Yuck, Green Beans!

I didn't take too many photos during Thanksgiving. I was busy eating all the delicious food (in addition to the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn, we had LOBSTER and CRAB! MMMMM!)

But this shot here just gets my shoulders goin'! Favorite picture of the night!



It's a little late, but I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings! Any non-traditional dinners??

Mommy To Be!

When I was in NC earlier this fall, I had the chance to meet up with my friend Jennifer from NC who happened to be in the area at the same time (visiting from CA!!) I learned that she was pregnant earlier this year and knowing that she was several months along at this point, I insisted that we meet up and I take baby bump photos for her! So we gathered at the American Tobacco District in Durham to do a mini-session.

Unfortunately, I only have time to post a couple photos tonight, so here are some of my favorites.





Thanks for letting me take your photos, Jennifer! :D And congratulations on your baby girl!! I expect to see photos of her beautiful little face soon!

Pumpkin Picking at the Pumpkin Patch!

This Saturday, my family and I went to go pick pumpkins to carve for Halloween. It was the perfect chilly fall day. And that's something I love about taking pictures in the fall--the photos come out so much crisper, just like the air. I'm not sure how that works out, but I love it!

Of course, I chased my nephew around with the camera, but he didn't seem to mind.

Sneak Peek: An Engagement - Sookie & Mike

Wow, it's been a long time!! :( I am way behind on posting, so I wanted to quick put up a couple shots from an engagement session in NYC!!

It was so much fun, not only going all over NYC, but hanging out with Sookie and Mike! :) These two are so fun! I knew that before, but it was reconfirmed after shooting their engagement!

Thanks for spending ALL DAY with me!!

Just a sneak peek! I hope to get the rest up soon!

EDIT: a few more...because I'm so excited about them I can't stop editing them!! :D

Cupcake Wars!! ...with myself

A couple weeks ago, I was at TJ Maxx and I wandered into the home/kitchen section just to take a peek (or so I thought). I ended up leaving with a cupcake pan, among other things, but the cupcake pan is the culprit here. I ended up spending my Sunday afternoon-to-night baking cupcakes. Lots and lots of cupcakes. Well, at least it seemed like a lot to me (24), given that I'm a homemade cupcake newbie. I wanted to be ambitious and planned to make vanilla cupcakes with a jasmine whipped cream filling and topped with basil buttercream...AND chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter cream and topped with cream cheese frosting. Well, I made bits and pieces of the recipe. Let's begin:

Oh by the way, I was so glued to the recipe directions, since I had no clue what was supposed to go into these cupcakes, that I forgot to take pictures of my ingredients and steps along the way. OOPS!

I <3 my KitchenAid mixer



It starts with the butter...



...and then a whole bunch of steps...and then it goes into the oven!



Some cleaning since I only have one mixer so that I can start on the next "step"



Chocolate! Tip: add a bit of ground coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor!



Vanilla's out of the oven and just hanging around





The chocolate cupcakes went into the oven at some point too and I work on the whipped cream filling for the vanilla cupcakes. No jasmine flowers were blooming on our plant, so I settled for some strawberry jam with real strawberries in it



DING!



Did you know that cupcakes have cores too? :)



All done!



There was no peanut butter and I didn't like the cream cheese frosting...but it still doesn't give me an excuse to not photograph the choco cupcakes.

Anyway, I'll try to do next better next time at documenting! It was a bit difficult because my hands were constantly sticky, sugary, floury, or oily and I was already washing my hands like a million times in between things.

Either way, the cupcakes were absolutely delicious!! I brought them into work and everyone really liked them, at least that's what I was told..! :)

If you'd like the recipes, post a comment below!

A Mysterious Newborn

I wanted to share a couple photos from a quick newborn session I did a few weekends ago. The parents don't want his/her identity to be revealed, for fear of the public harassment they'd get for having such an absolutely adorable baby!!! :) I love this family and I was so thrilled to be able to take their first "professional" photos. Thanks to the parents of this cutie pie. :)

Modeling the pensive look.



Now dancing a jig! What a talented baby!



By the way, I made a new logo. Any thoughts/comments on it? Too girly? Too simple? Too...some other word I can't think of? If you're unsure about why I decided to brand myself as "13:8," look up 1 Corinthians 13:8a.

"So hot we'll melt your popsicle"

What a catchy song. Sometimes I'll find myself singing it without realizing right away what song I'm singing! I think it's triggered by the heat outside. It has been so hot that it'll melt my popsicle!! (That was cheesy...)

I took a walk Friday evening because it was so beautiful out. It was a much needed break and time just for myself to enjoy the beauty outside 4 walls and a roof. I realized though, that I'm not much of a landscape person. I can definitely enjoy it, but in terms of capturing what I see and how I see it into a photo...I'll leave that to the experts.

The absence of people in my photos from that day are obvious to me. I kept thinking how the scene would be completely different if I had subjects in there to work with. Oh well. Next time I can get someone to model for me, I'll know where to take them. :)



Each row, from L to R:
1. Drove down a would-have-been-creepy-if-it-were-nighttime gravel road that led to a HUGE lot of land. I pulled over and started taking pictures...in the back of my mind scared that someone would run out with a shot gun and chase me away. EEP!
2. Beautiful...weeds that seem to grow everywhere!
3. Rodale Park: I drive by this park several times a week when the sun's starting to set and I always want to get photos with the fences. AH. Beautiful.
4. Right next to Rodale park, the tops of the Fred J. Jaindl Elementary School.
5. The road passing by Rodale Park and the Elementary School.
6. I pulled off to the side of a tiny road where there was this empty field where a house used to be (there were still some of the house foundation left). I really wanted to have a model to photograph in this scene...
7. Tracks from a construction vehicle in front of the Elementary School.
8. Fields in my neighborhood.
9. When I drove to the end of my development, I saw this STOP sign set against the backdrop of the acres of farm land and loved the contrast of it.

If you, or you know of anyone who wants portraits taken, let me know! I miss photographing (new) people (--because my nephew's a person too! :P).

Happy weekend! I hope you get a chance to stop and take in what's around you. :)

Perfect Day for an Outdoor Stroll

Actually, it was a VERY humid day. My guess would be 100% humidity. Goodness. In northeastern US? Probably, but it's been a while since I've had summers here.

My mom and I took Cason for a wagon ride one afternoon, and he LOVED it! He didn't mind the humidity at all. :) This is how happy he was:



Or he could have been thirsty and hyperbolizing his parched state. Anyway, I thought this photo was super duper cute and I wanted to share our happy day with you.

I also made a wallpaper from a photo from that day. Nothing major, but it serves as a good reminder when I close all my windows, about to get off the computer:



(If by chance you want this wallpaper, or just a blank version of this wallpaper, let me know and I can give you the full size!)

Happy Thursday!

Going vintage

Another freelensing shot.. of a vintage piece I picked up at a flea market!



It still works!! As in when you push the button on the front, the gears inside still turn and make that cool frame shooting noise (yeah, I REALLY know my stuff hah). But...I need 8mm film and an 8mm film projector? HMMMM.

My Northern Lights for Inspiration

My blog's kind of like a good old friend that you haven't talked to in a while. Despite the time apart, when you come back together, and catch up, it's just like old times. Somehow, you kind of just pick up where you left off.

But still, my apologies (for my few blog readers). I didn't mean to leave for so long. :( I've been trying to find inspiration and things to photograph...when I realized, I just have to start taking the pictures rather than spending all my time thinking about what I want to take pictures of! (I hope that made sense.)

I've added a few additions to my camera collection--105 2.8 Macro and an SB-800. <3 After a couple months of owning the macro, I've only recently played with it and I'm in love! Not just for close-ups, but portraits as well. Perhaps not the best portrait lens, but it's a good dual-purpose lens for now. :) Until I get my hands on an 85 1.4. As for the SB-800, I used to own an SB-600, but it died on me within months and I never got it to Nikon to fix. :( But it's nice having a flash again and I've been doing a lot of catch up on Strobist to become more familiar with creative lighting.

Anyway, enough rambling. My photo for today comes from discovering a technique called "Freelensing". It's kind of scary since your lens is actually detached when the shutter's released, but you can get some really awesome results. And with the popularity of Tilt Shift nowadays, you can get somewhat that effect on a cheaper budget with freelensing.



It reminds me of the Northern Lights. I'll call this one, "Northern Lights v13.8". :)

As for my frequency of posts, I'm working on it! I know I'll fail at a p365 (and it's kind of an awkward time to start that...almost middle of the year), so I'm not even going to try right now! But I am consciously trying to take more pictures, even if it has to be finding uniqueness in everyday things.

Keep me accountable if you remember to! Send me a mean e-mail reprimanding me for not updating or something. I'll take it well, I promise.

Kelly Moore on the mind

I'm always on the lookout for contests/giveaways/freebies...because who doesn't like free stuff?? I came across this website called Fabulous Fun Finds that have all the above! Check them out if you're looking to win something neat!

Rubber Duckie, you're the one!

I'm so sorry I've been neglecting this blog!! I have so many personal photos to catch up on, it gets kind of overwhelming and I just don't know where to start!!!

But here's a photo taken a while ago when I first got my 105 2.8 Macro. Oh, by the way. I got a Nikon 105 2.8. :)

[Enter caption here.]

My family and I have all been pretty under the weather lately...figuratively and literally. We all got sick with a combination of stomach viruses, colds, ear infections, and pink eyes. All of that while we were snowed in. Thankfully we didn't need any emergency visits to the hospital (for the most part...). Anyway, being sick, I haven't been feeling up to going out to take pictures in the snow, let alone play in it! Sad.

Well, this photo has nothing to do with the above jumble of text. It just makes me happy. :) I hope it makes you happy too!

What I also love about this photo is that there is such an array of photo caption possibilities. What would you have it say?

Kim Chi Addict

In addition to flowers, I also love Kim Chi! Oh my spicy goodness. Yum yum. I was looking through some photos from over New Years and stumbled upon this delicious photo. (And I'm also trying to redesign some aspects of the blog...so bare with me!)

For Me?

I love flowers. I guess that's just the girly part of me that wants her man to surprise her every now and then with a classic gift like that. And I'm not even talking about expensive roses and orchids and...I'm not well-versed in flowers at all. I just prefer the simpler kinds, like daisies and...those green things in the photo below... Anyone know what kind they are?

Vote For Me!

So if you remember a couple entries back, I blogged about the photographer Kelly Moore (Clark) and her line of camera bags. I very much wanted one so Wednesday (my newest baby) would be well taken care of and stylin' at the same time! So when she had a giveaway contest for said bag, I jumped at the opportunity. Readers had to submit a new years resolution, and the top two resolutions with the most votes win a bag!

I'm resolution #6, so please read it and vote for me!