Night Iris

Lilacs and evening light

Many faces

So Sarah and I were going to try to come up with some artistic and profound photo project that she could help me with as a model, but we decided this would be more fun.  Enjoy!

Not so simply Sarah

This is my best friend Sarah, who has come to visit for the long weekend from Pennsylvania.  So of course I warned her before coming that she would be obligated to be my model.  But, feeling guilty that I was planning just to use her I decided that tonight I would try to just get a nice portrait shot for her.  Sarah is an amazing writer, and I very much think it is possible that one day she will be a famous author and I will get to brag that I "knew her when".  So a nice head-shot could really come in handy for her.  And tomorrow I will probably torture her with something more "artsy" so I felt I owed her something. 

(By the way, the last shot is her starting to just give me goofy looks to get me to stop snapping away!  Obviously it didn't work.)



Blame it on the wine

Forgot to post until just now (after midnight), but I blame it on the wine.

Peas in the rain

At least my little peas that are just coming up enjoyed the wet and cold weather today.  

Bathtime for me

I had this almost overwhelming urge to be in the water tonight, so I took a bath.  Not something I do all that often, especially for no reason, just to soak (I had already taken a shower this morning).  So I thought I try to get a shot of me relaxing in the bath, just legs and my head over the edge of the tub, but I couldn't get all of me in the shot, so it's just legs.  Then I started doing my usual scrutinize myself in the mirror routine afterwards, and thought that might make for an interesting shot as well.  Looking at this image now (and striking this pose several times to get the shot) really made me think about why this "self-examination" is a part of my bathroom routine.  Seems kind of silly really, I don't do anything about any imperfections I find, I'm just more aware of them.  And that is not necessarily a good thing, especially for someone who tends to obsess about anything I find visually unpleasant (I can be especially annoying when it comes to arranging furniture, I just can't stand it when something doesn't feel like it is in the right place).  So maybe this is something I will try to abandon.  I may even print off this picture and tape it to my mirror for a few days to remind myself how silly and vain it looks when I do this.

At the river

 Wanting to wade right in.

 Finding stones.

 Throwing stones.

 Making ripples.

 Finding a really cool fallen tree.

 Climbing it.

Making it to the top!

What time is it?!

My brain is not working tonight; I forgot to take a photo for today until the time on this clock, then almost went to bed without actually posting it.  I blame it on a day without caffine. 

Curve of the spine

Real job!

Had a very long day, but one that included a real job!  Above is the lovely young lady we took senior portraits for today.  We met with her early this morning, but due to the rest of the day being packed I didn't get back to my camera for anything else.  This also is probably not the best shot of the day, but I have more than 700 frames to go through!  So for now I picked this one to share with you all, which I do like as it has a nice candid quality.

Pound cake

C is for... Cake!  Maybe I should make a food photo alphabet, Josie would love that (she loves food, just like the rest of her family).  It was good too, first time I've made this recipe and it turned out perfect.  Betty Crocker eat your heart out!




Wish flower

If only they really worked.  I've got about a thousand of them in my yard right now, I'd be set for life.

Thinker

Had one of those days when I can't seem to turn my thoughts off, spent mostly cursing God for not equipping human brains with an off switch.

Strawberries and sky

Two things that made me happy today: seeing little green strawberries in my garden, and the beautiful evening sky.

Sweet woodruff by night

Starting to really get into this night photography thing, though I was a bit worried the neighbors were going to call the cops with all the crazy flashes going off.

Hands and feet

They take me where I want to go and help me do just about everything I need and want to do, so I thought they deserved a little photo love tonight.

Return of the Florist

Josie did some rearranging of her original floral design tonight.  I was worried she would get upset when most of the petals fell off, but it didn't seem to phase her (she just stuffed them into the vase).

Granola

Well this is what I get for waiting until late at night to work on my photo.  I thought I would make this post more interesting by including the recipe, but as this is something I "just make" and I don't have the brain power necessary this late to remember all the ingredients and steps, this is all you get.  Sorry.  Goodnight lovely people!

Dew

The florist

I let Josie pick the last of the fading tulips, and this is the arrangement she made for me (well, she said it was for me, but then when we brought them inside she insisted that they needed to go on her desk).  The other jar is a cup of dandelion tea she made for me.  What is it about little kids giving you dandelion anything that just melts your heart?  Well, it melts my heart anyway.

Nature's children

Josie and her BFF Brielle got to spend some quality time with nature out at Fernwood Botanical Gardens and Nature Preserve today.  Watching them play out in the woods without the aid of any toys or equipment was an incredible reminder that kids don't "need" nearly as much stuff as we've been told they do (mostly by people trying to sell us that stuff).  All these two needed to have a great time was to be outside and be allowed to get a little messy.  Here are some highlights from the many games they created and things they discovered today... 



Playing "don't fall off the mountain"

 In the mud

 Finding cool stuff, like this shell

 Splashing

Toe painting with water

 Hide and seek

 Discovering frogs

 Sharing that discovery with a friend

Contemplating the meaning of life, the universe, and everything

Night fern

Loner

Josie and I went to a birthday party today for the children of a friend of mine (both have May birthdays, so they usually just share a party).  If I had been thinking ahead, I would have made sure to ask this friend if I could use a picture of her and her kids for my blog, but I forgot.  It's really too bad, she is an awesome mother and a true inspiration to me; it would have made a perfect post for mother's day.  She is a full time student and a single mother, who has had more of her fair share of troubles (even living in a homeless shelter for awhile) but has managed to always care for her children with abundant love, kindness, patience and optimism.

Instead, this is the shot I have for you all.  I suppose it speaks to motherhood as well; somehow I managed, either through nature or nurture, to pass on my loner tendencies to my daughter.  While all the other kids ate cake and opened presents, Josie preferred to sit quietly by herself in the sunshine and play with the little figurines from the top of the birthday cake.  This image looks a little sad and lonely, but I assure you that she was perfectly happy.  And I understand completely why she would choose this, because it is in fact exactly what I would normally do at a party (well, minus the tiny Cinderella and Snow White).  

The photographers

My new lens has spark a renewed interest in me to promote our "company" Fairweather Photography.  So today I drug my husband out to Fernwood and we took portraits of each other for the bio section of our website (labeled "the photographers").  Now I just have to write the bios (ugh, not looking forward to that).  Anyway, here are the shots we decided to use, mine of him and his of me.  Now I just have to figure out some advertising, we've really only been word of mouth so far; the few clients we've had have referred us to others.  I'd love to be able to turn this photography thing into a real income someday (right now the work we get is just going to pay for the equipment we have), but I'm not sure I've got much of a head for business.  Tried craigslist, which was pretty much just a spam invitation.  Made some business cards and fliers to pass around, but that hasn't helped much.  Any suggestions?  Are any of you reading this doing photography for a living?

Family art time

This is what my family spent our Friday night doing.  I can't decide if that makes us really cool or the biggest squares in the neighborhood. 

By the way, these were taken with the awesome new lens, but I didn't realize until later that my ISO was cranked up really high and I'd forgotten to reset it.  So these are a bit grainy.