This week’s photo challenge was so much fun…it brought out our inner love for a rainy afternoon, a nice fireplace, and a good book!

Special thanks to this week’s Guest Photographer Judge, Hilary Camilleri from One For The Wall and Along Came Baby. We had the pleasure of meeting Hilary when we spoke at HER Conference last November and fell absolutely in love with her and her photography work.

1st Place: The Life in your Years

Hilary wrote: The “Life In Your Years” photo was my first choice. This photo completely jumped off my computer. I felt like I could hear her giggle and made me wonder what was so funny in that book! Great moment to have captured.

2nd Place: Jean Photography

This moment also spoke to me. I can only imagine how fleeting this moment this was. A beautiful memory to have.

3rd Place: Lindsay Kennedy Photography

Loved that this picture included the entire scene. Love the colour and the fun moment between Mom and daughter.

4th Place: Patience Ivory Photography

I am in love with the look on this childs face. Again – I am lost in their thought as much as they are.

5th Place: Dana Suggs Photography

Love the light and composition of this photo! Serene and beautiful!

6th Place: Allison Christians Photography

7th Place: Kathryn Grace

8th Place: Leilani Rogers Photography

9th Place: Whimsy & Style Photography

10th Place: Carrie Anne Miranda Photography

Each week we (Angie & Amy) like to show off some of our favorite entries as well!  Here are our picks…

In Bloom

Monika McSweeney

Rue Rue Photography

Sweet Life under the Savior

Dana Willis

Corinne K

One Girl Photography

Bright Shot Photography

Jessica Remus

Emily Robinson

If you were in the Top Ten or an “Angie & Amy Pick” you can go to this page to find your special Winners Button to display on your blog!  Super-huge congratulations for entering such an amazing photo this week!

A Friendly Reminder: To be able to be considered as a winner for our photo challenges, you must follow these guidelines…

1| Only ONE photo can be in your entry post. If there are other photos in your entry post, your photo will not be passed on to the weekly judge.

2| Our button must be in your post (you can find our buttons on our “Grab a Button” page.)

3| You must enter a permalink to your blog post or Flickr entry (not a link to the home page of your blog.)

Congratulations to ALL of our winners this week! Come back Monday and enter your photo where our theme will be “Oh So Silly” and we’ll focus on those photos that are just plain silly! For more information on our upcoming themes go here!

This week’s photo challenge was all about the families and we really enjoy seeing all the different takes on our “Family Fun” theme!

Special thanks to this week’s Guest Photographer Judge, Shalonda Chaddock, of Chubby Cheek Photography.  We are so in love with her beautiful work with families and babies and knew she’d be a wonderful judge for this week’s theme.

1st Place: LaTonya Marie

Shalonda said of this week’s winning photo by LaTonya Marie: nothing makes me love what I do than more than an image that appeals to all of my senses…an image that makes me “feel”. and this image by latonyamarie did just that! I could hear the laughter, I could feel the way the little girl was trying so hard NOT to laugh so she could blow that snow with all her might, I could feel THIS MOMENT, as if i was right there watching it unfold. perfect capture for a family to remember this moment by, forever.

2nd Place: Laura Gattis

Again I could hear the belly laughs and squealing, I love the foot sticking out of the sibling trying to hide…and I adore the “terror” created by a toddler with a pillow and permission to make a huge mess, hahahaha!

3rd Place: Shinehaus

This image jumps out to me for various reasons but mostly bc it just exudes a LOVE. There are no distractions, not much of the background is even showing and no one is even paying attention to the camera, all I see is the stripped down emotion of a mother and her children, a mother’s love is hard to describe much less capture like this. what a lucky women she is to have this image of this beautiful moment that she would never have seen if it hadn’t been captured.

4th Place: mQn Photography

5th Place: Bambini Photography

6th Place: Shannon Backstrom

7th Place: Heather Stockett

8th Place: Shoot the Moon Photography

9th Place: Karen Edwards

10th Place: MRD Photography

Each week we (Angie & Amy) like to show off some of our favorite entries as well!  Here are our picks…

The Cook Family

Amy Cole Photography

Heidi Walter

Mal B Photography

Stephanie M. Brown

Mary Nichols

Katie Rain

Megan Bryant

50cent of your Love

Blue Prints Photography

If you were in the Top Ten or an “Angie & Amy Pick” you can go to this page to find your special Winners Button to display on your blog!  Super-huge congratulations for entering such an amazing photo this week!

A Friendly Reminder: To be able to be considered as a winner for our photo challenges, you must follow these guidelines…

1| Only ONE photo can be in your entry post. If there are other photos in your entry post, your photo will not be passed on to the weekly judge.

2| Our button must be in your post (you can find our buttons on our “Grab a Button” page.)

3| You must enter a permalink to your blog post or Flickr entry (not a link to the home page of your blog.)

Congratulations to ALL of our winners this week! Come back Monday and enter your photo where our theme will be “By the Book”. For more information on our upcoming themes go here!

This week’s photo challenge was amazing! It’s always nice to look back at where we’ve been and how far we have come as photographers.  2011 was a very good year for photography as is evident with such wonderful photo entries that all of you entered this week.

Special thanks to this week’s Guest Photographer Judge, Tara Whitney. Her work is always fresh and fun and we were so pleased to welcome her back to choose our Best Face of 2011!

1st Place: Emily Robinson

Tara wrote:  This image stood out from all the rest. I love the shadows and light. I love the umbilical cord. I love all that great hair! But what really got me were both of those sweet faces. I just LOVE how natural both of them seem to be. This seemed like a real moment between siblings, and I have looked at it again and again.

2nd Place: Amanda Couch

There was something about this one that made me look twice. And then tree times. The black and white conversion is awesome. The expression is fantastic. The finger on the chin priceless. And the barren trees, blurry in the background – love.

3rd Place: My Life

I have a soft spot for swinging pictures. I love the carefree, excited expression, and the arms reaching out for more, more more!

4th Place: sarahlinqswanson

This image is beautiful. The light, shadows, and exposure are perfection. Her funny little smile made me want to laugh with her. And oh, those tiny little teeth!

5th Place: Taylor Jay Photography

Love the processing, and the capture. Great catch! Those big brown eyes are gorgeous. Such a sweet expression.

6th Place: Meaklims

Oh my gosh, what a face! I just adore her, this is a kid I would like to meet.

7th Place: Demandaj

I love this natural moment – it feels like childhood to me. Love the raindrops you can see in her hair. Love those sweet fingers up to her face. Love the blurred out background.

8th Place: The Polhamus Family

This is a beautiful, calm portrait of a beautiful, calm child. The lighting is great, and her somewhat sleepy expression is so timeless. She was really comfortable with the photographer, that you know for sure.

9th Place: Corrie Owens

I also have a soft spot for people with their eyes closed I think. I just love how she seems so content, just to sit there and breathe. Love the blur, love the center placement.

10th Place: Letters to Littles

This picture of this baby is so funny and adorable all at once. What a great catch! I couldn’t help but giggle.

Each week we (Angie & Amy) like to show off some of our favorite entries as well!  Here are our picks…

Michelle Nichelson

Shannon Lutkins

Kate Craft

Tara D

Traci Falder

Clin d’Oeil

Erica Cummins

Jodi Jones

Sam Tutton

Chaos and Bliss Photography

If you were in the Top Ten or an “Angie & Amy Pick” you can go to this page to find your special Winners Button to display on your blog!  Super-huge congratulations for entering such an amazing photo this week!

A Friendly Reminder: To be able to be considered as a winner for our photo challenges, you must follow these guidelines…

1| Only ONE photo can be in your entry post. If there are other photos in your entry post, your photo will not be passed on to the weekly judge.

2| Our button must be in your post (you can find our buttons on our “Grab a Button” page.)

3| You must enter a permalink to your blog post or Flickr entry (not a link to the home page of your blog.)

Congratulations to ALL of our winners this week! Come back Monday and enter your photo where our theme will be “Family Fun” and we’ll put the focus on all the beautiful families in our lives.  Enter a creative photo of a family (that includes three or more faces in it). For more information on our upcoming themes go here.

This week’s photo challenge was just adorable! In honor of the holidays and the holiday madness that is in full swing, we thought we’d serenade you (because the Holiday Madness may be getting to us, too.  Hee!)

On the 12th day of Pet week, I Heart Faces gave to me: 12 lazy dogs, 11 close up cat eyes, 10 lolling dog tongues, 9 cats sun bathing, 8 kids and doggies, 7 fast dogs running, 6 geese a-laying (not really, but it really did fit didn’t it!), fiiiiii-ve touching pet stories!! (Sing it with me!) 4 chimpanzees, 3 llamas, 2 praying mantis and a cockroach in a toilet!

(We know we heard you singing with us!)

Special thanks to this week’s Guest Photographer Judge, Kim Levin! Her work is beautiful, both in photos, and within the animal community itself! We hope you are inspired! She said of this week’s entries: I am honored to judge this contest. I was really impressed by the quality of the photography and I have to admit, it was not easy narrowing my choices down. So many of the participants had a great eye and an affinity for capturing animals.

1st Place: MG Photography

When I first looked at this image, I took a double take because I simply hadn’t seen an image like it before. The picture stopped me in my tracks. What a great expression on his face – he’s actually smiling. As a pet photographer, my goal is always to capture the animal’s true personality and I felt that this image did that in spades. Who knew that donkeys have personalities! The image is well composed, nicely lit, and I feel like I know a little bit about the subject – he certainly is happy.

2nd Place: Jen Prouty Photography

Jen Prouty’s image of the howling dog and his/her owners vaguely in the background really stood out to me. I liked the composition with the dog off center. It took me a few minutes to even notice the people in the background. Every good pictures tells a story and this one did just that. The photographer really captured “the moment”.

3rd Place: Jennifer Lowery

One of things that I strive for as an animal photographer is getting the animal to show me her personality. One way to do that is getting the animal to “connect” with me with his/her eyes. I love the expression on Dolly’s face and her sweeping ear. It looks like she is moving but she’s in focus. This image gives me a glimpse into Dolly’s personality. She looks like she’s ready to take off!

4th Place: CM Fotografia

What a great moment between the baby and the dog. This photographer had great timing and just the right angle to capture the family relationship. I like the composition with the dad in the background smiling. This picture tells a story. I am not sure if they are meeting for the first time or they have known each other a long time but the image keeps me guessing.

5th Place: Noshings

There were so many great cat images. What made this image stand out for me was the expression the cat’s face, the angle of the image and the great color. I love that the whiskers are so long and take up most of the image. I get the sense that this cat is very sweet and loving.

6th Place: Sunfish Photography

For some reason, I kept coming back to this image. I love the angle the image was taken at – getting down on the same level really helps you get close to your subject. I feel like when I look at this image, I know who Duke is – a sweet, loving, playful dog. The placement of his paw is what drew me to his picture.

7th Place: Nikki B Photography

I felt that the image of “Jobin” did a great job of connecting between subject and photographer. I love the look in the daschund’s eyes. The picture is clean and well-composed – not too many details so that your eye goes right to the dog and her expression.

8th Place: Buckeroo Mama

I really liked the cat’s comfortable and the relaxed nature in this image. The photograph was well lit, had great color and had a lot of texture. It’s not easy to get cats to relax and I think this image did a great job at that.

9th Place: Jennifer Leigh

What a great profile of a dog. Several elements are working in conjunction to make this a strong image. The framing of the dog’s face, the B&W tone and overall composition is what caught my eye.

10th Place: A Waste of Paper

As a photographer, I can tell this is not an easy picture to get. Great timing and patience on the photographer’s part is what makes this image stand out. The photographer took the image at a great angle and was able to freeze the motion of the water at the very moment it was going to drop into the dog’s mouth.

Each week we (Angie & Amy) like to show off some of our favorite entries as well! Here are our picks…

Caynay Photography

Kira Faris

Castle Photography

Daniela Curl

Shannon View

Heartfelt Photography

Yellow Suitcase Photography

JMarqstarPhoto

Lbgrafix1

Write184

If you were in the Top Ten or an “Angie & Amy Pick” you can go to this page to find your special Winners Button to display on your blog! Super-huge congratulations for entering such an amazing photo this week!

A Friendly Reminder: To be able to be considered as a winner for our photo challenges, you must follow these guidelines…

1| Only ONE photo can be in your entry post. If there are other photos in your entry post, your photo will not be passed on to the weekly judge.

2| Our button must be in your post (you can find our buttons on our “Grab a Button” page.)

3| You must enter a permalink to your blog post or Flickr entry (not a link to the home page of your blog.)

Congratulations to ALL of our winners this week!

We’d love to have you join us next week for a special “Holiday Bokeh” non-competition photo challenge. For more information on our upcoming themes go here!