things i love thursday

A list of things I'm loving right now has been inadvertently piling up in my head.  Maybe now that the wedding and honeymoon are over I'll actually do a little more regular posting on this blog?  Who knows!

• Apples and apple-EVERYTHING.  The perfect snack, dessert, photo subject...
• NatGeoFound on Tumblr.  A collection of images from the National Geographic archives, some never published, some rare.  It is absolutely fascinating and inspiring to browse the collection of masterful, old photographs.  You just don't see photos like that anymore...at least not as much, in this world where "everyone is a photographer" and wants the world to know it.
• Handmade bread.  Our neighbor brought us the most beautiful Challah loaf when we got home from our honeymoon (it was delicious too) and I'm also currently really appreciating focaccia and my old favorite, French bread.
• Sea turtles.  I just love them.
• My husband...because he went to dinner last night with some friends at my favorite burger place and brought me home a cheeseburger and french fries.  But of course that's not the only reason I love him!
• iPhone panoramas.  I took a bunch in Hawaii because they are the perfect way to capture these unbelievable scenes that won't fit into one photo and they are so EASY!  I'll try to share them cohesively at some point because I love them so much!

things i love thursday, garden edition

Well...when was the last time I did a Things I Love Thursday?  Months.  Months and months.  But alas...there are just too many things I love, I have to make a post!  A categorized one, even!  I've been working outside quite a bit lately, because I have high hopes for growing food and flowers at our new house...

• kind neighbors.  Our next-door neighbor rang our doorbell the other afternoon to ask if I wanted some daisy plants.  If you're reading this, you should know how much I love daisies (my blog URL...I mean, come on), so this was very exciting!  She'd been thinning daisies in her yard, planted from seed by grandchildren in past years, and was getting rid of some plants.  I'm glad to have them!
• pretty seed packets.  Beside the fact that Botanical Interests uses non-GMO, untreated seed, their packaging is beautiful.  I've now placed two separate online orders.  I got a bit carried away...where am I going to plant all this stuff?!
• the smell of hosewater.  This sounds weird, but it's a nostalgic smell and it means summer.  Of course I love it.
• seedlings!  Is there anything more exciting than seeing little green heads pop up where you planted seeds?  Especially when they were planted, and then snowed on several times?  Persistent little things!
• my fiancé.  He is working hard to build me a place to grow food for us.  Over the weekend, he and his best friend dug in the lovely red clay and shoveled and mixed and constructed 2 tiers of our garden on the front hill in our yard.  Evin is spending a few nights this week working to complete the third tier.  I feel so lucky!!
• the potential for a beautiful, fruitful summer.  I am dying to photograph what comes out of my gardens (and, quite frankly, I chose many plants based on their colors...I'll eat all of it of course, but some decisions were based on photograph-ability).

things i love thursday

This is my last TILT post before Christmas, and very likely my last before the new year.  And it's a good one!

• Christmas cards.  I guess growing up is having Christmas cards addressed to YOU as a person and not as a component of your larger family.  I received a few with the sweetest notes inside and can't wait to start sending them myself...next year.
• Our HOUSE!  We close on our first home in one week.  I can't wait to start getting it ready to move in!
• TWO end-of-year weddings to shoot!  I've had one on my calendar for almost a year now (and can't believe it's almost here!) and added another at the last minute.  I can't wait!  Next week is going to be busy busy...
• Paint-by-number.  I'm attempting my first one, since I saw it at the store and wanted a project to work on.  It's way more complicated than I'd expect something called "paint by number" to be!  But, it's an 11x14 canvas that we plan to hang in our new kitchen when it's finished!
• deliberate wedding-pinning, both for my own wedding and those I photograph.  Wedding photos are such beautiful and joyful things!
• Hector and the Search for Happiness, which I'm currently reading.  Really sweet.

things i love thursday

• this photoshoot by we are the rhoads for Kinfolk magazine.  Grey weather, boots, a canoe...come on.
• Do Not Disturb mode on my iPhone...I think getting emails in the middle of the night disrupts my sleep (even though they don't completely wake me up) because the first night I turned on Do Not Disturb, I slept like a baby!
• Ink stamps...I'm wrapping Christmas presents in paper grocery bags and having a good time dressing them up with glitter and stamps!
• The number of foggy mornings so far in December.  Thumbs up to that!  
• Medformat, a tumblr that posts, you guessed it, all medium format photos!  I love it, I guess partially because medium format is just beautiful, but also because the people who shoot it aren't messing around.  Also, 120-mm (though any film lover would know that the "mm" shouldn't be there)

Also, this shouldn't really be a TILT bullet point, but have you checked out my print gallery on Zenfolio yet?  Right now if you use coupon code GIFT20 when you check out, you get 20% off your order...that's a pretty good chunk!  Head on over and have a look...

things i love thursday

I should have done this last week on Thanksgiving, as it's a combination "things I love" and "things I'm grateful for" post, but I was out of town and more or less taking a break from the computer and posting on my blog didn't really seem pressing or important...

• inspiration.  I am realizing that it is important to take time to be inspired, through beautiful photos, blogs, magazines...seeing lovely things others have created lights a fire under me and makes me want to get out and do something of my own.
• photos by Michael Melford (particularly his Glacier set in the National Geographic tab on his site.  A whole new rush of wanderlust...) 
• Cypress trees (above).  We visited my grandparents in Arkansas, my first time at their house in many years, but I remembered fishing in nearby lakes among trees covered in spanish moss and growing right out of the water and wanted to go back.  I was not disappointed.  They seem otherworldly are are so fascinating!
• Zenfolio.  I created an account and am loving how easy it is to upload images to share with anyone in a simple and, if necessary, password-protected way.  Also really excited to finally have a comprehensive print gallery (which gives me an excuse to go through photos from past vacations and dream of traveling again).  Right now I have best-of Ireland, France and New England posted!
• My support system.  I am so, so thankful to have people who support my photography efforts because it keeps me working hard (even when I am too hard on myself).  Big hugs to all of you!! 
• The collection on adoremore.blogspot.com.  I only found out about it because the curator kindly asked if she could use one of my photos in a future collection, and now I'm totally hooked!  I really love sets of similar photos and she chooses some of the loveliest things.

t*i*l*t

• my new iPhone!!  Finally joined the club.  Loving how beautiful and fast it is.
• Bejeweled Blitz (often on said phone)...which I should say is more of an addiction than a love.  Shameful.
• this ^ beautiful box of macarons!  A friend dropped them off for me to photograph and they're so pretty I never want to eat them...except I do because they all sound SO good (six different flavors!)
• Etsy...I will go broke shopping on there if I'm not careful.  Evin and I will soon be moving into our first house (!!!) and I desperately want to decorate it with every sweet watercolor print and cutesy thing I find. (plus...psst...I just opened up a shop!)
• nasone's photostream on Flickr.  He makes beautiful, inspiring photos all around the world with a handful of film cameras (and can develop color film beautifully from what I've seen!)
• the fact that the election is finally over!!

things i love thursday, on friday

I was pretty busy yesterday and it got late before I had time to make a TILT post...so now it's a day late, but the point is still the same.  I love stuff this week and I made a list about it:

• The very first issue of Foodshed Magazine is back from the printer!  It's our new project and it's very exciting.  
• Low-lying fog...I also love high-sitting fog that obscures the top of mountains, but this week I really fancy the stuff that lays in valleys.  
• Lavender!  I had the opportunity to shoot a local lavender farm this week for the next issue of the magazine and it was such a beautiful and fragrant afternoon!
• The leaves in VA right now.  I think they're at their peak...guess I need to take advantage before they all fall down and everything goes to sleep for the winter.
• My 80-200 lens...I haven't gotten much use out of it but I am making a point to shoot with it when possible...it's truly wonderful and should serve me well tomorrow at the wedding I'm shooting (my first one on my own!!)

things i love thursday

• APPLES!  They are so beautiful and they are the perfect food.  I will not tire of photographing them, especially in their wooden crates.
• this print by Suzi Marshall.  I saw it the other day and immediately decided I needed a print of it, so I sent her a message and she so kindly listed it on Society6 for me!  It's on its way to me...can't wait to hang it in the house Evin and I should one day (soon) have!
• cozy clothes, 'cause it's getting COLD outside!
• explanation videos by CGP Grey on Youtube.  CAUTION: SERIOUS TIME-SUCK.  Once you start watching, it's hard to stop!  He cracks me up.
• my Ireland book, which finally arrived yesterday.  SUCH a long time in the making!  Of course I immediately found 3 mistakes, but I'm not surprised.  Impatience will do that to you.
• Bryan Nash Gill.  There's a little page on him in the October issue of Martha Stewart Living (to which my amazing fiance bought me a subscription on his iPad) about his woodcut prints.  The e-version of the magazine has little videos thrown in and there was a video of Mr. Gill talking about his work...stunning.  And I pulled a personally inspiring/motivational quote from that clip, too...

I guess my process is very organic.  They're things that come to me, and they're not going to come to me if I'm not working.  I mean, I can't call myself a sculptor if I'm not sculpting, I can't call myself a painter if I'm not painting, I can't call myself a printer if I'm not printing, and it's through that process of working where I get a lot of my ideas.

things i love thursday

• being ENGAGED!  This could have been in a TILT post two weeks ago of course, but you may have noticed I've been slacking, so it's here now.  I get so giddy when I look at my ring and think about that fact that we're getting MARRIED!  Ahhh!!!
• All things nautical...recently, little boats, old lobster/crab buoys & rope.  I smell a wedding theme brewing...
• Del Sol nail polish that changes color in the sun!  Yep, I'm a child.
• Dixon Ticonderoga pencils...way more fun than those plastic mechanical things.
• the colors in THIS photo by lorena*arance on Flickr.  The colors of my dreams!
• the 98-cent art prints we found at the Williamsburg Pottery store.  Good sized, beautiful prints (a Van Gogh and a Picasso thrown in!  For less than a dollar!) to hang in our future home.  I can't WAIT.

t*i*l*t

• peaches
• wooden signs painted with names of fruits and vegetables, displayed on the side of the road to advertise the offerings at a farm or fruit stand (harder to describe than it should be.  But you know what I'm talking about right?)
• The July 23, 2012 cover of the New Yorker.  Something I need to keep in mind at all times.  See it (and read a little more) here
• homemade ice cream
• the river (I only have proper knowledge of two rivers, both of which I will refer to as "THE" river, but based on those two, I like rivers a lot)
• SUNFLOWERS!  I have a tall blue mason jar that actually works perfectly for the huge blooms. So gorgeous!

things i love thursday

• my 50mm f1.4...it is SO glorious.  I can't believe how different it is from the 50mm f1.8!  I feel like a big girl now.
• Bright blue, crisp summer days that aren't suffocatingly hot (yesterday was one of them)
• Rainbow produce at the Farmers Market (nature sure comes up with some gorgeous color)
• Charles Jencks.  Just click the link...
• Funnel cake and almost everything else about fairs/carnivals

things i love thursday

• sweet corn
• asymmetrical trees
• always having wildflowers on the table
• our upcoming beach trip (absurdly excited)
• selling photos (thanks, friends!)
• Pottermore (Yes I'm 12.  Just joined...username is PhoenixSnitch20354 if you, like I, are still a bit obsessed [and if you aren't and think my username is ridiculous, let it be known that there is no choosing it whatsoever, so you're stuck with what they give you])

things i love thursday, ireland edition

• rock beaches
• full Irish breakfasts
• plant-covered buildings
• dramatic changes in tides
• foxglove
• Cadbury candy bars
• castle ruins
• waterproof shoes
• pouring tea from a pot
• sheep all over

I'm back from my trip!  The travels home were a bit of a nightmare, but the good news is that no photos seem to have been harmed in the process (I bothered TSA to hand-inspect my film multiple times, even though all of it was under ISO 800, because I didn't want to take any chances).  Six rolls of 120 are in the process of being scanned, 3 rolls of 35mm need to be processed, and about 1700 digital images are sitting in Lightroom waiting to be gone through and tidied up.

The trip itself was wonderful!  We kept ourselves busy running around the country seeing all that we could see in two and a half weeks, but I think we still only just scratched the surface.  Ireland is full of so many different landscapes that sometimes it was a bit surprising to think we were still in the same country.  We saw seaside, mountains, rolling hills, flat land, rivers and lakes, and lots and lots of sheep throughout.  The June weather was definitely different than what I'm used to at home, and though I brought shorts I didn't take them out of my bag and was usually wearing at least two layers.  

I still haven't really decided what the sharing process will be, so until I figure that out I'll probably upload slowly over on Flickr.   

things i love thursday

• we depart for Ireland in exactly two weeks!  AHHHH!!!
• long weekends like the one coming up...first swims at the lake?  
• did-yuo-kno.tumblr.com...a blog that posts obviously false facts in Comic Sans and then entertains reblogs from people who think the blog owner is being serious.  SO hysterical to me.
• the Lowepro Photo Sport 200AW...I bought one in orange (!) last week for our trip.  I think it's going to be perfect...great storage for my DSLR with a big pocket for rain jacket, extra cameras O:-) and all the other daily essentials.  Plus its bright color means I'll be harder to lose when I lag behind to take photos!
• tanlines.  The high school me probably would have never said it, and I guess I'm still not fond of farmer's tans, but I'm working on some pretty neat sandal tanlines and all I have to say about that is YAY SUNSHINE!

things i love thursday

• blueberry cobbler
• beautiful light
• working in the garden
• wooden crates that hold things like plants and fresh produce
• the first photo in this series by Julia Baier (couldn't get a direct link)
• rose colored lenses
• looking at medium format photos on new Flickr (w/ liquid view, which I am weary of because it makes photos that much bigger for stealing) on my glorious iMac screen...so mesmerizing

things i love thursday

• tall grass, particularly blowing in the wind
• plant shopping
• feeling accomplished (especially when it involves getting my hands dirty in the yard!)
• a real horseback ride (Saturday after the Gold Cup, Evin and I went with my brother to his girlfriend's house, where several horses live, and we got to take a wonderful ride around pretty fields in beautiful afternoon weather.  So much more awesome than a trail ride at a horseback riding place, and it was Evin's first time riding a horse so that's awesome, and I am all around very grateful and hope to do it again!)
• when Finley mostly behaves himself...it's been a long process and we're not there yet, but he is so much better than he was, behavior-wise, and that makes me very happy (and relieved) indeed
• medium format :) so happy to have my Yashica back!
• this video of animals talking

t*i*l*t

• kind strangers who will take the time to help a person in need
• my 85mm lens (see above)
• VSCO film (see above) :o)
• the smell of summer (specifically, honeysuckle, honey locust, grass)
• hairties from Mane Message (I can use the same elastic hairtie for months, so spending a little more on something cute and functional (isn't supposed to leave creases in hair or wrist) was ok with me)
• a weekend treat--I still haven't made the blog post yet, but Evin and I spent last weekend at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.  It was FANCY.  We aren't used to such deluxe hospitality and it was such a lovely treat!
• Eggs Jefferson, which we had during our Sunday brunch at the hotel...it's their version of Eggs Benedict, only served on a biscuit rather than an English muffin (gotta love southern food).  I'd never had any sort of Eggs Benedict before but this was sooo tasty.  Kinda want to make it this weekend! 

things i love

• dappled light...one of my many FAVORITE parts of the leafy seasons
• reading books in bed
• seeing my work in print...two little blurbs in the newest issue of Flavor and one wine-y photo, plus I wrote a wine trail map in another magazine!
• the above photo...it's from almost a year ago and this week it's making me SO happy.  Something about the light I think...it's got me motivated to dust off the Konica and give it another go.
• Also, daisies...in the above photo, and everywhere else. Obviously they could go in every week's TILT post, I mean look at my URL, but this week they get a special shoutout :)
• when people say Good Morning (or write it in a note, like the one I found on my desk this morning!)

TILT

• all of the above (snapshots on Instagram over the past week or two)
• waving a hand out the open window of the car on a warm, sunny day
• poppies along the side of the road
• our very-soon trip to Blacksburg for visits, photos and fun times.  See you this weekend Holly!
• the Blue Ridge Mountains
• Milani Jewel FX: Gems.  Like a party on my fingernails.  I'm 10x more excited about it than anyone I've shown it to...it's so obnoxious and I LOVE IT.  A little difficult to remove from the nails though...

Happy weekend, all!  I know it's only Thursday, but I doubt I'll be posting again til next week...but I'll be back with a bunch to share, I'm sure!

t.i.l.t.

• striped sweaters
• Striped Sweater
• buttercups
• jellybeans
• chocolate croissants
• photo-inspiration (so many things I want to photograph all at once: couples, field of flowers, beautiful food)
• my new hiking shoes, for the trip to Ireland/outdoor life in general