The Hilarity of Ducks

Tags

animals, ducks, nature, photo, photography

I seem to have some really strange fascination with ducks, since they’re almost always my main subjects when I go out on massive photography rampages. Perhaps it’s because our wildlife is so limited out here in the city or that they always seem to give me ridiculous poses, but I just can’t get enough of them.

I took a little stroll around one of our local parks a few weeks back (and yes, just got around to post-production today) and this guy made me laugh.  He’s got a look of “Well, hurry up, then! Haven’t got all day!”  When said in a posh British accent, the hilarity of this picture goes up tenfold.

Caught this mallard in mid-protest as I attempted to get up-close-and-personal.  Though it didn’t seem that he minded getting his picture taken, since he didn’t work up any enthusiasm to actually get up and waddle away.

Moral of the story: Ducks are awesome.

A Stab at Landscape Photography

Tags

bob ross, camera, landscape, nature, photography, trees

This post is going to be pretty quick-and-dirty, since Backstreet Boys’ “The Call” is stuck in my head, making it incredibly difficult to write a coherent sentence without breaking into song and dance.  Curse you, AJ McLean, with your bad-boy looks and raw, sexy voice!

Anyway, I took another trip up to Flagstaff last weekend to visit my fiance and decided to stop at a few rest areas to enjoy the nice weather and practice landscape photography.  I still need a lot of work, but a bunch of my pictures reminded me of Bob Ross paintings.  There were just so many happy little trees!

I have a super-zoom camera (Nikon CoolPix L120) right now, since a DSLR is a bit out of my price range.  Don’t get me wrong, I love this camera and it’s a perfect stepping stone between point-and-shoot and DSLR, but it still has its limitations.

If anyone has tips for me to improve my landscape photography with a super-zoom, I would love to hear them!  Tell me about your trials and terrors and what you’ve learned!

Easter: Not Just About Chocolate

Tags

Christianity, Easter, faith, love, photography, reflections, religion

Easter definitely snuck up on me this year – where has the time gone?  One minute, I’m exercising my pancreas with copious amounts of Christmas candy and the next thing I know, I’m eying those giant chocolate bunnies that will go on sale Monday morning.  You’ll probably be seeing me comatose on the couch at the gym everyday this week.

Anyway, it’s no surprise that I’m working on my Easter post an hour before the clock runs over.  Now, don’t think that I didn’t sit at my computer and stare at a blank word document before tonight, because I definitely did for five maybe ten minutes before deciding I was too tired/hungry/lazy to be productive.  That flow chart I made of my writing process wasn’t just for laughs.  It’s real life, man.

So during one of those tired/hungry/lazy moments, I saw this on the nightly news.  That’s right – an Easter egg hunt was canceled because parents have been getting violent over candy.  Really, people? Candy?  I will give you two bucks to go to the store and buy a bag if you’re that desperate for Little Jimmy to be king of the sugar mound.

While I watched that story with a sort of “that’s-funny-because-people-are- insane” attitude, I couldn’t help but wonder what this holiday has become. Easter is supposed to be about Jesus giving his life for us on the cross and celebrating his ascension into heaven.  Of course, I’m all for the idea that people worship God in their own ways, but does fighting over cream-filled eggs really have to be one of them?  We all have eternal life because of his sacrifice! Why are we preaching messages of hate instead of shouting “Hosanna!” from our rooftops?

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that I don’t fall into Easter’s commercial hype.  It’s true that my mouth waters for the mountainous piles of mashed potatoes, biscuits, ham, vegetables, and pies (What? I’m, a girl who likes to eat!) that go hand-in-hand with this holiday.  But when we gather around the table tonight, let’s reflect on what it is we’re celebrating.  I’ll give you a hint: it’s not about the food or how large of a haul our kids brought home from the egg hunt.

****

In honor of Easter, I took my cross necklace on a little photo shoot.  The flowers in our front yard are still in bloom and the contrast between gold and red made for some really beautiful pictures, if I do say so myself.  I took a bunch of other shots throughout the afternoon, but alas,  procrastination took over and I didn’t get them all edited in time.  Be on the lookout for a follow-up post with the rest of them!

Happy Easter!  He has risen!

Black & White & Cats

Tags

art, black and white, cats, color pictures, photo, photography

As I mentioned in my post, A Spring Short-Lived, I’ve been playing around with the different editing tools in my brand-spanking new copy of Corel PaintShop Prox4.  Needless to say, much of my free time has been consumed by photography and post-production practice in hopes that I may one day open a shop on Etsy that’s jam-packed full of prints that might actually pass as satisfactory.  Since I’m such a perfectionist, it’s been a slow process, but I’m enjoying every minute of it.

Recently, I’ve been obsessed with black and white photos.  It’s amazing how they show off a completely different perspective of texture and contrast that you otherwise would have never experienced in color.  Ironically, though, I don’t like to shoot in black and white. Not being able to see a swirl of vibrant colors on my camera’s display is sort of a buzz kill, not to mention that shooting in color clears the way for awesome pictures like this one:

Not only do I get a high from seeing those bright green eyes, but the texture of the fur is really brought to the forefront with a black and white film.  And I love cats way more than is socially acceptable.  This picture is like a serotonin overload for me.

Just for fun, let’s pull up the original color version:

It’s still a great picture, but the mood is different and I’m focusing more on the overall color rather than being immediately drawn to his eyes.

On a related note, this cat has finally started to warm up to me after about a year of skittishness and glaring.  I knew he would come around eventually.  Ah, the sweet taste of triumph. 

 

The Cruelness of Pity Parties

Tags

cycle, rejection, short story, writing

I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m a cynic.  It’s not that I don’t see the good in things or that I don’t appreciate a solid, whole-hearty lesson or two, but when failure rears its ugly head, my vision clouds with pessimism.

Last January, I submitted a short story to a well-known literary magazine and was turned down.  My hopes weren’t high, as I had been rejected by them before, but I thought “hey, let’s try again – nothing good ever happens without risk!”  Of course, I’m not the first to quote that.  Most writing forums recite the same mantra, occasionally throwing in a “so-and-so was rejected five gazillion times before making it big”, but none of that takes away the initial sting of rejection.  It doesn’t make better the fact that someone thought you weren’t good enough, and that what you poured your soul into wasn’t memorable.

And that hurts.

So, when I found the word “Complete” (a supposedly humane way of saying “thanks, but no thanks”) next to my online submission, I found myself burrowing into the well-known pit of doubt, accompanied by my friends “Ben & Jerry”.  Were my ideas really that bad? Was I not philosophical enough?  What is it about my writing style that leaves reader’s wanting?

The outcome of these pity parties is always that same: I would never amount to anything as writer and it was time to accept that.

Dark, right? But I can’t accept that this kind of negative self-talk only affects me. It’s a vain and vicious cycle of which I’m sure many struggling writers can relate.  Since I’m a very visual person, I pieced together this beautifully drawn flow chart of my writing process using MS Excel a very technical program (college education at work right here).

So, what’s the point of writing if my work is never published?  At these low moments, I try to remind myself why I labored, night after night, over something that an editor would later toss in the trash without a second thought.  Why had I given birth to these characters with whom I laugh, cry, hate, and pity?

The reason is always simple, yet it takes me weeks – sometimes months – to realize it.  I do it not to earn the approval of a complete stranger, but because it’s enjoyable.  Every time I sit in front of a blank screen, I have the opportunity to escape into a completely different world where I am the all-powerful overlord.  Who wouldn’t want that?

So until the process loses all pleasure, I’ll keep writing.  Maybe I’ll see my name on the cover of a book and maybe I won’t.  Either way, the stories will have fulfilled their purpose as an outlet for my rampant and never-to-be-shortchanged imagination.

A Spring Short-Lived

Tags

birds, editing, flowers, Hobby, nature, photography, spring

Even though the first official day of spring rolled around four days ago, the mercury down here in the desert has been steadily rising over the past month.  As today was pushing 87°, I felt myself die a little on the inside as I flipped on the air conditioning, knowing that I would soon be scalding my hands on steering wheels and sporting obnoxiously large pit stains on all of my shirts.

*Sigh*

But don’t get me wrong; we did sort of get a spring this year.  I think it may have happened during the last week of February/first week of March, since that was when I took most the floral pictures below.

On a more cheerful note, I bought my very first photo editing software!  I felt so empowered, high-tailing it over to Best Buy’s photography section whilst giving innocent passersby a look that screamed “why yes, I am a photographer”.  I’m pretty sure they were all impressed, even if they didn’t know it yet.

After much research, I decided that my drug of choice would be Corel PaintShop Prox4.  Not only did it get fairly good reviews regarding user-friendliness and editing features, but it was a lot cheaper than Photoshop (about $50 on sale at Best Buy).  Since I’m not a professional, I couldn’t justify spending upwards of $200 for super high-end programming.

Without further ado, take a scroll through our short-lived spring that I edited with Corel!  Keep in mind that I’m still learning the ins and outs of post-production work (i.e. please don’t point and laugh).

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How My Mediocre Pictures Became Awesome

Tags

do it yourself, jewelry, photography, sea shells

After taking Em’s jewelry pictures, I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t achieved the pearly white background I had lusted over during my crammed half hour research session before the shoot.

The lights will just understand what I want, I thought.  I’ll just slip a piece of paper under her jewelry and it’ll be magical!  (Spoiler alert: the only remotely magical part of that method was how I restrained myself from reciting an entire sentence that only consisted of swear words).

So, where else would I turn for pure, unadulterated guidance but Google?  After several searches–including, but not limited to, “How to Take Pictures of Jewelry”, “Why Don’t My Pictures Look Like Everyone Else’s on Etsy?”, and “Is Lighting Really That Complicated?”–I stumbled upon the concept of light boxes.

Now, you have to understand that I am just barely starting to pursue this whole photography spiel and the idea of gaining results by tossing objects into a box was beyond strange.  But hey, if it’s good enough for the pros, I guess it’s good enough for me.

Of course, after I had come to the conclusion that this was all going to require some effort on my part, I was faced with another predicament.  Sure, I wanted nice quality pictures, but did I really have to buy things?  I mean, we have piles of empty boxes in our shed – why couldn’t I just use one of those?

That’s when I stumbled upon this fantastic tutorial: How To Make a Low Budget Light Box.  Clicked it.  Built it.  No money spent.

Inside Scoop: When I pulled this box out of the shed, it was covered in cricket waste. Honey badger don't care.

This was so easy to make.  You just cut three holes, cover them with tissue paper, shove in a piece of poster board, and voila!  Perfect for a novice like me!

I even cut out a black  insert for dramatic, emo pictures and secured it in place with two high-tech clipping devices.

The black didn’t work as well as I had hoped – I would probably need something a little less granular as my black and white photos tended to have this weird “starry night” look.  Eh, it was worth a shot.

Feel free to scroll through the below slideshow of my recent light box endeavors – what a difference! I’m now on a seashell kick (with that one necklace randomly thrown in there).

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Happy Photographing!

Foto Friday!

Tags

animals, ducks, photography

Or, at least it was Friday when I started typing this up.  I guess that you’ll just have to strap on your handy time-travelers hat and imagine yourself reading this post in the exact setting you were in last night.  If you were sitting in front of the television without pants and drinking a beer, you better replicate it this morning.  I promise not to judge. 

Over the past couple days, I’ve been sifting through files upon files of pictures that I took last month while eating copious amounts of leftover Christmas candy.  I was pleasantly surprised by how some of them turned out, specifically the ones I took at the lake down by our local library.  Initially, I had gone there with the mentality to sit under a nice big tree and work on my novel (you know, the pesky half-done one that won’t seem to finish itself no matter how much I ignore it).  However, my laptop was so inspired by the fresh air that it decided to try to download a whole slew of updates.  Notice that I used the word try.  Basically, my so-called productive writing adventure consisted of a series of failed attempts to guess passwords for neighboring wi-fi networks.

So, it was a good thing that I brought my camera with me that day.  It’s always nice to have a back up plan!

This duck almost looks like he's smiling. Creepy.

All alone. At least the lake looks pretty psychedelic.

Obviously, I have a thing for photographing ducks.  Though, they weren’t that interested in me after realizing that I was only pretending to throw bread crumbs into the water.  Such divas.

Photography Practice & Shameless Advertising

Tags

do it yourself, etsy, jewelry, photography

One of my best friends is launching her very own Etsy shop and commissioned me to take some artistic/functional photos of her handmade jewelry.  Not only is it fantastic that she’s starting her own business, but I got to squeeze in some much needed practice.

Oh, and I got paid in frozen yogurt.  Best. Compensation. Ever.

First of all, if you’ve never been to one of those serve-it-yourself frozen yogurt places, stop reading my ramblings AND GO.  For some reason, throwing on large quantities of toppings yourself makes everything taste that much better.  There’s no gloomy teenager behind a counter who is only able to muster up enough strength to sprinkle on a light dusting of chocolate chips.  No, I could dump the whole bucket of cellulite-inducing goodness straight into my bowl if I so desired.

But I digress – my massive wealth in delectable frozen treats is beside the point of this post.  Let’s meet Em, our ambitious shop owner:

She even looks determined in this picture, like she’s ready to rip out that gate in an explosion of empowerment.  Now, Em is a freak of nature.  Not only is she drop dead gorgeous, but she’s incredibly talented.  If you love vintage-inspired jewelry, you’ll love her designs.

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Oh man, that was a sweet slideshow.  I had no idea that WordPress could do that!

Visit Em’s Etsy page by clicking THIS MAGICAL LINK !!

Holiday Adventures in an Arizona Winter

Tags

christmas, food, holiday, new years, photography, winter

The holiday season is just about over and, honestly, I’m quite ready to begin the new year.  Not that there was anything wrong with 2011 (in fact, this past year was pretty awesome), but I’m really tired of listening to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” on the radio and getting stuck behind snow birds in traffic who find it completely acceptable to drive 10-15 miles under the speed limit.

Exhibit A: Taken in Downtown Mesa

Other than those things, December in Arizona is beautiful.  Mainly because winter here is synonymous with spring everywhere else (see Exhibit A).  That’s right folks – the weather is finally cool enough for flowers to survive OUTDOORS. I believe the high for today was a balmy 75 degrees.

“No snow for Christmas?!” you ask, incredulously.  Exactly – isn’t it wonderful?  No waking up early to shovel snow off the car, no slipping and falling on a patch of black ice in front of a bus stop full of people, and definitely no soggy socks.

But speaking of Christmas, aren’t you a teeny, tiny bit curious as to how I spent mine?  From the massive time span between this post and my last, you can probably guess that I didn’t do much blogging.  So, to justify my chronic procrastination, I’ve put together a short-n-sweet list of how I spent the holidays, brilliantly titled:

THINGS THAT I DID INSTEAD OF BEING PRODUCTIVE
November: Got a new camera for my birthday.  Took random pictures in my backyard.  Felt talented.

Backyard Bird

Bottle Brush Tree

 

December (Beginning): Co-workers start to bring in confections.  Eat way more than necessary to avoid being rude and joke about falling into a diabetic coma.  Secretly worry about diabetes.  Visit gym.

December (Middle): Temperature drops to 65 degrees.  Pull out winter clothes and realize that they don’t fit as well as they did when first purchased four years ago.  Whine about gaining a little bit of weight since college and sob into a plate of cookies.  Ignore loving compliments from fiance.

Week Before Christmas: Begin shopping for presents.  Complain about crowds.

Christmas Eve (Morning): Watch Dad replace wax seal under toilet.  Feel nauseated as existing wax is scraped out of the opening in the floor.  Thoroughly scrub bathroom when finished.

Christmas Eve (Afternoon): Begin cooking meatless gravy and cranberry sauce.  Fail to follow gravy recipe correctly and end up with liquid-y, brown water.  Add cornstarch and hope nobody notices.

Christmas Eve (Dusk): Make last minute trip to grocery store and almost hit fellow driver in parking lot.  Receive angry hand gestures.

Christmas Eve (Night): Attend church with family and good friend.  Remember the true meaning of Christmas and enjoy a night of beautiful music and messages.

Christmas Day: Open presents. Ignore the sin of gluttony. Sleep like a baby.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that the new year brings blessings and happiness!  Happy 2012!