Kathy Hardy Photography

I ♥ Faces "On Your Feet" Photo Challenge...

2011-12-05T05:52:00.000-08:00

I knew which photo I was going to enter for this week's "On Your Feet" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took a few weeks ago. It's my brother-in-law, holding the tiny feet of his new little grandbaby ~ so adorable!

I love this photo ~ makes me smile ~
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand." ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel

I ♥ Faces "Bust a Gut" Photo Challenge...

2011-11-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

I knew which photo I was going to enter for this week's "Bust a Gut" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took last Christmas of my husband and some of our great friends. That's my husband on the right and "yes" that's his real hair! I told him he needs to play Santa :) I can't remember what was so funny, but obviously, it was worthy of a big belly laugh. I love this photo ~ everybody was so happy ~
This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand." ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel

I ♥ Faces "A Touch of Sun" Photo Challenge...

2011-09-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this precious photo of my little grand-baby, Olivia ~ she is so sweet and loves jewelry!!! If she could wear just jewelry and no cloths, she would be the happiest little girl on the planet! This photo was an easy pick for this week's "A Touch of Sun" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! It's one of my favorites!

I love this photo! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Albert Einstein

I ♥ Faces "Pet Week" Photo Challenge...

2011-08-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

It was an easy pick for this week's "Pet Week" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took on Lita's Birthday! Lita [on the left] and Ozzy [on the right] are my two Australian Shepherds. They LOVE ice cream, but we only have ice cream on birthdays around here. That way, it's a special treat for all of us! This photo was taken on Lita's birthday and it's one of my favorites!

I love this photo! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Albert Einstein

I ♥ Faces "Beautiful Eyes" Photo Challenge...

2011-08-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

It was an easy pick for this week's "Beautiful Eyes" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took yesterday of a dear friends sweet little girl. We had a "pot luck" dinner and someone brought a big pan of smoked goat meat. Well, Greyson certainly wasn't afraid to try it first! And, I have to admit, it was pretty darned good! I hope Greyson's cheerful little spirit makes you smile today:

I love this photo! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only by the light from within."
- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Whoo Hoo!!!!

2011-07-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

My grasshopper eating spider photo made it into the top 10 picks for the MCP Actions weekly Flickr challenge. I entered it in the theme "make it tasty" ~ lol Thanks, Jodi!! And thanks to all of the awesome contributors over at MCP Actions!!

xo ~ Kathy

Thursday thoughts...

2011-06-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

Twin Falls

2011-06-20T09:56:00.001-07:00

http://www.kathyhardyphotography.com/galleries/twin_falls/

I ♥ Faces "Pet Week" Photo Challenge...

2011-04-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

It was an easy pick for this week's "Pet Week" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took of my sweet little Australian Shepherd "Ozzy" on one of our outings. He loves to ride in the car and go on adventures. I love this picture of him...looks like he has a huge smile on his face. I named this photo "Objects in mirror ARE closer than they appear" ~ lol. I hope Ozzy's cheerful little spirit makes you smile today:

This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one."
- Andy Rooney

I ♥ Faces "Shadows" Challenge...

2011-04-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

It was an easy pick for this week's "Shadows" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took of my husband on the last full moon night up at "Pretty Place", which is a beautiful outdoor chapel located in "Camp Greenville". I just love this photo...I think it's right up there with one of my best shots ever:

This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"For most people, we often marvel at the beauty of a sunrise or the magnificence of a full moon, but it is impossible to fathom the magnitude of the universe that surrounds us." ~ Richard Baker

Best Face for March...I ♥ faces Photo Challenge

2011-03-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

It was an easy pick for this week's "best face for March" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took of my beautiful little grand-baby, Olivia. She has the cutest smile ever! After all, that's what life is all about...things that make us smile.

This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day." ~ Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I LOVE Bokeh!!!

2011-03-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this post from "MCP Actions" Blog...it's all about "bokeh", those funky little lights that make photos fun, fun. And speaking of fun, I also had to share this precious photo of my little grand-baby, Olivia ~ she is so precious and loves jewelry!!!

Happy Spring!!

"Sun Flare" - this weeks challenge on "I ♥ faces"

2011-03-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

I knew which photo I was going to enter for this week's "Sun Flare" photo challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took of my beautiful friend, Perry. She was nine months pregnant at the time with little Eli. And yesterday was her birthday, so when I saw the challenge it was an easy pick for me, since I was thinking about her already. I love this photo ~

This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun." ~ Pablo Picasso

from the tiniest acorns...

2011-03-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

...grows the mighty oaks.

Free Bokeh Texture!!

2011-02-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

I created this awesome heart bokeh textured overlay today. Please feel free to use it as you wish. I would love to see what you create, so please leave a comment with a link to your creation. And to help you get started, below is a "how to" video from Jen's Fabulous Stuff! Have fun!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life." ~ Pablo Picasso

I Heart Faces --Red Photo Contest -- My Entry

2011-02-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

I knew which photo I was going to enter for this week's "RED" challenge on I ♥ Faces! This is a photo I took at Christmas of my husband and some of our great friends. That's my husband in the red shirt and "yes" that's his real hair! I love this photo ~ everybody was so happy ~ I love it!!

This is one of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand." ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

I love my little Angel garden statue...and the heart "bokeh" compliments it perfectly!

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end." ~ Author Unknown

♥ 's - I ♥ Faces Weekly Challenge...

2011-02-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

I knew which photo I was going to enter for this week's "♥'s" challenge on I ♥ Faces! I'm in love with my new "Bokeh" kit! And, as luck would have it, the ♥ is my favorite [or maybe the butterfly]. This is a photo of my son, Broc that I took a week or so ago, using my ♥ bokeh! I love how the "♥'s" were formed from the glistening and melting snow ~ I love it!!

This is one of my new favorite photos. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"The heart has reasons that reason does not understand." ~ Jacques Benigne Bossuel

Just in time for Valentine's Day...

2011-02-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Only five dollars in my Etsy Shop! High resolution JPEG file will be sent to you via e-mail, after your payment has been made. Watermark, of course, will be removed. I've been enjoying my little "Bokeh" kit so much!! Tiny raindrops on leaves make the perfect little reflections for Bokeh ~ ♥

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"A hundred hearts would be too few

To carry all my love for you." ~ Author Unknown

Soothing repetition...

2011-01-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

Week four! MCP Project 52 on Flickr. A 52 week photo challenge. This weeks theme was "Soothing Repetition"...and what can be more soothing than raindrops. Above are my before & after photos of raindrops clinging on to pine needles. I really love taking photos of raindrops and it looks like I may get another chance today! I'll gladly take the rain over snow any day!!

Click on the photo above to view it on a black background...much more dramatic.

Happy Wednesday!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky." ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Innocent Wonder - I heart faces photo challenge...

2011-01-24T06:38:00.000-08:00

As soon as I saw the title of this week's challenge, I knew which photo I was going to enter. This photo of Little Jack and Jerry is my entry in the "Innocent Wonder" Photo Challenge this week on "I ♥ Faces":

Little Jack has grown up with music and absolutely loves it. He will sit for hours and listen to a guitar. Everyone says he's an "old soul". And Jerry [singer/song writer/guitarist for the Moon Shine Babies] loves kids and loves entertaining. You can tell from this photo that the whole world could have collapsed, Jack & Jerry were so focused.

This is one of my most favorite photos I've ever taken. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men. " ~ Martin Farquhar Tupper

I ♥ these templates!!

2011-01-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

These are awesome!! The one on the left is what I'm using on my personal Facebook page and the one on the right is what I'm using on my Facebook fan page. I just love them! I got the "free templates" from "Paint the Moon Photography" on Facebook. All you have to do is share their profile and you can download a set of these awesome templates. Let me know if you need assistance and I'll create one for you!! How awesome is that!

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?" ~ George Elliot

Fix It Friday!!

2011-01-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

It’s Fix-It Friday over at I ♥ Faces! That means we all get to edit the same photo as each other and learn new editing tips and tricks. This week’s AWESOME photo comes from Angie Arthur. Below is the before and after photo. The top image is the "before", which is Angie's original photograph and the bottom image is the one I edited with PhotoShop CS5:

So what did I do?
1st, I created a new layer from the background image, which is what I always do. By creating a new layer from the background image, you can use that copy for all of your editing. So in case you mess up really bad, you can just delete that layer copy, make another copy and start over.

2nd, I used the "Center Fill Light Action" from Florabella's Luxe Action Set at 52% opacity to lighten up the boy jumping in the middle.

3rd, I used Topaz Software [which is an awesome plug-in filter for PhotoShop] to create a "painterly" effect. The actual effect is called "Buz Sim" and is in the "Topaz Adjust" plug-in.

4th, I created a layer mask and used a soft-round brush at 60% opacity to "paint the boy back in". Sometimes the "Buz Sim" effect will distort facial features, so using a layer mask to paint back in some of the original background really creates an awesome image.

5th, I added a texture from some of my thousands of background textures I've collected for the past 10 years, changed it to "multiply" and changed the opacity to 32%.

Finally, I added a cute little graphic, flattened the image and saved it as a jpeg.

Click on the I ♥ faces image above to check out some other editing of this same photo. So fun!!

Happy Friday!! ♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." ~ Marianne Williamson

Winter Wonderland - I heart faces photo challenge...

2011-01-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

I just had to enter this photo of Broc in the "Winter Wonderland" Photo Challenge this week on "I ♥ Faces". He had so much fun in the snow!!

Of course, he's from Louisiana, so this is actually the first time he's ever been able to play in snow! It snows in the deep south, on occasion, but it never lasts. He loves the snow!! Check out the "I ♥ faces" website for all the entries. They are awesome!

So, I hope you are all staying warm & enjoying the Winter!! Personally, being from Louisiana myself, I'm ready for Springtime!

♥ & peace always ~ Kathy

"Winter came down to our home one night
quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again."
~ Bill Morgan, Jr.

Day 14 Photo Maniuplation Challenge on "Flickr"...

2011-01-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

Love this!! I found so much "free" stuff on the internet last night! I'm all giddy today!! So, here's what I used for this photo:

Damask Paper from Digital Freebies

Vintage frames from Florabella Collection

Old Rustic Barn Texture from Texture Pop [free]

Japanese Symbol for "Loyalty" & Star PhotoShop Brushes from devianArt [free]

"Painterly Effect" Photoshop Filter from Topaz Software [Simplify]

And, for a limited time, if you "like" Florabella Collection on Facebook, you can download some awesome Valentine Card Templates for "Free"!! Enjoy!!

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time...

Brand new photography blog....

2011-01-12T10:24:00.000-08:00

...decided to keep it separate from my other blog, because of the contests, etc. Hope you enjoy it!

Stay Warm!

Kathy Hardy Photography

I ♥ Faces "On Your Feet" Photo Challenge...

I ♥ Faces "Bust a Gut" Photo Challenge...

I ♥ Faces "A Touch of Sun" Photo Challenge...

I ♥ Faces "Pet Week" Photo Challenge...

I ♥ Faces "Beautiful Eyes" Photo Challenge...

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Thursday thoughts...

Twin Falls

I ♥ Faces "Pet Week" Photo Challenge...

I ♥ Faces "Shadows" Challenge...

Best Face for March...I ♥ faces Photo Challenge

I LOVE Bokeh!!!

"Sun Flare" - this weeks challenge on "I ♥ faces"

from the tiniest acorns...

Free Bokeh Texture!!

I Heart Faces --*Red Photo Contest* -- My Entry

Happy Valentine's Day!!

♥ 's - I ♥ Faces Weekly Challenge...

Just in time for Valentine's Day...

Soothing repetition...

Innocent Wonder - I heart faces photo challenge...

I ♥ these templates!!

Fix It Friday!!

Winter Wonderland - I heart faces photo challenge...

Day 14 Photo Maniuplation Challenge on "Flickr"...

Brand new photography blog....

I Heart Faces --Red Photo Contest -- My Entry