Hello!
Thank you so much to all of you for the sweet comments on my last post. I felt so much better after reading them, you knew exactly what to say! And while I still maintain that I'm in the middle of a funk, I am feeling more hopeful that I might actually come out of it someday. So thanks!

The past few days have been pretty boring here. Not in a bad way, just in an everyday life moving along kind of way. Oh. Well except for my sister getting sent home from her trip to France early (teenagers! *shakes head* and points and laughs), my best friend getting hired at our old high school (crazy! She'll be our old teachers' coworker now, sort of anyway), everyone I know having lice (ew. Hopefully the next post won't be a supermacro shot of my infested scalp), and lots of recent conversations with the US *dept of homeland security.* I'm a huge risk, obviously. Lol. The real issue? I entered my date of birth wrong on my visa fee form. I said I was born in March 2007. I had the homeland security officers cracking up over that one, but it's figured out. Hopefully. So to all you US dwellers, bar your windows and lock your doors, the smartest 5 month old *ever* is coming to stay.


Took one of the kids I babysit out to shop and have lunch for her birthday the other day. It was so fun to just hang out! And she got to spend her money on whatever she wanted. She got a matching purse and wallet, a skirt/shirt outfit from Old Navy, a pink belt with white skulls all over it from H&M (who designs these things? It's hilarious), and this "cell phone," filled with different colours of lip gloss. It was a great day, and the bbq pizza I had when we went for lunch was delicious. I want to get a job there as a chef just to learn the recipe.

30mm, f/1.6, 1/1600, ISO 100

Because of the new job, my friend has had to quit her babysitting job with her beloved "B." She's been working there for over 2 years and is very sad to leave. So I took some photos so they'd have something to remember each other by. Not perfect, but I love these anyway!

85mm, f/3.5, 1/250, ISO 200

85mm, f.2.8, 1/500, ISO 200

Finally, a shot that I just liked. Sort of a monochrome-ish look, something different!

exif lost in translation

Again, thanks so much for all your comments!

The end of an era (last visit to family cottage)
Weekend: Bittersweet. Tears for beginnings and endings (but nobody died). Emotional ties to physical locations really suck, especially when you know you will never ever be able to return. To that place or that moment.

I'm in a bit of a photo funk (I don't have anyone/thing to take photos of, I'm not getting any better, therefore why do I bother), so I didn't record the weekend as well as I should have. Or the things I should have. But I can't beat myself up because now it's too late. No going back to a place that will be sold and bulldozed very soon.

Even with crappy weather it was beautiful.. I so love the beach there, the lake is just perfect for swimming and walking along. And the sand was always so perfect for playing.




(Not trying to copy you Lulu, I promise. Harry drew the heart spontaneously and your version is much better anyway...)


On the wall in our old room.. My sister at around 4: "i am letl but i am strong." I love this.

The little hedgehog or.. something.. that hangs from our curtain rod. Just because.

I've been absent but will be back for real tomorrow or Tuesday. Feel free to ignore this post until I comment on your blog, I know I probably haven't visited in a while and I'm sorry.

Beautiful old things.

Some of you may be completely disgusted with me after reading this post, and that's ok. I get it. But I won't apologize :)

I've really been trying to figure out what kind of look I want to go for in my new apartment. I know that I need it to be beautiful and functional (very functional) - I end up living in filth pretty easily, so those cleaning products need to be within easy reach and the clothes hamper can't have a lid. I got some small things the other day at Ikea, have been packing the few things I already have, etc. I'm not taking a moving truck there because it's just too expensive, so I'll have to buy everything big when I get there (other than what can fit in my dad's mini van). I have, however, found some great stuff recently that I will be able to bring. Guess where? In the garbage. That's right. At the side of the road, on people's lawns, on the sidewalk. The highlights are a really cool telephone table with a seat that I'll use as a coffee table, a mirror (brand new!) with hooks underneath (the mirror is cracked, but it's only $10 to get the glass replaced while the whole thing retails for over $40), and the thing that's featured first in this post. Probably one of the things I'm most proud of owning, even though I've only had it for one day. I think it's so beautiful, and just so perfect. I'm so excited to have it in my living room. And I found it at the side of the road! It had a sign on it saying it was free to a good home.

Here it is (one part of it) - a Singer sewing machine in a wooden stand with drawers and an iron bottom! It even works! From what I can figure out it was made in Newfoundland in 1936. You've probably seen these before.. The sewing machine actually hides inside the table until you want to use it, so I can use it as a normal occasional table type thing or as a decorative piece with the machine out or I could actually try to sew with it.


Here's the base:


A view of the whole thing (excuse the setting.. Shooting with the 85mm inside a tiny house doesn't work too well):


And some detail shots... Isn't this the coolest free thing ever??





And then, when I was thinking about how beautiful the sewing machine is because it's so old, I got thinking about my violin. It's also old and very beautiful (although it's missing a string right now, I snapped it off lol). I don't play anymore, but did for a few years and I really enjoyed it. Aren't violins gorgeous? I love the curved edges and the deep wood tones. And this violin has a really sweet sound when you play it. This violin has been in my family for a while, and it's at least 100 years old. I think I'll start playing again sometime soon.







And here's the whole thing in a spot where I could back up a little more.

p.s. All edited on my laptop again, so don't judge me. And no b&w because I'm too scared to try in Elements.

p.p.s. I would never take anything upholstered out of the garbage. Just so you know lol.

p.p.p.s. Questions from the comments of the last 2 posts are answered.. Sorry I'm so slow about that.

Malm? Billy? Galant? Where aaaaaare you?
Took a trip to the Swedish homeland today. You know, that giant store that will be my home away from home as I furnish my new apartment. The one with meatballs. Ikea! Lol. It may be crap, and I'm trying my best to find better versions of some things, but sometimes you just can't beat a flower pot for $0.59 or 12 cool spice jars for $8.00. And the meatballs just rock. I didn't make much of a dent in my Ikea purchase list today, but I did get a few things. And the trip was long enough to be worth it and short enough that I don't want to pull my hair out at the thought of going back. These photos aren't anything to write home about, but they're fun anyway. Although all I had was the 85mm, so I couldn't capture the sheer scale of the place this time. Next week maybe!

All edited on my laptop, so I apologize in advance.

Eating! The best part, so we did that first. Also because once you're through the store it's impossible to find the damn restaurant again.

The "free" $1.00 refill sign. Now *that's* a tough one to figure out.

Me, trying out a matress. Hustad? Hogbo? Hasselback? Don't ask. I took a close-up of the one I want though.

Children's Ikea. I love the colour!




Kid's chair bokeh.. Just fun :)

Ikea's new set of bowls. Genius. I propose a new name though: Bröstvårta. That's either nipple or nipple ring in Swedish, I'm not sure, but either one will work! Lol.

My small but heavy bags next to the broken bench I sat on to wait for the bus.

The end. Thanks for visiting!

{film}
I found a roll of colour film in my room the other day, so I grabbed my dad's old Canon av-1 and snapped away. Av mode as the only option pretty much sucks since there's no way to lock exposure and I'm so used to metering off of different things and then recomposing. And there's really no such thing as exposure comp on this thing either, it's truly all av. There is a backlighting button though, which overexposes by 1.5 stops or so. I ended up changing the iso around as exposure compensation, but I have no idea which shots I did that on lol. Oh and it's manual focus, that was a challenge. I'm just not used to it at all. It was fun to try though, and I really really love the results. This is just a simple roll of Kodak 400 iso film, but the tones and detail are awesome. I think I may have to get my own film cam and practice more, I love it.

To anyone who shoots film: I didn't get any prints, I just got the negatives scanned onto a cd. The files are really small though (less than a mb), so if I edit those they won't be able to be printed very big, right? That's my only concern here. These are all SOOC because I didn't want to edit and then get disappointed because I can't print them lol. Should I have specified high-res scans?

These are all with the Canon av-1, 50mm 1.8 lens (old one that was my dad's, my lenses aren't compatible with the camera). Many at 1.8, some between 2.2-5.6, ISO 400. I have no idea about shutter speeds.

Around my mom's house:

Her dresser/wall.. Love the light in this room.


Glass bird on her front window.

More Backlighting + Awards
Sorry again to the workshop people! Nothing new to see here :)

But for the rest of you.. Here's some more backlighting that I've been working on. I really like these, although I got some good CC on composition and colour on the workshop forum. I did change the colour according to the CC, but I think once I get back to my computer with PS I'll have to change it back, because to me these just look washed out now. Does that ever happen to you? That you prefer a photo before you apply the cc from the "experts"? I need to have more of a creative backbone I suppose. Although I'm standing by my comps on these. I don't care how wrong they are, I like them.. That's me being a rebel, in case you can't tell.

Meet my sister and brother, Anna and Harry. They were pretty good sports about this, for the first minute anyway...

85mm, f/2.5, 1/1000, ISO 100

85mm, f/2.0, 1.1250, ISO 100

85mm, f/2.0, 1/1600, ISO 100

___________________________________________________

Now for the second part of this post.. The lovely Jennifer has awarded me with a Thanks so so much Jennifer.. I'm more excited than a normal person probably should be! lol. Really, I don't know what to say, I'm sitting here blushing. But thank you!! And sorry for being sort of boring lately.. But I think my creative juices are starting to flow a little faster these days, so hopefully I should have something more interesting soon.

Now I'm supposed to award three of these to other bloggers who I think are awesome in their creativity, writing, music, layout, photos, whatever. General blog creativity and awesomeness. This was really hard to choose, but here are my choices (in no particular order):

1) Lulu. Because we all know that this girl is the queen of creativity, and she can take a picture of anything and make it look like art. Anything. Including a dying apple tree and laundry. And I love her music, her headers, her writing, and her comments on my blog and others. You know I love you Lulu!

2) Meghan. Because she always makes me laugh, she posts fun things like product reviews, her photos are awesome and so fun, and she's the mom I want to be when I grow up. Her little guy Xan is always gonna be a cool kid.

3) Amy C. Because I still can't get her pictures from China out of my head, and she takes beautiful photos in every situation no matter what. And she's funny and nice and her love for her entire family inspires me.

Thank you to all three of you, plus all the other bloggers out there, for all your inspiration and kind words and.. you know. All that nice stuff. So go hand out the award to three people who inspire you, if you feel so inclined, Lulu, Meghan, and Amy. But I'll still like you if you don't.

And p.s. if you asked questions in the comments of the last couple of posts they're answered!