Photo Challenge: Joy

Keith's photo challenge this week was Joy. Shutterboo had warned that the prompts this time around would be more abstract, and so far that seems to be true.

What is joy? There's so many different variations of it. My joy (reading Shakespeare, sipping a glass of red wine) may be your torture!

We talked about something very abstract, like just bright lights or colors. But in the end, the first idea is the one Keith went with: an Eleanor picture. Because really, what is more joyful than a happy, well-loved child? She's happy, and she is our joy.

He tried a few different "photo shoots" (I use the term very loosely). Most of them, somewhat oddly, revolved around eating. Sometimes she eats well, sometimes not, so it's not like mealtime is a definite bet for a joyful picture It is, however, the time when she's most still. So that probably accounts for the prevalence of eating shots.

Here's a shot of hot chocolate joy:


















Some peanut butter cookie not-joy (even though she did like the cookie):


















This is the reason most of the shots are of her sitting and eating:


















And this one, too. I like it—the kind of joy only a good tickling can provoke—but it's just a bit too out of focus:












She also loves to read, so Keith was trying to get pictures of her reading. But she's always so resistant to putting her hair back that the cutest shot was ruined by her hair falling across her face.


















On the other hand, another negative of taking so many shots of Eleanor eating is that her face is often covered in food. There was a bit of Photoshop trickeration in the final, edited photo to get rid of some stray food particles. But I have to say, looking at her gorgeous, foody face does bring me joy. And make me think that she's growing up too fast!