I just love taking my camera with me and snapping shots of our children. I have a collection of photos that I feel are notalgic, as they do not show their faces, but rather the backside of them during their activities. The reason I like to take shots like this is because it makes me wonder what they are thinking. For example here is my son standing in front of a lake with his bug catcher in hand.

To a mom we would just see this tiny lake, almost small enough to be called a pond, yet in his mind it’s a vast sea of adventure. He was on the hunt for insects and what do you think he was thinking as he paused to look around?

Here is another photo that I love. This one is of Timmy and my nephew Aaron. Aaron had gotten a new Hummer and he wanted to take Timmy for a little ride. We didn’t have an extra helmet, but they were driving on a level patch of grass in my mom’s yard and we had four adults with them. But the shot just brings my mind back to that adventurous afternoon as the tow ‘guys’ got to go for a ride.

In some of these black and white photos you can’t see the border, but in my Paint Shop Pro I added a 4pt white border around these photos and it makes them look like the old time snap shots of yesteryear. I added a drop shadow to this one so you can see what I’m talking about. This shot was of my son as he was walking across a bridge. He was letting his fingers hit each bar as he slowly strolled along. None of us taught him to do this, but I recall doing the same thing when I was a little girl.

I received an Editor’s Pick award on that shot of Timmy on the bridge, at BetterPhoto.com

This next shot was of Timmy and Aaron again at the baseball field. My husband was playing ball and the boys stood at the fence watching the action. As you can see from these images, that there’s something unique about this kind of shot.

Here is the last one I wanted to share with you. This was last year at Upper Bidwell Park in Northern California. Bidwell Park is a historical and famous park. The film, ‘Robinhood‘ with Errol Flynn was filmed there, as well as many other films. It’s park is gorgeous! I know the view from where he stands. He is looking upstream and as far as you can see is water and lush green brush and trees. The birds fly through without noticing that humans are there. Many times you come to a park and the birds and animals flee, but in Bidwell Park it’s as if you’re apart of their world. Knowing this experience myself makes this picture so nostalgic to me. Again, I see the picture and it’s up to my imagination to wonder what he’s thinking and experiencing that moment,

Do you have photos that ‘take you back’ and make your imagination soar? Dawn has one on a path at her PhotoBlog. Dawn also shares how she used her program to create a vintage look to her photos.

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