Makes Great Bokeh

This weekend  after church James and I realized we were hungry and headed for the nearest source of sustenance -- Sam's in Kellogg. Their breakfast burritos are absolutely legendary, and the lighting wasn't so bad either. :) Actually it was great and I could have shot in that northern window light all day. 

Many of my portraits of myself are either silly or unattractive because I usually aim the camera at myself and just let the shutter go. Your standard dorky self portrait. I need to do better about that and decided I wanted a cute one so I did the settings up and handed James the camera.

Clearly I need to teach James the trick I learned from my last Jasmine Star seminar -- One focus point always on the eye makes a gorgeous image when shooting wide open portraits. Otherwise it just becomes bokeh. Bokeh is anything that is not the central focus of the image and is always blurry. I make great bokeh. :) Don't I?

Springtime is coming

Springtime here can be so fleeting. I love those beautiful moments where the sun breaks through the clouds and for a moment the rainy weather breaks and...ahhh! It's gorgeous! It is a pleasure to photograph the moments, no matter how short. 

Monday Night Around the Campfire

James and I are lucky enough to be close neighbors with our good friends. I think we all grow up hoping that we have friends for neighbors and vice-versa. It creates a real sense of community as we participate in each other's day-to-day lives.

Last summer James and our neighbor Steve decided on a whim to build a fire pit. They searched out the perfect specimens of river rock, brought them home, and then dug out chunks of the yard as their wives watched in terror. "Not the lawn!" we shrieked as chunks of sod came flying up. We may have had to go to my house to spend some time in the air conditioning and recuperate, a modern girl's version of the Victorian style fanning oneself to avoid passing out.

Eventually we came back after the boys had laid the stones. After the kids were put to bed we lit a fire and sat around it, joking and laughing for much of the night. It's still a big hit, and James and Steve were eager to hop on the home bonfire bandwagon again.

Did I ever mention that my husband is an honest-to-goodness Eagle Scout? He can both perform first aid and start a campfire. It may have been one of the (many) reasons I married him. 

It was so cold and because one of the logs was a little more wet than it should have been, we had lots of sparks. 

The kids joined us for a short while until bedtime. Then it was nothing but us old grownups sitting around the fire in the crisp spring air. Perfect Monday night if you ask me. :)

What I'm Excited About This Week

Yoga for photographers on Creative Live. If you're not familiar with Creative Live, it's fabulous. Classes on business, technique, and style all reside there -- free. If you catch the live seminar or a replay, you don't have to pay a dime. :) I have also bought seminars from them and was extremely pleased. I have learned so much from Creative Live and I am excited that they are starting to do more seminars about well being for us artsy types.

Apple Brides vendor night. It also happens to be the same day as Yoga for Photographers...I hope that I will be able to catch either the replay or at least some of it before the event. Also I have to find a dress. And shoes. Okay, a whole outfit. :) And I maybe already tried on dresses for an hour or two the other day. :)

This week I am borrowing a new lens from a photographer friend... the 40mm. I prefer prime lenses (which sounds really fancy, until you realize it just means "fixed focal length.") because they provide the best use of all available light, including extremely dim lighting situations. I like the "try before you buy" idea and I am excited to have a new toy to try out next to my trusty 50mm and 85mm.

What are you excited about this week? Feel free to share in the comments. :)

The Horoscope Effect

James and I went out for Chinese last night and after my enormous plate of Orange Chicken stood partially demolished and the leftovers boxed, I got this fortune.

I like the idea of positive fortunes like this one. Right now I am looking for the positive all around me and I'm finding it even in unexpected places. That positive mindset, looking for the blessings in life, is renewing and changing my mind. It's something I am really appreciating right now, even if it's just the horoscope effect.

A Lesson Learned -- or Three

On this rainy day I am hearkening back to a sunnier one earlier in the week when I attended a meeting at Gonzaga with my friend Amber. Amber is an advisor (soon to be manager!) for Lia Sophia jewelry and when she invited me I had no idea what I was in for. However I took it as a learning experience. I figured that even though I am not  directly involved with them that there was still something to be gleaned. Plus it was right behind St. Al's, one of the places I dream of shooting at one day.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when I found women who were energized and excited to be doing what they love -- sharing their favorite jewelry with their friends. I sat and absorbed all I could, spellbound.  Here are some main points I came up with to share some of my personal goals and hopefully inspire you to pursue your own today:

Recognize your successes. A lot of times women (especially me) can get bogged down worrying about how they aren't "enough" -- not doing enough, not booking enough, not shooting enough. When I was brand new at photography I didn't count the successes. I only counted the things I didn't have -- the "right"equipment, the "right" blog layout, the "right" kind of logo. This especially resonated with me because it's so easy to get caught up in that idea that turned out to be only half-baked rather than the one that turned out golden. Whatever you're doing in this life -- whether you are writing copy, fixing cars, or making widgets -- recognize your successes. Those little victories that make up a greater story. And that story is the one worth telling.

Invest in yourself. My jaw about hit the floor when one of the leaders brought up this simple life truth. If you're not willing to invest in yourself, how can you expect others to? Treat yourself the way you deserve to be treated first. For me right now this means working toward attending WPPI (a conference for wedding and portrait photographers) next year as a means to grow as an artist and learn more. I need to invest!

Give your heart. At the heart of every business is other people. Whether you are shooting wedding photos, rocking barista skills at Starbucks, or juggling schedules as a stay-at-home mom, you do your best when your heart is in it. One of the photography blogs I read  put it best:

We just work harder for people we care about. It's not something that's intentional, it's just true. We do better work. We care more. We get more inspired. We're more set on fire.

That's why I like to get to know my clients well. Because the more there is to know, the more there is to love and the harder I work. May that be true of all of us.

Spending the first warm day on the boardwalk

On Monday James and I went over with some friends to Coeur d'Alene to enjoy the sunshine. And also the swag at the mall.

I cried and begged for James to buy the boots that said "SWAG" because they are just too hip for words. He politely declined.

My best friends' kids are really good at mugging for the camera. 

They are regular hams indeed.

After our goofing around at the mall was through we went downtown to walk the boardwalk. It was warm and there were so many people out in shorts. Your average fifty degree day in the Inland Northwest, I guess.     

If you've never been out to Coeur d'Alene, it's a gorgeous place to take a walk.

Or, you know, jump off every available surface.

It was such a gorgeous day. The first day of real spring is so much fun and it always reminds me how much I enjoy sunny weather. It was great to spend a long afternoon with friends with nothing in particular to do and nowhere in particular to be.