stuff in the shop

I just recently added some still life prints and crocheted items to my Etsy shop Little Lolas. I plan on adding some crochet patterns as well. I am super excited because I am working on crocheted toy patterns and I can't wait to share them when they are finished!

Tribute to Fall

Gone are the warm autumn days where you sit outside all day.  It is supposed to snow tonight, and it has been raining all weekend.  Hopefully there still a few warm days left this year but I'm not counting on it.

This photo collage is my tribute to those warm autumn days.  I took all of these right from my front porch. :)

chocolate cupcakes

Dusting powdered sugar over rich dark chocolate frosting adds a beautiful and tasty touch!

Easter is coming

Found these little Easter ornaments at the thrift store and I just had to photograph them.

mum

I took this photo just for fun and I am in love with it now. I think it's one of the best photos I have taken. My husband bought me the flowers a few weeks ago and they're still going strong!

stuff

Sharing a still life photo I took this week.

feathers

I love feathers and have been collecting them lately. It helps that we have eight hens living in our yard. I Love how these pictures turned out, I took them using one of the camera filters I made the other day. Pretty fun.

Quiche

This is a documentation of the first quiche I've ever made.


First I had a passion for photography, then came a passion for photographing food, and then a passion for cooking! Ha! Funny story right?! I have always hated cooking! I usually wait till my husband cooks out of necessity because, well, we have to eat. OK, so, I'm not really that bad, but I have done that kind of thing a few times. Now, all I can think about is the pretty things I can cook so I can take photos of them! Ha ha!

Another reason I baked Quiche today is because I just bought this pretty rectangular baking dish for $1 at the thrift store! I am always at the local thrift stores, looking for my next favorite thing. I never know what it is till I see it, though. (Maybe I should start a thrift store addicts anonymous group! Ha, ha! I bet a lot of my friends and sisters would have to come, too! My mom for sure would have to come; she's the one who taught me that if it's not a really great deal I can live without it.) I have to say that I am not one of those people who stands in line waiting for the doors to open first thing in the morning, though. I'm not that bad. :)

my obsession with vintage cameras

For our anniversary my husband and I went to all the local antique stores to browse. I soon became aware that all I really looked at were the typewriters and cameras. I'm now obsessed!
We looked up instructions on how to make a basic pin-hole camera...it was intriguing, but looked horribly time-consuming when it came to trimming the film and trying to find someone to process individual little squares.

...so, instead, I've been trying to re-create with my modern digital camera (a Nikon D-80, in case anyone cares), the type of look that an old camera would have.

First, I shot some photos through the bottom of a glass jar, then through another square glass candle holder, then through a plastic box...each had a unique and interesting effect (a few examples here). They were all very difficult to attach to the camera (obviously), and the camera had a hard time focusing through the thick "filters". So I tried out some thinner things such as plastic wrap and cellophane.

Finally, I found a piece of plastic from a container of crafting supplies (something like the look and feel of acetate)...I cut a round piece out of the bottom and smudged some ink and paint around the perimeter. The final effect was a natural vignette and a hazy blur. It kind of reminds me of the old lenses people use that have dust and scratches (and mold).

I'm still on a quest to create some more unusual filter effects with my camera...like I said, "I'm obsessed!"

Heart day

Wishing everyone a happy Valentines day!

playing with toys

I got out the animals and plastic play dishes all because I just wanted to take pretty photos. The kids thought this was great seeing mom play with their toys. Fun was had by all.

spring has sprung

I just got back from photographing all the blooming things in my yard. OK not all are blooming but I still thought I'd share. My trees aren't nearly as flowering as my friends cherry tree.

orange umbrella

I found it at Hobby Lobby for 2 bucks! I can't wait to take it on a photo shoot!

Shining sunny day

{photos by me}

"Any adult who spends fifteen minutes with a child outdoors finds himself drawn back to his own childhood, like Alice falling down the rabbit hole."
-Sharron MacLatchie

I love the weather today! See you later I'm going back outside! :)

Easter eggs

My husband brought Easter candy home from his trip downtown today and I had to take photos. (See more here)

having fun with photos

Today I took the kids to this awesome turquoise warehouse to take photos. It's only a block from our house. I always thought of it as an eye sore to our neighborhood till I looked at it through a photographers eyes. These photos were so fun to shoot!! I am super happy with how well they turned out! Editing and filtering was almost as fun! More photos here.

touch ups

I saw the sun shining the other day and tried to take advantage of the reflective light off of the snow... well I guess I did something wrong because the photos turned out all gray and colorless. I really wanted the photos to be intense and bright and I was greatly disappointed. You see the LCD screen on my camera is busted and I can't see how the images are turning out till they're already downloaded. So I decided to play around with them on Photoshop and see what I could do to rescue them. Here is the result.

WOW! I would have never thought I could turn as dingy a picture as this into something so good. I try not to rely too heavily on Photoshop in my photography but I have to say it has it's moments! Actually i love playing around on photoshop but none of them have turned out nearly as good as this! what fun! I am super obsessed with photography right now. Over the last month I have created and filled a file completely devoted to lovely photographers that I have found after browsing the web. Every time I look at their work it makes me hungry to get back behind the camera again and again! I may have to post my favorite work from some really inspiring photographers that I have discovered!!

P.S. I am so obsessed that I even started a photography blog to document my photos! Check it out!

frozen

We are having a red air day (they advise us not to be outdoors excessively) here in Logan and it is super foggy. Being in a small valley when a large blanket of clouds stays around too long the air quality goes down. In spite of the bad air the frost is quite pretty so I took some photos.

vanity

I couldn't help taking a few self portraits (via my crappy web cam) and playing around with the color a bit to get a neat look. What do you think? I'm a dork I know! :)

I "heart" Peppermint

I love the look of peppermint against this blue Swiss dot fabric backdrop. :)