I think farm animals are SO cute. I daydream about having a backyard of goats, donkeys, and chickens. But Todd won’t let me have any. BOO! Sometimes I could see myself owning a home with some land and lots of animals, and plenty of pretty space to photograph. But then I know that I dont like to be far from ‘city’ areas. So those two things don’t mix. I guess for now I’ll just day dream and look at beautiful animal portraits by Sharon Montrose.
I was browsing another blog and they have their contributers put together a little inspiration board to visually describe themselves. Most of us have some space online where we save things that catch out eye – be it pinterest, tumblr, our own blog, a special folder on your desktop – or all of the above!! All of these little pieces that you have saved up because they caught your eye….in some way says something about you and your personality. I find this idea intriguing so I decided to quickly scroll through my saved images and pull up the first ones that really stick out.
So what does this say about me?
I have always been the type of person who wants to help out ‘the little guy’. I could more easily empathize with and understand groups being discriminated against than the discriminators. I think more about things I can be doing to help people who need it (though I am a living-paycheck-to-paycheck-20-something) than about more ways to fill my own pockets. I guess I would rather fill my life with contentment and knowing that I made a difference in the world. It doesn’t help that my husband is cut from a completely different cloth than my own, and couldn’t care less. His views are more like – its a dog eat dog world, and he is going to worry about doing what needs to be done for us.
I love what I do, but sometimes I start getting down on myself. I start dwelling on the thought that I could be doing something bigger with my photography. It can be used to do good in the world. It can be used to open peoples eyes to truths and hardships in this world that they try so hard to keep out of their conscious mind. When this year started I told myself that during any down time in my business, I was going to make time for my own personal photography projects. I am excited to get into more creative projects and documentary photography projects this year, I had my first creative project set for March – but it had to be pushed back to June!
On this note, I wanted to share some war photography with you all. I believe that war photography is important. It shows the harsh realities. For me, it is more meaningful to see these things, than to hear numbers and statistics over the news. It hits home much harder to actually see innocent children sitting in rubble that was their home, and young soldiers bleeding from their war wounds.
If you want a few names to google for war photography: Bill Brandt, Geoff Dyer, Horst Faas, James Nachtwey
Just a couple of shots I took of the pretty going on in our fruit bowl. I thought it looked bright and warm.
Here is a shot I took of the hometown…on a map. I thought it was pretty. We have this huge map of Alabama framed and hanging in our living room.
Our next home trip at this time is Moms in May. Beach time!
I think I’m ready for the change in seasons now.
Today we went on a date to Birmingham! The Birmingham Museum of Art has an exhibit called Norman Rockwells America and I really wanted to see some Norman Rockwell pieces up close and personal! This is the last weekend – which means tomorrow is the last day – you still have a chance to go!! The traffic and parking was horrible – we didn’t realize it but there was a gun show downtown ( I had no idea what kind of crowd a gun show brings sheesh) and the bowl game was at noon today in Birmingham…we thought it was a night game. But we made it nonetheless! (just in case you didn’t know, you can click on any pictures on my blog, and they will enlarge!!)
1)Sorry old lady – you saw me taking a picture 2) Todd studying a non-norman piece. (we really liked the way the artist painted a partial portrait frame around the portrait of the boy) 3) One of Norman Rockwells signatures. I was intrigued, because some of them look more like a stencil (this one), some look like this, but filled in, and some were just cursive handwriting.
His work for the Boy Scouts of America – this is my first go at a panoramic iPhone shot. these were my absolute favorite pieces -and they were outside of the exhibit! They were just a part of the museum, don’t miss these if you go!! I was a scout and I love all things scouts and hope that if I have children they will love being scouts! I would like to buy some prints of these pieces and hang them in the guest room possibly (we haven’t hung anything on the walls yet.)
We didn’t leave the museum until about 2 so we were starving. I really wanted to try Bottega Cafe for lunch – and luckily there wasn’t much of a wait so it happened.
I had a kale, onion, and goat cheese pizza that was delish. The crust is EXCELLENT. Todd had a shrimp risotto that he was good, but not great. We had an appetizer of flatbreads with dill mascarpone and smoked salmon which I was a bit apprehensive about trying, but it was good.
I didn’t take any pictures of the rest of our day sorry- it started raining on us so we didn’t last much longer anyway!! Went to the Summit where we perused Sur La Table (and bought some wild black sage honey which I fully intend to eat on crostini with some goats cheese tomorrow), Ann Taylor Loft (where I bought a clearance sweater Hooray! They have EXCELLENT sales if you didn’t know. I will never forget when I once bought a $1oo dress for $10), and Barnes and Nobles (where I bought Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in hardback.)
So….GO TO THE MUSEUM TOMORROW!
My mother gifted me with these two photograph prints from Sharon Montrose for Xmas today. These are Eagle Owl No 1 and Eagle Owl No 2. There are going to leave on either side of my vanity.
Ta Da!
If you have not visited The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose – I highly suggest you do. She photographs all different animals in front of a stark white backdrop. They are beautiful and I want so many more!
‘Tis the season…to spend all of our money on buying presents for our loved ones!! Amongst other things! I for one, love buying gifts for people. The hubs is all too happy to let me bother with all of it too. I’ve been a busy girl lately. When I start asking my family what they would like or Xmas, they in turn tend to ask me for a list, which I happily send! This year I decided to look at my lists as inspiration and give any of you who may need some ideas for a 20-something lady in your life!
Try something gold and sparkly! We are still young enough to pull it off, and nothing says festive to me like some gold sparkle!!
(Gold Dress , Gold Ring ,Gold and Black Dress ,Gold Clutch)
A 20-Something ALWAYS NEEDS something for the home that they are still putting together.
(White Tray,Soapstone Stock Pot,Custom Address Stamp,Bins,Sconces)
Treat them to some entertainment to feed their mind. Movies, books, music, art, hobby related items, and TRIPS! (To Hogwarts? Well, maybe to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter)
(Vulture Print,Camera Bag,Britten: The Young Persons Guide To The Orchestra,Peter Pan)
I hope this post have given some of you ideas for you loved ones!!
The guest room is coming right along. Here are the last couple of iPhone pictures that I took of the room.
I found matching vintage twin headboards at a local thrift store (they are red!). We plan on using white bedding with the jaguar print pillows as seen here. Todd found a pair of matching swiss army wool blankets from WWII that were never issued, and promptly ordered them. We haven’t received them yet though! We are both pretty excited about this find – we’ve been looking for some reasonably priced ones for some time now. And then there is the gorgeous rug that I found at Home Goods that I have between the two beds. Today I was browsing Society6 and found a few prints that will be perfect for the walls. There are three separate artists that I was drawn too, so we might get a couple of pieces from each and mix them together? We shall see.
