Category Archives: Photography

Shoot Happy: Becoming Less

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While this post will be magically appearing in the morning in readers and inboxes near you, it was written pretty late last night, or early morning. But it’s right now for me…how’s that for a nice time paradox. Did I mention it was late? Anyways, keeping with the monthly post series and this weeks florals series within a series, today I’ll be sharing a shot of some pretty white roses I shot at sunset the other day, with a verse from John.

psalm330So, becoming less so that God can become greater. The way I interpret this verse is this; we have to put ourselves, aside, to allow the Lord full reign in our lives. It is only then that He can show His greatness through us.

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Shoot Happy: Treasures

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Over the month of October, I’ll be trying post everyday. These posts will be centered around all things nifty about the fifty, they could be about how awesome the 50mm is, or just some cool shots captured while enjoying the nifty-ness of the fifty. You can read this series from the beginning here.

To go along with this plan of a daily post about the 50mm lens or to share a shot taken with my nifty fifty, I’ve decided to set aside a week just to show off some of my favorite floral shots accompanied with a verse that I’ve found to be meaningful.  Today, is a verse taken from Matthew 6:19-21…

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In this materialistic world it’s so easy to get caught up in the getting and the taking, and the hoarding. I have a house full of stuff that I don’t need, and makes me wonder where I really keep my treasures. Are they in heaven, or am I trying to make a cheap replacement by stock piling earthly treasures.  And with that thought, I’m off to clean out a closet…

Shoot Happy: Joy in the Morning

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Over the month of October, I’ll be posting (or trying to post) everyday. These posts will be centered around all things nifty about the fifty, they could be about how awesome the 50mm is, or just some cool shots captured while enjoying the nifty-ness of the fifty. You can read this series from the beginning here.

This week, I’ve been posting florals that were shot with my trusty nifty fifty. Each shot is accompanied with a short verse that has spoken to me in some way.

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Shoot Happy: Continuous Prayer

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Over the month of October, I’ll be posting (or trying to post) everyday. These posts will be centered around all things nifty about the fifty, they could be about how awesome the 50mm is, or just some cool shots captured while enjoying the nifty-ness of the fifty. You can read this series from the beginning here.

This week, I’ve been posting some floral shots I took using my trusty nifty fifty, these shots have been accompanied with a verse that has some meaning to me. Today a verse in Romans seemed to speak to me:

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“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly (or faithfully) in prayer…”, that pretty much sums up the life of a Christian right? At least, that’s what we’re supposed to do. But being the disobedient children we can be, sometimes we don’t always do what we’re told to do. We like to whine, worry, and only go to prayer as a last resort. It is not until we’ve floundered and fallen flat on our faces that we finally realize that what’s expected of us is so very simple.  We just have to continue rejoicing, hoping, being patient, and faithful all the time.

Shoot Happy: Plans

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So many plans, I have so many plans, for my home, for my work, for my relationships, for my life in general. I worry about my plans panning out, I spend countless hours planning my plans, and I spend many more hours wallowing in the disappointment of my plans that have seemingly failed. But then, the Lord gently reminds me, that it is His plans that prevail, He knows best.  Those plans that I’ve spent so much time worrying about, don’t matter in the big picture. I just need to focus on the Lord’s purpose, and pray that His plans become my plans. And those failed plans, I can’t waste my “heart” space on them, because they might just lead to an even greater plan that is not my own.  After all, God does have my heart copy righted, all rights are reserved to Him,

Shoot Happy: Morning by Morning

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Well, so far this blogging for 31 days straight thing hasn’t really worked out. Honestly, I kind of started out this month knowing 31 posts wouldn’t be happening within the confines of one month. But let’s play this week by week shall we? This past week, I had intended on posting a photo a day of a pretty floral with an inspirational scripture or quote, but the week passed me by and I didn’t get one post up. Maybe, it was the week long vacation that distracted me from the computer. Actually, I’ll take that sort of distraction anytime over normal stressful distractions. Even if my little blog must suffer from radio silence for a little while.

Anyways, this week I’ll be posting all those florals and pretty words I had lined up to share last week. And of course, all shots were taken with my trusty nifty fifty. Most of them were shot at sunset, that’s my favorite-est time of day, the lighting is so warm and casts an angelic glow on everything. I understand sunrises have the same impact, someday I’ll see one and maybe I’ll be awake enough to grab a few shots of it’s magical-ness.

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Thankfully though, you don’t have to be a morning to person to experience the magical-ness (it’s a word, because I’m using it) to experience God’s magnificent will. We just have to open our hearts.

Shoot Happy: Bad Day Muffin

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31DaysNiftyFiftyButtonOver the month of October, I’ll be posting (or trying to post) everyday. These posts will be centered around all things nifty about the fifty, they could be about how awesome the 50mm is, or just some cool shots captured while enjoying the nifty-ness of the fifty. You can read this series from the beginning here.

So, you ever had one of those days where nothing goes the way it’s supposed to? Ya know, the kind of day when you lose your sunglasses but your actually wearing them, or you realize you don’t have your keys just seconds after the door has slammed shut behind you, or you fear your automatic window closing button (highly technical term) has broken because it only clicks instead of closing the window only to realize the window was never down in the first place. And that was all during my morning rush out the door. Thankfully, after looking for my sunnies for a solid 5 minutes ,I finally realized why the world looked so dark, and I was able to use a spare house key hidden in my top secret hidey hole to gain access back into the house. Let’s just say, the rest of the day didn’t get much better.

It was one of those days where you just want to cuddle up with Netflix, and eat baked goods for dinner. Who needs protein anyway?

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Aww..yes…a muffin from my favorite diner. If you ever find yourself in the Albuquerque area you’ll definitely have to hit up Manny’s on Central. Their muffins are huge and oh so tasty. The perfect remedy to a terrible, horrible, not good, very bad day.

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Shoot Happy: Bokeh

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The month of October brings so many happy things, pumpkin lattes at Starbucks, fall sunsets ( there’s something about the warmer lighting that’s so magical), and if you live in New Mexico that first whiff of roasted green chili is a sure sign that fall has arrived. But over the past couple of years, October also means participating in a 31 days series hosted by the Nester, click on over to her site to see what all the other 1200 bloggers  also joining in on the joy (or misery) of blogging for 31 days straight about one topic are up to. (Whew, that was a run-on sentence!)

This year, I’ll be talking about shooting happy with the 50mm. Although, I’m starting to question my topic, it’s only the 3rd day into the series and I’m already struggling with blog topics, in fact I’m getting a little bored with it. I may have to resort to posting random shots without any caption, or maybe tweaking the topic a little. Wonder if that’s against the rules of this little bloggy project. I could always change my mind half way through and do 15.5 days of indecisiveness.

But for today, I’ll stick to my chosen topic, and blabber on about how nifty the fifty has proven to be. Today we’ll be talking about bokeh, pronounced BOH-KAY (like the bunch of flowers that hubby brings home when he’s trying to suck up after purchasing more 80’s video games) , meaning the part of a photo that has been purposely blurred to bring focus to a certain area of the shot. According to wiki: Bokeh is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur,in out-of-focus areas of an image.

Here are a couple examples of bokeh I shot while enjoying that warm fall light shining into my living room.

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Notice, how my models ear is in focus while the area around the ear is slightly blurred. And in the photo below, the other model has a very focused nose (better for sniffing out rawhides), but the background is blurred.

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I should also add, that the use of bokeh is perfect at blurring out a messy background (i.e. the mess that is my living room).

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Shoot Happy: Why so Nifty Fifty

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As mentioned previously,the month of October will be about shooting happy with the nifty fifty. Over the next month, I’ve made a pledge to myself to shoot more with my trusty 50mm lens. To use more of my vintage manual lenses, and to find joy in simple photography, ya know without all the bells and whistles and new fangled toys. With a few tips and tricks thrown into the mix, and you might see a few projects I’ve completed that will be shot with my sweet fifty. It’s also a chance for me to participate in the Nester’s 31 Days of Change Series, click on over to her site to find out more.

Now, you might be wondering what makes the fifty so nifty, where do I even start? How about with one?

1. Value. The 50mm is relatively inexpensive compared to a lens with more moving parts. You can typically pick up a Canon 50mm EF f1.8 for about $100 brand new. Here’s one I found on Amazon. Now, that’s something to talk about.

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2. Natural Angles. This lens is perfect for those situations when you want an angle that is close to what you see with your own eye. Meaning that, the shot you get will look similar to what you see when your looking at your subject without a lens.

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3. Low Light No Problem. When shooting in a low light situation, the 50mm is perfect because you can have a wider aperture to let more light in without sacrificing the quality of your shot. Plus, when there is plenty of light you can get a pretty glow-y effect.

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There’s so much more to make the fifty so nifty, but those are the top three that keep me shooting happy.

Shoot Happy: The Nifty Fifty

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Well, it’s that time of year again, where I scramble, hem and haw my way through a decision of whether or not to participate in the Nester’s 31 Days of Change blog challenge. In past years, I only got half way through the 31 days before something else took my attention. Well, this year to keep with tradition, because it takes two years to make a tradition dontchaknow, I’ll attempt to partake in the joy (or misery) of blogging for 31 days straight about one particular topic. Will I complete the 31 days this year? Will it really make a change in my life and possibly someone else’s? I can’t answer that just yet, but let’s hope.

In the past two years I’ve participated, I blogged about Thrifting and was entirely too hopeful last year and documented a series on Getting it Done, yes, I see the irony in that one. But this year, will be the year I FINALLY blog for 31 days straight, no breaks, no excuses, and no whining. Actually, I can’t guarantee the no whining, it’s really what I do best.

Now, you probably want to know what I’ll be jabbering on about for the next 31 days. I’ve given it some thought, what would be fun, interesting, and relevant to myself and my readers?  What won’t bore me to no end, and what won’t stress me out? Remember this is supposed to  be fun, darn it!  So, I decided to explore shooting.

No, not that kind of shooting! I’m not a member of the NRA, and don’t have one of those fancy purses that can cleverly conceal a weapon, unless we’re talking about my trusty Canon. I bring that puppy with me pretty much everywhere. Which is why I decided to focus this month of change on seeing things differently through the lens. Specifcally, the 50mm lens, or as I like to call it the Nifty Fifty. Because really, it is pretty nifty.  But I’ll get into all the nifty-ness of the fifty in a later post.

Let’s get into the point of this little series shall we? Over the month of October, I plan to explore all the great shots that can be accomplished by using the 50mm lens. Granted, there will be other photo ops during this month that will require me to use other lenses (i.e. vacation!), but for the purpose of this series I plan to devote all my posts to photos taken with my trusty nifty fifty. I’ve found that over the past few months I’ve become a little lazy when it comes to shooting, relying heavily on auto focus and not worrying too much about composition and what not. Hopefully, by the end of this month I’ll have honed in my skills, and become more artistic in the way I shoot and even in the way that I view the world around me. So, look forward to a photo or a series of photos everyday, sometimes it might just be dog picture, or I might share a tip or trick I’ve discovered along the way.

After having said all that, I should warn anyone who has been brave enough to visit my blog sweet blog, I am not a professional photographer. The tips and photos I have chosen to share are simply things I have found to be helpful or beautiful. They may not be correct in the technical sense, but they are appealing to me.

Now, won’t you join me as I try to see things differently through the lens?

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