with half her face showing. I love a nice close up!
Happy Wednesday!
Hugs,
Grace
Beautiful portraits. The catchlight in her eyes is perfect and I can't really decide if I like black and white or color better.
Erika B
beautiful pictures of your cute little girl. She is a camera happy for you.
These are fabulous! I can see how your camera is loving every minute with them as are you! Keep us readers entertained! That first shot is classic!!
They are gorgeous, absolutely precious and your images are amzing!
absolutely gorgeous shots!!
I love the composition in these...it is so different and just gives these photos such a different feel...a great feeling though. And your camera is obviously drawn to gorgeous thing:) You are rocking the camera and I wish I lived closer so I could learn from you!
Your girls are so beautiful - I love the composition of the first shot. Beautiful!
beautiful!! i love the cropping you did on some of them. Your gals are beautiful :)
I love seeing your beauties, can never get enough!
Your creative crops are fabulous. Miss M is stunning!!! wow!
Um...would you be up for an arranged marriage between my Will and miss M? He's an older man but that's just fine. ;) You can get back to me on this.
Your girls are just crunchable!!
Gail,
We...ummm....accept your proposal. (And we're into "older" men here. haha)
Your girls are beautiful!!! These are all AMAZING shots too!!! :D
Oh my goodness Wanda. Just stunning. Absolutely stunning. I could look at pictures of the girls all day. So terribly adorable. I heart them!
Absolutely beautiful photos!!!!! Those eyes!!!!
Wow!! Amazing. These are all so beautiful I'm not sure where to start. But the EYES!!! Amazing!! I love the crystal clear sharpness of these. What kind of lighting were these taken with?
Julie (and anyone else who wants to know),
These were taken with just natural light from my kitchen patio doors in late morning. (With my 50 mm fixed 1:4 lens.)I took these about 2 weeks ago. Since then I did another little session with the girlies (for all the pink shots of late) but had almost no light at all so I used my Nikon speedlight and pointed it toward the white ceiling. It just sort of bathes the area in light. As for sharpness - thanks, it's always a struggle for me to get my pictures sharp. But I'm really working on it. I almost always focus on the eyes with my spot focus and my aperature is always pretty open. (Maybe too open, really - as sometimes the eyes are sharp but the nose is out of focus.) So much to learn. I also use Photoshop, a lot. Sharpening everything and reducing noise etc.
Oh, and for these pictures I also used a sheet (about 24"x36")of white corkboard to lighten up the shaded side of the face. Holding it so the sun would hit it and bounce off to lighten the shadows. Ideally someone else should hold it for you (an assistant, haha)or use an easel but I just held it because I was really in close.
Thanks for all your encouraging comments guys!!
Beyond gorgeous!!
Keep smilin!
She is the cutest...Well, one of the cutest. These photos are precious. I love her hair cut..
I'm going to try the sheet of paper idea. Thanks!
Oh, she takes my breath away!!
Wanda, these are some of my favorites yet!! Favorites of M hands down ~ the whimsical flower shots are my favorite, though that hat speaks to me too ~ but also some of your best EVAH I do believe!! You coaxed SO many expressions and emotions from such a wee one....
Course I'm a camera simpleton :) so I won't use the jargon, but I know what I like; and these? Are stunning!!!!
Hugs and Happy Halloween!!
Gorgeous! Oh my! These are truly stunning! I really love the "stink eye" one - LOL!
Oh dear...and I thought the last post in the pink was the cutest ever. Sheesh.
You all have a lovely Halloween weekend!
M.
Wonderful blog! This made me smile...
xx
Wanda these pictures are beauitiful! The second and third are adorable. How can one even choose? They are all precious! Have a great weekend my friend!
Mama Hen
Have a great Sunday Wanda! I love coming back to your blog and seeing your beautiful pictures! You are really talented my friend! Have a great night!
Mama Hen
Mama....I can't BELIEVE I am only seeing these portraits of Milana TODAY for the first time. They are, without question, my very favorite photos of her of all time. I truly see the little girl she is in these shots...she is really workin' it perfectly.
You did an awesome job on the editing...those EYES...oh, you have to show me how you did that!
I.can't.wait.for.Friday.morning!
OMG Wanda...... ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!! These are my very favorite photos of your girls EVER!
So GORGEOUS.... you captured both their inner and outer beauty in this series....just lovely!
xoxo,
Lisa
Post a Comment