Baby Chicks

Last week we got baby chicks in the mail.  My dad went to the post office last Thursday and came home with three overly large packages that had holes on the sides of them.  From these packages came sweet little tweets.  A baby chick forms a perfect little ball in my hands and is so light!  I think they are so cute I could squeeze them, although I avoid this for obvious reasons.  Now enjoy some cuteness coming your way.  

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How to capture a candid moment

 Natural and candid, this is what most photographers strive for.  All the photos that you see on Pinterest are so pretty and "in the moment", not awkward, unnatural, and stiff.  If you are a photographer you have probably asked yourself at least once, "How does that photographer get such candid moments?"  I don't think there is a simple one sentence answer to this question, but I have gathered up some tips that I've learned thus far on how to make your model or client feel comfortable and how to capture those candid moments.

1.  Be a friend, not just a photographer.  Don't get stuck behind the camera just telling your client how to pose and what kind of smile to make, ask questions and get to know them.  Make jokes, be ridiculous.  Yes, sometimes a photographer has to be silly and ridiculous to get the perfect picture.  This is why every photographer should have a certain level of awkwardness and shouldn't be embarrassed by making fun of themselves.

2.  Help them along.  You just can't expect every person to be comfortable and natural in front of the camera, at least not at first.  They are probably thinking that they look ridiculous and are embarrassed about getting their pictures taken so this is why it is important to help them along.  Give them some guidance on where to place that arm which they don't know where to place and just try to make them feel like they aren't complete idiots while getting their pictures taken.  Another thing that can really help your client, is to actually show them the pose that you want them to make.   Telling them visually can help them see what they are actually supposed to do, and if you aren't a natural explainer, this is helpful for you as well.    

3.  Be ready.  There have been so many times where I was just a second to late in capturing a special moment, or forgot to turn on my camera.  Yes, I have forgotten to turn on my camera before... maddening!  This is why you should always be on guard, because you never know when the perfect moment will need to be captured. When they laugh out loud or give you a glimpse of their personality, whatever it may be, be ready.

                       

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diy stained glass vases | guest post by haley

For awhile now, I've been keeping the glass bottles from Izzes and Starbuck frapuchinnos, etc. The only thing is...now I have a collection of empty bottles that I don't have room to display all at once. The other day, though, I had an idea to make a sort of stained-glass looking vase out of some of them. (Ok, so it's not exactly stained glass, but you get the idea. ;)) When finished, it's really neat to put them on the window sill to see the light through the colors.

Here's how to make them...

You will need...

acrilyc paints, liquid glue, a paint brush, and a clear glass bottle (with all lables removed)

Step 1: With your glue, draw a pattern over the bottle.

Step 2: Let the glue dry. (When dry, it will leave a "foggy" look between the colors.)

Step 3: When the glue has dryed completely, using your paint and paintbrushes, paint in between the lines you made with the glue.

Step 4: Let the paint dry, then put some pretty flowers in your colorful vases!

Thanks, Joanna, for having me guest post today!

Much love,
Haley

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Milkmaid Braids

My sister, Mary, a while back posted on my Facebook telling me that I just had to try this hairstyle... Milkmaid braids.  She sent me a link to the tutorial and it was so amazing and made the hairstyle look so simple that, I decided that I really did need to try it.  Well, I tried it, and loved it, and still love it.  This hairstyle is very simple and can easily be mastered with a little practice.  I highly recommend you try it out for yourself, and don't forget to tell me what you thought of it in the comments below!...  So, check out my milkmaid braids, then click HERE for the tutorial I used (the tutorial has tons of GIFs, which I kind of love).

photo credit- Charlotte

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Snap.

 It has started again.  The endless cycle is here, pick.snap.can.  We have just started to get green beans out of our big garden and as I started to snap beans for the first time this year, part of me felt like "uh, this is only the beginning of the many buckets full of green beans that I have to snap" but the other part of me was looking at the bright side, I get to watch movies while I snap the beans...  and this made me feel better.  I have snapped so many beans and watched so many movies already, it's ridiculous.  At the beginning I should have started counting how many buckets full of green beans I snap... You always think of those kinds of things when you're already halfway through though, don't you?  Moving on.  Some of the movies I've watched already include,  Wives and Daughters, North and South (I can never get tired of that one), and The Sound of Music.  Do you have any movie suggestions?  I need them, I'm quickly running out of ideas.  Help!   

On another note, it is so wonderful to have vegetables from our garden.  I always love to make homemade salsa in the summer with our onions, tomatoes, and peppers.  Ah, it's amazing, I must share the recipe once our tomatoes are ripe.  Do you have a garden?  What is your favorite summertime vegetable?          

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Weekend Traveling

   Friday morning we woke up and got in the car.  We all crammed in  the best we could and drove for 3 hours to Amish Country (Holmes County).  On the way there we watched I Love Lucy, and tried not to get sick with all of the rolling hills.  We went up and down, then up and down... That last half hour was hard.  Anyway, we got there, went to a couple bulk food stores, got cold meat for lunch, and sat at picnic table while we ate.  One thing that I find very interesting in these bulk food stores, is how they all have tons of candy.  This one in particular had a huge long shelf filled with different bags of candy, it was crazy... and awesome.  In the afternoon we went to our hotel and just hung out, slept, and watched tv.  This hotel was pretty strange, I thought I would take pictures of the lobby to show you all, but I didn't end up getting any.  I think you could get a pretty good picture from this though, lime green walls, sequined pillows, white leather couches, and large water drop photos on the walls.  Yes, it was pretty, um, interesting...  For supper we went to a restaurant that was practically right next to the hotel; this was where I made wax sculptures (they gave the kids them to play with, and I played with Bruno's), and ate an amazing salad filled with bacon, croutons, cheese, oh, and lettuce... After supper we drove to our Amish friend's house (we've been going there for 28 years) and sat on there porch and talked until it was dark.  

   The next morning we ate the best breakfast ever, well, for a hotel that is.  They had homemade cinnamon rolls, ham and eggs, and tons of other yummy breakfast things.  Mom and Dad went to a few more bulk food stores while us kids stayed at the hotel.  Isaac, Sebastian, and I went down to the pool that morning; and they swam while I got my feet wet and took pictures.  Later in the morning we went back to our friend's house for a little bit before we had to head home.  The drive home was cloudy and rainy, and made me really tired.  I tried to sleep, but it didn't really work...  We got home Saturday night   and even though it was a really good trip, I was glad to be home and to sleep in my own bed.

On Sunday after church we snapped beans and watched movies all day (more on that later).  

In a nutshell, this was my weekend, what was yours like? 

oh, we found an ice house too!

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road trippin'

Right now we are currently in Amish Country (Holmes County) on a little weekend trip.  Hopefully I'll have a post up on Monday with some decent photos.  These were taken with my computer because someone (me) forgot to bring the cord that connects my camera to my computer....  Anyway, don't these photos kind of look like they have a iphone sort of feel?... maybe not.   I promise my next post of the trip will be filled with photos of us, maybe a wall of candy, and awesome pictures of our lobby in our hotel.  Think Lime green and sequined pillows.  

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A lot of photos of some lovely girls

Lately, I've been taking a bunch of miscellaneous, maternity, and portrait photos.  It was crazy, I took my cousin's maternity photos (on my Facebook page soon!) on Monday night and then the following night I took these lovely ladies' portraits.  I had contacted them a while back about my taking some portraits of them, because 1. I needed more practice, and 2. they are the best models that any photographer could ask for.  Anyway, after some talking and date making, they came last Tuesday.  It was the perfect night for taking pictures.  Wait, no, it was too hot... it was almost the perfect night to take pictures...  We started on the edge of our neighbors corn field, worked our way to our apple trees, then to our field.  It was a blast, and let me tell you, these photos wouldn't have turned out near as nice if these girls weren't in them.  Seriously, they are so comfortable in front of the camera (unlike others *ahem*, me) and are willing to do just about anything for a good photo.  So sit back and scroll through these pictures, it might take a while...

P.S. Keep checking back to their blog, Charlotte is going to post the photos that she took from the photo shoot.  

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