kris mcneil photography

Seeking the light. And other stuff. But mostly the light.
kris mcneil photography
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  • Category: 5 on 5

    • 5 on 5 january 2017

      Posted at 5:03 pm by Kris McNeil, on January 4, 2017

      5 on 5 is a photographic blog circle of friends posting 5 photos on the 5th of the month. Come take a walk through our circle. It will do your heart and soul some good. 

      Happy New Year, all y’all!

      December was a bit of a blur of travel and cookies and more travel and more cookies… This is what happens when one has kids in both college and the Navy.  And every bit was good even if our weather was a little warm.

      moms-christmas-ornaments

      Mom’s ornaments. My mom made dozens of little felt ornaments in the 60s and 70s. They were always on the tree when I was a kid, but she upgraded herself to a fancier tree once we all moved out. I had to have these cuties on our tree though even if only to have a little bit of her with us this Christmas.  

      And did I mention cookies?? While my mom passed away only this year, we lost my husband’s wonderful mom in 2005. Every year with her we made these sugar cookies. Now we all have our own little tweaked versions of them, but we all still make them. We made them with our kids every year and still do. This year I passed the recipe to my son and his fiancée and gave them their own rolling pin. My other son got them cookie cutters for Christmas. We take this cookie thing pretty seriously.

      christmas-cookie-dough

      Mix the flour in by hand. It’s the only way. This is my husband’s job.

      christmas-cookies

      Awesomeness. Frosting is key.

      Don’t let the simplicity fool you. It has been claimed by others that these cookies have led to at least two pregnancies. All I know is that people were trying to conceive and after having our cookies – ta dah! Crazy, I know. I make no claims to this myself. Just passing on what I have been told by people who have had these cookies, but just saying, if you don’t need another baby, might want to be careful.

      I mentioned the warm December we had, which while not great for roasting chestnuts on an open fire, has been nice for being outside while the south prepares to host winter guests. While everyone up north is hunkering down, we’re setting the table. All the berry bushes around town are full up with the banquet for the coming birds.

      feed-the-birds The birds will flock in and pick this all clean in no time at all. 

      Wishing you all the very best in 2017. xoxo

      new-years-eve

      Please continue around the 5 on 5 circle with the delightful work of Kim Thompson Steel. You’ll be glad you did!

       

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      Posted in 5 on 5 | 3 Comments
    • 5 on 5 december 2016

      Posted at 6:57 pm by Kris McNeil, on December 4, 2016

      A love story.

      Once upon a time, a boy who liked sticks and rocks and digging holes and fire trucks and riding bikes moved to a nice little street in a nice little town. (Ok, it was Houston, which might not be a town, but it’s still nice.)

      bike-day-2004009

      Two doors down he met a girl in his grade who also liked sticks and rocks and digging holes and fire trucks and riding bikes. They became instant best friends and they laughed and cracked each other up every chance they got.

      bike-day-2004011

      They had all kinds of adventures together. They went to school together and even dug holes together (and also got mad together when the HOA filled them back in).

      kegan-and-emma-rain-2001001esThey ran in the rain.

      kegan-emma-fd-visit-tanker-w-kids-c-u-4-10-04

      They visited the fire house and climbed all over the trucks.

      Then a few years later the boy moved away. And then the girl moved away as well. They grew up in different towns, and even different hemispheres, but they were always pen pals. As they got older, the pen pals grew into texting friends.

      One day when the boy and girl were much older, the girl happened to be visiting the town in which the boy now lived. The boy and the girl had lunch together. And lunch led to phone calls and longer phone calls until they decided that maybe they could give being more than just friends a shot. And Friend Love grew into Love of a Lifetime (which of course by now you have guessed it always was).

      christmas-2015-15

      And one day, the boy offered the girl a very old rock which had been in his family for a very long time and asked the girl if she would literally be his best friend forever. And the girl said she would.

      save-the-date-small-140

      save-the-date-small-194

      And they lived happily ever after.

      save-the-date-252

      Yes, I can to say that about real life.

      And yes, I know that was 8 photos, but who’s counting? xo

      Please continue around the 5 on 5 circle and visit the wondrous work of Maureen Nichols of cottage960! You’ll be so glad you did!!

       

       

       

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      Posted in 5 on 5 | 13 Comments | Tagged 5 on 5
    • 5 on 5 november 2016

      Posted at 9:00 pm by Kris McNeil, on November 4, 2016

      October was a blur! We did three races and also did a bit of traveling to see our youngest at college. My older brother and his wife live near him and this is not only piece of mind for a long distance college mama, but it means we get twofers when we go up there! We get to see everyone! Bonus! My sister-in-law put together a little pumpkin carving evening for us. Fun fun fun!

      pumpkins-1-2

      My witch. Her broom handle broke, so I tried to fix it with the toothpick to no avail. Then we decided her toothpick should just be the broom handle. Who knew pumpkin carving could be so stress inducing!

      I’m still getting through my many photos from Shutter Sisters. I wrote about that here last week. I’m slowly chipping my way through them and this has been good for me.

      oasis-339

      From our Mt San Jacinto State Park visit at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. That was a gorgeous day.

      oasis-160

      Catching some dreams…

      oasis-188

      A little pre-election inspiration. Don’t let the bastards get you down.

      And just in case you missed it, The Cubs won the World Series. I must have paced a mile during Game 7. Holy Cow.

      cubs-fly-the-w-3

      Flying the W. Ooooooo yeah. 

      Continue around the 5 on 5 circle for more great stuff. Next stop, the fabulous work of Kim Thompson Steel

      Happy November, y’all!!

       

       

       

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      Posted in 5 on 5 | 7 Comments | Tagged 5 on 5
    • 5 on 5 october 2016

      Posted at 9:43 pm by Kris McNeil, on October 4, 2016

      And so continues my year of editing photos I didn’t work on when I originally shot them. This set in particular has been on my mind for a while. It wasn’t a large set, so maybe that is why I just kept putting them aside. Editing these was a bit of a wake up call though, even after being immersed in this 366 project for 279 days now.

      I spent this day in Houston with my amazingly brilliant friend Angie Dornier. Angie is one of those friends who started as a “photo friend” through Big Picture photography classes and Shutter Sisters, but I’m honored to say is now just my “friend”. It didn’t take us long to figure out we both lived in the Houston area and now we try to get together as often as we can just to go on photo walks and have coffee and brain storm. Many times it’s “Hey, I’ll be in Houston, let’s get lunch!” Of course we both know that means we’re bringing our big girl cameras, but we also try to be thoughtful about to where we head. Yes, we tend to hang out in picturesque areas with nice light. It’s nice to have friends who get it.

      Angie’s work, her energy and her creativity are inspirational, as is her heart and the way she gives back to her community through her art. She isn’t just a wonderful photographer. She teaches photography to school children and also to women who are staying in Angela House (a halfway house for the recently incarcerated). Angie has an ability to voice the art of composition and perspective to people who have never thought about it. Through her teaching, kids and adults alike see things in a new way, literally and figuratively. Angie recently did a photo series about some of the women she has met at Angela House. You can see these images here.

      On this day, Angie had wanted to shoot some different set ups on a backdrop and then we took a short walk in town. The wake up call came for me when I went looking for this batch of photos to edit and realized that is wasn’t just a few months ago that I shot these. It was a year and half ago. And that’s not right. I think I’m getting better about this sort of thing though. Deciding what I want to be when I grow up through lots of editing. Visiting old paths to create the new one. The challenge push for the end of the year is to do my shots from Shutter Sisters Oasis, but that’s a story for another day.

      angies-red-tulips

      Angie’s Red Tulips.

      people-say-were-crazy

      The incomparable Angie shooting bolts in a door.

      shoes-on-the-wire-houston-texas

      Shoes on a Wire.

      bobble-head-kings-at-acadiana-bakery-houston-texas

      Happy bobblehead Mardi Gras kings. If you’re ever in Houston during Lent (also known as Carnival Season), order a king cake from Acadian Bakery. It’s not Lafayette, sha, but it is the best in Houston. Yummm.

      red-sliding-door-at-silver-street-studios-houston-texas

      Angie and I stopped at Silver Street Studios to check out some of the new exhibits and dream of renting a space there. This was shot on the loading dock because I can’t resist an interesting door.

      houston-brick-cowboy-boots

      Bonus pic! Along the sidewalk.

      Five on five continues with the work of Sandra Grimm!

       

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      Posted in 5 on 5 | 3 Comments | Tagged 5 on 5, Angie, Houston
    • 5 on 5 september 2016

      Posted at 6:56 am by Kris McNeil, on September 5, 2016

      What is it about the end of August that makes it feel like everything is in fast forward? Years of getting ready for back to school? Christmas trees and wreaths out at the stores? Knowing that Pumpkin Spice Madness will be here soon? For runners, is it the Groundhog Day like excitement of knowing there are only six more weeks of nearly unbearable summer training until the heat finally breaks? Well, in Texas anyway. (Heat training = hidden speed! Bonus! Woohoo!)

      This year, it was that I only had my college aged youngest son home for a very short time because he opted to do a summer course. So he was home for a little bit in May, and a little bit in August. Being an empty nester now, I’m soaking up every second I can when he’s home or when I visit him at school. I always appreciated all the time I had when my boys lived at home. (Well, let’s be honest, most of it. There were a few episodes I could have lived without.) Still, appreciating every day, week, month, year with your kids doesn’t slow time down. Shocker, right?! It does however make the scarce days I do have with him all that much more special.

      So we soaked up as much fun as we could in the few weeks we had. He humors me.

      Twenty One Pilots-1On a midnight train to Georgia. Well, actually a 6:30am flight to Georgia. We made a 36 hour journey to see one of his favorite bands, Twenty One Pilots. He missed the show here in Texas because he was at school. Yay for airline miles and hotel points for getting to do this on the cheap!

      Twenty One Pilots-21Don’t trust a perfect person and don’t trust a song that’s flawless. Twenty One Pilots.

      Jared-1Love is all you need. When we went back to Indiana to move him from his summer apartment to his sophomore year apartment, we went with some family to see a Beatles tribute band. This was a blast. We got to imagine and twist and shout and shake it up, baby.

      Jared-3I lava you. Mad ukulele skills.

      Jared-4I see the Moon and the Moon sees me,
      And the moon sees the one that I can’t see.
      God Bless the Moon and God Bless me,
      And God Bless the one that I can’t see.

      From my plane trip home. I’m such a sucker for the window seat, especially at sunrise and sunset. As my son says, “We’re all four years old about something.” I’m also a bit sappy about the fact that we all share the moon. A bit more sappy that I share it with my kids. And that’s your Hallmark moment of the day.

      Happy Autumn!

      Keep following the 5 on 5 circle with a visit to Maureen Nichols of Cottage 960!

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      Posted in 5 on 5 | 5 Comments
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