Archive for the 'Photography' Category

*free

Life moves fast. And when you’re not intentionally slowing down and really SEEING every moment…you will miss something! With this in mind, every day for the past week my dear friend Alicia and I have been documenting our daily life (morning and evening) and sending them to each other via iPhone.

*holding hands

*togetherness

It has been such a sweet way for us to connect and feel closer to each other even when we’re miles apart. When I see her photos come in for the day, I am GIDDY with excitement! It’s been so fun to see each others lives in this way and it causes us to be mindful about catching all the little moments…our life “inspired”. Be sure to keep an eye on her blog as well…she’ll be posting some of her images too (and they’re amazing!).

*bliss

I will be sharing more of these photos with you…because they make me happy! And, more importantly…I am sharing them because I am trying to turn over a new leaf. Imperfect, pressure free blogging

*immersed

I’ve blogged before about how much I LOVE “phone photography”…and the gritty, unedited glimpses into life that they provide. I don’t have time right now to edit lots of photos, but I can do this! It takes me moments instead of hours…awesome.

I still love my “fancy” camera…but at this season of life, I’m loving the on-the-go, compact accessibility of my iPhone camera. I’ve never been a big scrapbooker/record keeper, but I do that with my photos. And someday, I will make a book of all of these photos for my kiddos to treasure.

I am also starting a Flickr group called Life Inspired and I would love if you would add photos of your own. See you there!

**apps used:
ShakeItPhoto
Hipstamatic

*sisterly

It’s spring! I’m happy! So I’m having a Buy One, Get One sale on everything in my Etsy shop. Check out the new travel photography…but don’t miss the old favorites, like this one:

And this one:

When purchasing, just add one to your cart and then tell me which one you would like as your second print in the comments (the free item should of equal or lesser value). If you see one that says “sold out”…let me know (I just need to re-list it).  Sales ends this Sunday, March 28.

Have a GREAT weekend!

This photo was taken a few days ago at The Tree of Life in Patagonia, AZ.

Happenings in Month 2:
This past month has been one of inspiration, learning, healing, and laughter.

We were in Las Vegas for over 3 weeks, completing the veggie system for Tara + family from The Organic Sister. We LOVED our time there, and drew so much inspiration from the fellow unschoolers that we met. I’m planning a post about unschooling soon!

We visited so many different places and learned many new things. Check out our Happy Janssens blog for details.

I’ve been trying to heal my body after working too many late nights. It’s been a crazy month for me…getting the new blog launched, working my “real jobs”, and being a mama/wife. I’ve had a lot on my plate and it’s catching up with me. I’ve been drinking and eating more and more greens and I’m starting to feel like I’m on the mend. Although, as I look at the clock right now, it says 1:45 a.m. Ack! In the coming month, I need more sleep, more Jesus, more yoga, more vitamins!

Matt had his 32nd birthday on February 21! We enjoyed celebrating with a pancake breakfast and a surprise delivery of Starbucks. He is an amazing father…so patient and loving with Bella and Lucy (and me too!). Love love love him.

The girls keep us laughing ALL DAY. Bella is so animated and loves to make up silly songs while we’re driving. At bedtime, we review our favorite 2 things of the day and then talk about what we are going to do tomorrow. Lately, she has been wanting to sleep on the floor in the living room or on the couch. She and Daddy usually fall asleep while I keep working into the night. She loves writing letters and making art. She rarely plays with the toys in her toy box…she much prefers to play outside in the rocks/dirt. She loves to build cities and rivers. She is growing up to be such a smart and funny young lady…with a tender heart and fiery attitude.

Lucy’s 3rd tooth just popped through a few days ago…she has 2 on the bottom and one on the top. It looks like the other one on the top is about to come in as well. She can pull herself up to standing now and is quite the little explorer. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth…including a few tastes of “real” food. She has tried avocado, banana, broccoli, sweet potato, apple, and mango. She thinks it’s quite exciting, but never keeps much in her mouth. She says “Da-da” and “Ma-ma” and according to Bella, she says “Bella” too. Oh, and I can’t forget “Na Na Na Na”…which translates as “I’m hungry / thirsty / tired / happy / sad / scared / hurt … and you should nurse me now”. We are all head over heels in love with her.

Tomorrow we head to Austin, TX to be with my sister and her hubby who are flying in from Minneapolis. We’re super excited to spend time with them…and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate! After that, we are looking forward to staying in one place for awhile as we camp with friends southeast of Austin.

Bring on the sunshine!

In my most recent photography post, I gave you a link for Clickin’ Moms…a new forum that I discovered. I’ve come to really LOVE it. It’s a wonderful site for those who are just figuring out how to use their camera…as well as professional photographers. They have tutorials, giveaways, places where you can post for critique, etc. Many of you write to me asking questions about your photography business…and there is a great forum dedicated specifically for that. I’ve found it very helpful. There is such a talented pool of women there…so much fun to read. Be careful though…it’s addicting!

Right now, they are running a contest for their affiliates, so if enough of you sign up…I can win some yummy prizes! (I really want that 5D Mark II…but even the Starbucks gift card would make my day). The links in this post are embedded with my afilliate code…so no need to enter anything. Just click here and sign up.

Disclaimer: I am trying out some new affiliate programs/sponsorships. Please know that I will only endorse things that I really adore and have actually used. By signing up and/or using these products, you help our family in our mission to inspire others on the road. Every little bit of income helps…I appreciate your love and support so much!!

We did it! Our first installment of The 12 Project. We’ve been enjoying our time in Vegas…every time we’ve been here before, we have flown in for business and taken taxis everywhere. This time, we have our own car, so we are exploring the “real” side of Vegas and not just the strip.

The mountains are beautiful and the weather is warm. We are living downtown and there is a Thai restaurant 4 blocks away with such huge portions that we only need 2 orders of pad thai to feed everyone. I’ve also heard there there is a Thai restaurant here that is the “best in North America”. You KNOW I’ll be checking that one out!

Bella can’t get over all of the twinkling lights downtown and on the strip. She loves it…and always wants to drive around at night. Luckily, we can see many of them from our front window!

Our neighbors are the cutest couple from Canada…Lois and David and their dog Barney. The family we are working with here are also unschoolers and we’ve enjoyed hanging out with them. We love life on the road.

Post a link to YOUR month 1 family photo in the comment section! I’d love to see everyone.

Tara Whitney just issued a fabulous challenge:

Take a photo of your family once a month.
Write a few things about that month.
Make it into a book at the end of the year.

Yes! I LOVE this idea. It’s amazing how many families there are who have NEVER had their photo taken. They just never take the time to all sit down (or stand up!) and take a photo. The days get busy. Tempers run short. And it’s forgotten. I’m guilty of this too. We do family photos…but not enough! Being a photographer, it seems I’m always snapping photos of everyone else’s family, but never mine (with ME actually in the photo). And having a physical, “in your hands”, book of the journey if even more fun. It’s one thing to blog about it, but to bind it up at the end of the year is even more fun. And a great Christmas gift for someone special this December!

I’m definitely going to take part in her challenge…I can do anything once a MONTH! Instead of the 365 project, it will be my “12 Project” Even if you only have a camera phone, have someone take your family’s photo once a month. Or use a timer on your camera. Or do the “long arm shot”. Just do it. Your family and your memories are worth preserving!

Read her blog post for more details.

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. It remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything.” – Aaron Siskind

In 1997, I took advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. A position had come available at the North Dakota Air National Guard, one that was highly sought after and rarely opened up…the position of “Still Photographic Specialist”. Otherwise known as “a photographer”. I was 1 year into college, and still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I had loved photography for as long as I could remember…so when my dad told me about this position, it got my attention. I went for a tour of the base, and the rest is history. My life was changed forever.

I held up my hand and swore to defend our country. I spent 6 1/2 weeks in Air Force basic training, and another 6 months in training at Ft. Meade, Maryland. Ft. Meade houses the Defense Information School, which is basically the artsy fartsy school for all military branches. What a hoot…try to imagine…military meets art. Crazy. It was so much fun…and I learned alongside some very talented people with whom I am still in touch with today (a big hoo-rah to my ladies!)

I spent the next 6 years working for the military…shooting generals (now that sounds dangerous!), documenting deployments, donning gas masks, flying in KC-135 tankers,…always in search of the perfect shot. I started on film cameras because that is all we had back in the olden days. In school, we learned in the dark room, with black and white film…and then spent a lot of our time shooting slide film. We only had a week or so of Photoshop training.

When my unit finally bought us the new fangled digital cameras, every one was excited, but almost scared to use them. The first digital camera I used sported a whopping ONE MB image size. Whoa! And we were all amazed. And after that, the technology exploded. And we always seemed to have the latest and greatest. I feel very blessed to have had such a great background in photography and in learning Photoshop. I truly enjoyed my time with the military and I am thankful for the experience. I went in with one goal…and that was to learn as much about photography as possible. Mission accomplished.

I finished up my bachelor’s degree in photography and design and continued to fall in love with capturing life. Fast forward to today…I’m now in business for myself, and loving every minute of it. I am passionate about life, and it’s only natural for me to want to freeze my favorite moments in time forever! My camera goes with me EVERYWHERE. When I don’t have my “big” camera, I use my iPhone. And this brings me to the whole point of this blog post.

I want to encourage all of you who are reading this to CAPTURE YOUR LIFE!! You will forget many things…but when you take a photo, you can remember forever. Who will be around in 100 years to tell about what you did every day? Not you! But your photos will be (if you remember to back up your hard drive! ha). Think of your photography as a treasured heirloom that you are passing down to your family.

You don’t have to have a fancy camera to take photos. As Chase Jarvis would say, “The Best Camera is the One That’s With You”. And for me, that happens to be my iPhone. His philosphy is to use whatever you have with you at the time to make amazing, memorable photos. Chase’s book is made up completely of photos taken on his iPhone (even though Chase is an incredible, sought after commercial photgrapher!). It’s totally inspiring. It forced me to SEE again…to really notice the details around me. In the book, he says,

“As an artist, I feel more free with the little camera built into my iPhone than I ever have with any other camera. I somehow recovered an innocence I’d lost, and I was able to see the world again for what it is: a beautiful, funny, sad, honest, simple, bizarre, and wonderful place. If taking pictures helps you see this, then keep shooting.”

Yes! I love this. As someone who knows a lot about the technical side of photography, I sometimes over think and over perfect my photos. I can rely on my gear and post processing skill to clean up a shot or make it into something that it wasn’t. I don’t have that luxury with a camera phone. It is what it is. Sometimes it’s grainy. Other times it’s too bright. Or too dark. And blurry. Just like real life. And that’s what I love about it.

Chase also has a GREAT app for the iPhone called “Best Camera“. I love love love it. The photos in the collage above are some that I’ve taken recently with using the app. I’ll be adding more photos (hopefully daily) to this set.

And lastly, here are some people, blogs, and a book that are inspiring me right now:

• “Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision” by David duChemin. It’s a MUST READ for every photographer. So good.
• Flickr…I LOVE Flickr. If there was word bigger than love, I would use it.
• Clickin’ Moms
• Shutter Sisters
• Denise
• Erin, especially this set.
• Lens: New York Times
• Sarah Rhodes
• Tara Whitney

I want to hear from those of you who love capturing life…what or who are you inspired by? Why do you keep shooting?

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always.” -John Steinbeck

We have spent the last 5 days deep in the redwood forest outside Santa Cruz, California…communing with a delightful family. Sharing meals, hiking, laughing, learning, gathering, breathing, restoring.  The only word that can describe our experience there is “magical”. We are forever changed…and can’t wait to go back again.

Last year, my dear friend Deea took part in the December Photo Project and every day I was anxiously awaiting a new photo on her blog. I’m super excited about DPP this year…not only for Deea’s photos, but because I am going to take part as well! AND… I encourage all photographers out there to join too. This is a great way to reflect on your day and to document your journey in life (even if in just a small way).

For more info, check out Rebecca’s blog here.

1. looku, 2. yes, the shirts are matching, 3. Untitled, 4. downtown walla walla, 5. 30 Days of Happiness :: friends, 6. 30 Days of Happiness :: friends, 7. 30 Days of Happiness :: Pesto in the making, 8. school bus living, 9. Holes in the walls, 10. Our parking spot in LA, 11. The bus — finally looking nice, 12. bench monday | girl + her cat edition, 13. 212/365 All alone, 14. Bench Monday, 15. new plugs!, 16. Hooping, 17. 204/365 Let go of certainties, 18. hot wheels, 19. camera tattoo, 20. 200/365 You and I, 21. Untitled, 22. Yes, 23. Beads + Sunset = Dang!, 24. 191/365 Maine Style, 25. SoftScent

Photos speak right to my soul…here are a few that I love lately.