Late, late Winter...(otherwise known as, the Best Part of Winter.)

Sorry, Winter, but that's really only because Spring is coming. :) Not to say there isn't still some beauty in the late winter..you just have to go looking a little harder for it...

I am not sure how these leaves hang on all winter, but they do. Just touching them makes them fall off, but somehow they survive the New England snowstorms, wind, hail, sleet, and freezing cold for months...

These little starlings are sometimes considered pests at the birdfeeders, because they chase other birds away. You can often see them in large numbers grazing in fields. I think their markings and iridescent wings are really eye-catching.

A tree illuminated by late afternoon sun rays.

The first color tinging the branches around my house and the reeds by the beach...

The fields around Trustom Pond, Charlestown wildlife refuge from last week. They sparkle in the sunlight. On the second photo I used a digital texture from Kim Klassen.

Wrinkled end-of-winter berries on the beach.

More survivors...underneath the shallow water of a little pond in the woods.

And a thorn covered branch getting ready for the snow. All photos taken with my 300mm lens, because my trusty 105mm is broken and won't focus properly. I hope to get it fixed soon...but I like the way these came out, the 300mm does have a nice bokeh and I get pretty sharp closeup shots from it as well. Happy Monday :)

Photographing Babies

I know nothing about this, actually. But one of my goals this year was to try to learn how to better photograph people. And what better subject than my new(ish) twin cousins?  I visited the other day with my handy dandy 50mm 1.4 lens which I have discovered is a life saver when it comes to inadequate interior lighting. So I tried to get down to their level so I could catch them learning to crawl around.

They move and squirm so much it's still hard to catch one of their "moments" but I was determined not to use the flash or pose them which I think looks cheesy and feels awkward. One of the twins was constantly entranced by me and my camera and stared at me the whole time and the other could not care less and wouldn't face me at all!

I loved when they turned to face one another, it looked like they were "discovering" each other for the first time, it was so adorable...they don't look too much alike but I liked the effect of the vintage processing here because it tied the photo together and made the twins appear more alike in skin tone and color.

When I couldn't get anything of their faces, while they played around with each other on the floor, I took some of the feet...I wanted to get the four feet together but, they wouldn't all keep them in the air at the same time...hehe!

There's a lot of creative photo options I would like to work on with these two cuties...they are just starting to discover the world around them and are taking on more interesting positions and interacting with each other which will make some nice keepsake photos for my cousin before they get any older.  ;)

Me and Elsie

Well, this is my first post to my new blog. I was inspired to start one after reading through all the beautiful pages of the ladies of fPOE, Female Photographers of Etsy.
I plan on using this as a guide to inspire myself. And maybe others. With my new camera, Elsie, I feel like all the beauty I've ever seen around me comes to life, the way I want it to, the way I always wished I could remember it later when thumbing through photos (or, ten years later, clicking through them.) I'm inspired to go places I've driven by but never stopped at. To see things I never looked that closely at. To edit pieces and not be afraid because sometimes it needs a little reworking to bring out its best features.
Secondarily, I've been featuring my items on Etsy for the last few months. I started with jewelry and hope my photo shop will be as fun and as successful. Just thinking about people enjoying my photos on their walls makes me smile. I live in such a beautiful place and get to travel to the most amazing sites. I am so lucky!