Obscure Details The Blog

Things are a changin'....

2010-11-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

Big things are happening here at obscure details! There is a new website/blog and a new look!

Check out the link for more info:

obscuredetailsart.wordpress.com/

This blogspot will no longer be the place to go. Its bittersweet. This was my first photoblog, its where the obscuredetails brand got started, but it was time for change. Check out the wordpress DAILY this week, for all sorts of wonderfulness. :-)

2010-09-14T20:31:00.000-04:00

This blog is in serious need of some posts, but...I'm getting married in less than a week, so its not going to happen. :-P

I'm headed back to Maryland on Thursday, and then I'm getting married on Sunday. I should post sometime the week I get back from my honeymoon. I'm so excited to be Mrs. Kelly Carlson! Have a good couple weeks!

Let's get down to the business of it

2010-08-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

I was suppose to have posted the photos from the remainde of the "these days..." project a long time ago but haven't done it. Life has been whirl wind for me, with being severely behind on wedding stuff and I have been working on the obscure details brand. I hope to launch all of that in the next month but it may go to the back burner w/ my wedding in only 2 month and a million and 1 details to work out. I am excited to post the remainder of "these days..." but it will have to wait til my wedding invites are mailed. So be patient for just a little longer.

There are 2 options for my these days... Post, I can post it sooner or I can wait and post it after some big changes happen here at obscure details. Post a comment to cast your vote, I want to know what my 2 loyal readers think. :-)

2010-06-11T17:48:00.002-04:00

I won't be posting anything for "These Days..." until Monday because my family and I are very busy in Austin right now. I am taking pictures though. :-) Hopefully some of them will be good.

These days

2010-06-08T22:55:00.000-04:00

I don't have time to post much so here are my photos for today. I should have been asleep 2 hours ago but thats how it goes. I won't be posting the next 2 days but I will be taking photos they'll all be up on friday. Have a great night!

These Days...Life is an adventure

2010-06-07T23:07:00.002-04:00

Today I spent the day running around getting things done. I had 2 doctors appointments, I went to the court house and got the marriage license, I signed the loan for my car, I picked up the u-haul truck. I ate lunch with the wonderful Debbie :-) She tagged along for the second half of my day and was a joy to be with. After that I packed, packed and packed some more. I am ALMOST done packing. I wish I was completely packed but I am not. I have to finish packing my clothes, my crafting and office stuff, my shoes, and my movies and then I will be finished. It seems like a lot but I've gotten at least half of my clothes and office stuff packed and my movies are in a binder I just need to make sure they are all in there. I load a bunch of stuff into the truck so that tomorrow I don't have too much work to do. It was an extremely productive day. Tomorrow is looking much the same. I have to get up early and pack, then I have to get the title and registration sorted, then lunch with Mandy and hopefully a good afternoon with her as well. Then dinner with Sarah Patch in Friendship heights. Then hopefully last minutes things like shower stuff with get packed and I will be in bed before 9 pm. Its a difficult schedule but I believe I can accomplish it all. This moving stuff has become kind of exciting. This life truly is an adventure!

Have a great night!

These Days...Sunday June 6th, 2010

2010-06-06T23:06:00.000-04:00

Today was my bridal shower. I have to say, it was fabulous. I have the best friends and family ever. They threw an amazing party that was everything I could have imagined. Everyone who came was fun and friendly and gave me such awesome gifts. It was a perfect day.

My morning started with the hairstylist coming over to test run my hairstyle for my wedding. Next my bridesmaids came over to pick things up. Then they went to Tom & Ray's restaurant in downtown Damascus, while I finished getting ready. I showed up at Tom & Ray's and everyone was arriving. I started to get a little nervous, I wasn't sure what to expect. But like I said, it was fabulous. I had such a great time.

After the shower my best friend and Matron of honor, Mandy went out and got coffee. It was wonderful to get to sit down and talk to her about life and everything. Its been a long time since we've had the chance to just sit and talk one on one. I am very grateful for that time. Because she is amazing part of my life here that I am so sad to leave, I decided to use her as my subject today. I wanted to take photos of her that really show who she is. That is why there are 2 photos of her, one to show her silly quirky side, and the other to show her thoughtfulness and intelligence. She is a wonderful personm and has been like a sister to me and I will miss her dearly.

These Days... Saturday June 5th, 2010

2010-06-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

I was having some issues with my photo editing software yesturday and so I was unable to post my photo for the day. But all is fixed for now and so sorry that it's late. Don't worry I do a completely different post for todays photographs. So I was on the metro and there was a guy who sat down 2 rows infront of me and I saw the image form in my mind. I was SO glad I had brought my camera with me when I was running errands downtown or I would have missed this. These are the simple things I enjoy about Maryland/DC.

Have a great night!

2010-06-04T22:59:00.002-04:00

I have been thinking for sometime that I needed to go over to the old broken down laundromat in Damascus and take some photos. the laundromat has been there since as long as I can remember. My mom and I would go there anytime that our washer or dryer broke at home and we needed to do laundry. It had these awesome like yellow and orange colored washers and dryers it was very 1970s and I use to LOVE it. There was one time when I was maybe in 9th grade that we needed to go there and it was still open but extremely rundown. My mom and I were there at like 8 o'clock and it had gotten dark and we were the only ones there, it was SUPER creepy and there was this backroom with the door just cracked open but it was completely black in there and i kept thinking I heard noises in there and I wanted to leave and so I saw the door MOVE and freaked out and so my mom was like well its time to go anyway and we go to the main entrance and all of a sudden a man just appears at the main entrance door, like out of no where, totally freaks me out. We haven't been back since. But that's the time when I originally got the idea for doing a photo shoot there. At the time I thought a photo shoot inside would be rad, but since it has closed since then, an indoor shoot would be impossible. The outside has gotten more rundown and I wish desperately that someone would restore the building to its original splendor and make it a historic landmark. I dunno, I would just hate for it to get torn down. Its such a cool place. It even has a self-service car wash behind.

So today I decided that it may have been torn down by the time I'm in Maryland again and so I wanted to at least get a few photos of the place. I was way to chicken to wander too far from my car since a sketchy van was sitting in the parking lot as well. But I got a few shots. I hope to go back there with someone else during more daylight hours and get some more shots. But with all the packing and things I have to do, who knows if that will happen.

So without further ado, here are my photographs for today:

I have to say, that I am a bit frustrated with the change in saturation and color between the version in lightroom and the jpeg I load onto picasa. I am too tired to go back and over-sat and re-load it to post so enjoy the "not quite right" versions of these photos :-/

These Days...

2010-06-03T22:27:00.001-04:00

My photograph today, makes me feel like a Cat-Lady. I'm not by definition a Cat-lady, I mean I'm engaged and I have a social life. I most likely wont live my life out knitting at home alone with 7 cats. But, my photo today is of my cat. Her name is Princess, my family has had her since I was in the 2nd grade, which makes her something like 16 years old. She has been a loyal, calm, gentle and loving cat her entire life. I will miss her more than words can express, when I move. The past 2 weeks she's been having some issues that frequently occur in older people, she's a cat and we've never had a cat live quite this long so we are unsure whether this is a normal "old cat" problem or if its indicative of a more serious problem. But, we're worried, and the thought that I might NEVER see her again, is down right devestating to me. So, my photo today is of her.

Have a good night.

These Days... meets Wordless Wednesday (for real this time)

2010-06-02T23:51:00.001-04:00

These Days... Tuesday June 1st

2010-06-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

This evening we worked on finishing up the little details with the Jam for my bridal shower, so my photo today is of that. Its WAY to grainy for my taste but I didnt have the chance to take a better one.

So here it is.

2010-05-31T22:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the last night for Monday night 24 crew for me. It was so much fun but so sad at the same time. I am going to miss these girls SO much. Monday night crew has made mondays something i look forward to, instead of something I dread. I wish I could just teleport all my amazing friends from Maryland to Austin so I can still do these kind of things. So my photo tonight is of this Monday night. Its maybe not the strongest image but it has people I care about in it so its good in at least one way.

These Days...

2010-05-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

Let me say that I am pretty excited about these days... today. I had an amazing day today. I went to church and learned a lot. I got to stop by and see the family I babysit for one more time before I move (because I left one of my lenses at their house last night), My sister and her daughters came over and we made homemade jam, and listened to music and had a water gun fight, and had dinner together, outside and ate delicious kabob that my Dad cooked on the grill, AND we got Jimmy Cone for dessert. When I think about today, all I can do is close my eyes, smile and sigh in happiness. It was like every perfect summer day of my childhood years. I wish all Sundays could be so great. I know I've posted before about how much I love clothes-lines, it reminds me so much of summer and of my grandmother and of happy things. Well my mom had hung some sheets on the line today to dry, for the first time this year I believe, and it made me so happy. It made me wish I was like 8 years old again, and could run through them and smell the freshness. Since I'm not 8 anymore, I decided to take some photographs of it instead.

I have 2 photos for the These Days... Project, one of the laundry and one of the cute little table setup we had for dinner in the yard. Maybe not the most breath-taking photos but they will certainly remind me of this wonderful Maryland summer day.

Enjoy!

"These Days..." Saturday, May 29th, 2010

2010-05-30T00:35:00.001-04:00

With the These Days... project I've been trying to document my last days in Maryland, and/or the things I will miss about Maryland once I'm a citizen of Austin. Well, I spent my evening tonight, not just busy but busy with something I will dearly miss once I move. I came home from Babysitting for the last time in Maryland. I babysit on a pretty regular basis for this one family, and let me tell you, they are A-mazing. The parents are so kind, friendly and funny. The 2 children are so well behaved for their ages and are so much fun. We build forts, we play basketball, we put on concerts/performances, we play hide-and-seek in the "dark" house, we play mother-may-I and Red-light-green-light. We have a BLAST. I am really going to miss this family when I move. This evening was special, since it was the last time I'd be babysitting for them, so I decided that I was going to do something special to commemorate this. So, I went to the store and got supplies for make-your-own Ice cream sundaes, AND I also got a package of parachute-men. Let me tell you the evening was a success. We all had a great time. We even watched a movie. So, I brought my camera along so I could get some pictures of our epic sundae making and this is how I have my photo today. I got a lot of cute photos of the kids, but I won't be posting those here tonight. I hope you like my photo.

I know you all must be thinking, "Didn't she just post a picture of ice cream a couple of days ago?" and the answer would be yes. But this ice cream, while it may not be delicious jimmy cone, is way more special. It was a wonderful time with a family I'm going to miss. So attempt to refrain from calling me a fatty, at least until/if I post another ice cream photo. ;-)

Have a great night.

These Days... Friday May 28th, 2010

2010-05-29T00:31:00.001-04:00

So if you couldn't notice by the title of yesturday's post, I'm a bit tired. So tired that I forgot what day it was. Also so tired that I didn't feel like writing anything about the photos. Tonight I feel very much the same. But I will tell you a little about today's photo. Its not a very good photo, but it does show what I enjoyed about my day, which was going to the movies with my mom. I actually didn't enjoy the movie all that much. I don't tend to like chick flicks like this, but my mom does, and I like spending time with her and going to the movies. So here is my picture for the day. Tomorrow will hopefully be much more inspired.

Have a good night!

Wordless Wednesday meets the "These Days..." Project

2010-05-27T22:56:00.000-04:00

these days...

2010-05-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you all, that I have an amazing commute to work. Its not amazing because its super short or traffic free, but amazing because its a beautiful drive. I want to remember that about my life in Maryland, and so I took a picture at one of my favorite places on my commute. Its not the best photo and I may attempt to take a better one. So here it is:

These Days... Day 3

2010-05-26T00:09:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day, even though things didn't go quite as planned the things that did were wonderful. It was nice to have the time to slow down today and just enjoy the little things, like eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I just never have time to do that in the mornings any more and so it was nice to do today. I am going to miss the little things like the cereal bowls my family has had most of my life. I dunno, its such a small thing but it sticks out to me and I'm going to miss it.

My first photo today is of my breakfast for that reason, I'm going to miss this bowl and this mug. My other photos are actually from the place where I'll be having my wedding this fall. I decided to drive over there today and walk around and look for good places for portraits. Its such a beautiful place, it was nice to explore a little bit. So its super late and I would have posted these earlier but I fell asleep by accident and woke up not to long ago to finish up stuff for the day. Have a great night!

These Days... Project Day 2

2010-05-25T00:49:00.000-04:00

Today I had a lot that I wanted to capture for this project and I didn't end up photographing any of it. But I did spend sometime packing, and when I was packing I came across my supply of blank canvases and it got me thinking. I sat for awhile with this canvas in front of me and just wondered what it would be. I use to sit and stare at canvas and imagine all the possibilities. I haven't done that in such a long time. So it was nice to take some time to do that, then after I made a stack of the blank ones, I found a bunch of my paintings, some that I love, some that I hate and wish I could just throw away and it was very inspiring for me. I probably spent an entire hour just sitting looking through these paintings of mine. I realized that out of everything I did today, this was the most refreshing and was the thing that reminded me most of my life here in Maryland. So that is what my photo is of today. Its not a particularly great photograph, but it was something worth documenting. I might read this tomorrow when I wake up and think I must have been crazy when I took the photo and wrote this post but, right now its right.

So, enjoy, or not, but this is my day:

These days...

2010-05-23T21:16:00.005-04:00

I'm starting something new here today. This idea has been mulling around in my brain for a week or so and I have decided to act on it. I happen to be moving from this wonderful place called the dc metro area, to the amazing city of Austin, TX. This is both a happy and sad occurrence. It will be so difficult to leave everything I know, all my friends and family and move half way across the country. But at the same time, its so exciting to move to Austin, where I'll get to see my Fiance every day, and start a new job, and be where I'm suppose to be.

So, I'm a mix of emotions. The idea is, to photograph my life here in Maryland from Today (Sunday) until Wednesday June 9th, when I leave on my 2 day journey. Originally I thought I would just document the Maryland side of things, but upon further consideration, I have decided that I shall document the entire journey, including the move into my new apartment at the end of June. SO, that means everyday for the next 37 days, I will be posting 1 or 2 photos from my day. Not of random things like I usually do for my photo of the day, but of the things and people that make up my day. To document the things I love about Maryland, about my 2 day drive to Austin, and about my new life. It will most certainly be a challenging thing but, I am sure that I will be glad for it. This is the biggest thing to occur in my life so far, I think its worth documenting.

I have decided to name this little thing of mine the These Days... Project. The title is inspired by a song from the Denison Witmer Recovered Album called These days, the original song is by Jackson Browne. I have had this album since it came out and I just love his rendition of the song, and lately its been stuck in my head.

Today, after church I met up with Miss Sarah Patch. We got lunch in Adams Morgan at Tryst, and then headed down to the National Gallery of Art, to enjoy a Photography Exhibit . It was a great day. I am certainly going to miss spending time with Sarah, she has been one of my good friends since I was in the 5th grade. It was great spending the day with her, and so I made her my subject for my photographs today.

Now I'm off to the grocery and then I'll hopefully get to curl up with some hot tea and talk to the fiance. Have a great night!

Mandy + Joe the Full Post-Wedding Preview

2010-05-19T22:23:00.001-04:00

I think this post's title says all that needs to be said. If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you know that this post has been long coming. So here is the story: back in November the 3 of us headed down to Alexandria, VA and the district to do a little post wedding shoot for them. They had been married about a month and I wanted to try out a new camera. So we made a day of it.

Enjoy!!

The LONG awaited Mandy + Joe Post wedding sneak peak!

2010-05-18T22:29:00.001-04:00

So, I know everyone has been waiting, for a very long time to see the rest of the Mandy + Joe post-wedding shoot. It happened back in November and its now Mid-May. But trust me, it will be worth the wait for this last installment. :-) I am almost finished with the entire set, and will most likely be posting the full preview here tomorrow night, but I am just too excited to wait til then, so I thought I would post a little sneak peak.

So enjoy this PDA-licious photo. Mandy and Joe are totally not PDA people, but they pushed thru this inhibition for this session and I think they will be glad for it. So without further ado, I present to you the offical sneak-peak:

Have a great night!

This would be great right now...

2010-05-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

Moroccan Mint Tea, Chocolate Salty Oat cookie...

This would be great right now... but maybe with hot tea...

Ashley's Senior Session

2010-05-09T00:04:00.002-04:00

I have been itching to post the Full preview of Ashley's senior session for the past week, but I wanted to finish editing the set before posting. So now that I have finished and given her the images, I am putting up her post.

You met Ashley, a few weeks ago, but please meet her again. :-)

Ashley is my cousin and she happens to be a Senior. She is actually graduating a year early, which makes her fabulous. The Saturday before Easter we headed down to D.C. to take some senior pictures. We started out at the National Botanical Gardens, and then we walked around the Mall, and eventually headed over to the Cherry Blossoms by the Tidal Basin. So I decided to asked her to some questions about herself so we could all get to know her a bit better.

Lets start with the basics, Her birthday is September 1st. Her Favorite color is Purple. Her Favorite Band is Metallica. Her Favorite type of Food is German. Her Favorite subject in school is English. She'll be attending Kaplan University starting in July this year, and will be in the Nursing assistant program. When asked what her Favorite things to do in her spare time, she responded with "Just volunteering and working at the Hagerstown suns. I like doing anything that requires creativity like crafts and projects." Sounds pretty cool right? She totally is.

Now that we've got the basics, lets move on to the fun stuff!

I asked her If she could travel anywhere in the world where would it be and why? And she responded with such an amazing answer: "I would travel to Africa where there is high poverty. I think it would help me appreciate what I have more and seeing a new culture would be exciting. Maybe I can get a tan too." Talk about girl after my own heart.

I also asked her If she was the richest person in the world, what would she do with her life/career and she gave a quality answer, that totally makes me smile. She said, "I would help out as much as I can. I would travel and find out more about the world. And okay I'd probably get a nice house and a pool and a pool boy. :] "

My final question was, As a kid, what did she want to be when she grew up. This is another one where her answer isn't all that different from what mine would be. She said, "I could never decide on one thing. I wanted to be a marine biologist for a long time because I love the ocean so much, but right now most of them are sent to cold places to do research and I hate cold weather. I used to watch shark week and all those shows on TV because its so fascinating. I just love the powerful feeling of the ocean."

She really is amazing and an awesome model to boot. So for your viewing pleasure, a slideshow of Ashley's Senior Session:

Busy Busy Busy

2010-04-25T17:13:00.000-04:00

SO I have been Busy Busy Busy this week with editing of photos, wedding stuff, moving out stuff, and work has been super busy with a bunch of special events this past week. To top it all off, I went to my friend Jess Morris's wedding on Saturday to see her become Mrs. Jessica Friley. It was alot of fun. Today My mom, My sister, My aunt and My cousin all went with me to a bridal expo in Gaithersburg. We had a great time, and it gave me some great ideas. The main one is what my table centerpieces will look like. Originally I thought I would do eclectic candle centerpieces but have decided to modify that by adding mason jars with flowers in the center of the table with a mish-mosh of candles surrounding them. I did a test run so that when I meet with the florist, hopefully this week, I'll have something to show her. I thought that since I was going to be taking pictures of them anyway I would post them here as well. Enjoy. Have a great Sunday afternoon!

From blog stuff

sneak peak!

2010-04-19T19:04:00.000-04:00

Here is a little sneak peak of Ashley's Senior session. Ashley is my cousin. She is super smart and is graduating a year early, this June, and so we headed down to DC to do some senior portraits. I'll give you more info about her when I do a full post. Enjoy!

I'm back...sort of

2010-04-18T13:20:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I have posted and I apologize for that. There is a good reason, and that reason is that my computer died on me and is in the process of being fixed. I did a senior session a few weekends back and have been itching to edit the photos and post them but have been unable to. I also have the final post for Mandy + Joe post wedding and the rest of the photos from Melissa's photo shoot. Once I have my computer back I will be full of posts, I promise. :-)

I have also been SUPER busy with wedding planning. Almost all the major aspects have been finalized. I'm a bit excited, the wedding is only 5 months away.

Hopefully I'll have my computer back in the next few days and I'll be feverishly editing away and hopefully posting by Friday.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!

So the secret...

2010-03-06T19:23:00.003-05:00

So the secret that I was going to post about a few Monday's ago was this photo book I made for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I took a bunch of photos of ways to say "I love you" and then put it together with pictures of us and made a book for him. I think he might of liked it, I hope he did any way, I worked so hard on it.

I apologize for not posting about it sooner but, I have a good reason, I got engaged! He proposed on Friday night (2/26) after we went to the opera at the kennedy center. That has caused me to be a bit preoccupied with wedding planning and the logisitics of life after the wedding. Busy Busy Busy, stressful, stressful and busy, that has been my life this past week and a half. I feel as though with all the stress and busyness and work I've been doing that this thing should be planned and ready to go, but it isn't in the least bit, I haven't even decided for sure if its going to be in Austin or in Maryland, I've got to price it all out and then book a location. Tonight I plan on putting in requests for info for a few places in both Austin and Maryland and finding out what they've got to say. Hopefully by Monday I can have a decision about location, so that I can move forward with plans.

This afternoon was my friend Jess's bridal shower, she is getting married in April. It was A LOT of fun. It was so intimate and fun Mandy did an awesome job with things. After that we went over to Glen Echo to walk around and take photos, it was relaxing and fun. THEN I got home and went to David's Bridal to browse and get an idea of what they have so I can be ready for my appointment next Saturday morning. So much to get done but it'll be worth it. Honestly all I really care about is getting to marry the love of my life, the rest is just details. I want to get all that planning out of the way so I can get back to living life more normally, I dont want my life to become consumed with planning this one day for the next 8 months, because it will be over and real life will resume, a much better real life than now, because I will get to live life with my best friend, but still it will be really strange to not be constantly planning. So the faster the planning is over, the better. :-)

So here are the photos from my Valentines day project:

secrets, secrets :-)

2010-02-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

So for awhile now I have been working on a secret project. I have taken lots of interesting photos for it but cannnot post them until next Monday for fear of compromising the project. It fills me with so much excitement! I am SO bad at keeping excitibg secrets in, it makes me feel like I'm bursting at the seams. I have also been busy playing catch-up, editing photos of Mandy + Joe as well as finishing up Melissa's session. Should be finished with Melissa's by the end of the week, which will be such a relief.

In other news, I got my cast off today! So exciting, but also kinda rough, because I still have a lot of pain and it limits my use of my left arm a lot, almost more than when I had the cast, only because there is no support and nothing stopping me from jerking or twisting my arm in too hard or in the wrong way. Hopefully it'll get better soon. The boyfriend comes on Sunday the 21st and I'd really prefer to not be injured when he's here.

I am not operating under any false illusions, and so I know that you haven't come to my blog soley to read about my terribly unexciting life, thus I shall post a sneak peak from Mandy + Joe's post-wedding session.

Have a great night!

wordless wednesday

2010-02-10T21:59:00.000-05:00

this is the snow that never ends, it goes on and on my friend...

2010-02-07T22:43:00.002-05:00

so it snowed for 2 entire days and is going to snow again on Tuesday. I have to say I actually dont really like snow all that much, but I do like taking photographs of snow and hulling up in the house with a cup of hot tea and a good book or movie when its snowing.

Today I decided to venture out and take some photos. Here's the only one I really liked...

Tomorrow I have to leave work early to head back to the doctor to get my arm checked out again and hopefully get this big blue cast off...

My arm still really hurts, actually just about the same as when thet put the cast on, but I hate having the cast on, 1.) because its really itchy and 2.) because I hate the limitations it creates in my normal everyday activities. But we shall see what is to happen next. I'll update in the next couple of days. Have a great night!

P.S.-The photo of my cast was apparently taken last Tuesday, which leads me to believe the meds the doctor gave me caused some me to do some time travelling, because I don't remember taking it :-)

A good excuse

2010-02-06T00:18:00.003-05:00

I know it has been quite some time since my last post, but I promise it is not without good reason. That reason is that I have been busy editing photos from my various photo shoots and adventures, and setting up a flickr.

The other really good reason is that I fell shoveling snow and cracked a bone in my elbow and now have a big blue "L"-Shaped cast on left my arm (which happens to be my dominate arm) that makes everything take a lot longer and that makes typing rather difficult. I think more than anything, its just frustrating, because I'm use to the conviences of bending and turning my arm and hand and thus everything in life right now is that much harder. Plus, my arm does hurt a good bit.

But enough of that. Here is proof for you that I have indeed been working on things:

Also check out my flickr. Have a great night and enjoy the snowy-craziness that is maryland this weekend.

What I've been working on...

2010-01-22T18:19:00.001-05:00

This past week I have been working hard on Valentine's day mug cozies and other accessories to put up on my etsy and also trying out some cool new techniques. In doing all of that I created a valentines day card that I'll be putting up for sale on my etsy shortly. I just need to see the test card turns out and then I'll place the order. So here is what the front of card is will look like.

Check back around Wednesday either here on the blog or on my etsy to purchase one.
I should have some more valentine's day items up on my etsy by Monday or so. Keep checking back.

I will be meeting up with my friend Sarah to go to a Haiti benefit show at IOTA in Arlington tonight so I hope everyone has a great night and a good weekend!

Red Valentine's Day Mug Cozy

2010-01-19T09:57:00.000-05:00

Here is a photo of the Red Valentine's Day Mug cozy I made for my etsy page. It is now for sale on my etsy page, check it out here . I'll be posting more Valentine's Day Mug cozies on my etsy soon, so check back later this week for more.

Have a great day!

2010-01-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

Nothing quite like a clean and organized work space. :-) I spent Sunday night cleaning and organizing my creative space because, frankly, it was a HOT mess. Nothing was organized it was just all piled up, so much so, that I couldn't even use it at all. Lol. But now its wonderful and clean and has inspired me to be crafty once again. I made a cute new valentine's day mug cozy that I'll be putting up on my etsy page tomorrow. Since every post is better with a photo, here is one of my newly cleaned craft space:

Photo shoot-Melissa 2010

2010-01-16T16:16:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday I got a text message from my good friend from college, Melissa. She asked me if I would be able to do a last minute photo shoot with her so she could have some head shots for an audition she has this Sunday. Well, of course I jumped at the chance. I can't turn down a good challenge, taking and editing photos all in one day. It was a lot of fun and I got some really amazing photographs of Melissa, she is just stunning and amazingly photogenic. Here is a slideshow with the photos I edited for her today. I'll post a full preview next week when I've gotten around to editing more of them. Have a great Saturday, And thanks Melissa!

Its photo of the day

2010-01-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

Its kind of late and I'm more than kind of tired.

Photo of the day:

Runner up:

Family

2010-01-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

Today I spent the day with my sister Katie and her family because its my mom's birthday. We went shopping and then to my niece Grace's (my sister Katie's daughter) christmas play that was rescheduled. The play was so good. It was simple and pretty short, maybe 30 minutes but it was really nice and all the kids did an amazing job. Right after the play was over my sister was holding her other daughter hannah and it was such a sweet moment so I told them to look at me and I snapped this shot. You might remember both of them from my photo of the day this past wednesday, originally this fact had deterred me from choosing this photo but it was just too good to pass up.

I've decided that I am really over winter, and that the only reason I thought I liked it was because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. I wish the cold weather would go away because it makes me a bit mopey, I tend to want to curl up in a ball and avoid the world. Not a good thing to do so I'm trying to fight through it and hold out for Spring. Well enough random musing, have a great night and a great Monday tomorrow!

Photo of the day

2010-01-09T23:09:00.004-05:00

I spent the entire day wandering around Alexandria Va. on a photo adventure with my Best Friend Mandy, so naturally my photo of the day is of her. Just a little more insight into my life. It was SO cold, it definitely felt like winter. When we first went out we were like "Oh its not that bad, everyone was just over reacting" and then we were out there for more than 10 minutes and we were Freezing! I'm sure I'll be posting more photos from the day in a week or so. But for now here's my photo of the day:

Have a great night.

Photo of the Day

2010-01-09T00:13:00.001-05:00

My photo of the day would probably be a lot better if I had taken photos this morning of the snow OR if I had remembered to bring a memory card with my to my friend Lindsay's birthday party, but because I was a flake and didn't, my dslr sat on my desk all day and then in a chair the whole night, longing no doubt to take a fabulous photograph. What this leaves me with is exhaustion and a lack of creativity and thus a mediocre photo of the day. Have a good night.

p.s. Tomorrow's (Saturday's) photo hopefully be substantially better, because Mandy and I are going on a photo adventure :-)

photo of the day number 4

2010-01-07T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today I thought I'd give a little perspective with my photo of the day today, so these 2 photos (the photo of the day and the runner up) are both my view/perspective when I wake up. So you get to see what I see. Enjoy!

Photo of the day:

the runner up:

Day 03- Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-06T22:58:00.002-05:00

Day 2- Photo of the day

2010-01-05T23:53:00.001-05:00

Today I was able to have coffee with my best friend after work. It was a spur of the moment thing and I am certainly glad for it. It was great to sit and chat and catch up while drinking some coffee. I took some photos while we were there to use for my photo of the day today because it definitely fits the bill for this photo week challenge of being a sneak peak into my life. So, I present to you, my loyal readers (all 2 of you :-) ) my photo of the day, along with 3 other photos from the event. Have a great night!

Day 01 of 07

2010-01-04T23:52:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, this week of daily photos will all be a sneak peak into my life. Today's photograph is of my message board at my desk, it has alot of stuff that inspires me on it and a lot of reminders for myself. I did not realize how personal this week of photos would be when I thought the idea up, but it kind of is. Its not just a sneak peak into what I see day to day, but its actually a bit of a window into my world/mind and thats a bit personal. Its odd, and makes me feel a bit vulnerable.

Here is my photo of the day:

And the Runner up:

Its back

2010-01-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

I've made the decision to bring back the photo of the day for the week, so from now until sunday check the blog in the evenings to see a little sneak peak into my life. I contimplated doing another month long photo challenge but opted out so as not to put too much pressure on myself when I plan to start a few projects and do a few portrait sessions in the next month. Well check back later tonight for today's photo of the day post. :-)

Welcome 2010

2010-01-03T23:54:00.001-05:00

2010 is officially here, and has been for three days now. The new year always gets me thinking about all my dreams and goals and where I stand in reaching them. I've never been much of a fan of new years resolutions, I just think they are kind of silly and cliche but I find myself reflecting on the year that just past and the year ahead and have decided that maybe I need to start actively pursuing my goals and dreams. Active pursuit requires a plan. I haven't really gotten to that but I have some rough ideas of what I want to accomplish with my existence in the next 365 days. This realization has gotten me a little excited for the new year and so I've decided to say "Welcome 2010!" and all the wonder and challenge and promise you bring. So, while I sit and wait for my boyfriend to call me to let me know he arrived home in Austin safely, I decided to play around in Photoshop. Have a good night and a great 2010!

D3000 wonderland

2010-01-02T23:24:00.003-05:00

Here's a slideshow of some of the photos I've taken with my spiffy new Christmas gift.

Pre-occupation

2009-12-31T11:02:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-15T22:28:00.001-05:00

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

Have a great night.

Distractions

2009-12-15T09:57:00.008-05:00

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

Day 031 The End of the Photo Month Challenge

2009-12-14T23:45:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-13T18:08:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-13T02:37:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-12T03:33:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-10T19:13:00.010-05:00

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

2009-12-09T20:36:00.002-05:00

Day 025

2009-12-08T21:15:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-07T23:13:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-06T21:46:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-05T21:33:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-05T14:40:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-04T23:53:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-03T20:39:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-02T21:39:00.002-05:00

Day 018

2009-12-01T22:36:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-30T19:06:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-30T17:07:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-29T18:38:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-28T18:02:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-27T20:44:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-26T20:18:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-25T23:50:00.002-05:00

Day 011 back to average

2009-11-24T22:54:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-23T23:17:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-22T21:35:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-21T23:38:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-20T23:34:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-19T23:59:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-18T18:59:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-17T22:25:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-17T20:55:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-16T23:37:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-16T19:43:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-16T00:34:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-14T22:46:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-09T22:20:00.003-05:00

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.

Anticipation

2009-09-12T12:09:00.000-04:00

So here's what I've been working on lately....

I am really excited for this week. My boyfriend comes into town from Austin, Texas. I haven't seen in him and about a month and half and so I really miss him. We have all sorts of exciting adventures planned and I can't wait to take some cool pictures at all the places we go. As long as neither of us is sick we'll be going to Rehoboth Beach on Monday, A secret location on Wednesday for "The Anniversary Adventure" I have planned for him, and then to Mt. Vernon and Old Town Alexandria on another day. I so excited! Its nice to have a vacation from my day job and what better way to spend it then with the person I love!

I hope everyone has an excellent weekend, and look for these thank you cards on Etsy in the near future!

Pedaling along

2009-09-11T23:39:00.000-04:00

If you don't know this already, I have an affinity for bicycles. I love to take long rides on my vintage looking cruiser bike. In college, it was a daily occurance, now, unfortunately, my peaceful bike rides are fewer and far between. So while I was longing for my bike on this beautiful fall day, I stumbled upon these great etsy finds about bikes, and that I would love to wear while riding mine.

Vintage Black Peekabo Pumps by Starbrite68

Antique Ivory Silk Taffeta Ruffle Bolero by EnglishDept

New Fall Taffeta Dress by MHolland

Bicycle Spokes Mustard Yellow Vinyl Wallet by Trelabela

Recycled Stitched Gocco Notebook by Blue Stitch Books

Dreams of DSLR

2009-08-24T13:06:00.000-04:00

I have been horrible about posting and I know it. I have been pretty busy with work and life and photo adventures. But the big thing that has taken up my free time is dreams of a DSLR. How to get one and what I will do with one once I have it.

There is one in particular I have been thinking about and looking into. Its new and can only be pre-ordered at the moment. It is a nikon D3000. I am unsure if I will end up purchasing this camera. I may just get a d40 or even a canon. There are alot of tough choices to make when looking into the right DSLR for you.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25462/D3000.html

Something I realized in all of this, though, is that it doesn't matter which one I have, its about how I use it. The camera is only as good as I am, my photos won't be amazing just because I have a sweet camera, they'll be good because I let my creativity flow and captured things that are interesting and inspiring.

The last few posts have been portrait sessions, and this has also made me think. When I started out on this photo journey, I was dead-set that I never wanted to do portrait photography because I hate the idea of others putting their expectations on me. But, as I have traveled and explored I realized I love taking pictures of people and it is so satisfying to have the people love their images. I feel torn. I guess thats part of the adventure of it all though.

So I have done alot of photo adventuring lately and I haven't shared any of those images. So below are a few of my favorite from when my friend Sarah and I went to the Sugarloaf mountain area.

Mandy + Joe

2009-08-11T02:12:00.001-04:00

So my friend, and amazing photographer Sarah allowed me to go with her to do my best friend Mandy's engagement shoot. Here are two of my favorite images from the very long day. I'll post later about the adventure that was that day, but for now I'll give you the pictures.

Goodnight!

This mini post is for Francie

2009-08-02T07:07:00.002-04:00

So it is early and I have decided to post a few of my finished shots here for Francie because she has been patiently awaiting her engagement photos that were taken last weekend. I haven't finished editing all of them but I thought a sneak-peak was in order.

Enjoy! And have a great Sunday!

the half blood prince

2009-08-02T00:22:00.001-04:00

So I said I was going to post about going to see Harry Potter 6, but I lied. I was busy photo editing from some portrait shoots I did and didn't have a chance. As much as I know everyone was dying to hear about H.P., I feel like posting some stuff from those shoots.

So I went to the beach the weekend of July 18th, and my Aunt Cathy asked me to take some good pictures of my cousins because she doesn't have many of them together. I felt nervous and I felt a lot of pressure because I haven't really done much portraiture. I think that nerves and awkwardness aside it went well. Here are two of my favorites from that shoot.

My Friend Francie got engaged that weekend when I was at the beach and She asked me if I would do her engagement photos and I excitedly agreed. After I had some time to think through my decisions I freaked out a bit. I was afraid that I would disappoint them, and that the images would be boring and they would hate me forever. Obviously this was a bit disproportionate and dramatic, but all the same these were my fears. These fears prompted me to ask my parents to go with me to the locations of the pending shoot and do a mini test shoot with them. Well to my immense surprise, I got some great shots of the parentals. My parents have very few pictures together, seeing as my dad does not particularly enjoy having his photo taken, so I was glad to have some good pictures of them for my mom and family. Here are a couple of my favorites.

So I know that these aren't those most blow you away images, but I think they are pretty good considering I don't have much experience with taking pictures of people. I know that with each shoot I get better.

Well, its off to bed for me, because in the morning I am going along with my close friend, and seriously talented photographer Sarah Patch to do an engagement shot for my best friend Mandy and her fiance Joe.

I will post a few of the shots I've finished from the Francie + Aaron engagement shoot sometime tomorrow.

Flea Market

2009-07-21T22:34:00.000-04:00

So on Saturday July 11th I got up at 5 am and started packing up all my mug cozies and crocheting supplies, all my photographs, my fine art prints and my potpourri hearts, to head to the Celebrate Damascus Flea market. I was tired, but I was excited.
We arrived at the Flea market location at around 7:30 am and began to set up. My mom and I had gone to target a few days prior and purchased a canopy tent so that we did not have to sit out and roast in the sun and so that the photographs and fine art prints were also protected. We put up the canopy in under 5 minutes and then put the table underneath. My mom then went home to pick up some supplies I had forgotten to pack, and to the music cafe in downtown Damascus to pick up coffee and breakfast.
While she was gone, I was setting up my very first Flea market booth. I had a crate to put all the matted photographs in, and a smaller container for the TTV shots. I made signs, I organized and reorganized my merchandise, and sat eagerly anticipating my first costumer.

To make a long story short, I had a blast! And I actually managed to sell a good amount of stuff. I also managed to hand out over 100 business cards and a ton of candy. So all in all it was a success. I met such interesting people and I had the opportunity to share my art and inspiration with others.

My friend Francie Stopped by to visit me and so did my aunt Cathy. There was live music pretty much the entire time and there were a lot of booths selling a variety of different things.

Here is a picture of my mom sitting at my table:

I"ll admit, its not the best table display, but I think it was good start. The next time I do a flea market or craft show, I will make sure to type up my signs and probably find a better way to organize and lay everything out on the table.

So my next post will most likely have to do with going to see Harry Potter at midnight...I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation! (sike)

Being pulled along

2009-07-21T09:57:00.000-04:00

So I have already failed to post at least one blog per week. At first I felt a bit disappointed in myself, but upon reflection I realized that its because I have let life pull me along, and that is not a bad thing. I have had an adventureous week and I am excited to write posts about each of those adventures.
So my next post will be about the Flea market I had a table at on July 11th, I'll have some pictures to post. At the end of that post I'll let you know about the next one. I will probably post at least twice this week, so for the two people who read my blog, you have something to l0ok forward to. :-)
Every post is better with a picture, but unfortunately I don't have one to post because I am not currently on my computer.

Check back tonight for my Flea market post, have an amazing Tuesday!

Glen Echo

2009-07-07T20:39:00.000-04:00

So...since no one put forth a guess about the location , I'll just tell you its Glen Echo. It is an amazing place! I went there when I was younger on a field trip with my elementary school. The main thing I remember is the carousel and that some women attempted to abduct a kid from my class named Alex.

Its such a magical place (Despite the near-abduction 15 years ago.)

Mandy and I were visiting my favorite art supplies store Pearl in Rockville one evening, when we saw a guide to classes being offered at Glen echo. We looked thru it and mused about the ones we thought would be fun and the ones we thought would be funny, when I remembered that it was suppose to be a restored amusement park that had been turned into a culture center. We immediately ran to the car, put the address into her GPS and headed there. It was past sunset and neither of us had our cameras, so we vowed to return another day cameras in hand, ready to shoot.

On the 18th of June, we met up for dinner and then headed to glen echo. I got some pretty good shots, both ttv and regular. I have to say, though the normal images are great, the ttv really adds something. Here are some of the ttv shots I really liked from Glen echo:

So here is a comparison of a normal digital shot and a ttv:

I like both shots, they both have pros and cons, but I like the character the TTV provides. It fits with this location, it adds to the "old" feel. But how about I let You be the judge :-)

Sorry that its been more than a week since my last post, but I was in Austin, TX from the 3rd until late last night. I would have posted before my trip but I was busy packing, etc. I know this is a poor excuse, but I have every intention of posting again before Saturday to make up for it.

In other news, this Saturday I will have a booth at the Celebrate Damascus Flea market, in Damascus, MD, at the corner of Route 124 (Woodfield Rd.) and Route 108 (Main Street). I will be selling my photography, some fine art prints of paintings I've done, as well as various crafts. Come out and stop by my booth any time between 8am and 4pm to browse or just to say "Hey" to my mom and me.

*(TTV stands for thru the viewfinder, and in my case, its thru the viewfinder of my Duaflex II)

2009-06-27T19:06:00.000-04:00

So, its been a week since my last post. I was planning on blogging on Wednesday but I had to house sit until late last night.

So while I was house sitting, I took the opportunity to do some much needed photo-editing. I had a bunch of TTV shots that I needed to crop, etc. As I was going through the images, I realized that I am beginning to improve.

For those who don't know, my computer was broken for a good 3 weeks, and in that time I had multiple photo outings. So, by the time I got my computer back all my memory cards were full. As I looked through the hundreds of images I had, I realized that, with each photo outing, the number of good, usable shots increased. All of this leads to the overwhelming amount of photo-editing I had/have to do. That is really exciting and encouraging. I had been feeling a bit discouraged as of late with the way my images had been turning out.

While I was off work with my hip injury, I had the chance to have a photo day with my Best friend Mandy. There is this barn that I pass every day on my commute to and from work, its dilapidated and there is tall grass and old barbed wire fences etc., I had wanted to stop and photograph there every time I saw it but didn't have the guts to do the trespassing by myself. So, when Mandy and I went on our photo adventure together we went there. Here are two of the decent TTV's I got there:

While on our photo adventure we also went to sugarloaf mountain and took some different shots around the base of the mountain. I got a lot of interesting shots here, and because the roads were pretty deserted I was able to get some cool ones of the road. So below are a few of my favorite shots from that location.

We had SO much fun on this photo adventure (besides Mandy's getting hurt). I wish I had another day like this, where I'm off work and I can roam around with my best friend and take pictures of anything and everything I see.

My next post will have images from another adventure with Mandy.

Hint about the location in the next post: It use to be an amusement park, but is now a cultural center.

This is the beginning of something...

2009-06-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

This is the beginning of something new. I am unsure whether it will end up being something good, bad, big or small, but it is the beginning. This is the beginning of my Blog.

Let me clarify some minor details first. I use to have a livejournal, and I use to updated it on a semi-regular basis. But its been almost 2 years since I've posted anything on it, and I almost forgot I had it. It was pretty much an ongoing online rant about things going on in my life and that isn't at all what I want in a Blog. I want to share my art, my passions and the small, barely noticed details of life and the world that are so interesting to me. So, I say this is the beginning, and it is, a second beginning, but a beginning all the same.

So here is my mission with this blog:

To share my creativity and the things in life that inspire and challenge me, the beauty of life, even if its not beautiful to everyone. This blog will chronicle my adventures in the ordinary, the journey that is life. I am setting out to blog at least once a week. This is my goal, whether or not it will happen, is a mystery yet to be discovered.