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A little photography (pre D7k)
A couple of months ago when dad started his “photography business” he offered a special on FB. I mentioned here that I got roped into being his second shooter. Well I’ve finally gotten my slack ass in gear and finished editing pics from Kayla and Brian’s shoot. Editing is by far my least favorite thing to do. Part of it is I have to use my old clunky laptop (oh the horror! I can’t use my Ipad) and then there’s photoshop. Oh photoshop, why must you suck! And then there’s the ever present “need” to have extensive editing. I guess if I were proficient in PS I wouldn’t mind so much but let’s be real here. Who has hours upon hours to edit to that degree? I don’t and I don’t want to spend a ton of time editing. Basic fixes for this girl. Luckily I’ve found a few awesome presets. This lets me get that photoshopped look with a few clicks of a button. 😉
I think I’ve also come to realize that many of the photos I think are amazing are highly photoshopped. I know I’m not that good with PS but I guess I’m also not that creative. Anyhoo, enough about my PS wooes. I wanted to share the link to Kayla and Brian’s pics from Duke Gardens. This was a first for all of us and it proved to be an awesome location. Only downside, it was pretty busy.
~k
PS here is the link to baby Owen’s photoshoot. Courtesy of dad’s FB special!
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Oh, you want hairbands?
Well then, here you go!
You may remember this post from last year when I did a product review for Twistbands. And this post a few days later. Well I never actually bought any elastic from Etsy because what did I do shortly after? I cut my hair. Too short to pull back. So my dreams of elastic by the yard ended. Now however, my hair is currently long enough to pull back and like any good girl, I go through hairbands like they are going out of style. Though I feel like Julio plays with/eats them? They just seem to disappear.
A few weeks ago I noticed a twistband in my cabinet. I hadn’t used this one before, but it also made me realize I was missing my black one. I finally found the black one in the drawer of my bedside table. Anyway, I started using these for my morning walks at work and guess what? They actually did pretty good. Though my hair was still a bit dented (I mean it’s so thin I don’t think anything would not not dent it) but not so much that I couldn’t take it down and let it fall out.
The other night I was bored and started thinking about hairbands, ended up on Etsy again, and purchased 12 yards of elastic. I’m getting 2 yards each in 6 different colors. Honestly I didn’t really care that the colors weren’t neutral. I just wanted elastic and this was the best deal I could find for under $10.00. Actually with shipping I spent less than $7.00 so I think that’s a pretty big win! I spent $6.00 for my 3 original “twistbands.” Matt and I figured up if I use 5 inches per band, I can make 72 hairbands. 😀 SCORE!
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Picture Post
This week has been pretty eh but I have spent a good deal of time reading, rereading and playing with my new camera. I feel the pics already look much better. {Hey, for the price they should right?} I went through Ken Rockwell’s site and set my camera according to his recommendations. So are so many options, there’s not way I would even know where to start. Anyway, so far so good.
Monday and Tuesday I pretty much sat on the couch and took picture after picture of the fireplace or bookshelf. I would read, adjust settings, take pics and repeat. Wednesday afternoon was nice so I went outside and took pics of flowers. Played and tweaked settings and took more pics. I am by no means feeling super comfortable with this camera yet but I’m getting there.
So far my only problem is the auto focus. There are like 30 different focus points the camera can focus on and for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to choose the location I want to focus on. This is the one thing I am used to from my old camera. It picks a focal spot and I can manually change this should it not be correct. I guess I’m going to have to do some more reading.
Playing with the white balance.
Just playing.
Playing with exposure.
More randoms.
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Hello my pretty!
Today my new Nikon D7000 arrived! I pretty much stalked the FedEx website waiting for delivery confirmation. Of course it arrived during lunch while I was in a meeting.
After my meeting I ran upstairs to collect my package. I then spent the next hour or so getting it ready and looking at websites. I did manage to wait till I got home to go to Ken Rockwells site to go through the menu settings. I got the initial set up done tonight but I still have a ton of buttons left to play with. This might sound crazy but I feel like my pics already look better. Maybe not so crazy….
Look for lots of pic posts in the next few weeks as I play with settings and just take pics!
~k -
So Sew
This is what happens when you go to Stein Mart during lunch and fall in love with a throw pillow. I hadn’t actually been looking for pillows but I stumbled across a cute pink pillow with the word LOVE written in cording. I was thisclose to buying it but then I decided I could probably make one for less than $20.00 and I was right.
Once I got back to the office I hopped on fabric.com and found a pretty pink fabric for $6.98 and some cording for about $1.00. Add $4.00 for shipping minus a $1.20 off and I can make a similar pillow for $10.00. We’ll see how the writing turns out on mine so this project could become interesting.
Now I just have to wait for the fabric.
~k
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Let’s talk photography
I’m super excited because I placed the order for my new camera yesterday! WOO HOO! It should ship tomorrow and be here next week. I wanted the new camera before my meeting next week with the couple who’s wedding I’m shooting in September.
Since I decided I wanted a new, bigger, better and greater camera I’ve actually started to try and learn more about the basics. I don’t feel like I have great reading comprehension when it comes to instructions and manual {this could be why I don’t follow instructions. EVER.} to the point I thought about taking a basics course so I could get some hands on experience. I seem to be a more hands on learner. Anyway, a few weeks ago I stumbled across a website called Digital Photography School. You can sign up for emails with tips and tricks. So far I’ve read almost all the articles I’ve been sent. Even though it’s not actually showing me how to work my camera, it’s helping me understand all the moving parts, which is very helpful as well.
I got my current camera, a Nikon D50, for Christmas a few years ago. It was a total surprise! Turned out my dad’s boss at the time bought it, used it a few times and decided he didn’t like the idea of the sensor so he switched to a Canon. He offered dad a good deal and Kelly got her first DSLR. Unfortunately I didn’t really take the time to figure out my camera. I could point and shoot and that was good enough for me. Matt went so far as to buy me a D50 manual, but we were back to the whole reading comprehension thing. I tried to read the manual and follow along but things just didn’t seem to make as much sense so I didn’t get very far. I’ve tinkered with my camera and played with the settings. I even bought the super duper 18-200mm lens last year. I was in heaven. But now, now I just spent a ton of money on bells and whistles. {The D50 was more of the base model when it came out.} And with bells and whistles I feel like I owe it to myself and the camera to really understand everything I can do. I’ve found a youtube video that is about an hour long that goes over the D7000. I haven’t watched the video since I don’t have the camera, but let me tell you I am ready as soon as I have it in hand.
On top of buying a new camera, Matt found a great deal on Tanga.com last week for a lightbox. As you all know, I tend to take a lot of pics for my blog. Well most of them end up with the countertop in the kitchen as my backdrop. Not really ideal. For $26.99I got a lightbox valued at $100.00 (and PS it’s still on sale). It has 4 backdrops, 2 lights, a mini tripod and the whole thing is encased in a handy carrier. Now I can take better blog pics. 🙂 Plus it was such a good deal you almost have to buy it right? 😉
So that’s my spiel on photography. I hope to start posting more than just iPhone pics in the coming weeks.
~k
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Girl’s weekend
Thankfully Tropical Depression Andrea did not ruin our trip!
Friday morning I met the girls at T’s house, we ran to lunch and started our trip to E’s mom’s condo (she would join us later in the afternoon). After a disastrous bout of directions {we had 2 Iphones and 1 GPS in the car mind you}, going to the wrong condo and 4.5 hours on the road we finally made it to Cherry Grove.
The weather was still kind of spotty as we pulled into the parking deck but by the time we unpacked the car and changed the sun was out. We headed to the beach to get a little sun while we could. As we were sitting on the beach I noticed what looked like a coast guard helicopter out on the horizon. It began to get closer and thats when I realized they were flying in a grid pattern. Then the beach patrol drove by with someone looking at the water through binoculars. I finally pointed out the helicopter to the girls and decided they were looking for someone. Not surprising, the water was really rough. On Saturday we would see the news article that a 19 year old had gone out on his surfboard with his brother. The board came back to shore but the boy did not. 🙁
Friday night we had dinner at Filets. We were able to snag a table outside, right on the water. After dinner we decided to see what kind of entertainment we could find. Fat Harold’s it was! We walked in only to discover the crowd was quite a bit older, like 60’s and 70’s. One of the girls started chatting with a local and they suggested we go across the street to Ducks. Arm twisted so we went.
We walked into Ducks to discover the crowd was younger, like 40’s-50’s. HAHAHA! At this point, the music was better and the girls felt like dancing, so we stayed, for a while! There was lots of booty shaking, shagging {but not any of us}, a few stalker moments {some old guy with a walrus mustache had his eye on me and kept trying to talk to me}, the electric slide and a bitchy little old lady! 🙂 Finally we decided to call it a night. Needless to say this bar felt very odd and random.
The little old lady in blue who tried to hit E while doing the electric slide. 
We got photobombed. 
Saturday we woke up to beautiful blue skies. Around 11am we headed to the beach and sat for a few hours. Then we headed to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies, grab lunch and basically get out of the midday sun. About 2:30 we headed back out and sat till 6:00. At this point, everyone was a little pink here or there. Thankfully I got the good kind of pink that turns brown the next day. We showered and headed to Clarks on the marina.
After being told there was an hour wait, we decided to hit the outdoor bar and wait for our table. We were all a little surprised the wait was an hour since there seemed to be several open tables, one of which could accommodate a party of 5. Finally someone from inside realized the same thing and we were seated. I have to say the service was pretty awful. The patio staff was short and we ended up with a waiter from inside. It took a good 15 minutes for him to check on us once we were seated. Since we had waited so long we all knew what we wanted. I must say the salad was DELICIOUS along with a fresh baked croissant drizzled with honey. My dinner however, was not great. I branched out and ordered the shrimp and grits. The grits were so cheesy it was almost gross and the blackened shrimp were well, not so good either. Not to mention, it’s really hard to eat grits with a fork! Needless to say I won’t be going back there, not for dinner anyway. After dinner we ran to Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts and grabbed ice cream for dessert and bagels and donuts for breakfast.
Sunday morning we woke to cloudy skies. Everyone packed their stuff and we were on our way home. The drive home was much shorter and aftering picking up my car I was home by 3:30. Matt decided to play golf so I relaxed until he got home. We had dinner and then watched tv for a while before I went upstairs. Having a girl’s weekend is exhausting. 🙂
~k
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So you’re going to the beach?
Hmm, well Tropical Depression Andrea welcomes you!
Seriously?!!? The girls and I have had a trip to Myrtle Beach planned for a few months now and the day before we leave a stupid Tropical Depression hits Florida and is headed straight up the East Coast! Wonderful! We are going anyway, come hell or highwater. 😉 Regardless it should be a fun trip. It’s just a small group and the 5 of us all have fun. We will have even more fun when
sunshopping, sand and booze are involved. 🙂Since neither of us have to travel for work, it’s very rare that one of us is actually home alone. I hope Matt can survive without me. 😀 I’ll have to give him a list of things to do, like water my plants unless we get like 5 inches of rain, which is what has been predicted. He’ll also have to feed the kiddos, which he knows how to do. I’m really not worried about him, I mean he did live on his own before he met me.
~k
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Hello my pretty!
A few years ago some friends asked if I would take their wedding photos. “Sure, why not.” Wow! Can I just say it turned out to be a LOT of work both day of and after. Don’t get me wrong it was a wonderful learning experience and I’m happy to say I’ve shot a wedding. Since that time I haven’t done many photo shoots. Just a few here and there for friends. I think I am definitely my own worst critic.
Anyway, a few months ago the little sister of the wedding I shot asked if I would photograph her wedding in September. She asked for a dollar amount and said she would pay! AHHHHH!!! I said yes, hesitantly. Since then my dad “said” he was going to start a photography business in the area. I spent several weeks getting a website ready as well as a facebook page. He did one special for a free photo shoot. Well he only ended up with two people participating, both of which were friends, so somehow my services got included. Since then we’ve done 2 separate shoots. Both of which confirmed, I need a new camera! {There is a strong WANT factor too but I feel like a new camera would up my game.}
Okay, well to be completely honest, I didn’t really know I wanted/needed a new camera until a few weeks ago. Matt’s parents were in town and during our all day shopping affair we stopped by Best Buy. I started fiddling with the new Nikons and well, fell in love! The new D7000 is AMAZING! So quiet for one. Has 2 memory card slots. Two programmable presets. AND a self cleaning sensor! {The bane of my current existence with my camera} And that’s just a few of the awesome features my current D50 doesn’t have. In. Love!
I’m not saying my D50 isn’t a good camera but when it came out it was the base model. The D7000 is the top model before you start getting into the actual pro cameras. Needless to say this bad boy comes with a pretty bad boy price too. I’ve been researching and found the refurbed D7000s are priced pretty well, and quiet frankly, less than my 18-200 mm lens I bought last year. Now my biggest hurdle is Matt. I need him to give me the go ahead. I couldn’t get it last month because we had vacation, we had to replace the water heater and we had to start paying for our football tickets. I plan the use the money I make from the wedding to actual pay for the camera but I need the camera before I get the money. Honestly it’s not a big deal and I hope to have it in the next few weeks. I’m just being dramatic!
I didn’t take a lot of time to learn all the ins and outs of my current camera so I want to have enough time to really get to know my new camera. I’ve already read a ton of reviews and found youtube videos with tutorials and such. So until I have it in my hands I will continue to lust over this beaut.
~k
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Pizza and Fire
Our weekend was pretty quiet except for Saturday night. Matt and I ran errands in the morning and while we were out we stopped at Trader Joe’s. We ended up grabbing some pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, and a basil plant (I am determined to grow basil dammit!).
Saturday night Matt grabbed the pizza stone and fired up the grill. We had decided to try making pizza on the gill with the stone. We go inside and start making our pizzas while the grill and pizza stone heat up. I had just finished topping mine when we headed out. Matt opened the grill and the whole thing flamed up. We laughed and he cut the gas off. Next thing we know the deck railing is on fire. Matt grabs the oven mitt and starts trying to put it out while I run inside and grab some water. A nice splash of water and the rail fire is out. Then I notice that inside the grill, where the propane tanks are are on fire. Crap! We grab more water and put that fire out too.
Once all the fires were out we surveyed the damage. Rail behind the grill charred. Christmas lights (from 2009 ish) melted to the rail. Keg trash can that had been against the grill, melted. Hose connecting the grill to the propane tank also melted.
That’s not even as bad as it first was but I didn’t get a pic. 
You can see the char on the rail and the grill and the melted lights. 
Finally, my yummy pizza. We cleaned up what we could and then moved the pizza stone to the oven. A few minutes later I had pizza and it was Matt’s turn to put his in the oven. Needless to say dinner was quiet interesting. We always have fun on pizza night, whether it’s smoking the house up and the fire alarm going off or apparently actually having a real fire on the deck.
Thankfully the whole thing wasn’t that bad, but we both know it could have been worse. The deck is in terrible shape and we are planning a redo in the next few weeks so that was fine. The grill ended up being saved when Matt found a replacement hose at Lowes. Needless to say the grill got a good cleaning on Sunday. From what we can figure, the stuff in the bottom of the grill caught fire. Then when Matt opened it up, I think that’s when it caught the rail on fire.
With that, make sure you watch your grill! Shit can happen and it can happen quiet fast!
~k