Yesterday, I braved the freezing - yes, freezing - weather and participated with 30 other photographers in a photo walk of downtown Nashville. In attendance were the owners of the IHeartFaces blog as well as photographer Michael Howard. Michael challenged us to get out of our photographic comfort zone. For me, that meant shooting at different angles and looking for ordinary things to make a little less ordinary through the use of my camera.

My favorite part of the walk was watching the other photographers and how they chose to shoot things - physically AND conceptually. Looking at their results compared to mine - not to see what's better, but to see what's different...taking those differences and allowing them to stretch me and grow me out of my comfort zone.

Here are a few of my shots from the walk. I would absolutely love it if you browsed the rest of the pictures. You can find those on my
AFH Fan Page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Meet Kelsey.



Kelsey has mad photo skills. Her and her husband, Jon, are owners of Focal Point Cinematic Weddings. Not only do they do incredible work, they are super cool peeps as well (and don't even get me started about their line dancing talent).

When my Mom was here visiting last week, we asked Kelsey if she would come and teach us some stuff about our cameras (my Mom just recently purchased a camera identical to mine). So Kelsey brought over her gear and her sweet spirit and we had a great time exploring our equipment.



We also roamed around in the backyard playing with our settings...



My mom and I had a super time and we learned some great stuff too (my mom video taped our discussion for future reference!).

I have to say, one of my favorite parts was test driving a few of Kelsey's lenses. First, the 50mm/f1.8 lens....and then, the "beast" lens. I don't remember the specs on that 2nd lens, but I know it was long, heavy and it brought me one breath away from a panic attack when I attached it to my camera. Whoa big boy...

I have been wondering for the past few weeks what in the world could inspire me to take a time out from the busyness of my life right now and put together a post. Well, there have been many inspirations, but the subsequent "time out" never comes.

Today is a new day, friends! I had an impromptu day off today which I have used very productively. Of course it's 2:30 in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas, but we don't need to talk about that right now. As an added bonus, Mike just offered to pick up the kids from school...I feel like I just won the lottery.

So my productive day has left me with a bit of a moment to do something I've wanted to do the past few days. What is that, you ask? Participate in a collaboration with the readers of The Land of Lost Luggage. We are setting out to document a single trees journey from Summer to Fall/Winter to Spring.

And you know how I am ALL GEEKED OUT about my trees. I can't even go into it right now.

Let's look at our contestant. This beautiful lady hails from the great state of Tennessee. She's modest in size, but full of lush green leaves. She likes swaying in the breeze and providing shade to the adjacent playground on a hot summer day. Sometimes, you can catch our gal being especially frisky and letting the local squirrels onto her branches. GASP!

Here she is:



I'm sure JeriAnn will have no problem telling me what kind of tree this is by looking at the leaves:



We will be taking pictures of our trees again during the week of November 8 and again during the week of April 4, 2010. I can only pray there might be a snow here so I can snap off an extra credit pic!!

Would you like to participate with us? Get your entry in, pronto....head over and see Julie at Lost Luggage and put your deets in. If you don't want to participate with your own tree, feel free to just stalk all the rest of us who are participating. I won't tell.

Arbor-iginally yours,

k

Hey Y'all...

I have so many stinkin' pictures to share that I can't decide who the lead off hitter should be for this post. When all else fails, you put your Rickey Henderson at the top of the line up...which in my case would be Abby. She can't compete in the stolen bases category, but I think it's a good choice, don't you?

So I have a few things on my mind to share, but I'm just feeling too overwhelmed to share it all. Not only that, but I've been looking at my Old Mill pictures so much that my mind is overstimulated by all the fabulous colors. I think at this point, I'm going to keep with my sports theme and give you like the SportsCenter highlights. Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Tuesday:

We went to see the monstrosity that is the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Mind you, we were not willing to pay the ridiculous admission fee to get in the building...so it was enough for us to just take in all that was outside. Interesting to say the least. The best part about this was my bridge. Yes, I was absolutely captivated by this bridge next to the library...I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

Did you know that next to the WJCPL is the "University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service"? Uh huh... I've decided to just leave my comments at that.

Next, we checked out the Aerospace Education Center. This is 17 minutes of my life I'm never getting back. Take note...if you are in Little Rock, do not...I repeat...DO NOT see this. It was awful. The highlight of this 17 minutes actually came before we got in the building...it was seeing a Southwest airlines jet take off from the airport next door. Actually, there was another highlight from inside the building:

I encourage you to check out my batch of pictures from this days event here.

Wednesday (today):



This morning we left Little Rock, but not before getting 182 shots of The Old Mill. Here is a little fascinating tidbit about this spot:

Pugh's Mill Park [The Old Mill Park] was built in 1933 by Justin Matthews. The mill was designed to appear as if it had been built in 1800s Arkansas and features sculptures by the famous Mexican artist Senor Dionicio Rodriguez (1893-1955). The Mill is made largely from tinted concrete applied over steel and copper foundations and made to represent wood, iron, and stone. Rodriquez, who spoke no English, was very secretive about his plaster techniques. He called his art "el trabajo rustico" -- rustic work. He lived in San Antonio, TX and his work can be found throughout that city, including the pagoda-like entry gate to the Japanese Sunken Gardens, park benches and a covered foot bridge in Brackenridge Park. His San Antonio work was commissioned by Charles Baumberger, president of the San Antonio Portland Cement Company. Rodriguez also created the Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memphis. His sculptures are now considered rare works of art. Pugh's Mill can be seen briefly in the opening scenes of the 1939 movie classic Gone With The Wind. [Mark Lessing, 08/30/2003]

For the love of all things colorful, check out the pictures here.

Otherwise...we are here in Texas safe and sound. Little Rock was a wonderful way to break up our trip! Now we are looking forward to some fun with Gmama & Gpapa before heading back home in 10 days.

I sure appreciate all of you who read the Adventures. I especially love hearing from you through the various channels (comments section, email, facebook). Thanks for supporting me as I spout off about all kinds of thoughts and opinions...you are why I do it!

Much love,
k

In an attempt to try and do something with my camera other than take pictures of all my Coupon Commando excursions, I am taking a step out and trying to actually learn how to use all the bells and whistles. So, I'm reading alot of photography websites and taking in all the wonderful tutorials that are out there. Quickly becoming one of my favorites is, "I Heart Faces". Every week they have a contest with a guest judge and different categories. I've have enjoyed seeing the winners each week and looking at what the judges found appealing.

Anyway - as I come across categories that fit what's going on in my life photostream, I will enter and see what comes up. This week the cateogry is "My friend and I". So, I'm entering this cute photo of Abby and K, which I took after K's bday party last weekend.

I used a few Pioneer Woman actions on it, including "Boost", "Fresh & Colorful" and then a little edge burn. I tried to follow the rule of thirds when cropping (and I'm trying to be better about actually SHOOTING the photo using this rule...but hey, that's what cropping is for, yeah?).

So there ya go...I'm sharing my first contest entry (and first loss, I'm sure) with y'all.

Hey, you have to start somewhere, right? If I'm going to be the next Ansel Adams I better get on it.





smooches,
k