Merry Christmas

Some quick photos I took the other day. It was so cold outside that I wimped out and headed back for the car! Next time, I'll be sure to bundle up because I seriously had no patience on this particular shoot.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas with their families & friends! I, for one, am exhausted! The past few nights have been filled with family & food and I'm stuffed, bloated & kinda just want to sit on the couch all day, watch Parenthood & read one of my new books..but alas, another outing tonight with friends! I guess I can't really complain... at least it means I have lots of love in my life!

Just a little side note, John got me a photography book for Christmas so I'm excited to dive into it & put all my new strategies to the test!

So, so sad.

Normally when I read tragic news stories, I think for a second how sad the event is and then move on with my life. I know, that sounds awful. But if it's not affecting someone I know & love personally it's easy to carry on. I'm sure many of you all do the same thing.

However, this event is different... probably because it was a school & there were children & the whole thing makes me sick to my effing stomach. And I wish I could use the full "F" word but I can't because I'm a "public figure" as John would put it & I would probably get in trouble by my boss. But it's disgusting and I think it warrants a few curse words, don't you?

Who in their right mind is that disturbed that they would take the lives of innocent children who had futures and lives that weren't even developed yet? Children who could have grown up to be surgeons, actors, lawyers or cashiers. Children who could have grown up to make the world smoother and easier. Children who could have fallen in love and had kids of their own. Kids who now won't get to experience any of that because they're just gone.

I know my whole blog is basically about capturing the beautiful aspects of our planet but today I don't feel like it's beautiful. Earth feels pretty god damn ugly.

Unedited

Some pictures that I took & forgot about that are completely unedited. I saw these & fell in love. Nature is so beautiful.

More Holiday Fun

Take Me Back...

An old photo I took when I was in Florida and knew nothing about photography. It was taken with my nice camera though so it's not too bad for an Auto Setting :).

I haven't been to many places but out of the locations I have seen, Florida is by far my favorite. I think about this amazing place often & dream about the happy day when I'll be back.

Seriously though, I know there are many countries & cities that all have beauty of their own but I think Florida is probably one of those destinations that just makes you feel all happy & warm (literally). Plus, Harry Potter Universe is the happiest place on Earth, so... win!

Bokeh Twinkle Lights

Some pretty photos I took of our Christmas lights.
I've been loving the black & white effect lately so you may be seeing a lot of that here in the near future :).

Merry Christmas!

New Camera Settings/Fish Eye & Selective Colouring

First one edited

Second one unedited


I had the night to myself tonight and while watching my shows (see previous post) I was also fiddling around with my camera. What can I say? I'm addicted.

I accidentally stumbled upon all these options I can use to do funky things with photos.. see the fisheye view and automatic selective colouring. Obviously, selective colouring is something you can do in photoshop but I love the way the second photo turned out. I didn't touch that photo with photoshop because I loved it as is.

The first photo however, I used the fish eye setting through my camera and then touched up the colouring/saturation etc. through photoshop and I love the results. I hope you do too!

Night Shots & Other Bantering

New Lesson Learned: Night shots are HARD to take! I had something totally different in mind when I went out to take these photos... and when I googled how to properly take pictures in the dark, I realized it's no easy task! I also learned that in order to take a nice crisp image with good lighting in your photo when it's dark out, you need a tripod... which I don't have.

Christmas present??

I've also decided I love adding text to my photos.. especially when I'm not a huge fan of the image itself. Adding a nice quote that I randomly think of at the time or remember from a TV show or book makes the photo look that much better!

Anyway, I have the night to myself because John's out doing some volunteer project so I have a long night of Vampire Diaries, Greys Anatomy & Glee ahead of me. Maybe I'll even catch up on some Friday Night Lights? Yay!

Everything Annoys Me

How I feel today.

Double Exposure

I had fun playing around with some double exposure techniques on photoshop last night.
I used existing photos that I already had and I think they turned out kinda neat!

Just a Couple of Photos...

I was just playing around with the camera around the house last night and this is what I came up with!
Maybe today I'll go and take a little walk & try to notice some of the smaller things to take photos of... things I normally wouldn't? Wish me luck!

Jessica

Our Kitty

Meet our kitty, Minni!

I took these photos of her last night which was incredibly difficult because the entire time all she did was squirm!! She's absolutely crazy!!!!

The last photo is hilarious because A) she looks weird B) I used a photoshop blur tool which makes it look really fake. Maybe if I was an expert at perfecting the blur tool, it wouldn't look so bad. I probably could've selected more accurately which sections I wanted to be blurred but I think from now on, I'll just stick to focusing the background out.

Mystical Creatures

I installed Adobe Illustrator today and holy MAN is it ever confusing!!!
Maybe I should have taken graphic design in school because guys, I'm seriously itching to find out how to use all these programs.

I'm pretty much just winging it right now by looking up tutorials based on what it is that I want to create.

I'd love to get more familiar with typography and what not but I find it difficult to design things to go with my words (ie: pictures inside of words.. pictures beside words, etc).

If you have any tips feel free to shoot them my way!!

Thanks,

Jessica!

Be Broke, Travel Often.

I saw this quote somewhere and I pretty near died.

My goal in life is to see so many places... Greece, Italy, London, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, Bali... Oh my gosh, the list could go on and on.

The only problem with this dream list, is that it requires a LOT of money to be able to get there.

I think travelling is worth so much more than spending money on clothes, cosmetics, outings, etc...

So save your money!

Be broke & Travel often!

A Thousand Years

I was feeling kind of sappy so I created this.

Write Drunk, Edit Sober

I saw the quote the other day and for some reason I just really liked it so I decided to make a picture!
I'm not even a writer but when I picture a true, honest writer... I think of a man who's a bit scruffy around the chin & neck, casually sipping a glass of rum or scotch while staring intently at his computer screen trying to find the right words to flow on the word document.

So, write drunk & edit sober, my friends!

Comic Book Style

I decided since I take the same pics of the same berries... I would make it a little bit more funky!
So meet Berry... a new comic book character?

I really need to find new things to take pictures of...

Leaves & Other Fun

Here's some more photos of my nature walk!

Sleeping Giant Among Other Things...

I really wish it was summer so there could be pretty flowers, flowing waters, green leaves, etc. so I didn't feel so uninspired.

Feeling Repetitive

I'm really proud of these photos but I feel they are starting to get repetitive. It's obvious I have the macro setting understood and there are only so many branches & leaves to snap photos of...

Guys, I really need some photographic inspiration.

Ideas?!