Get Out

My itch to take outdoor photos first got scratched a couple of days before the photo shoot from yesterday's post. I took these outside next to my front porch before then, but hadn't posted them yet. Once again, since I don't have a tripod I had do make to setting my camera on the ground and angling it up towards me. Don't fear for my modesty, though, I was wearing shorts under my skirt!

My camera is one of those tiny slim ones, perfect for throwing in my purse and taking everywhere, terrible for balancing on ledges or rocks. 

And now, as a bonus, a terribly awkward picture of me taken by Tori. I was talking while she took it. She got a really nice shot of me smiling properly, but my memory card (which frequently geeks out and has to be reformatted) had a snafu and I can only download that picture sideways. Also, the lighting here makes me look a bit vampirish, no? I've learned to embrace the pale.

Sorry I'm Ugly Now

Well, I guess I learned my lesson. I went into my layout to try and change a couple of things, and my old layout doesn't exist anymore. So I inadvertently changed it and now I can NEVER GO BACK to what it was before. And I hate my new layout. I can't get the blogreel and post titles not to be orange. Yuck. I will get back to making this better later, but I hate this layout and I'm sorry to subject you to it. Come baaaaaaaaack old layout! You were so simple and clean looking, and not dumb like this one.

UPDATE: I am making progress on the changes, I like this one much better. I miss the simplicity of before, and part of me really wants to go back to all black, but I'll give this a whirl. Expect more changes and experimentation for awhile.

SECOND UPDATE: I found the old layout buried in blogger's Design tab or something, but now I messed around with this new one enough I think I'll keep it. Eventually I'll have to do something cool and unique, but above all I am lazy, so...yeah. Good enough. That's what I always say.

As Promised...

Here are a few shots from my solo photo shoot.

                                                                                                

An Experiment Gone Wrong, and Right

I have been wanting to do a Clothes Horse inspired photo shoot for awhile now, and today, I don't know what possessed me, I decided to do it. Maybe it was the green floral-print tights I just got that were begging to be photographed in the woods, among foliage and nature. Maybe I just got really sick of taking outfit shots in my bathroom. At any rate, I took off my heels, put them in my purse with my camera, threw on some boots I could walk in, grabbed a coat, hopped in my car, and took off. 

I headed to a lake I used to walk around all the time a couple of years ago. For whatever reason, I haven't been there much lately. Back in the days I used to walk/hike a lot of local trails, I had deep, important angst related to certain boys and whether they liked me, and why they didn't like me, and if they did like me why didn't they do something about it. It was the kind of angst which required thoughtful walks through dense green forests and beside sparkling, lapping bodies of water. Then I met Joe, and my need for angsty contemplative walks disappeared. But at any rate, the trails are still pretty, and gosh darn it I should take advantage of the beautiful place I live and get back out there.

Once I got to the lake, I got about thirty seconds in before I started talking some test shots with my jacket and boots still on. Thirty seconds more, and I took more pictures. A couple minutes, more pictures. But here's where it started to get interesting. I had to find a good place to put my camera (let me tell you, I will FOR SURE try to get a tripod before I do this again, trying to frame a shot was like...I don't know, it was hard OK), take of my jacket, change from my boots to my heels, set the self-timer, and figure out where to pose, all while hoping no people came along, because really, how would I explain myself?

I got a couple of so-so shots in at my third photo spot, though Joe called me in the middle of it so I'm on the phone in a couple of pictures:

This was supposed to be a reference shot anyway, but in about a minute or two after I took this, a random golden retriever came bounding down the trail, no collar or tags, no owner in sight. I instinctively made for my purse, thinking he might get into it and make off with something. Instead, he grabbed my whole purse in his mouth and started to to flee. I was close enough to grab it away while shouting "No" three times, and he dropped my purse, took off the way he came, and that was the end of a very brief, strange encounter. I decided to wrap it up in that spot and move on. 

I continued with the whole "walk a minute or two, stop, change shoes, frame shots, take pictures" thing for awhile, with varying degrees of success:

At one point I had stopped to take a couple of pictures of some floating pine needles and such, and before I moved on I needed to retie a knot at the back of one of my boots. I started to set my camera on a log to free my hand up, and I almost put it on top of this little guy:

I apologized, of course, and took his portrait. He was very willing and patient. As I started to walk away, I wanted to name him, but I couldn't think of anything suitable. Here he is doing an "editorial-style" shot:

I think I've been upstaged.

As much trouble as I had getting a good shot, and as weary as I got of changing shoes and carrying my jacket about (turns out I didn't need it, the weather was nice despite strong winds), I had great fun. I hope to do a lot more shoots outside, especially since there are tons of places I can go to get great scenery. I'll be posting some of the better pictures in my next post, get ready for some flagrant Clothes Horse imitation!

I Only Come When You Call

Even when you live in the same town for twenty-five years, your routes change. The places you frequent change, the roads once familiar go untaken. There are houses I could go back to that would welcome me with warmth and genuine affection, but I can't see them as they once were. They have become smaller, less alive. I glance at the windows, and can't imagine the lives inside any more than a place I've never been. The homes of old friends, or the old homes of the longtime friends who remain, are paler now, foreboding even. A driveway or sidewalk that leads to a door whose threshold I have passed through countless times appears now, simultaneously, familiar and foreign. 

YOU'RE WELCOME

Hey guyz! It's my 100th post! woo hoo!

In celebration, I'm giving you all a gift. The gift of deliciousness.

1. Buy these from Costco:

2. Gather ingredients: shredded cheese, chopped onions, tomatoes, and olives.

3. Put chips on a cookie sheet.

4. Put toppings on chips.

5. Bake.

6. Eat.

7. YOU'RE WELCOME.

(Unintentionally) Mixing Neutrals, Part 3

I hate when I'm too lazy to take my outfit picture, and then I spend two hours on a new tumblr blog I found (The Frogman), and then it gets completely dark in my house besides the glow of my laptop, and then I get up to turn a light on and somehow hit myself in the head with said laptop, and then I have to take a picture with bad lighting cause it's dark outside.

Anyway, I had a job interview today so I tried to look neutral and professional, which ended up looking rather boring. When I took the picture and looked at it I realized I was mixing black and brown without even knowing it. In the end, it was a blah outfit and I have a blah look on my face.

Thank goodness I got my hands on some free jewelry yesterday so I felt there was at least something interesting about what I wore. My parents are wrapping up a major addition to their house which added and extra living room area downstairs, and a master bedroom/bathroom/walk-in closet upstairs. In the process of moving into the closet, my mom was going through her jewelry and basically told me to take whatever I wanted besides her diamond and sapphire stuff. I'm not big on accessories, but I'm in a bit of a ring phase so I snagged a few, including these two pictured. The pearl ring was a gift from a high school friend, and the other belonged to her grandmother:

Another one of my acquisitions was this sterling silver bracelet, also from her high school days. I don't wear bracelets much because they are mostly way too big for my tiny bird-wrists, but we squeezed this one down to a manageable size. It's very delicate and subtle, so I might be getting a lot of use out of it.