wall of travel

wall of photos-1The long expanse of white wall was just boring. It needed something, but what? And then it came to me, I take thousands of photos and we’ve gone to some really cool places, what if I combined the two!

After much research, I found the right company Canvas 4 Life.  I purchased a canvas with the same image from various companies until I found the company that had what I wanted. Canvas 4 Life had a large selection of sizes and I was impressed with the canvas’s texture and vibrancy of color. Another bonus was the fact that I could chose my own custom color for the edges.

I searched for photos of us with iconic images of places we’ve been (and some of the photos were just special to us). Since all the photos were from different times and places, I knew I needed to create a sense of continuity so I chose to keep them all the same size and cropped my photos accordingly and ended up purchasing eighteen 10″x10″ canvases. Once the canvases arrived, I placed them in various spots until the colors seemed to balance each other.

Now that blank wall of blah became our wall of fabulous, colorful memories.

wall of photos-2

project life/365 – 1

A week in photos….

My long, stretchy cat who twists in ways I didn’t know possible.Image

He chalks his face in every art class. He says he is like a “Creeper” from Minecraft but I don’t think I understand.Image

Finishing Artemis Fowl. ( a self-timer shot)Project Life-3

The Pokemon XY pre-release tournament.Project Life-4

Jumping on a beautiful day. I can’t resist a jumping shot.Project Life-5

Playing with negative space during a sunny day with blue skies.Project Life-6

Can you believe the craziness of night swimming on a January day?Project Life-7

There can never be enough Calvin and Hobbes!Project Life-8

The Scream – Otter version. hmm….Project Life-9

Working on another creation.Project Life-10

He is such an easy kid but when it comes to haircuts he is a nightmare, but it was time to suffer because I really wanted to see his eyes again.Project Life-11

Happy Friday!

it’s all in the details

There is something about the details that really conveys a story. This is the story of the loved, furry ones that are always at our side, those little details that make them unique. My cats have these quirks and funny stories to tell and I wanted to capture their essence.

I used a 105mm lens to capture these details. A collage seemed the easiest way to put the details together and I am thinking I will have these printed and framed.

Syberia

Syberia Close-Ups1

  • If you look really closely she has these slight brown spots near her iris.
  • She has one dark front paw and one beige front paw. (It gives her a dainty touch.)
  • The very tip of her tail is beige too.
  • She loves to drink water from the sink and always ends up with a wet head.
  • There are tiny brown spots on the pad of her brown paw.

Raja

Raja Close-Ups1

  • He has black whiskers that ombre into white whiskers.
  • He has an inordinately large amount of fur between his paws. (He definitely leads the plush life.)
  • When he is really happy, he drools.
  • Even though he looks very white/grey as a whole, when you see his tail, there is huge contrast with a very dark colored edge. (He seems sweet and innocent but he has a dark side.)

Moomba

Moomba1

  • There is this crazy long tuft of fur on the very top of his ear.
  • He has piercing green eyes.
  • Only his belly has the sweetest, curly fur.
  • His whiskers are crazy long. (He is the gentle giant.)

By the way, taking photos of cats is just as hard, if not harder, than taking photos of a toddler in action.

project life/365

Fridays, I thought I would share my photos from the past week. I have been taking photos of my family and our lives every day for the past 4 years. Capturing the little moments, the big adventures, the details, the emotions, the stories, all of it. There is nothing like it.

A 1500 Van Gogh puzzle from Christmas that is still in progress.Week 3-1

Miniature golf in Storybook Land.Week 3-3 Week 3-2

My cat staring longingly at the new printer he wants to play with (which is probably why the last printer broke.)Week 3-4

Another incredible sunset.Week 3-5

We finally got a chance to play Qwirkle – a gift from Santa and we can’t get enough. What a great strategy game.Week 3-6

Two of my cats acting incredibly demanding  and not letting me get a thing accomplished.Week 3-7

My boys on the way home from breakfast.Heading Back from Breakfast-1

My son has been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes for quite a while. He saw a segment on the CBS Sunday Morning Show and decided a trip to the library to get Hound of the Baskervilles was a must and I certainly won’t deny my son a trip to the library. He even got to find his book in the adult section.Week 3-8 Week 3-9 Week 3-10

A playdate with his friend. They are building Harry Potter legos and creating stop action films.Week 3-11

My sweet baby girl kitty.Week 3-12

Picked my son up from school with this rainbow loom creation in process. I guess he snuck a baggie full of bands out of the house in the morning. (Good thing the school got a grant for separate forks and spoons because this probably wouldn’t have happened with sporks.)Week 3-13

His first lesson in perspective, using horizon and depth. Please notice the sun setting on the water, over the dome that protects those entering Poseidon’s castle.Week 3-14

Happy Friday!

photography of collections

My son wanted to write a post on his blog about collections. Yes, my nine-year-old has a blog and I help him by taking most of the photos. You can see it here:

http://amazingworldofharry.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/collections/

So, it got me thinking how am I going to photograph these objects that mean a lot to him and make his story even a little bit exciting. After looking at the objects, some interesting ideas took shape.

Making a pattern.

Collections-1

Lining up items and then changing direction.

Collections-3

Using a focal point.

Collections-2

Placing objects on the diagonal.

Collections-4

Instead of lining everything up in boring lines, we switched it up and my son’s story took on a new life. I am excited to keep experimenting with ways to photograph “stuff”.