Friday, July 31, 2009

Pyramide Lake, CA



Yesterday, the whole family went to Pyramide Lake for some Jet Skiing and some fun in the sun; Greg Timbers, a long time friend, has been taking Allan and the boys Jet skiing once a year for the past few years. And last year, when Nicholas came down with a fever the day of the trip, Christina jumped in and had a blast! It was then decided that from now on, the whole family should go.

Greg has been a family friend for a long time and the kids love to spend time with him; probably because he loves kids and is a kid at heart! In any case, since he is the owner of two 3-persons Jet Skis, he was able to take the 5 of us for some very cool rides!

The kids love to go with Greg because he is not afraid of going fast, taking sharp turns, and getting them completely soaked! It's like going on a water ride at an amusement park!

Even Christina prefers to ride with Greg... She is fearless!
Anthony came back from one of his ride and said: "I forgot my goggles and couldn't open my eyes because Greg goes so fast!"

Allan took the kids for some rides too on the other jet ski... but he doesn't go as fast as Greg and doesn't get them soaked!

And of course, all three kids wished that they could drive the jet skis themselves!

There was also a lot of relaxation, swimming and just watching the others...

What a great day we had... thank you Greg! We can't wait 'till next year!
Anthony (10 y.o.), Christina (7 y.o.), Greg and Nicholas (12 y.o.).

Sunday, July 26, 2009

iheartfaces entry


Found this great website on Facebook and decided to participate in the weekly contest. This weeks theme is "The Beach". Now for me, this was incredibly difficult since we go to the beach A LOT and I have tons of photos! But I decided to enter this one of Christina and Nicholas, taken earlier in July.

If you want to see more entry in this weeks contest and maybe enter a photo yourself, you should definitely check out the iheartfaces website. And don't forget to leave me some comments about this photo...

Overpowering Daylight

A few weeks ago, I went to a workshop on Flash Photography from Jen OSullivan. One of the techniques she showed us was to overpower daylight. What this does is render the sky a very dark blue without underexposing your subject. So last Thursday, when I went to the beach with my kids, I experimented. Here are a few shots that turned out OK. The composition isn't that great, and my models were kind of tired after spending the whole day at the beach! But I was able to get a dark blue sky even though these shots were taken at 6:30 pm.


I wanted to stay until sunset and experiment some more but my subjects were really tired and not very cooperative! So we decided to call it a day...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

CHRISTINA & SAMMY

Christina and Sammy have been friends since they were born... And whenever they get together, they are like two peas in a pod! They like to do the same things, play the same games, watch the same shows, etc... One of their favorite thing to do is play dress up, have a "make over" and pretend that they are on "America's Next Top Model". Of course, they also like to pose for the camera! On their last playdate, I took them around the neighborhood and took some photos of the two of them. (you can click on any of them to see them bigger).





They also had fun making faces for the camera; here is their version of "happy", "funny", "sad", "crazy", "mad", "scared", "thinking", and "surprised".

Friday, July 10, 2009

Fourth of July with Friends

For the Fourth of July, we went to Santa Monica Beach and met with our good friends: the Scagliones. We have known them for about 10 years now and our kids have grown together! Christina and Sammy are best friends and so are Nicholas and Dominic. Anthony and Sophia used to play together when they were young but now that they are older, their interests are different. Even so, they all play together and get along fabulously! And last Saturday was no different... they all had a great time and enjoyed the beach!

Here are the girls: Christina, Sammy and Sophia.


The boys: Anthony, Nicholas and Dominic.


Sammy is Christina's best friend!


The girls trying to catch some waves...


Sammy was pretty happy to catch this one! She calls herself a beginner compared to Christina!

Nicholas, giving some last minute instructions to Dominic!


And Dominic was able to catch a few good ones!


Sophia didn't go in the water but was happy just watching her brother and sister try some Boogie Boarding.



And that's it for now... I am sure that there will be more photos of the Scagliones in future posts as they are the closest we have to family, here, in California!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

BEACH TIME!

For the Devantier family, July means a lot of the things... but one of our favorite thing to do starts in July! Going to the beach! We try to go to the beach in June, but somehow, our week ends are always busy and the weather is usually not very good for the beach (June gloom). But in July, there is plenty of times to go and the weather starts to get better at the beach. This year was no different; we wnt to the beach in June (on Father's Day) and had some fun but it was a little cold... Then last week, we finally had some time to go and the weather was definitely cooperating! I went with the kids on July 2nd and had a great day! Then the whole family went again on July 3rd! We had a great time and Allan and I even went in the ocean and did a little Boogie Boarding with the kids...
Allan had to be patient and work hard but he manage to catch a few good waves!

Christina just started Boogie Boarding alone last year! This year, she has no fear and catches waves like a Pro!




This year, Anthony is a little daredevil! He spends a lot of his time trying to stand up on his board... Maybe it's time to switch to a Surf Board!
Of course, playing in the waves and the sand is always a favorite!




As a photographer, I always look for things that have unique shapes or repetition...

So in the end, we had so much fun that we decided to go back on July 4th with some friends... and that will be the subject of my next post!