We're going Chinese!

A few weeks ago, some friends & I went out to Huanglongxi. It's a town set up to look old with a man-made river running through it. We did some shopping and just walked around and looked at everything.  The highlight of the day was when we decided to dress in old Chinese clothes and get our pictures taken.

First, we picked out our clothes. I wanted to dress like a ninja, but unfortunately this shop had no ninja clothes. After we picked out our fancy clothes, the shop girls started on our hair. We got so much fake hair, both big black rolls and lots of little braids.

After they pinned the fake hair on, they started shoving flowers, pins, and combs and anything with rhinestones into our hair. It didn't matter if it matched or not. The more, the better.

This is the dress I chose when I realized I couldn't dress like a ninja. I'm still a little disappointed that I didn't get to be a ninja! And check out the hair: flowers, berries, pins, loopy braids, and that huge gold thing.  I'm just glad I didn't live when this was in fashion. Wait, was it ever in fashion?!

The always gorgeous Missy tried out a Chinese pose. Oh wait, she's got fur in her hair.

Missy, Bev, & Ali   Seriously, the hair astounds me every time I look at it.

Jo & Ali, As Jo says, this picture is romantic. I think they kinda look like they're dancing.

Ali, looking super sweet with red flowers in her hair, shades her lovely fair skin with a perfect pink parasol.

Gorgeous Jo striking another Chinese pose, tugging a leaf from the tree.

All 5 of us in our finery.  All in all, it was totally fun and totally worth the 10 kuai we paid to do it.

Mckinzie Rayne

Ok, I realized how lame I was at taking pictures of the little darling while I was there. I fully intended to set up a photo shoot one day and take a bazillion pictures but somehow that never happened. So I just picked 3 pictures from her very first hours to share with you. The first one was moments after she was born. The original shows just how red and splotchy she was right after birth, but I changed it to black and white and now it's one of my favorite pictures of her.  It makes me want to tell her that really, the world's much nicer than her first impression of it, there are flowers and sunshine and mountains and oceans and so many totally amazing things for her to see. And once she gets used to it, she'll be just fine.  What do you think, do you like the black and white or the soft colored version best?

These were taken when she was a few hours old and looking a lot more peaceful. By this time she's had a million hugs and kisses and is on the brink of a nap. I think she's adorable!

 I miss her like crazy! By the time I see her again, she'll be around 4 months old!


Coming up next, pictures of our girls day out to Huanglongxi, where we dressed in ancient Chinese clothing.

VBS

I spent 3 lovely weeks at home in Virginia. The very first week, I spent every evening at VBS.  Can I just say how much I LOVE VBS?  I have missed the kids. I love their crazy energy, their lingo, their passion. So here are some snapshots of that week.

To start it all off, here's one of my gorgeous niece. I adore this face!

Monday night, some Karen kids from Thailand came while their parents went to English class. They made me feel right at home. I even got to practice my Chinese with one of the Karen guys. (And just to keep some of you from being too confused, No, they don't speak Chinese in Thailand, they speak Thai. But this guy knew a little Chinese. I think I knew more than he did. But it gave me a chance to remember what it feels like to have those tones rolling off my tongue.)

Why is it that the naughtiest kids are always the cutest? This is Henry. I took more pictures of him than any other kid, I think. He's so ornery. Why do I always like the bad kids most?! :-)

A few of my favorites of kids whose name I don't remember:

Every single picture I have of the kid with the hot dog is just like that. He's stuffing hot dogs or cupcakes or something in his mouth like he only gets one bite of whatever it is.

Chunky, yes that's what everyone calls him. He's still little enough not to care. Love him to death. And yes, the silly band phase is alive and well among these kids.

 The next 3 are brothers & sister. The two youngest are twins. They are from Iraq and are so amazingly gorgeous. I think people from the Middle East are seriously the best-looking people I've ever seen.  I mean seriously, black eyes, curly hair, and olive skin, what a combination! Is it weird that I consider Middle Eastern people the most beautiful people?

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more pics of my time at home, especially of my adorable nieces & nephews, including the brand-new-to-the-world Mckinzie Rayne.

By the way, you should now be able to post comments, if you so desire, even if you don't have an account. You can comment anonymously or you can post using the name/URL option, which allows you to give your name and/or website address. Or, if you wish, you can just check one of the reaction boxes at the end of the post to let me know what you thought without even having to write a single word. You have soooo many options! ;-)

Baby Anna Joy

Wow, I never thought taking pictures of a baby would be so difficult. I see such adorable pictures of babies, perched in such odd places, on trunks, in baskets, on the arms of couches, even wrapped in cloth and hanging from branches like the stork just delivered them. But this little girl did NOT like different postions. Whenever I laid her on her stomach, I got a face like this one.

After she threw up a few times(she had just eaten), I gave up on any super cute poses and just laid her on her back on the bed and opened the curtains wide for better light.

She really is a good baby. She barely cried at all. And when she did, I realized that she was still hungry. I had interrupted her meal and didn't realize it. I think her mom thought I had to take pictures NOW and couldn't wait. Anyway, we took a break and Amy fed her and then she was quite happy.

Isn't there something incredibly adorable about tiny feet? She had a black & blue mark from her shots and I just felt so sorry for her even though it didn't seem to bother her at all.

About halfway through our shoot a friend came who wanted to show Amy how to bathe a baby. I didn't shoot any pictures because they required my help to bathe Anna. It's hard for me to imagine having a baby when you've barely ever even held one.

I wanted a few pictures of the mom & baby. I don't think Amy was really prepared to have her picture taken. I really should not have assumed she would know. I thought it was a given. But she was more than willing to pose for a few pictures.

And I'll leave you with another feet picture. Baby feet just give me warm fuzzies.

Amy

Amy is a lovely Tibetan girl who works at Leanna's Bakery.  A few months ago, we found out she was pregnant. She's not married and has almost no family. Her boyfriend wanted her to have an abortion. We prayed like crazy and were so thankful when she decided to keep the baby.  These pictures were taken about a week before the baby was born.

I look at these pictures and realize how difficult it must be for her to be alone(Her boyfriend left her when she decided to keep the baby. He's back now that she's had it.) She looks so tired. And life isn't going to get easier for her. It takes a lot of courage to make the decision she made and I admire her for it.

Coming soon: Pictures of Amy's sweet baby girl, Anna Joy.

Lawver Family

A few weeks ago, I took family pictures for a family in our fellowship. As usual in Chengdu, it was hot and humid that day. Because of the mugginess and the kids, I tried to keep the session pretty short.   It's always a challenge to shoot here because the Chinese people like to stop and stare and distract the kids and there are always weird things in the background. What I wouldn't give for a wide open field or a nice brick building or some other large, non-distracting background.

Andrew and Jennifer have 3 beautiful kids. Blond princess Amelia, Gabe, who hates to have his picture taken and wears ties more than any kid I know, and adorable, precocious Megan. 

The Lawvers have a 3-wheeled motorized bike to get around.  It was one of my favorite "Chinese culture" pictures of the day. It was funny because Gabe & Megan kept hitting the horn and the throttle and surprising us all.

So incredibly adorable!

Amelia loves posing. We couldn't get her to stop spinning her parasol though. She has an utterly contagious giggle.

The 3 siblings. Even though they fight, I could tell they absolutely adore each other!

 I always go into these things with so many ideas, but then give them up because most of the families I shoot just want to get it over with. Most families want one good photo and that's all they're after.
A week or so ago, I shot a young pregnant girl. I was so amazed at how much more relaxed a shoot is with only one subject. Pictures of that coming soon.

2010 Chengdu Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

In June, Chengdu had it's first frisbee tournament. I didn't play, instead I spent most of 2 days capturing the sweat & joy of the game. I learned a lot about sports photography. I learned a lot about the game. The China Frisbee Community is awesome. Everyone is so friendly and fun. I've always liked frisbee, but I totally fell in love with the spirit of the game. I was so impressed with the pros that were there. They were so helpful to all those who were new to the game. And the overall atmosphere was one of competitive fun.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

Gotta love the hair on this one.

This one's probably my favorite action picture of the weekend. I love everything about it, the fact that he's midair, the expression, the frisbee just beyond his fingertips.

All the necessities

Here's the kickoff. (Ok, it's most likely not called the kickoff.) Anyway, I love this one, mostly because of the blue grass skirt on the thrower.

More of the grass skirt. He wore it the entire day.

This collision resulted in injury. But  you can't keep a good woman down. She came back in for the final minutes of the game.

What is is about sports photos that I love? I love the intensity on the faces of the players. Everyone has their own intense face. I love it.

The winning team celebrates.

Tournament MVPs.

And a few pictures of some of the beautiful people who played that day.

Here's Hannah. She's a fellow Virginian, so much fun, and absolutely gorgeous.

Izzy, Brian, and Edu.

This picture makes me smile. Brian and Abu always pick on each other, but they are such amazing friends, both to each other and to pretty much everyone they meet.

Eric's a lot nicer than this picture makes him look. He's got his game face on.

Cheer and Jodie, so cute!

And last but not least, a picture that actually has me in it. Left to right: Hannah, Bev, Hilary, Me, and Denise.  They are all such amazing women. I'm so blessed to call them friends!

 What can I say? These people make me smile. This game makes me smile. This weekend inspired me to play more and harder and really try to get better. These people made me believe that I'm not fighting a losing battle when it comes to athletic improvement.

I love this game!