Groovy Kind of Love

I had the privilege of doing a family photo shoot at the beach.  I haven't had so much fun in so long, although I think we were all worn out when all was said and done.  Everyone in the family had such a great attitude!  That in itself was amazing because there were 4 teenagers!  The family had a collection of beautifully framed black and white and sepia-toned surf photography in their home.  One of the goals of the day was to recreate some of these photos to add to their collection.  This is an example of one of the photos before and after!  Usually, as a photographer today you're taking scratches OUT of a photograph...not putting them in!!!

All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget.  In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings.  Paintings record what the painter remembers.  Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change it's meaning according to who is looking at it"

John Berger (English Painter, b. 1926)

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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The Best Day

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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Just to show everyone that I haven't been slacking, I'm posting 10 photographs today. These are part of a day spent in Laguna Beach with my family.  I have a Photoshop piece in the mix also.  

Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,

a gentle breath of heaven

fills my soul with delight...

Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven

Wild Wild West

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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A sand ball in one hand and a gun in the other, this little one was ready to conquer any sea creature that came his way.

I had a gun and I had to run and shoot, which is not easy. 

Jimmy Fallon

Runaway Feeling

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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A photograph of my nephew, Robby, having fun in the surf.

A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching. 

Sivananda

Lonely Lamp Post

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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This is a lamp post at the end of the Santa Monica Pier.  It was a perfect day without too many people on the pier that day.  

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs”

John Osborne quotes (British Playwright and Producer, 1929-1994

Comfy Reading

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I took this photograph from the Santa Monica Pier looking down at the beach.  He looked so comfortable with his face in the shade.  Now, here's an interesting way to get a suntan

"If you look at the research that's published, it's always 'Research says that such-and-such will happen if you suntan,' and attached to that is usually a demand for more research money. That's how the fear market is created."

Frank Furedi

Cover 'Em Up

© copyright Linda Swanson all rights reserved

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Ok, so now it's time for some beach pictures since it is summer!  I saw these two little girl playing in the sand and I thought they looked like they were having so much fun.  I think we all remember the days we had at the beach when there was nothing to do but have fun!  Ah, the carefree days of summer when you're 12, no bills, credit cards,  jobs, house payments, car payments, boyfriends, husbands, wives, children, etc., etc, etc, etc.......

The things which the child loves remain in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remain over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves”

Kahlil Gibran quotes (Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)