Fall is the perfect time for fairy wings

Thanks so much to Vicky from Monkey Musings & Such for featuring one of my photographs in her blog!

On a similar note, I was featured in a Treasury curated by amberpurejoy…

Check them out!  Both featured photographs are available at Exquisite Image.

Today’s photograph is a summer flower just bursting with autumn colors.  It makes me think of pumpkins and corn and crisp wind!

My daughter and I were trying to build a fairy house the other day.  She got a Tinkerbell doll for her birthday and she decided Tink needed her own little place outside.  It turned into a complete disaster when my one year old son decided the sticks of Tinkerbelle’s house were for eating, not for building with, and heck, why not add some of that delicious grass too!  After cleaning out my future vegetarian’s mouth, we decided to go for a walk in the back woods to see if we could find any “real” fairy houses.  My daughter was the one to spot these mushrooms lacing their way up a tree trunk.  “Look Mommy!  It’s like a whole city for fairies!”- the walk was a success, and my daughter was rambling about fairies and mushrooms for the rest of the night.

I enhanced the color of the photo slightly, giving it a really warm, rich tone.  I was happy to have gotten the shot when I did, as the tempermental weather stole the lot away the very next day!

**check out Exquisite Image for more photography, or visit my other blog The Paper Bluebird**

No profound or not-so-profound ideas or thoughts tonight.  I just wanted to share one of my new favorite photographs.  This was taken in Erie, Pennsylvania where I recently went to visit family.  It reminds me so much of fall and winter all at the same time.  I’m going to go have a cup of hot apple cider now… until next time!

*visit Exquisite Image for more photography*

Remember when it wasn’t painful to go to the gas station? I was relieved today when I showed up and my wallet didn’t scream in protest… but still, gas takes up a huge portion of my budget! My family has become committed to being less dependent on our car and so far, it’s worked pretty good. We only have one vehicle for our family, and thankfully only one tank to fill. My husband works a swing shift, leaving the car available for me in the morning, while he takes it to work at night (thankfully we live close to his place of employment). I’ve decided to list the things that need to be taken care of during the week and try to complete my errands in a simple and efficient manner, only taking the car out maybe once or twice during the week. We live within walking distance of the library, and the kids and I go at least once a week. So far things have been going well. My wallet feels a little thicker, and my heart feels a little lighter doing my part to keep cars off the road. Save a little more moola and check out How to Save Money on Gas.

Todays picture was taken while I was visiting my family in Erie, Pennsylvania. There’s this amazing little ice cream shop near Presque Isle that has fun nostalgic decor. I just loved the orange of this gas pump!

Don’t forget to check out my Exquisite Image on Etsy for more great photography!

Until next time!

I am terrified of spiders. Terrified is actually to weak a word for what I am. As I write my skin is still crawling and I swear I can feel spindly legs scurrying up my back.

My daughter Grace went out to check the mail today and mentioned there was a spider by the mailbox. I wasn’t rushing over there any time soon! There wasn’t any mail yet, so we went back in the house and I forgot all about it. Later, in the early evening, we went out to check one more time and having forgotten all about spiders lurking, I casually walked up to the mail box. What I saw made me nearly scream! It was the largest, the most forbidding looking spider I have ever encountered (huge shiver as I recall this…). I’m proud to say I stifled a scream and ran into the house for my camera. Although frightening in appearance, what I captured on film was a common garden spider, also known as a Writing Spider or Black and Yellow Argiope.

Check out some more information on this amazing arachnid here.

I’m pretty proud I didn’t let my fear hold me back from photographing this breath-taking (or scream-making) spider… although I have a feeling I’ll be seeing her in my dreams…

Having a bad day?  Photograph it!

One of my favorite subjects to photograph is my children.  I always enjoy capturing their smiles on film.  Lately, however, I’ve been taking advantage of their bad days as well.  Scowls, frowns and even tears are documented (don’t worry, I snap a few quick pictures before putting my camera down to hug my sweet babies).  I like using black and white for these shots because I feel it really brings out every crinkle and crease created by these sad or angry or frustrated emotions.

Today’s picture was taken of my son  right after he finished eating some little crackers.  I put the bowl up and he started wailing for more!  My camera happened to be on the counter, so I seized the opportunity and snapped this shot.  I was glad I did, because he immediately forgot about the crackers and became fascinated with the camera.  I kept shooting, but this single photo was the only one where he really looked upset.  I’m secretly thrilled as it will certainly be brought out during first dates or other embarrassing moments.

Really good black and white photographs require an awareness of light that I am still trying to improve on.  Light can be your best friend or your worst enemy when taking black and white photographs.  A lot of the time I will just keep shooting the same subject while moving around to different positions trying to get an idea of what looks best.  Most of the time I end up with a lot of okay pictures and one or two real jewels.  With a digital camera, I really enjoy the instant gratification of being able to load my pictures on to a computer and view them right away.  Sometimes I’m surprised by the results – a shot that I thought was going to be amazing turns out horrible, or one that I didn’t feel I got right actually came out wonderful.

Well, it’s been a long time since I added anything new to my shop Exquisite Image.  This weekend I’m taking a roadtrip north to Pennsylvania, and I’m hoping for some great new shots to share.  Now that the summer is over I will have more time to blog, so keep checking back!

Until next time friends!

*today’s feature photograph is available as a greeting card at www.exquisiteimage.etsy.com*

Okay, so I love photography. This is obviously showcased in this blog which is about… photography! My problem is this: How come I can see what I want to shoot when it comes to art photography, but I can’t seem to take great pictures when it comes to showcasing my other craft work? As you know, I’ve got a photography shop on Etsy – Exquisite Image, but you may not know that my photography shop is actually the second shop I opened. Before there was Exquisite Image there was Bluebird Gifts. I do a lot of baby items right now (bibs, burp cloths, booties) and I’ve been branching out a bit and adding a paper craft section where I stock small folded paper boxes, thank you notes, hand-illustrated notecards etc. I have taken and retaken the pictures for my Bluebird shop, but I’m still not satisfied. It’s almost embarrassing to direct people to my photography shop after they see the pictures in my Bluebird shop. Now, that’s not to say the pictures are horrible. They are bright and in focus. But there’s no POW factor! I can’t come up with a creative way to showcase the items! It’s so frustrating to hold my friend the camera in my hand and feel like I don’t know what to do. Sigh, grumble, sigh…

Well, here’s to continued improvement, right?

Come take a peek… everything at Exquisite Image is 10% off this month cause my baby boy is ONE!!!

I love the charm of a roadside fruit and veggie stand.  There is something so comfy about it, stacks of fresh corn, tomatoes practically tumbling off tables.  Everything is fresher, greener, more plump and lovely than what you can get in a grocery store.  Plus of course the added benefit of supporting the local community!

On our road adventure this last weekend, we saw a roadside stand and made it our last destination of the day.  It was worth the time to stop there.  We loaded up on giant zucchini, sweet fresh corn (which allowed my daughter to use her new favorite word “husks”) and some pepper jelly.  If you’ve never tried pepper jelly, you are missing out!  We were about to leave when Grace spied a bucket full of lovely sunflowers.  She just had to have one of course, and as we were picking the perfect one, the woman who was running the stand told us that there was an entire field of sunflowers just down the road.  You know I just had to go and take pictures!  The problem was convincing my husband of how important it was.  It was the end of a  hot and humid day, the kids were cranky, their faces smeared with Oreo…  I saw defeat on the horizon, but I pressed on, pulling out the puppy dog face.  Now, I have to say here- I NEVER use the puppy dog face (mostly because hubby uses it enough for us both!) but I just HAD to take pictures in the sunflower field… and of course I won!  VICTORY!

Now, after that whole long story about sunflowers and sunflower fields, I bet you’re wondering why today’s photo is of peach baskets…  Mostly it’s because when I started this post I wanted it to be today’s photo, but I went off on a tangent.  So I guess you will have to wait till next time to see some sunflowers.  Unless you’re impatient – in which case just click here and you will be whisked away to my sunflower print at Exquisite Image.  There are also a few more pictures on my Flickr page.

So next time I promise to stay a little more on task, but in the meantime take a little time and surf the web for some local farmer’s markets (and don’t forget to bring your camera!!)

I love the idea of mermaids.  Not the Disney version, but the darker more mysterious version of Hans Christian Anderson.  I always envision them with dark glittering tails and voices you could lose yourself in.  They are haughty and vain and are constantly in motion.  They swim to the surface to bask in waxy moonlight and then dart to the depths again.

We went for another road trip today and ended up down by the ocean.  The salt sea was spraying, and the waves were beckoning wickedly.  I took this picture of my daughter and I could almost imagine those mermaids whispering from the depths…

So beautiful and mysterious the water, slipping in and out and pulling me farther…farther…

*Please visit www.exquisiteimage.etsy.com for more of my original photography*