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!)

The weather outside is almost snowy (it turned more sleety this afternoon), but its still very pretty.  I’ll have some shots for you of the loveliness on Friday. : )

But for today, I hit the archives to find an image that I could convert to black & white (which my brother requested for Tuesdays a while back).  I think the texture here is just… fun!  (And for once I mean the texture of all of the elements in the image instead of the type of texture I add in post-processing).

The image is taken with some dried flowers from the bouquet that my sweet mother-in-law sent Chris & me as a house warming present.  The vase is a present (it came with other matching vases) from my aunt years ago that I finally got to put up in my house. And the ring is mine. : )

Happy Tuesday.  2010 is coming quickly!  : )

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!

11.4.09 by peterthomsen

Laissons-nous renverser, emporter, caresser par le doux temps perdu by nathalia ~

Ninja Portrait by zachd1_618

Read Their Mind by somewhair

The Fire Dawn by t.strickland

Boxed Up by Once upon a time in Alex land

Pure Vision by schramcrackers

Blurry by metaldoll bites!

I made a Polaroid for myself!  Of myself!  : )  Unfortunately, I don’t have a Polaroid camera of my own, so I took the advice of Rita over at CoffeeShop Photography.  Her site is so helpful & the amount of work that she shares for free is just astounding!

The coloring of the Polaroid, I’m very proud of. : )  I’ve been practicing making photoshop actions for myself & this is one.  I ran through the vintage tutorial over at Veerle’s Blog & then did some adjusting of my own and made a nice little action.  Of course, I haven’t run it through enough testing on my own yet to truly love it, but I may have created a keeper.

I still get a little perplexed when trying to be on both sides of the camera at the same time.  (Partially due to my camera’s moodiness when I tell it to focus early in the morning!)  ; )  As usual, though, practicing & learning is the best way to get better at something.  I have one more week of “forced” practice for this blog series & then I’ll be moving on to something else… but what?  ; )  I know, most of my faithful readers have already shared their suggestions & I love that!  I have an idea of what to do next month, but I don’t make up my mind officially until I do that first post, so if you’re just dying to see something specific over the next month, comment!  I’ll read it, I promise!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday.  Mine has laundry in its future. : )

About a month ago, I did a shoot with a local model.  It was freezing outside, but she trooped through it.  I’m so very glad she did.  I love these images & have been so excited about sharing them with you!

I really do love the angles she makes with her body… She said she’s been dancing since she was a little girl.  I think it shows!

The coolness of the basement in the Student Center at HSU.

Check out the lanterns!  And her pose has wonderful angles!

I absolutely love the framing in this image…

She’s absolutely wonderful to work with, so if you’re interested in doing some work with a local model, I highly recommend her.  To contact her, click here.

I’ve lived near Abilene for the majority of my life, but I had never been out to the small town of Hawley.  It had one main street and most of the others I found turned into dirt roads within a few blocks, just like streets in small towns should.  : )  I do joke about small towns sometimes, since I grew up in Merkel, but there’s also something very sweet about them which becomes especially clear when you visit a new one for the first time.

Enough of that, now onto the real fun.  Daniel was my first Senior guy since moving here and I had a lot of fun.  And got some handsome photos!

Look at that blue sky!  And the tall grass… talk about the perfect country/small town setting!

Daniel plays baseball & football.  And since that’s about all I know about sports, that’s about all I can tell you.  : )

There is the coolest set of “junk” behind their Ag building.  Seriously.  I was so excited when I found it.  I mean, I honestly have no real idea what the rusty “wheel” above is for, but doesn’t it make for a fantastic photo?

Okay, I’m going to brave it. Though I adore self-portraits, I’ve yet to get very good a them since I got an actual tripod for the first time less than a year ago. And I maybe just a little too used to being able to see the shot I’m composing. But it should be fun all the same. A wonderful challenge at least. : )

I just couldn’t avoid texturing the image up a bit.  I’m way too fond of it.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.  I made pot roast (in the crock pot) last night & the smell is permeating the house.  So I’m pretty happy this morning.  : )  I hope everyone else’s Tuesdays shape up as lovely as mine is.

It has been a week!  Both good & bad… but still one of “those” weeks for me.  However, it makes me much happier to be able to share these images with you!  Emma is a Senior at Wylie this year & is very involved in choir.  Plus she’s just wonderful.  : )  I had a lot of fun photographing her downtown.

I considered breaking this into 2 posts, but I’ve still got Kat’s session & another lovely session with a local model to post, so this one will just be a little extra long because I can’t even start to pick my favorites!  I hope you enjoy all of the colorful goodness.

I love all of her freckles!  Seriously, I hope when my husband & I eventually have kids, they have freckles!

Doesn’t she look fiercely beautiful?

These chairs & table were outside of Relics, who were nice enough to share.  They have an absolutely fabulous website, so go give it a click.  And then go visit them downtown & wander through their store!  : )

Okay, I admit it: I’m moving a little slowly on the Noah pictures.  I’ve had some other projects I’ve been working on (sorry, not photography related).  But I wanted to get up at least a preview of my sweet littl(est) nephew.

Isn’t he wonderful?  And he’s got so much hair!  Yes, I know, I mention that often, but I just love all his hair!  I was a bald little girl until about 2.  Isn’t that sad for me?  But it seems Noah is definitely not going to have that problem!