Trapped Inside Your Fairytale.

{by me}

Hope you enjoy. : )  Sorry it’s so short for a Friday post, but I’d like to believe it’s pretty enough to make up for it. ; )

New four-week set: Entwine.

Inspired by this image & influenced by the flickr group: inter}{twine.

For the next four weeks, I’d better go hunting. ; ) I’ve had this picture for a little while now & I decided this morning that I would base my next set of Tuesday posts on this idea.  I hope everyone enjoys (and that I don’t run out of creativity!  lol).

Happy Tuesday!

So, I thought I’d do something a little different today.  It’s a combination of an “inspiring post” as well as “suggestions.”  If you’ve never seen my What to Wear post, & are looking at booking a session, then please go check it out.  It’s a simple guide on ideas of how to dress for your portrait session, assuming you want to take it a step beyond t-shirt and jeans. : )

This is something of an addition to that.  It’s a list of props (and accessories) that can add that bit of personalization and pop to your portrait session.  I’m presenting images from other photographers to give you a boost of inspiration (and me too).  : )  They’re all from Senior Sessions, since we’re in that time of year.*  And, as always, if you click on the link, you’ll be sent to the web page/flickr account of the awesome photographer.

One final note before the photo goodness: if you do plan to bring a prop, which I would love, do let me know.  That way I can think about what fabulous images to take before we get there. : )

Emma from aephotographyblog.

Playful, imaginative & just a touch whimsical? Balloons. Whether a whole handful or just one lone balloon. They’ll add a bright pop of color to your photo (and we’ll do our very best not to loose them). : )

shinnphoto on flickr.

Personal & Memorable. Your instrument.  Tuba, Sax, Drums, Guitar, Flute, it doesn’t matter to me as long as you bring it.  Even if it’s large & hard to move – like a piano – we’ll work out whatever we can.  You’ve spent hours learning how to play it so there’s no reason to not include some shots of your talent.

Nasai from Gunnar Cook on flickr.

Great Accessory? Hats.  They can add a vintage touch, tell your favorite sports team, or be immeasurably fun.  (And if anyone wants to take off their high heels/converse & get into some water, definitely don’t be afraid to let me know).

Zach by Jharp242 on flickr.

Hobby or Sport.  Skateboard, baseball bat / glove,  basketball, photography.  It is undoubtedly important to you – you’ve spent all that time learning it, after all – so include it in your photo shoot.

Kristie from Sarah Lane Studio’s Blog.

Unique & just a little out of place? A chair (or other piece of furniture).  I love the bright color that the chair adds to this image (and her skirt, but that’s not the topic).  If you have a prop that’s bigger, let me know.

Likewise, if you have a chair that’s brightly colored and can be moved by a single person (me) but that you don’t want anymore, do let me know.  I’d be happy to get a chair specifically for portrait sessions, and while I have my eyes peeled, I’m looking for unique furniture & so instead of tripping over it in the garage, I’ll take it off your hands. : )  Or if you just know where to get one because you saw an awesome chair, but knew it wouldn’t quite fit with your current decor, shoot me an email!

Tracy by LaurieNowling on Flickr.

Vintagey & Modern? A bright flower headpiece, a headband made of pearls, a peacock feather clipped into your hair.  Perfect.  (And don’t forget the nice conglomeration of necklaces she’s put together).

*Although, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t add that doing your Senior Portrait session in the Fall is actually a better idea since you have more time to get ordering done, announcements made & printed, etc.  But I know that the spring semester is when the end of your senior year is in sight & you remember those little things you needed to get done. : )

Don’t get me wrong.  I love the rain & cold weather is nice… for a while.  It’s been cold a little long this winter and we’re only in January.  Of course, since we’re in Texas, it should clear up in a few weeks (haha), but I am looking forward to not having to dig a jacket out of my closet to do something as simple as run to the store.

As you can imagine, this image is a few months old.  I was digging through my archives, to delete some images that I never sorted through a while pack and stumbled upon this lovely.  In color, it’s not so fantastic, but after I switched it to black & white, I just love it!

In other news, I got my new camera yesterday.  It’s a Canon 7D.  I’ve been looking forward to upgrading for several reasons, but after taking some experiment/play shots last night, I plugged my new “toy” into my computer today & my image program couldn’t read the files.  After a moment of “oh-my-gosh-what’s-wrong”, I googled the problem & found the fix.  Thank goodness I waited a few months to get my camera (or else the update wouldn’t have been ready).  Everything is much better now, running just like it should.  Hurrah for my new camera!

Starting a New Year always makes me want to be fresh & organized… but that rarely happens what with the busyness of the holidays.  So, this year I wanted to show off my husband’s project. : )  He’s been cataloging our books (all the non-fiction, I can’t decide if I want my fiction categorized since I don’t know if it will split up my favorite books & authors, but eventually I’m quite sure I’ll give in)… Although it seems a little OCD since at the moment we’ve only *officially* got 2 bookshelves, I know that it’s a good idea for the future.  He’s going to be a professor (talk about someone who collects books!) and I absolutely adore the written word (evidenced by my majoring in English)… so knowing how to find books when we have more than 2 bookshelves is a good idea.  I’m just very glad that he’s the one putting in all the effort & not me!  : )

His bookshelf looks like a little library shelf… Ever since he started, I’ve been joking about how wonderful it would be if my office (when we actually get our own place) were like a library, with rows of books and then my desk in a corner…  only I’m half-serious with my joke.  I would love to work in that environment all the time… I just love books & having them all organized on book cases would make the room look clean even if my desk were a heaping mess, and it usually is!  : )

Happy Tuesday!  I hope there’s something that seems neat & organized & fresh for your New Year (even if it’s just that you cleaned the trash out of your car – which is also something I did… more or less!)

Okay, so remember this post where I said we almost never get snow?  Well, we got some!  On Christmas Eve (after it fell, my family drove to the desert for Christmas… I was sad to see the snow vanish), but a few days later we got a sprinkling of flakes again.  We got more snow on Christmas Eve when I had to drive away, but twice in 2 weeks is pretty good!  : )  Anyway, here’s my documentation of some snow… here, in Abilene… who would have guessed?

Look, you can totally see a snowflake falling!  : )

Footprints in the Snow.

I’m super happy with the water droplets.  Pretty, yeah?

The only downside to the entire experience was the realization that I have NO snow-proof shoes… so now I’m on the search for cute galoshes that also fit me… because I can wear them when it rains, too, instead of only twice every few years, lol.  If you know where to get some, let me know!

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year!  Hope you have a fun celebration planned.

Merry Christmas to All!

Yes, that’s right, it’s his horse (the blue one) and my horse (the purple one)… or at least the horses from the correct years. : )  And they go beside each other on the Christmas tree every year. And then they go back into the box beside each other, too.  : ) I don’t want them to get lonely.

Aren’t they adorable?  We have at least a dozen and they’re all wonderful.

Now, it’s Christmas Day so go enjoy it!  : )

Merry Christmas!

” ‘Twas the Tuesday before Christmas

and all through the blog

not a creature was stirring

not even a … frog?”

I’ll have to work on that.  But while I think about it, here’s something I know is properly enjoyable and Christmasy!

My husband’s grandmother gave him (& his sister) an ornament every year.  You know the ones?  That are special edition and are released every year with the same theme yet a new ornament?  Well, for a while he got planes.  I love them. : )  Which is why we put them on our little tree… Before the airplanes, he got rocking horses (which, though I love the airplanes, I love the horses even more)… you’ll have to wait a few days to know why that’s relevant. ; )

4 Days till Christmas!

Okay, so I don’t know when “Christmas Time” officially starts – I know for stores it’s actually beginning BEFORE Thanksgiving lately.  That’s a little much for me.  It used to start, at least for me, when school let out (which is actually today for public schools), so we’ll go with that. : )

Since the season officially starts today (according to me), I’m sharing a little holiday cheer.

I hope everyone is looking forward to the holidays. Christmas is, after all, exactly 7 days away.  : ) I’ll share more of my kind of cheer into next week.

Well, we got about 1/2 inch of snow here about a week ago… can’t ask for more than that in Abilene, right? : ) At least not in a regular winter.

So, all this lovely brown grass is what I consider a “Winter Wonderland”… and the cold, cold wind. I thought, after living in Lubbock & walking to class in the freezing cold, I might become immune to it. But, no, the fact that the biting wind still gives me a headache if I’m out too long hasn’t changed. Which is why I love scarves & mittens & beanies. : )

Now, how about less of the rambling and more of the picture showing?

As you can see, these images were not taking in our powdering of “snow”…. it all melted within a few hours.

So, as I’ve said before, I’ve always been fascinated by self-portraits… I’m glad I tried them for that run of Tuesday posts… I maybe became just a little better at them. : )  I like doing them myself now a lot more. Now I just need a remote for my camera instead of the self-timer… then I’d feel super-duper awesome, lol.

You know, despite the lack of snow, I still think the Texas winter is very pretty… lots of nice warm colors (not just whites & blues, lol)… even if it is dead grass, it’s still a nice, friendly brown color!