Blogging

photo by Alex Beauchamp

5 years ago, I had no idea what a blog was. Today it's become a fairly significant part of my life. I was trying to think back the other day about how it all happened, and then remembered. It started with a jewelry search. One day, I googled "jewelry suppliers", and stumbled upon www.anothergirlatplay.com. It was like I had died and gone to heaven. All kinds of creative women pursuing their dreams, in one place. I sat for hours reading their stories. And then promptly got hooked on this thing called blogging. Now, even when I'm crazy busy there are at least ten sites a day that I feel like I have to visit. But it all started with Alex's site . So that made me wonder about everyone else. Do you remember the first blog that ever inspired you? I'm so curious to hear your stories too. 

weekend

With each weekend comes the promise that anything is possible. Maybe the anticipation that all of our dreams can come true in two short days is a little much but there is great potential. As you breath in the fresh air of Saturday, seize the day and take your camera with you. And if you choose to make it a pajama day, so be it. I'd love to see you in your flannel finery.

Whatever the plan is for your weekend, let's see what kind of magic can be stirred up.

The Plan

 
The main reason I upgraded from a point-and-shoot to a digital SLR last March was that I was feeling limited and frustrated. I realized that I had hit a wall and wanted more. As I mentioned in my last post, photography for me is about capturing that moment or detail that I am seeing and making it “real”. My little Canon Powershot was doing all it could, but it wasn’t enough for me. By the time it actually took the picture, the moment was long gone and I was annoyed.

Having my Canon Rebel XT has freed things up for me a lot. It’s quicker and I can control things much better. But I am still learning…big time. There are endless amounts of topics I need to cover and plenty of information out there to help me. But it can be a bit overwhelming at times. There is just so much info out there and sometimes I find it difficult to sort through it all and find what’s best for my style. So I think my “plan for the new year” (not calling it a resolution) is to focus on learning one new thing a month. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’m talking about learning something and then putting it into practice for a month. For instance, I have asked for a reflector for Christmas. So my first month could be spent playing with it (if I am lucky enough to receive it) and really learning how to use it. The next month could be learning more about different lenses and figuring out which one might be on my list next Christmas.

Anyway, I’m hoping that since I wrote about my “plan for the new year” here, I will have to follow through with it. Right?
 

It's Real Now

While I am fairly new to the world of photography, I feel like I have been seeing things through a lens my whole life. I've always been content to quietly observe my surroundings, noticing things that others might not. When I was young most people thought I was just quiet and shy (true), but there was more to it than that. I was busy observing. I was noticing the swirling pattern in the shell buttons on someone’s shirt or the way the sunlight made a pattern on the floor as it filtered through the trees. I think that’s why photography is the perfect outlet for me. When the camera captures what my eye is seeing, I can finally relax. It's real now.

I’m sure there are a lot of reasons that people become interested in photography. But I think that for most of us it is a way to capture what we’re afraid we’ll forget.
 

Traditions

This year, my daughter is three years old, and all of the year-end holidays, from Thanksgiving through the New Year, seem to now finally have meaning for her.  For this reason, I find myself obsessed lately with developing traditions -- little rituals to help make the season as special to her as it is for me.  So I've been doing a bit of research, asking around and finding out what makes the holidays special:

I love the stuffing we have at Thanksgiving -- with the water chestnuts... 

Water chestnuts in stuffing?  Please.  I'm Italian.  Sausage.  The stuffing needs sausage.

I remember opening our presents on Christmas morning ...

Morning?!  You mean Christmas EVE, right?  It's just not right to open them any other time! 

 Hmm.  So it appears that people hold their traditions pretty dear.

For me, I'm starting small:  prompted by some angel ornaments I seem to have collected over the years, I've decided that each year, I'm going to buy a new angel ornament.  The one above is one of my favourites.

Still, I could do with some inspiration -- what's your favourite holiday tradition?  Better still, feel free to share links to your photos illustrating this tradition, below.