onset beach with the girls

Onset Beach

September 29, 2013

stick figure portrait

Last night I painted a teeny portrait of my nieces.  Stick figure style.
The teeny canvas is 3x3 inches.  The orange is for scale.  :)
I dig these little canvases.  I might go grab some more...

a book to benefit Toys For Tots...

Back in August, I submitted 3 images to a Composing With Images Press call for entry. The requirement was toy camera images that convey the theme of "play". 

I waited until literally the LAST minute... I finally submitted 3 of my favorite holga kid images... A few weeks ago, I got the email- they chose ALL THREE!

My images are going to be published in a book! The title and theme of the book is PLAY!  All proceeds from the sales of the book (as well as all the submission fees for the call) will be going to the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation to benefit children affected by areas in the United States ravaged by tornadoes in 2011...

The cover of the book was just announced, and they're expecting to have the book available for purchase by next weekend (my birthday weekend!)  I'm very excited and can't wait to see it!

(follow me on twitter, facebook and/or google+ for updates!)

Here are the 3 images that will be included in the book:

apple picking

and now for a break from all the summery flowers!

went apple picking with the sister and the nieces today.

I absolutely do NOT recommend going apple picking on a holiday.

The place was loaded with lots of rude people and kids with no manners.

BUT it was pretty and the apples were fantastic!

location scouting

I've had this idea to photograph my nieces in this area at Borderland State Park in Easton.  One of my favorite spots in the park is the area behind the Ames Mansion.  It's a cool little rock garden with stone steps to different levels which lead down to the remains of the mansion's old swimming pool.

I went the other day to check out if the spot still existed.  It does, but it's kinda ugly right now.  Definitely have to wait until spring.  And even though I think my little Coolpix has been dropped one too many times and is dying a slow painful death, I took a few pictures and got a few more ideas for my shoot.  Below are some mostly silly pictures of my not-so-little-anymore munchkins.

We also made it down to the the Lodge- just an empty stone cabin type of building at the edge of a pond.  BUT, they did use the outside of it for a scene in "Shutter Island"!  

i miss my couch!

I was cleaning up my hard drive today and found some pictures I took of my living room in the apartment... I miss it!  It was a weird mix of new and old and it was just starting to feel homey when I moved out... I miss my couch most though and I'm hoping I'll be able to rescue it from the storage unit very soon.

Anyway, here's a few of the pictures I found.  My curtains always made the light pinkish purple, so the colors are kinda wacky, but I guess it matches the wackiness of the room... :)  the exposures aren't the best in the world either.  Oh well.  Enjoy anyway!


My prized possession: my orange arm chair!  And the little
foot stool I painted and re-covered...

 

The Princess Bride poster, my grandmother's end tables &
old lamps with my funky Target clearance lampshades... my
70's coffee table (which is the one I grew up with) AND the
best couch in the whole world. I kinda have to say that after
all the trouble I went through with Cardi's to get it...

The curtains it took me months to find... They're plaid and one
of the colors just so happens to match my couch PERFECTLY...

GINORMOUS Foo Fighters poster that never actually made it up
onto the wall... chest filled with my mom's old sewing patterns...
my other orange chair, from Burrito Max... my lovely purple-y/blue
book shelf, and my sad, bored, little snowboard...

Buffy "Once More With Feeling" poster... paintings by my

very talented nieces, and my pretty pretty TV...

Crazy nieces and 4-leaf clovers

Yesterday my nieces were driving me CRAZY.  I don't know why, because they weren't doing anything that they don't normally do...

They were driving each other crazy too... This one wasn't as real as it looks.  No nieces were harmed during the making of these photos...

Figuring it would keep them busy, I suggested that they look for some 4-leaf clovers, since our backyard is FILLED with clovers... and about 30 seconds later I hear Jamie: "I found one!"

It's been a little hacked up from the lawn mower, but sure enough, it was a 4-leaf clover!

They looked for a little while longer, but I think the challenge of it was gone when Jamie found one 30 seconds in...

AUNTIE! TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS!!!

I played outside with my nieces the other day- when they weren't driving me nuts, unlike today...
And I snapped lots of silly photos of them. 
Mostly just to put an end to all the:
"AUNTIE! TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS!!!"
"AUNTIE! LOOK AT THIS TRICK I CAN DO! TAKE A PICTURE!!!"


I ended up with a few I really like... and the ones with Jamie on the slide crack me up for some reason...

I need to shoot some film!!!

I'm not really a digital photographer.  A few months ago, when I starting doing my Holga TTV stuff with my little Coolpix, it was the first time I created digital images that I really liked... I also really liked shooting with my Holga and seeing the pictures so quickly... But I'm really starting to miss shooting film.  In any camera.  I really gotta get my Bronica fixed, AND get a roll of film into the Holga! 

For now, here's one of Trina from a couple years ago.  It's one of my favorites of her.  AND it was shot with film!!! :)

deranged puppies

Last night my nieces slept over and we did a little craft project!

Here's the package, so you can see what they were supposed to look like:



















 Kinda cute, right?


Well, they turned out a little different:


















We opted to have their ears stick up instead of lay flat like on the package, so maybe that's why they look so deranged.... nah, I don't think we can blame it on the ears... :)

munchkin feet

The other night when my nieces were here, I wanted to take some "through the viewfinder" Holga/digital pictures of them.  Well, they turned out a little too snapshotty, but here's some of their feet that I liked.
Emily, the oldest, wanted me to take a picture of her feet, so I did, and then Catrina and Jamie, of course, wanted pictures of their feet too... 

Emily- she had the best socks

Catrina- this weakling couldn't hold her feet up

Jamie- my littlest munchkin.  She was distracted, 

so I got more than just her feet.