*ta da!

Wednesday was errand day. SFSU says I should have a corrected diploma in 10 days. I went to the Apple store to get a new battery since my replacement for my recalled battery died on me in less than a year. Apple called me today and I already have a new one. they are great!

Here are a few tags I made with various stamps for a stamped journal swap:

I did get a chance to develop my black and white negatives from my vacation last night. I cannot wait to scan them and take a closer look. Maybe I'll share a little something soon.

I started working with some fabric today. Just preliminary stuff before I can begin sewing. I can't wait to make something beautiful!

Dan and I went out to dinner at BJ's Brewery tonight. Took this while we were waiting:

It was what should have been "reunion night." I ran into two classmates from high school and one from college and they were all working at BJ's! It was great seeing so many people in such a short time period. On the drive home, this caught my eye:

Lucky for me, I was carrying both my camera and tripod. Definitely a long exposure.

Love me some night photography...

I am straightening out my diploma error tomorrow for those of you who asked.

Photo lab is tomorrow night, so in preparation, Dan and I decided to spend some quality time loading film onto developing reels in his bathroom.

Taking self portraits each day is such a challenge. Some days I'm too tired and don't feel like it and other times I feel really inspired. On my third trip to Dan's house today I decided that I should take a night photo of myself sitting on his steps.

This is inspired a whole separate photo shoot when I asked Dan to watch the camera. He took some amazing photos of the moon coming up over Montara mountain.


From his backyard, he took this amazing shot:

I got to be creative today!

I tried to use a few non-scrapbooking items on this layout. If you look closely you'll find camera tape (a.k.a. real gaffer tape), lightstruck leader (exposed film), and fabric. I used the paper I designed for this project. This is my scrapjack of Nisa Fiin.


I finally altered a frame for my August Secret Sister Swap. It was the first time for me to alter a frame and I had fun doing it.


Saturday was a great day. I've been having a lot of those lately and I'm quite happy for them! I visited a few local fabric stores in search for something very special. I found something for a new friend who is amazing! I also found somethings that I liked too.


And finally, those make and takes that I made in the Hambly Booth at the Santa Clara Scrapbook Expo. The one on the left is for my mom since she loves to garden.


I also got my cute journaling pages from Lizee. Thanks! I had a great day since I was shopping for fun stuff. After that it continued being great since my family celebrated my cousin Jeff's 24th birthday. I always love hanging out with them and talking. My cousins gave me great input on my now completed Cinematography layout.


I saw the movie Miss Potter over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it for inspiration and because its beautiful to watch. Rachel happened to make something that has captured my thoughts so much that I can't wait to try making one my self.

I had a nice and relaxing day of finishing my crafty stuff at the beginning of the post. I got lots of stuff ready to go to the post office first thing tomorrow. I even got to edit a few photos and get them printed by Lisa.

One of my most exciting mail days yet! Thanks to Dani, I received my Red Velvet Swap incredibly fast. I am so happy that I was blessed to get such a cool partner to swap with. I'm so pleased with my stuff that I'm sending her another envelope just to thank her for being so in tune with my favorites! Rachel of Red Velvet Art is so great for hooking me up with Dani too! I am completely spoiled!


On top of that, I received a wtf swap from Kristi and it wasn't really wtf material so I got lucky!


I was so excited to open this and so disappointed to see that SFSU doesn't feel the need to capitalize my first name. Gotta love how accurate SFSU is!

It all arrived!

Sunday Dan and I went to Redwood City to celebrate my cousin McKenna's 13th birthday and what would have been also my mom's party. I was her representative since she was still in Yosemite. The food was great and I love seeing everyone together and happy. What a massive tickle fest.


Monday we got a new dishwasher and garbage disposal installed. I scrapped a little and then went shopping to Luna's Memories with Kelly. When we got back my secret sister swap was waiting for me from Jen. Thanks for all of the great stuff! It was a great day.



Dan took me to Park Chow near Golden Gate Park. We ate delicious home made apple pie and had a relaxing evening. Tuesday I uploaded a few photos to Flickr and finished my "asset" lo. I entered two of my Death Valley photos into the World in Focus photo contest. This is the firs time for me to enter any of my photos into any contest! I was so excited that they showed up on their website that I had to document it! I know, I really love my Macintosh!



On Wednesday Dan and I took our summer drive down the coast to Monterey and Carmel. I have been abnormally spontaneous this week and I have enjoyed it very much. I think next time I'll look up where a few galleries are so I can visit John Sexton and Weston. They are so talented and inspire me so much. The weather was beautiful when we left Pacifica and we drove in and out of the sun and fog all day. We stopped at Carmel's White Sand beach and took a nice walk. Although I don't like fog it can make for some cool photos and excellent portraits. Even lighting allows for great portraits so there aren't any harsh shadows cast.


These kids were too cute to not photograph as they rushed down the hill towards their mom.


The Skyline Photo lab started back up again this week so we went in for a "body count" so they can keep it going. I can't wait to develop my rolls of 35mm and 120mm from our Yosemite trip. This was waiting for me when I got back from our drive:

Jess- Its all your fault. I don't know if I ordered the right font though. I can't wait to use them. I'm really into making long titles for my scrap pages. I'm so happy to find more of that American Crafts paper for my photo corners. Kelly ordered some earlier in the week .

I got such a great welcome back from everyone at work. The wine bottle came in while I was gone so I was presented with one of my own this morning. I was so excited I had to take a picture. The company managed to keep my name on the label as the photographer. I doubt I'll ever open this up, but I thought it would be a funny pose.


Thanks to Joni, my copy of Artful Blogging arrived today. I have been a very lucky girl to get so much fun stuff in such a short period of time. I can't wait to sit down and read it from cover to cover. I did managed to find time to read Elsie Flanningan's article of course.


I joined the Red Velvet Art Swap so I had to go shopping for my partner today. I love to shop for others, especially once I've found out they loved the package. I ran into my sewing teacher from high school. Ms. Levine looked great! We chatted for a few minutes and I found out the best time to visit her finally! There's so much to catch up on and we didn't have enough time in the store.

Finally designed my first 12x12 sheet of paper for a challenge I'm trying to get done by tomorrow. Its going to be for my cinematography lo. Its a bunch of cameras I had to learn how to load and shoot with.

All About Eve Challenge

I scraplifted this layout from Jessica and the cute stitching from Michelle Clement. I did this for the All About Eve challenge.

I'm back from Yosemite!

I won a copy of Artful Blogging from Joni of Yummers! I look forward to getting it in the mail. Thanks for picking me! Thanks to all of you for the warm wishes. I had a great vacation!

It was 101 degrees in Yosemite the first few days of my stay. I did a lot of hiking, biking, swimming, napping, and eating ice cream.

Yosemite has great free transportation set up for the valley. They have hybrid shuttle buses that run until 10pm at night. I rode them so frequently that I could easily create a series with all my photos.


The family waiting for the bus from left to right: Dan, Jenna, Dad, and Mom.


My main photographic goal I made for myself this trip was to avoid cliche travel photos. I have gone to Yosemite so frequently that I did not feel the need to capture the regular postcard photos.

We celebrated my mom's birthday by going to the Ahwahnee Hotel for dinner and relaxing by the Merced river and the Yosemite Lodge pool. My mom loves to garden and hates snails, so I bought her these from etsy. I love supporting other artists!

During one of our visits to the Merced River, my beautiful camera backpack slid down a rock (maybe a foot) and I found a filter of mine broken later that day. Filters are placed on the lens to protect it from dust, scratches, and UV rays. It also saves your lens from breaking. Luckily it will only cost $50 to replace instead of purchasing a replacement lens at $300.


Dan and I made a pilgrimage that every photographer dreams of making. We drove a little over two hours to see Tenaya Lake, Tioga Lake, Mono Lake, and Bodie. The two latter are quite a bit outside of Yosemite National Park. Tenaya Lake is famous because Ansel Adams photographed it in 1947. You can see his photo here. I first saw this photo in my grandfather's "office" while looking at some of the amazing photographs my grandparents have created over the years. They have such inspiring photos in that room. I took several photos with intentions of creating a panoramic later on. Can you see the changes that the rock face has made over the 50 years?


I find it really important to have a foreground, a middle ground, and a back ground in my photos. It really adds depth to the photo and enhances it greatly. Both photos, above and below, have these qualities. When taking photos, notice things that might make a photo better if included (like rocks or trees if creating landscapes).


I have a lot of other lake photos that I plan to upload to flickr in the next few days. If there is one thing I've learned with taking so many photos, it is to choose a few favorites so others won't be inundated with a ton of digital photos. I brought my 4GB memory card and managed to take over 950 digital photos. That's not counting my 4 rolls of film!

Mono lake was completely overcast so we enjoyed the visitors center. I saw some amazing photos that I have seen in textbooks. It was so inspiring to be view such stunning art.

Bodie was about 30 minutes from Mono lake . It was a gold mining town that has become a ghost town. I had no idea it was a State park or that it was as large as it was. Bodie has so much personality!



I have wanted to photograph this building for well over two years. On the drive home I was able to capture it in a drive by shooting. ;) The best way to do this is to have a fast shutter speed (1/1000th of second or greater and lots of light.


The drive home was great since Dan drove the whole way! When we reached Manteca I got a phone call from Jenna with bad news that my father had a bicycle accident. He will be alright, but he's chipped a tooth and bruised pretty badly. I'm so thankful that nothing was broken and that he will heal in time. It was a bit of a scare for all of us. Jenna, Mom, and Dad stayed an extra night at Curry village to let my Dad heal. He is in great spirits and should be home later tomorrow.

Casablanca!

Tonight Kelly and I went to see Casablanca at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto. I love love love going to old theaters. My favorite part is the organ player in the beginning and end (if its not a silent film). It was so nice to go to a film and not have to take notes. The first time I saw this film was in film school. The cinematography is amazing, so if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing it, go out and rent it now!


A few people have commented on wanting to learn more about photography. I frequent here because he is an incredibly talented guy and knows a lot from his experiences. Check out this article for inspiration!

I'll be away on vacation in Yosemite Monday-Saturday, so expect lots of photos when I return!

Hambly!

Friday I drove Toby and Dan down the coast to Pescadero for some amazing garlic bread from Archangli Bakery. I finally played a little Wii and thought it was fun. I even made a Mii to look like me. Jessica brought over Grandma's Boy to watch and we ate grilled cheese sandwiches. Mmm yum!

Today I picked Kristi up and we drove to Santa Clara for the Scrapbook Expo. It was so much fun. Hambly Studios was there which made it 10 times better than the expo this past March. We loved it so much, we went there first thing and then again at the very end. They were selling some limited edition overlays and paper. We did a make and take that was designed by the super cute Allison Kreft, product designer of Hambly products. I had a great time!

Kristi working on her make and take at Hambly:


Kristi and I so happy to spend time at a Scrapbook Expo!

My expensive "Hambly Habit".

And some other stuff I purchased:


I went out to dinner with Dan to Mel's tonight. I brought my gorillapod and Dan drove me around for some night shots afterwards. I'm really interested in mixed ambient lighting at night. Saint Ignacious:


The new DeYoung Museum:

Coit Tower

I got some of my scanned photos off of the lab computer. This is another portrait done by Doug Yost.


I finished reading the last Harry Potter and I really enjoyed it. So much that I stayed up until 2:30am!

Dan, Toby, Lisa, and I went to North Beach last night and had dinner at Michelangelo Cafe. It took a little searching to find a place that wasn't crowded. We were originally planning to take a lot of night photos around the area but the parking lot was expensive.

Coit tower was lit with red lights so we decided to drive up Telegraph Hill and spend a little time photographing the night scape of San Francisco.



I would have taken more photos since I have such a passion for night photography but I was the driver for last nights outing. Next time I'll remember to have some one else drive so I can do the out the window shots!

I have a few other scanned photos that I'll add to my flickr account, so check that out too.

Sharing something new

I remembered to take a photo of the order that came from a million memories. They were having a sale and I saw a few things I just had to have.


My B&H order arrived in time for my Yosemite excursion. I leave Monday. I was so excited about my new super cool tripod that I brought it to the dark room tonight.


Interview went well, so keep your fingers crossed for me! Toby came to Pacifica tonight and will stay for a few days. I'm sure we'll have lots of photo opportunities with all of our cameras.

New and Exciting

Just a quick blog before bed...

Monday I received an exciting call about an interview. I devoted all day yesterday and quite a bit of today to it. All I'll say right now is that it is the photography industry and keep your fingers crossed for me because I'd love to have the position. I'll post when I hear back from them.

I got my hair layered for the occasion and bought a few new blouses for the interview and just because I needed to get some new stuff for work anyway.


I got my order from a million memories and can't wait to play with the new stuff. Loving everything. If I remember, I'll take a picture of it tomorrow.

Just a little something

I met Kate in the mission yesterday afternoon just to hang out. We ran into Arielle, a classmate from animation, and found ourselves at The Buffalo Exchange. I've heard a lot about it so I was excited to finally check it out. It is a place where you can buy and sell clothing. I decided to save my money.

We ate at this really cute place St. Francis Ice Cream Parlor. Their freezer was broken so I didn't get to try their tasty treats. I saw a lot of unusual murals but decided not to hold up the group by stopping to take photos. I'll have to just go back on my own or with a photo group sometime when the lighting is right.

I finished another page in my art journal. It took me a while to finish because I went crazy with doodling. That's what an art journal is for!

This is Friends week

I am addicted to Flickr. I love to leave positive comments for people and I get so inspired by seeing through many different perspectives. It makes me want to travel so much more!

Thursday night Dan and I went to Lisa's new house for home made pizza. It was absolutely delicious!


Lisa was a wonderful hostess. I loved how they decorated the house. The living room was my favorite because of all the colors. All of Lisa's room mates are a blast!


Yesterday I planned to finish my wire wrapped necklace with Kelly. Jenna thought she was coming over to scrapbook so she got all of her stuff out (second time to scrap).


Jenny called me and said she was Pacifica, so she joined in the creativity. I was so happy that I'm seeing nearly all of my local girlfriends in the same week. Incredible!

I love taking photos as everyone already knows. Jenny likes to draw so I gave her my art journal. Nothing wrong with having a guest artist in it, right? :)

Kelly finished her necklace and we are so proud of how beautiful it turned out. I think she's a great model!

I finished mine as well. I took the picture here at work and the lighting is not great, but I was too excited about it and wanted to share. I feel like I've grown in jewelry making now that I have learned how to wire wrap. I also expanded my color choices and feel great about them. The focal bead is a piece I made with a blowtorch (lampwork) last year. I was so happy when the class instructor on Monday complemented it!