Thursday, January 26, 2017

week three . Spring weather, winter colors.

We got a little bit of warm weather and spent every second of it outside. which is as it should be. Unfortunately, the outside is not pretty in winter. I'm looking for ways to show the beauty of winter, even if the scenery is ugly.
 day fifteen . excuse the mess on the counter and in the sink. it's our typical sunday afternoon. (we like to leave the dishes til monday.)
 day sixteen . ah, the classic legos shot of winter. I think when I take pictures of legos it's proof of how uninspired I am.
 day seventeen . oranges taste like winter.
 day eighteen . nap time's a joke anyway.
 day nineteen . I don't know what this game is called, but I'm pretty sure any of us who've ever been a child have played the don't-let-the-balloon-touch-the-ground game. it's a classic. (note! new glasses!)
day twenty . this weather is beautiful but the scenery is ugly. I'm looking for ways to portray my moods in winter when nothing looks like my mood. tips, anyone?

day twenty-one . we took advantage of this weather like nobody's business. We're alllll ready for spring, no joke.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

check it out, dude

whoop, whoop! Favorites from the so-far year.

4 Tricks to Catch up on Editing - just just what I needed to get back to editing. Those holiday photos (all 700+ of them! ...not counting the 700 on camera to cull + edit) aren't going to clean-up themselves!! 

Interesting article on saying NO - "Then, just say no. It will hurt. But make it a habit. And moment by moment, no by no, you will see your prioritized life take shape." like, best advice ever, amiright?

5 Ways to Avoid Being Boring (in photography) - wowowowowow I can't say it enough. I can't tell you how much I've been thinking about this article lately.  I need to reread whenever I go to pick up my camera. I guess I'd say, if you're in that awkward place of better-than-a-beginner-but-don't-know-how-to-take-it-to-the-next-level welllll, this is for you! Go give it a read. you WILL NOT regret it. promise.

11 kind, free things you can do for yourself - this list has so many super simple, yet totally fun ideas that I'm all game for. like I've mentioned before, this weather gets me down every year. but year by year, I'm getting a little bit better at fighting it and maybe one day I'll get to the point where I actually enjoy it. but that's too far in the future to see. 

Give me your favorite links from around the web! I'd love to check them out!

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

week two : after that high

yep, I hit it. I was like, dis gon be goooooood, and it was, and it will be, but this week was not full of pictures that made me swoon.

and guys I have a question, because I have a dilemma. So, I take a picture for project 365, and I don't really like it. but I edit it so I can post it... but I don't really want it. what do I do? Am I allowed to delete it? But that takes away from the quality (I honestly did that in 2013 and it sucked.) But otherwise, these pictures are going to sit on my hard drive with no value for me, so I'm lost.

I know the ultimate answer is: take a good picture the first time! ...but that doesn't help me now that I'm already in this fix.

please send help.
 day eight : sleepy sunday afternoon before the evening service
 day nine : oh. my. gosh. talk about being ripped apart. I haven't felt this level of fictional-despair since I read like A Separate Peace. or watched West Side Story. I forgot how good it felt. xP
day ten : I chopped off a lot of my hair and it felt so good I want to grow it out again, just so I can cut it off again, and I'm not even kidding. haircuts are my new favorite thing.
day eleven : soo, we had yet another power outage. it's started to be this little tuesday tradition in 2017. honestly, I haven't spent an 8:00 on tuesday in the light yet in 2017. There is something seriously wrong here. all that to say, the blue light gave me a headache, so all the planning I was doing had to wait until wednesday night. hence the late night. because I'm much more of a count-my-days-by-when-I-go-to-sleep gal, I'd say it still counts. even if it was technically thursday morning.

day twelve : my parents went up to Michigan to pick up my sister's car and we had such a wild party, we wiped out my brother before 8 o'clock. (trust me, this is an unheard of rarity... But once he crashes, he crashes hard.)
 day thirteen : heading off to a birthday party.
day fourteen : I know this is not an appetizing picture. I spent all day (all-all day - from 7:30 to 4:00, when I got off work,) at the Y (where pictures are a no-go. I know; remind me why I work there again?) So by the time I got home, I just wanted to eat and lounge on the couch. So this is what my it's-about-to-get-dark-so-I-gotta-grab-the-camera-but-right-now-all-I-can-think-about-is-food looks like.

how was your week?

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

week 1!

 day one: listening to sermon audio: Growing in the New Year.
 day two : playing Old Maid tournament. ask me who won. I dare you.
 day three : legos are a favorite past time when the weather gets cold. (also to be noted: a two-and-a-half hour power outage meant games and cocoa by the fire after zumba. eating dinner by the candle light? no big deal.)
day four : well, since the games are still up here, we might as well play, right?
day five : first snow of the year!! (also to be noted: I cut off a lot of hair. like, inches of hair. like in the double digits of inches. it was amazing. I want to grow my hair out again just so I can feel the feeling of having it gone again.)
day six : the last of the christmas tree. alone in the snow. (jk. we keep stepping on needles and they hurt like heck. you can't miss em!)
day seven : like I said, only games. chai and cuties and all things nice. Enjoying the time before school starts & the snow melts (because that is what I owe the lovely light in these pictures to. snow is the most perfect reflector in winter.)

Monday, January 9, 2017

starting 2017. so many thoughts, not enough space.

I'm sure I've mentioned before how jumbled my thoughts get. I have trouble organizing them all and then sometimes one thought fits into three different categories and which do I file it under?

I tried to write a post with my fifty favorite photos from 2016 but I hit a huge road block.

that road block was simply; I didn't like fifty photos that I took in 2016.

My goal for 2016 was to photograph more of my family - specifically faces, specifically for the grandparent's calendar - and I missed really taking photos for the art. I missed having great light. I missed taking time to evaluate the shot.

Sure, I got some pictures I really liked this year. No joke. Some great vibes. But my overall feeling coming off 2016 was not one of, wow, look at this art I found, created, made, love. but, well, I got the shot. Kind of...?

It is winter, though, and one of the lessons I've learned is: DON'T LISTEN TO YOURSELF IN WINTER. you're not yourself in winter and you think weird thoughts and dream weird dreams and get discouraged and hate photography and always seem to wake up with a headache and no inspiration.

Winter is like the season of dirty hair and too many unwashed dishes and not enough daylight or coffee or sandals.

I hate winter with a passion. Maybe because I can never get warm enough and my hair is always static-y and I don't like the scenery and whyyy must the sun go down so early?

I've never seen a pair of boots I loved. I've never really seen a coat I've loved. So even the simple act of getting dressed to go out is uninspiring.

So. #goals.

- take more photos I love
- take one security shot for the calendar and then forget it and let your creative juice flow
- MORE deleting. one picture a day, unless I decide it's a series. that is my rule and I'm sticking to it. (hahahaha already failed. day one.)

and I'll have more as the year goes on, but I'm queen of the, "let's  make 10,000 unreachable goals because it's the new year!!!!" and halfheartedly finishing two goals that weren't even on my Official New Years Resolutions List and it's usually like 1) I finished the school year and 2) I got all my thank-you notes written from christmas.

Have an amazing new year (I know I'm a week late)! Tell me about your goals and stay tuned for last week's pictures!!!