Pre-occupation

So I've been a bit preoccupied lately. Life has once again swept me up and away in a whirlwind of craziness, with things such as deaths in the family, overtime at work, christmas shopping, etc. It has made it rather difficult to blog, I've felt like I didn't have anything interesting to post here, I didn't really have a chance to take any photos before Christmas and I knew that after Christmas, I would have something very nice to post about.

That nice things is my Christmas present, my brand spankin new Nikon D3000 DSLR with an 18-55 mm lens, and also the 50 mm f/1.8 and a few lens filters. The first was a gift from my family and friends the 50 and the filters were gifts to myself. I felt that with how bad the last 2 months have been and how little time I've been able to take for myself, that I should get myself a gift for Christmas this year. It may sound selfish, and maybe it is, but I am lovin' all of my Christmas gifts and I don't feel bad about it.

So obviously I am going to post a picture of the glorious gift I got this year:

I'll post some of the photos I've taken with it tomorrow or the next day. I've taken ALOT of them so maybe I'll make a slide show. Well Happy New Years eve to everyone!

Mandy + Joe TTD full preview

The full Mandy + Joe Trash the Dress preview is here! Enjoy the slide show. :-)

Have a great night.

Distractions

ight now I am sitting in the Shock Trauma waiting room at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore while my uncle is in surgery. We were allowed to go up and see him before he went in and I have to say, it was more difficult than I imagined it would be. When I was in Nursing school I had a rotation in the O.R., and in the ICU I've seen people Intubated and all that and its never been difficult for me to see or even bothersome, I'm very good at looking at things with a clincial eye, so I thought that this would be no different. But, to my surprise it was impossible to look at him that way. I guess its harder to see a someone you care about with all those tubes. The surgeon said he should be in surgery for anwhere between 2-4 hours, so now we play the waiting game. It could be anywhere from a few minutes to 3 more hours.

 I'm really glad that I brought my laptop with me otherwise I think I'd be going crazy, it gives me something else to focus on. I've been sitting here working on the Trash the dress photos for Mandy + Joe and its helped me take my mind of things a bit. This past month has been quite the journey. There have been so many people in my family that have been in and out of the hospital and there's been a lot of stress at work. I know that its made me a stronger person, that I will be able to endure more in the future. Its taught me how to push thru and compartmentalize things so that I can continue with my life at a somewhat normal pace.

Here's a little mini preview of the TTD session with Mandy + Joe. I'll post a full slideshow preview a little later today.

From Mandy + Joe trash the dress

From Mandy + Joe trash the dress

Day 031 The End of the Photo Month Challenge

Today is December 14th, the last day of the photo month challenge. I don't think it could have come at a better time. Previously I thought everything in my life was difficult, well man was I wrong, because its nothing compared to whats been piled on top of that, but I'll get thru, not on my own strength, but I never did expect mine to get me anywhere. So enjoy the last photo of the day in the Photo Month Challenge.

Day 030

Its day 30 of the Photo Month Challenge and I only have one more day to go. It feels like I've been doing this for longer than 30 days and it feels wierd to think that I won't have to do this on Tuesday. A little bittersweet. I'm proud of myself for actually getting my photo of the day done before dinner though.

If you've followed my blog for awhile you probably know that I really like TTV photography, and that I dabble a bit with it using a duaflex II. I L-O-V-E this camera. I am half tempted to go purchase film for it and go around using it as a normal camera. I love the way this camera looks, how it feels, the mechanics of it, its just such an amaizng thing. In the future I kind of want to collect other vintage cameras as well and display them on a cool bookcase and then just pick them up and use them when I want. This probably seems kind of lame, but that doesn't really bother me. :-) For a few days I've been contemplating doing a portrait of my duaflex but haven't liked any of the test shots I've taken of it. Today I decided to commit and take photos of it until I got one I liked.

runner up:

Day 029

I'm too tired to think about something interesting to write. The same rationale applies to the time today as did yesterday. Have a good night:

Photo of the day:

Day 028

You might be thinking that I missed day 28, but you'd be wrong. :-) See, I haven't gone to sleep yet and thus this still counts as Friday 12/11 for me so even though its 3 and half hours late, its still on day 28. There, my conscience is clear. I would have posted my photo of the day earlier, but I spent the evening out with some wonderful friends, and we went to Nando's in Chinatown and then to see Invictus. It was a lot of fun, especially because my friend Lindsay is from South Africa and will actually be going back home in a few weeks. It was a totally worthwhile evening, that greatly improved my stressful day.

My photo of the day today, feels unoriginal for me but I was in need of something so here it is:

Day 027 the end is near

Its day 27 in this journey called the Photo Month Challenge, only a few more posts left. I have mixed feelings about the end of this, part of me is relieved that its almost over and the pressure will soon be off, but another part of me will miss the daily frantic searching for something to photograph for the blog. Hopefully, I will take something from this and use it to be a better photographer and a more creative person, and hopefully a better, more consistent blogger. :-) I was a terrible blogger before this challenge, I struggled to post monthly.

Today I decided to try something a little different for my photo of the day. I haven't done any TTV for my photos of the day and I realived thats kind of stupid of me. I love TTV, and have alot of fun looking through the viewfinder of my duaflex II. So, today its TTV all the way! With a little Christmas mixed in, since I'm pretty jazzed its the holiday season. Have a great night!

Mandy + Joe Christmas slideshow

Today I was finally able to get Mandy + Joe's Christmas photos to them. So, now that the photos are in their possesion, I'll post a slideshow of them here for everyone. Enjoy!

Hopefully in the next two weeks I'll be finishing up with the trash the dress and I'll be able to post a preview.

Day 026 Wordless Wednesday

Day 025

Its day 25 of the Photo Month Challenge. Today's photo is from my mom award ceremony at work, its nothing fancy because it was very dimly lit in the auditorium. Here ya go:

Day 024

This morning I decided that I would start my day by taking my photo of the day. I actually am not the biggest fan of this one, but I tried really hard to get a good one and this is what I have. Here ya go:

Day 023

So I spent the entire afternoon today shopping with my Mom and Aunt. It was so much fun! I have like 3/4 of my Christmas shopping complete now, which is pretty impressive for me, I usually procrastinate until the 20th to even start. I had planned on spending the day outside photographing everything but, when it caim down to it this was more important, so my photo of the day is of the view from my back door this morning.

Have a great night!

Day 022 Winter Wonderland

I love snow, but was disappointed that it ruined the plans I'd had for the day. I decided to make the most of my ruined day and enjoy the snow. Here's my photo of the day:

Mandy + Joe Christmas Preview

So here is a small preview of the Christmas photos I took for Mandy + Joe in old town Alexandria a few weeks back. I'll post my photo of the day a little later tonight. Enjoy!

Day 021 is Frantic Friday

Its Frantic Friday! Completely unintentionally, but after having a massively rough day I forgot about my photo of the day until late. What that means, frantically attempting to get a photo of the day. So, with less than 10 minutes to spare I will present you with a photo of the day. Its not really my favorite photograph but its a photograph all the same. Enjoy! And look forward to a preview of the Mandy + Joe Christmas photos tomorrow morning. Get excited! :-)

Day 020

So honestly, yesturday's photo was pretty mediocre, but with the amount of energy I had, I'm happy I got a photo of the day at all. It fit in with the series I've been working on but I will probably re-do that theme after christmas when I have more time and a sweeter camera.

So far, I've had a lot of fun with this photo of the day thing. Its really stretched me. For another 10 days, I don't have the option of being lazy and uncreative, not unless I want to fail at this challenge. Yeah, my photos haven't all been good, or all that creative or inspired, but I have to think creatively to produce them. I have to come up with an idea, or see something I want to capture, I have to set it up or find it, I have to take a bunch of photos of it from different angles with different settings, and then I have to to edit them. Each photo of the day has about 20 "unsuccessful" photos behind it that all took at least 30 minutes of editing, whether or not I keep any of the editing choices is irrelevant. I've gone through that process pretty much every day for the last 20 days. It takes creative thought in the very least. I've had to continually remind myself of this, because most days I feel uterly uncreative. Expressing myself through art has always been a really relaxing and de-stressing process even though I'm rarely happy with the end product. Its just that the process is rejuvenating to me. For awhile I've felt discouraged and discontent with the art I create and had let that stop me from taking part in it, but this project has forced me back into and I am so glad for it. Its made me re-appreciate all the small things I enjoy, all the details that make my life full and rich. Its so easy to forget those things.

Well, enough with that little rant, and on to Today's photo. Today's photo of the day also fits in with the last few days, in that it has supplies from another kind of art.

Day 019 Wordless Wednesday

Day 018

I had A LOT of trouble deciding which image to use for my photo of the day today. I have 2 images that are both good but for such different reasons. They are two kind of unique perspectives on the same thing. So after about an hour of staring at these photos, the photo of the day was ultimately decided by means of a random number game.

Photo of the day:

Runner up:

Day 017

When I was driving home from work today I realized that I forgot to take my photo of the day this morning and I had NO clue what I was going to take it of. I was on the phone with the boyfriend, ranting about how dumb I felt for forgetting, and then it hit me. I spend the majority of my time at home in the basement, where my room, my office space and my art/craft area are, why not use that as my subject today. So I looked around and saw all the materials I needed. I may make a short series of similar images that use different type of craft and art supplies. So watch out, tomorrow's photo of the day just might follow the same theme. :-) Its no the best photo I've taken but its the best one I got this evening so here it is:

Don't forget about the esty sale I mentioned in my post earlier. I'm getting ready to go get  some dinner and then watch a few episodes of 24 (season 2) with my friends. Have a good night!

SPECIAL

This is a special SALE for my etsy page for everyone who reads my blog!

My etsy page is: http://www.obscuredetails.etsy.com/

For every purchase from my etsy page you will get a free gift. Just put "Blog offer" in the comments section of the purchase. If you can answer this trivia question about me correctly, I'll give you free shipping as well. Post your answer to this question in the comments section of your purchase as well. This sale is going on until Saturday night at midnight.

Trivia Question: What city do I frequently travel to, and why?

(Hint: the answer can be found in previous blog posts)

Have a great evening! I'll be posting my photo of the day later this evening.

Day 016

So today was a crazy day, but I still managed to get a photo in. I spent the majority of the day sitting in the E.R. with my mom because she had quite the 'adverse reaction' to an IV treatment she got for osteoporosis on Friday. When I was getting home and the light was fading I briefly thought about posting this info and saying that it impeeded my ability to get a photo of the day, but I felt too guilty for taking that cop-out, so I grabbed my camera and shot the first thing I saw outside. So here is the photo of the day:

Some time in the next few days there will be a non-"Photo Month Challenge" post here on the blog. That idea just about blows your mind doesn't it? :-) I know, mine too. I haven't really posted anything here that wasn't a photo of the day post since I started the challenge, and the main reason for that is I have spent so much time on photo of the day and the rest of it sorting and editing away at the photos from the Mandy + Joe photo shoot on 11/21. I have now seperated all the pictures into 3 categories: trash the dress, Christmas Card, and Post-Wedding. I've begun to sift through the photos in each section and label them either: Definitely, Maybe, or No. I haven't finished that process by any means but I have shifted my focus to the Christmas Card set and have edited about 2/3 of the Definitely's. I'll go back after I finish all the definitelys and check out the maybe's. After that I will be dedicating my time to the TTD set. I've been busy busy busy. Sometimes I wish that I only worked at the nursing home part time so that I could dedicate more time to photography related things.

On another note...My D3000 has been purchased! I won't get to use it until Christmas, because its being given to me as a Christmas present, but just knowing that it has been purchased and in a mere 3.5 weeks, it will be all mine, is FAB-U-LOUS!

Now for one last thing:

I received a few messages that the comment section of the blog hadn't been working and so I took the opportunity to change the look of the page and fix the glitch. I hope you like the face-lift. :-) Have a great night!

Day 015 I'm half way there

Its day 015 and that means I am half way finished with the Photo Month Challenge. I have to say, it definitely feels like its been more than fifteen days. I absolutely love fruit and so that is what today's photo is of. Enjoy :-)

Day 014 Its Black Friday

So last night at 11 pm I met up with 3 of my friends and we headed to Tysons Corner. We arrived around midnight and we shopped until 5 am. It was SO much fun. I didn't manage to buy any gifts but I did buy a few cute things for myself. So, I decided to use the epic shopping experience that is black friday as my inspiration.

Here it is:

Day 013 Happy Thanksgiving

So Today is Day 013 and also Thanksgiving. I briefly contemplated not posting a photo of the day today but realized I would like to make it through the holiday integrity intact. So I gave it another try with the bookcase and decided to try some fun new editing. I don't generally do much with fill layers and stuff so I decided to expirement a little. I had to work today which you would think is a total drag, especially since I have been dreading work a little bit latel, but not the case. I have been looking forward to working today for almost a month. There is just something about it that I love. I don't know if its the fact that I only had to work 6 hours, or getting to watching the parade and holiday movies all day, or stepping into the place of family for some of our residents who don't have any, or if its that half the staff isn't there to call you up every 10 minutes and request that you drop what you are doing to attend to their personal request. But whatever it is, its a great day to work. I had SO much fun today.

Tonight is the night. Black Friday-ness will ensue at 12:00 am Midnight, and for the first time in my life, I will be a part of it. I am feeling a mixture of emotions, from excitement to anxiety, and on top of it I am already tired and its only 8pm. I tried to take a nap but had no success, simply because my brain was thinking about a million things and wouldn't slow down. So I decided to post my photo of the day instead.

So here it is, photo 013 of the photo month challenge:

Wordless Wednesday-Day 012

Day 011 back to average

So I mailed the xsi and 85 mm back yesturday evening... so its back to average. I have felt so unmotivated and uncreative today. There is just so much stress in my life right now and I think I'm just starting to wear me down. So let me fill ya in a little about what I've been goin' thru...

*WARNING*-Its about to break into the personal.

So over the past 2 and half weeks 5 people I know have died, one isn't expected to live through the week and another is going into surgery tomorrow to stop internal bleeding caused by cancer, and they don't know if he'll survive the surgery. It might sound like there has been some tragic accident that everyone I know was involved in, but thats not the case. Part of it is that I work at a nursing home and part of it is just plain life. I feel so overwhelmed by it though. I've tried staying emotionally detached but to be honest its not me. I care, even when I don't want to, I care, I can't help it, caring is apparently hard wired into who I am. It is what it is. So needless to say I've spent A LOT of time praying. I'm trying my best not to slip into depression but right now, all I want to do is nothing.

It was a hard day to try and take a photo, so once again sorry that its not stellar, I'll try harder tomorrow, promise.

I actually feel like the content of this photograph is an intimate look into who I am. I don't know, I just feel like you can tell alot about a person by the books they read. I'm not saying that every book in this picture tells you something specific about me, but it does give you insight into what I like to read and reading can shape you. I don't know. Just one of those weird theories of mine.

So enjoy, and try not to judge me. :-)

day 010

I don't really like any of the photos I got today but I have to post something so here it is the Photo of the day:

Day 009

Its day 9, and I struggled to get a photo today. I have felt a bit unmotivated but I am not ready to fail just yet so I mustered up the motivation to take some photos. I didn't even turn on my camera until 7 pm this evening. I think part of it might also be that I'm slightly overwhelmed by the shear number of photos I have to sort and edit from yesturday. So without further ado here is my photo of the day:

runner up:

Have a good night.

Day 008

So today is Day 008. I spent the entire day with my Best Friend Mandy and her husband of 1 month, having a photo-adventure of sorts. So my photo of the day is from that epic photo shoot:

Here's the runner up:

I haven't had a chance to really do any editing but I have started the sorting process. I tweaked the color and contrast on these ever so slightly. Enjoy.

Day 007- roundin' out the first week

So this is the 7th day in the the photo month challenge. Woot! One week completed.

So not too much chit chat this evening because I am tired and I have alot to do to get ready for tomorrow, which is my post wedding/Christmas shoot with Mandy + Joe. They've been married a month now and so I am making them be my models for the entire day while traipse around DC. I should have photos to post from that for my Day 008 post.

So without further ado....Day 007's photograph:

And the Runner up:

Day 006

When I was contemplating this photo challenge business I was worried it would be hard to find time to take a good photo and edit and post it on the blog every day. It was intimidating and I was extremely worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. I hate failure. I hate going back on my word. And most of all, I hate failing and going back on my word publicly. And if I started this photo challenge, I couldn't get lazy or I would end up doing just that.



So far, it hasn't been too difficult, yeah I posted the first few real close to the deadline and all but I managed it. No where in all this contemplation did I ever even consider that it would not be laziness but sad difficult things that would be what make this a "challenge". Well, that's exactly what has happened. I feel so drained but that's life and I've decided I'm not going to let it stop me from being who I am and doing the things I'm passionate about. Sometimes you've just gotta set aside 10 minutes to recharge, so you can pick yourself up and get through the day.

So all of this was to preface the photo of the day.

This photo was inspired by my own little recharge session this morning.

There aren't really any other photos from the day worthy of posting here.

Enjoy.

Photo challenge Day 005

So I think this has been the most difficult day to choose a picture so far. I focused on one thing, I had an idea of what I wanted and I only took pictures of that. Usually I have one good image of this, maybe 3 good images of that and then maybe one other random one I like, and so I just choose the best out of them, and then post the #2 and #3 spots in a separate post. Today I looked at the photographs and I liked SO many of them, so I edited 3, like normal and then I was stuck. I had no idea which one was the best. So after staring at my computer screen for 30 minutes continuously flipping thru the 3 images, a Photo of the day has been selected. I am in no way sure that I have selected the right one for photo of the day, so I will post the other two right under and call it a 3 way tie. :-) YAY! To indecision!

Enjoy! I feel a bit proud of myself today, I managed to post my photo of the day before 7:00 pm. That is like some kind of a record. Hopefully it'll become a pattern. Do me a favor and post a comment letting me know which one is your favorite.

other options

Here are two other photos from the day that didn't make the cut for the photo of the day but that I thought might were interesting. Enjoy.

Day 004

Its Day 004 and I'm loving the XSi and the 85 mm!

I love leaves and fall so here is another autumn inspired photo of the day. Enjoy.

Day 003 option 2

So as mentioned previously, I have another option for photo of the day. There was the temptation to save this, and not post it and use it as a backup option for tomorrow if for some reason I didn't get one, but it felt dishonest and my challenged my sense of integrity, and thus I am posting it now. If my picture sucks tomorrow, its because of my integrity. :-P

I really didn't have much editing to do for this shot or for my previous Day 003 photo, which is why I have offically fallen in love with the 85 mm f/1.8 by canon.

Goodnight.

Day 003

So its day 3. I decided to use my mom as a model for my shot of the day. She is amazing and wonderful and beautiful and so I figure why not?
I am going to be using Mandy & Joe as models on Saturday to do some Christmas card photos and stuff so I figured that I should get some practice in with the XSi before then. :-)

It might not be one of the most artsy photographs but I like it. I may post a second photo later, if I find one that I like and want to add too.

Day 002

So its like 25 minutes past but I am still awake so it counts as day 002.

This one was taken of some (fake) flowers/plants in Matt's backyard. It's funny, because I didn't realize they were fake until I looked at this photo. Its not the most interesting photo but It'll do for today. The Rebel Xsi and 85 mm f/1.8 arrived, so tomorrow's photo should be uber cool...hopefully. :-)

"Photo Month Challenge" Kickoff - Day 01

So today is day one of my "Photo Month Challenge". I spent the day in San Antonio with my boyfriend and his grandparents and that is where I got my inspiration for today.

So enjoy my photo of the day:

Title: "Riverwalk Sun"

Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 002 of this photo-adventure

It's overhaulin time

So its been ages since I've updated the blog. I've been really busy with some many things. The main thing has been my Best Friend's wedding and all the preparations for that, which happened back in mid-October. And since then I've been trying to get in some quality time with my friends and family, as well as some quality time with my photo-editing software. The latest thing has been coming up with a logo. I haven't really had a signature look or style and so I felt that having some kind of logo to define Obscure Details would be a good thing. I have been working hard to come up with something.

Here is what I have so far:

So for now, this is going to be my stamp. Look for it in the bottom corner of my photos etc. and hopefully soon on my business cards and websites. It is a work in progress and I am still unsure about whether or not this really represents Obscure Details the way I want, but until I design something better, it will do.

Starting on Saturday 11/14/09 I plan to post 1 photo every day for the next 30 days. The inspiration behind this project is the "365" group on flikr. I stumbled upon it one day and got sucked in. Now, this is NOT going to be 30 days of self portraiture, because honestly I can't stand the idea of having to stare a pictures of myself for 30 days straight, but this project is similar in that I plan to take, edit and post 1 photo everyday during the determined time period. What that means is that everyday from 11/14/09 until 12/14/09, there will be a new blog post! Blows your mind right? Me too. I struggle to post monthly, let alone daily, but this will be a challenging adventure that will hopefully stretch my creativity.

So in the spirit of this idea, I have decided to post one of the photos I took on Sunday.

I've taken A LOT of pictures since the last time I posted and have yet to edit the bulk of them. I decided that I needed at least one that I was semi-happy with to post here today, and so this is it.

Enjoy!

I think what I really like about this photo is the sun flare. I've been quite enamored with sun flares as of late, and have been striving to get a really good one. I know that for so long sun flares have been a photography faux pas, and a thing to avoid at all costs, but something about a picture with a good one makes me feel as though I am basking in the warmth of the sun. Any photo that can evoke such a sensory experience is truly amazing art, and thus I have dedicated my creative efforts to finding such a sun flare. I am no master of photography or the sun flare, so I doubt if my photo creates such an experience for anyone else, but I hope that you can at least see a glimmer of that concept here. So onto the specifics... I love fall leaves and I felt inspired by the abundance of them in my backyard on Sunday afternoon and the light was just right for it. So there you have it folks, my fall sun flare photo.

On another note:

On Thursday night I leave for a mini-holiday down in Austin. I haven't been down there since the summer, and I must say I've really missed being there. The weather, the people, the city, the natural beauty all around, it really is an amazing place. I'm excited to spend some quality time in a City I love with the person/people I love so dearly. One of the main reasons I decided to start my "photo month challenge" on the Saturday when I will be down there, is that there is so much beauty to inspire me and I feel as though it will be a great way to start of this challenge.

Wish me luck, hopefully I'll show some measure of discipline and actually get this thing off the ground.