Kids and Watermelons - Pittsburgh Child Photographer
What comes to mind when you think of summer? Maybe family walks, children playing outdoors, jogging with a baby, visiting friends, family picnics, going swimming, or a neighborhood BBQ? Or maybe even eating watermelons?
The Flourish Academny hosts a monthly camera club open to all Pittsburgh area photographers. I enjoy attending the monthly meetings to meet other Pittsburgh photographers, catch up with friends and photograph at the beautiful homestead location where camera club meets. Recently I had the privilege of photographing adorable children eating watermelons. They were having a lot of fun, and so was I. It was so enjoyable that I thought it would be a good subject for the blog.
10 Reasons to Love Watermelons
- Keep cool | Watermelon is 92% water making it perfect for refreshment on a hot day or refueling after a workout.
2. Health Benefits | Watermelons contain Vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps boost your immunity and vitamin B6 for brain development during pregnancy and infancy.
3. Skin Benefits | Watermelons contain Vitamin A and Lycopen that are both good for your skin. Vitamin A may help moisturize skin as well as build and maintain collagen. Lycopene is studied for its protection from harmful UV rays.
4. Superfood | Did you know that watermelons are part of the same family as cucumbers, pumpkins and squash? That makes them a vegetable, right? But fruits have seeds or pits and are usually sweet. So that makes watermelon a fruit! They are a superfood — they get to be both! And the best part is, you can eat the whole watermelon, seeds and all. You can even eat the rind of a watermelon and it’s really good for you — but most people don’t like the flavor.
5. Square Shaped | Have you ever seen a square shaped watermelon? In Japan watermelons grow inside of a box. There is nothing different about these watermelons other than their shape and price — they’re very expensive. The idea for making them box-like was so that they would be easier to stack on shelves, in fridges and easier to cut because they won’t roll around!
6. Four Categories | Although there are many types of watermelon grown today, the most popular are grouped into four categories: seeded, seedless, mini and yellow/orange ones. That’s right, there are yellow watermelons too! You wouldn’t know from the outside but once you cut it open, you can see the yellow flesh — and they taste exactly the same!
7. Fun Fact | The Guinness World Record for the heaviest watermelon was recorded at the Operation Pumpkin Festival in Hamilton, Ohio, in 2013. The watermelon weighed 350 pounds — that’s about as heavy as a reindeer!
8. History | The first known harvest of watermelons was about 5,000 years ago in Africa. Watermelon hieroglyphs were found in Egypt. It is even said that they would leave watermelons in the tombs of kings who had passed away so they would have something good to eat in the afterlife!
9. Diet Friendly | Watermelons are cholesterol free. fat free and only contain 80 calories per 2-cup serving.
10. Heart | Watermelons are a good source of citrulline – an amino acid that may help maintain blood flow.
