For The Love Of Photography

Good day! I am so sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. I was out weeding and planting flowers all day, and I may have over done it a bit...just a tad (Stupid "Fibro").  

I know I said in my intro that I love photography, and I wanted to share with you some of my work.  After reviewing a ton of pictures, I realized that I love to photograph flowers and nature stuff. I also love to photograph people, but, something about outside stuff just intrigues me.

Believe me when I say I do not in any way consider myself a "professional", far from it in fact. But, I love to take pictures.  Just ask my computer hard drive. It got mad at me and forced me to move about 15K pictures...

Anyway, here is a look at some of my work...

See, I love taking pictures of flowers!

Black and White is also a favorite of mine. I think 2 things about it. 1. It hides flaws and 2. It brings out some of the best features. I loved the way the vintage fan turned out. Unfortunately the fan belongs to my mom... :(

Again with the flowers! Does it ever stop?? :)  The apple holder is my little one Zoe, and the hands in the bottom are mine and my husbands. Awwww, how sweet, right?

Let me say that in regards to the "Smoke Crack" picture, while I don't agree with the sentiment, I thought the picture turned out well. The phone booths were somewhere in London, I love the phone booths there.  Do we even have phone booths anymore here in the states??? The ehh hmmmm....beverage is a really good beer that I had in Greenwich England. I swear beer tastes better in Europe. And the apples were taken at Anderson Orchard during Zoe's first field trip.

As you might be able to tell, I like to shoot in cemeteries too. I know it's a bit macabre, 

but old headstones are fascinating. I am sure I don't have to point out what the first picture is, but I will anyway, Big Ben in London. That clock is MASSIVE. But it is absolutely breathtaking to stand directly underneath it. The beautiful little girl in orange is my daughter Zoe.

My nephew Alex when he was just a day old. What a cutie pie!

Zoe's favorite horse, Rose. She belongs to my cousins in Northern Indiana. She is such a sweetie.

So there you have it. A small glimpse into my ever expanding "portfolio".  If I couldn't take photographs, I think I might wilt away.  I swear one of my biggest fears is having my pictures or the external drive they are on, stolen. Ahhh, it chills me to even think about it!

Let me know what you think, and please feel free to share some of your own work! Like painting, or mixed media, or any other form of art, photography is a learning process. And the only opinion that matters is your own. (unless you are trying to get into National Geographic or something! )

Thanks so much for reading and following along. I appreciate it more than you know! 

**Please be sure to check back tomorrow, I will be honoring my Aunt who passed away May 12, 2011. She was an artist, business owner, philanthropist, fashionista and just a wonderful woman in general. Her life and death has had an immense impact on my life and so many others. I will try to honor her as best as I possibly can.**

Till Tomorrow, 

Monday, Monday...(sing along with me!)

If you read my last post, you will know I had a pretty rough weekend where my Fibro is concerned. But, that didn't stop me from spending a few hours at one of my favorite antique malls, Southport Antique Mall.  I swear, I could have spent the night in that place.  I went for a purpose, and lost it about a third of the way through.  I went looking for a First Communion gift for my daughter Iris for the next day. (I know, Mother of the year right here, waiting till the last possible moment.) I ended up leaving with that gift, plus some vintage baseball and basketball cards for my husband (big kid at heart) and a bunch of wishes for a wad of cash to burn.

Since I don't like to give just the typical cliche kinds of gifts on special occasions, I ended up buying my daughter an antique rosary, that is supposedly from the Civil War Era. (making it roughly 150-160 years old!) It really is a pretty piece and she likes it because she knows how much I appreciate old things, and I don't buy them for people who aren't special to me. :)  Tell me what you think about the piece pictured below, is it as old as claimed to be? Either way, she loves it and I do too. The best part, and most important part when dealing with questionable antiques, is that I didn't pay a lot of money for it.

The mass for my daughter's First Communion was really nice. And although I am not a practicing Catholic anymore (12 years in Catholic school was enough for me.), I am happy that she has found something to believe in.  Mass was over an hour and a half long! Luckily the Priest is a funny old guy who cracks jokes and doesn't "preach" too much.  Afterwards we went over to the little parish center for a party and pictures. My daughter Zoe told her sister "You look like you just got married Sissy!". It is true, the whole white long dress and veil really does look wedding-ish. 

Now, mind you, Zoe had a make-up T-ball game (Go White Sox!), and she showed up to the party in her uniform. I don't normally dress her this way, although, she might prefer it. :) 

*As a side note, according to Zoe her team won (they don't keep score) and she hit a home run (impossible). My husband, who coaches the team, did say that Zoe was one of the only players that actually went for the ball when it was hit by the other team! That would explain the grass stains all over her pants I suppose...

Anyway, after a long day of church, party, T-ball and shopping, the girls and I decided to play "Beauty Shop".  I had recently purchased a set of hot rollers (I'm old school) and a curling iron with the hopes that my hair was long enough to curl into soft waves. Sadly, I was wrong. I ended up looking like Shirley Temple.  On a little girl, cute. On a thirty-blah blah blah year old woman, horrifying.  The girls results were so much better than mine, that I had to take a few pictures. Ok, so a few might be a fib...more like fifteen or twenty would be about right. I can't help it though, it's the photographer in me. 

You see what I mean about the Shirley Temple look? On Zoe it's adorable! I love it and so did she. Too bad her hair is so fine still that the curls fell out about an hour later!

Iris' hair is so thick I am jealous. Except for when it comes to brushing it. OUCH.  But it is so beautiful.  Her curls stayed in a bit longer and now I am being told that we should do it every morning before school...yeah, sure. :) 

So far so good for this lovely Monday.  It's getting ready to storm pretty good here so I need to get my jammies on and get a good book started...it's gonna be that kind of evening and I can't wait.