The Buffalo Farm

We stopped by a Buffalo Farm the other day... and I grabbed a few quick shots with my grandfathers Tamron 50mm lens on it my digital Nikon body... I love the slight aged patina this lens always gives me on my DSLR!  These photos remind me of old post cards I've found in under the eaves at my Grandma's house and in antique shops! I keep imagining one that reads "Greeting from the Adirondack Buffalo Farm!" in some lovely vintage font... hmm.. I think its time to go to photo shop! :)

Oh, there was a little shop too, we bought some Buffalo burgers to take home and I got a lovely soft deerskin yellow change purse!

Thrifty Thursday: One Man's Trash is SHE Design's Treasure!

So the 2nd or 3rd day I was in Florida my Aunt and I came across a back alley dumpster find chest of gold! Metaphorically speaking. 

We had just picked up a few pounds of shrimp for that evenings dinner at a small local market and left through the back alley only to come across (thanks to my Aunt's sharp eye) a huge beautiful framed mirror sitting next to the garbage cans! 

Say WHAT!? So we stopped and I got out to investigate. The mirror was clearly broken but I was focused on the frame. Was it solid wood or partical board... it was wood. Was it knicked up or in good condition... considering its location, it was in good condition. So we loaded it into the back of my Aunt's little Prius (thank you Jesus that is just barely fit!) and saved it from a doomed existence in a pile of garbage at the dump! 

This picture really makes it looks small.. it is not.. the frame is a good 4 x 3 1/2 feet. 

The great thing I discoved while investigating in the alley was that the mirror while cracked, had some kind of heavy duty plastic backing which is why it was still holding together. So we took the whole thing not wanting to leave a jagged mess for someone else to clean up in a back alley and layed it on a tarp in the driveway to deal with the mirror. 

 My Aunt and I put some tape across the front of the mirror just to be safe... 

And then we pulled out all the staples around the back of the frame. After that we were able to just lay it down gently and the mirror fell out the back in one piece! (I failed to snag a picture of that)

 So then we just folded the mirror over a few times and threw it in some heavy duty trash bags and into the trash!

 And what was left is this awesome frame!

 I'm 5'11 so as you can see.. this frame is pretty big! Pardon the horrible shot.. I was snapping the picture with my remote shutter release at the same time I was holding the frame up!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet... there are just so many possibilities! So for now I think it will become one of my photo props but in the future when I get my own place I'm thinking I'll hang it up and put a bunch of smaller framed and un framed photos and paintings inside of it!

From Creative Stock

Three summers ago, while up at the family summer cottage in the beautiful Adirondack mountains, I was digging under the eaves looking for treasures and came upon a box full of my Poppy's photographs and even older images of my Grandmother's side of the family from the late 1800's. It was pretty sweet and I set out to spend the rest of the summer scanning all these images and setting them into an acid free scrap book style book to best preserve them.

Below are scanned images of some of my Poppy's orginal's. He worked at the Binghamton Press for 30 years the majority of which he was their Chief of Photography. I just loved finding these as I inherited all of his cameras when he passed away in 2001. I had never really known he was a photographer until after his death and those camera's awoke a deeper creativity in me that took me on to photo classes in high school and pursuing and completing a degree in Studio Art in college. 

I LOVE the one below, it so captures the essence of the 1970's to me!

Binghamton, NY gets a lot of winter.. I love all of his weather shots.. I have about 20 different prints and tons of negatives. 

Just wanted to share these. It always amazes me when I look at these discoveries as well as those about my Dad's Dad- The Grandfather and see how deeply my love of art, creating and appreciation is rooted in my family.  I grew up at my Grandfather's knee watching him paint, inherited all my Poppy's camera's when I was 13 and when my Grandfather moved to a nursing home while I was in high school, my Aunts and Uncles graciously gave me all of his painting supplies (and it was A LOT). I completed my Bachelors in Studio Art from the University of Mary Washington going on 3 years ago and honestly.. aside from a few odd supplies.. these gifts from my grandfathers saw me through 4 years and not having to buy much of any supplies for my photo, drawing and painting courses. I can look back at my film photographs and know that I captured those images through the same lens and view finder as my Poppy and when I look at my paintings.. I know they are painted by the same brushes, palette knives and paints that my grandfather once used. 

I dunno.. to me, that's just really special!

Lynchburg Part 1: Country Roads

One of my best friends lives up near Lynchburg. We try to take turns visiting one another with most visits including a lot of similar things regardless of whose home turf we're on... those would include thrifting, antiquing, movie watching and eating. While visits at my place also include visits to the VMFA for our mutual love of art... we did after all meet and become friends in Painting 1 & Photo 1 my fall semester Senior year... her Junior year while both majoring in Studio Art, along with eating out a few times at one of the many great eateries RVA offers. 

Visits to Lauren's include lots of driving... its kind of required to get anywhere when you live in the country (but I love it!) as well as exploring abandoned houses and taking photographs in open fields, of old farm houses and visits to Lynchburg and Appomattox.

So when I went to Lynchburg two weeks ago to visit Lauren during her school's spring break (She's an elementary school art teacher.) you can only imagine my deep frustration when I realized my camera bag which I had packed the night before was missing my camera. I had taken it out to download some photo's after packing and forgotten to put it back in my bag. Fortunately Lauren had a 35mm film camera I was able to borrow which was great because I love shooting on film. And then I forgot the roll of film when I left 3 days later... womp womp womp. So I don't have any amazing black and white photos to share from my most recent trip.. not yet anyway. Not til I see Lauren again and can get the film to develop. Instead all I have are the photos I shot with my phone, thank goodness for modern technology and my iPhone!

The 1st day I was there we went driving around where Lauren lives and came upon a very pretty old house with some outlying barns that was right by the road. 

 So we pulled over and got out to take some photographs after knocking on the door to see if anyone answered... no one lived there. 

 A few minutes later an older gentleman came driving up in his tractor and pulled over when he got to us. Turns out it was his house and he lived in the smaller more recently built home just next door. We explained that we just wanted to take some photographs and asked if that would be ok which fortunately he didn't mind. "So you like taken pictures of old stuff, huh? Well just be careful, some of the structures aren't so sturdy anymore." Awesome! 

 He told us about how he'd grown up in this house and that eventually they'd had to move out because the well (which is under or near on the left front side of the house) had started to fall in and part of the foundation was affected and even after filling in the well with stones it wasn't structurally sound. It was too much to fix up the place so now its just locked up and aging into a slow decay.. which I love for photographing sake but which made Lauren and I sad in talking about it later on our drive that such a pretty old place is just sitting there falling apart. 

If only we could have explored inside.. I'm sure she held lots of treasures and beautiful photo ops. Maybe next time. 

Week in Review- Via Instagram

 I spent a large majority of my week M-F holed up in the house taking advantage of some really amazing and free (only if you watched it live) photography classes! It was a great refresher and actually more informative than any photography course I've ever had.. and between high school and college... I've taken my fair share! I am so excited to start putting all this new knowledge to use! So please contact me to schedule your shoot! February is almost over and that means my $30 for 30 price will be over soon too! Good thing is.. March will only be going up $10 and be $40 for a 30 min session with 25-30 images! 

Ok, so, this week I...

Found some nice leather shoes in Men's 13 for my Dad for $5 at Goodwill! And he loved them!

Went on lots of walks with Fritz during the breaks to get out of the house and stretch my legs.

Took lots of pictures of Fritz, he's just so darn cute!
Rediscovered my love of greek yogurt and cereal, together.

Did my hair up in Knotted Maiden braids which I'm kinda of obsessed with.. so of course I took a few selfies.
Bought some pretty flowers to brighten up the kitchen and bathrooms- pink tulips for the vanities!

Had a photo shoot with this gorgeous friend!

Finally got out of the house and into the studio to make some new state pendants!

Made a delicious of the most Sunday Dinner that will be posted as a recipe soon!
And added to my Elephant collection with a lovely porcelain piece my mom got me when she was in Tampa!

Photography On A Budget: Making It Work

So, as many of you know, or at least have seen, I have been getting more serious about my photography. Particularly towards portrait photography. Currently I am working with one of the lower end DSLR cameras on the market which at times can be hindering and frustrating but which also forces me to be more creative than a photographer who has the top of the line equipment at their finger tips. I would love to one day purchase a Nikon D800 or even a Nikon D4 or Canon 5D Mark but currently, those are not remotely within my budget. Or really my need. And right now, if I'm going to splurge on anything, it is going to be on my lenses. 

Why? Well easiest way to explain it to a non- photographer is that camera bodies are like iPhones. Every year or just about Nikon and Canon come out with new bodies that are often very similar to their existing counterparts but which out perform in functions, options, settings etc. So to go drop $2,000-$5,000 on a camera body when I (a.) don't have that kind of $ to blow through and (b.) haven't gotten to the point in my business yet where I am charging the kind of money or even have the need for a heftier camera. 

Lenses though, they're a whole different game. There might be some that I'd have to upgrade when I upgrade my camera down the road, but lenses hold their value, they're much better resale than a camera body and ultimately, lenses are what can make an image better in terms of crispness, clarity and depth of fields. So I have been considering for some time now purchasing a new lens. Originally I was just going to go spend all my Christmas and Birthday + a little from savings on one. 

But again, that is still a considerable purchase of $300 on the low end and $600 on the higher end in terms of quality and aperture. Me, being the sometimes overly thoughtful purchaser that I am, just couldn't bring myself to splurge for the $400 50mm 1.4G AF-S lens that I'd like to get for my camera and for my portrait photography. And isn't it ironic that the only 50mm 1.4 aperture lens that functions on my lower end camera body is the MOST EXPENSIVE one! 

The main reason I've hesitated is because again, I'm still early into this business. I want to pursue this and I am more than willing to invest in it, but personally, I feel I need to make sure I am booking clients regularly and creating a somewhat regular income before I'm going to drop that kind of cash. 

Enter my Poppy's collection of cameras and lenses. I chose to get a Nikon DSLR over a Canon because well I'd always worked with Nikon in 35mm film and about half the cameras I have from my Poppy are Nikons along with a lot of additional Nikkor  and Nikon compatible lenses. I assumed (wrongly) when I purchased my DSLR 4 years ago that I would easily be able to pop those lenses on my DSLR. Turns out, for the level of DSLR I purchased, that isn't so. But I keep going back and putting those lenses on my camera anyway, hoping that my camera will be able to read the lens and function with it. Today.. I had SUCCESS!

Ironically, it wasn't with any of my Nikkor lenses but with a 50mm Tamron lens. Its a whole new game with this lens since I have to do it all manually through a digital camera, but it's definitely something I am willing to conquer in order to have that 50mm lens I've so been wanting to add to my lens options for portraits. This is a high quality lens too... for free! It's all metal casing and made in Japan. It seems to only work well in bright light- like full sun- situations on my DSLR but I've only tried it out once outside so I could be wrong. I only shot about 10 shots on it today during a paid photo shoot but didn't want to take up too much of my client's time with a lens I didn't know for sure would give me a nice clear image. 

Here are some of the successful shots I got with it! These are straight from the camera with no editing done to the image except to add my watermark. I am sooooo excited!

So I may be on a budget in a field of play that normally requires $20,000 worth of equipment if you really want to make it, but I am making it work! I would love to eventually be able to be at the point with my business where I am making the money and booking the clients for it to be worth investing in a better camera body and adding more lenses to my repertoire but those things aren;t going to make my ability to capture an image that much better. They'll make the quality slightly better, but being a photographer isn't about just your equipment. Its about "Can you take a picture with interesting composition in your own back yard"" because if you can't, then you may want to reconsider it as a profession. Get creative! Don't let a need for equipment trap you in the "I have to buy this to be better" mentality. Do some research and be willing to fail a few times. You might just find a hidden treasure that saves you $400 and gives you the image capturing ability you wanted!

Thanks for being my Tamron 50mm lens test model Christina! More photos of this gorgeous friend of mine to follow on the blog this week! 

Week in Review via Instagram

Happy Tuesday! I'm a bit late in posting the weekly review.. but we had guests visiting this weekend and I didn't want to be rude by sitting on my computer writing a big ole post so instead I posted a few pictures of our Sunday Dinner! I'm also a bit busy this week attending some amazing classes on photography that I can't wait to implement in my future photo shoots! I seriously LOVE learning!

This past week...
I was sick,
Tried out another new hair style.. Maiden Knots and LOVED it!
Watched a stunning sunset from my back yard on Valentine's Day as it reflected in our pool!
Went to Ash Wednesday Service and wrote a little bit about Lent.
Had a good catch up with one of my closest friends which included some silly lamenting of our mutual singleness right now.
Was then promptly reminded right after in reading my devotional to not worry about being single, or anything else I that is a worldly worry but to focus on Christ and the everlasting.
Had some warm weather and took advantage by painting!!
Shared a Valentine's Day post of one of the cutest couple I know!
Let Fritz be my painting assistant (not really, he just watched).
And cooked some yummy meals, including  a new Spaghetti Squash Recipe!
And a 12 lb Chicken and homemade pasta for our Sunday Dinner!