Variety is the spice of life!

Mike's brother and a friend are refinishing several pieces of furniture for us, including this table that sat unused and rather dilapitated in my parent's backroom for some time. Look how truly beautiful it is! It has so much character and will go so nicely in an old colonial house. The next job after doing a few dressers will be my Great great grandmother's sewing machine table...I'm so excited to see how it will turn out!

These two shots are of my cousin, Sonja and her oldest daughter Madilyn. They are both so photogenic that I can't resist snapping some shots whenever we are together. Yesterday we celebrated my uncle's (Sonja's father's) birthday and enjoyed a beautiful day as well as great company.

Just for fun

Here is a pic of a spider at my grandparen'ts house (eeewww!), and a few pics from the Altamont Fair. Nothing spectacular, just for fun!

The Dark Side

Perhaps it's the cloudy overcast weather, but I've been feeling a little on the dark side when it comes to photography lately. Not that I enjoy seeing pictures of ruins and destruction; rather I would say I am seeing more beauty in certain darker aspects of life. These photos are the proof. As a former fire victim myself, I understand the heartache and despair one would feel from losing a home. These shots actually were not someone's home, but the ruin reminds me of the loss of my own home. In these shots, I see beauty and sorrow.

As for this shot, again, I see disrepair, but also a strong beauty. Something that has weathered decades of life and is still standing, determined, unafraid. Please let me know what you think of the tone of these images. I used an action on photoshop elements, something that is relatively new to me.

Sunset at the farm

The barn may have fallen down, but its beauty is undiminished in my eyes!

A preview of things to come!

I got some of my photos in the mail today. For anyone who is interested, I am now using Nations Photo Lab, which is a professional printing service and is online. I'm lately taken by their paper selection which includes metallic. I love the way the metallic paper makes my black and whites stand out. It just gives the photos an extra punch as well as a beautiful glow. This is a shot of a piece I plan to enter in the Fonda Fair: Breanna's wedding pictures :) The lighting is poor in this shot but I'm just giving you an idea of what I plan to enter. The frame is an el-cheapo from family dollar that just happened to perfectly compliment the sepia tones I went for!

Having fun with the new lens!

I'm having lots of fun with the new lens and with photography in general the last few days. Today, I discovered that the NYS museum is having a photography exhibit beginning in September that is dedicated specifically to NYS landscapes. I hurriedly looked through my shots and submitted some, but thought, gee, I think I can find more out there somewhere. This first shot is sort of an accident. I actually just came upon this gorgeous field which I believe might be the same one "Zeezee" found a few days back. I shot in RAW and then changed my white balance to cloudy, uping the contrast just a hair.

This second shot I actually took last night. As the sun began to set, I traveled my vast yard in search of inspiration. I found it beneath my oak tree!

Who knows? Maybe one of my shots will be hanging on the wall of the museum in just a few weeks time! Definitely better than a first prize ribbon :)

Putting it all together

Going through my photos, I am trying to choose what I am going to enter in the Fonda Fair this year and the upcoming Hagaman Art Show. The pressure is on as last year, I took home two first place ribbons from Fonda and a third place at the art show. I want to choose photos that people have trouble looking away from. I want my pictures to actually be good and not just be average. I'm still in my Eli Reed stage and so I'm doing a lot of contrast-y black and whites. I decided to put together this collage of some of my favorites. Several of them are in the running, but I'm not 100% sure on anything yet! Which do you like?

Freckles!

Afternoon dreams

I spent most of the day inside, organizing, cleaning, etc. avoiding the wicked allergens that seem to be creeping around these days. But I couldn't help going out in the late afternoon sunshine to look for something worthy. Here is what I came up with: nothing special, just simple and beautiful in my opinion. I call these my afternoon dreams because they both seem dreamy to me!

Father and Son

Family reunions are a great place to capture relationships and my cousin Jonathan and his son, Xavier, look perfect to me perched on this tree branch!