assignment bust leads to feature must

i have some backdated things to post, which i shall get to soon, but this being my official 100th post, i was kind of holding out for something that i really liked visually...today i went out to the state park to shoot a college student who is leading an "explorer group" for kids to teach them about nature/being green, etc....it was an overcast day, sprinkling early in the morning with forecasts to rain and storm all day - that never really came to fruition, but i suppose the predictions, along with the clouds, was enough to keep any would-be attendees interested in learning more about the nature and eco-usefulness of the mayfly away, because no one showed...well, at least i learned a thing or two about the mayflies, made a portrait just in case they wanted to run the story soon before we could get back to shoot an event, then i went around the park in search of a potential feature....i wandered up onto the beach along Lake Erie and spotted a guy with 2 small kids playing on the shoreline....finally, i feel like i've made a pic or so that i like for the visuals, for the feel of them - these have more of a "feel" moment than an outward/interactive moment...which in a way i think i prefer - maybe i'm just drawn to subtlety - it's great to get those pictures that just burst out at you, but it's the quiet ones that sometimes have more impact to me - what's that expression? - still waters run deep...

although these are very similar looking, the mood of each is so different that i can't decide which i like better

after searching the beach for a stick to place atop her small sandcastle mound, this little girl found a really big stick - too big for her castles, but just right for making drawings in the sand - as the water crept up and continued to wash away her work, she'd simply remake them all over again

after making her castle forts, she triumphantly held up her stick, proclaiming herself queen of the realm!

i had a couple other versions, a little more quiet, of this moment, but i was drawn to the energy of her leaping upward as the water rolled in.....i think this is the beauty of childhood - you interact so completely and richly with everything you encounter, and everything around you - even the simple ebb and flow of the water - has a magic all its own...

yeah, this is my favorite