Peace, Love, Volkswagen's

Easter Weekend.

We think church, Easter egg hunts, family cookouts,

classic Volkswagen Festivals.

Say what?

Your Easter plans didn't include a trip

to only one of the most groovy 

classic VW shows anywhere?

Well, mine did.

And I've got the pics to prove it.

Forgive the phone snaps, when I'm out 

just living life, I don't always feel the need

to lug around the behemoth, aka the D800.

Life is for living, and not every moment

necessitates a high-res photo shoot.

So.....my groovy, hippie Easter

in a nutshell! Or an eggshell.  ;-)

My own personal fave, above.

Buses represent!

The window sticker above reads

"" CAUTION, I brake for gnomes, fairies, elves, leprechauns, 

unicorns, dragons & other invisible creatures that only I can see."

 Sounds legit to me.

"My Favorite Color is Rust"

Absolutely!

And my darling friend Brooke was there,

driving her sweet ( not pictured ) hot pink,

late model VW bug.

Such a beautiful young girl,

but with a wise, old soul.

Just love her.

Until next year,

Peace, Love and VW's, y'all!

Texas VW Classic 

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Blogger at a Crossroads

Here's a question to ponder.

At what point do you accept that your heart

really isn't in blogging anymore?

Do you keep trudging on, half-heartedly?

Do you pack it all in and walk away cold turkey?

Or do you post one of those blatantly manipulative

" I'm giving up blogging FOR-EVAH" posts,

secretly hoping that your readers will bombard you with

"please don't go....we WUV you sooooo much!" messages?

Please don't do that. Ain't my goal, and it won't work.

I'm sort of at that point right now.

At a crossroads.

I signed up a few months ago 

to join a Facebook group for bloggers,

and lawdy, did I ever realize how much I truly

DON'T have in common with most of these fine women, 

dedicated bloggers, one and all.

They speak with great passion about 

maximum search-engine-optimization

in order to achieve optimum online saturation.

They strategically plan their posts weeks in advance.

In short, they treat it like a business, and as such,

take it very seriously. Kudos to them, I say.

I'm not mocking or knocking them in any sense of the word.

But that ain't me.

Blogging has never been a source of income for me,

and never will be. True, I do use it to promote 

( shamelessly, my stalker-detractors just love to point out )

my photography projects and magazine features.

But I've never accepted advertising or sponsors,

and never will. My blog has evolved over the past 5 years,

and so have I. 

And so here I find myself,

at said crossroads.

I never intend to just outright walk away

from my blog. I have far too much affection

for the medium and the friends I've made here.

My heart is very much with my craft,

my photography these days. And the simple truth is,

I'm super busy with all sorts of commercial photo shoots

any given month, and as always, give 110% to the creative process.

So rather than blogging, I'm editing.

I'm collaborating with other creative folks

( new clothing designers, a vintage rental business, etc )

to spread my wings and try new things.

I'm enjoying life, and loving the life we have created

in our beautiful little town 

and in our sweet little farmhouse.

 { what? you didn't know this is my main, go-to camera these days??? }

If you miss me sometimes,

you can always find me here

Anne Lorys Photography

and here

Anne Lorys Instagram

or even here

Anne Lorys Pinterest

And who knows?

Ya might even find me right here,

on the blog.

:-)

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Instagram Love

Howdy Strangers!

No, y'all aren't strange, I'm the one that takes off

blogging for a whole month.

I don't write, I don't call.

Time to be sent to blogger time-out.

Bad blogger. ;-)

But I hope you'll be happy to know

that I have been visiting all of you,

AND I've been super busy on 

lots of fun new photography related projects.

One place you can find me when I drift off

to parts unknown is Instagram.

It's fast, easy and fun.

And as much I love my fancy big girl camera,

there are an awful lot of wonderful images

being captured by mobile devices,

and Instagram is a place to share all

your mobile masterpieces.

Here's a link to my Instagram account ( please follow me! )

Anne Lorys Instagram

as well as some of my recent uploads.

The first five were taken at

Carol Hicks Bolton Antiquites

{ double click all photos to super-size }

The next three were snapped at

Timeless Menagerie

A photo I just snapped today.
You hardly ever see these anymore!

One of me with my beautiful friend.
jewelry designer Tami Rodgers of Velvet Sheds
at Fredericksburg Trade Days last week.

I loved her Magnolia Pearl dress so much
that I moved Heaven and Earth tracking it down online.
But I did indeed score!

And then a funky shot of me last week wearing more
new Magnolia Pearl.

My Wizard of Oz
Wicked Witch socks, inspired by
my friend Carol Hicks Bolton.

And then just a few at

The Lorys Casa...

 How better to end a post

than with Winnie just being her 

entitled, royal self?

I pinky swear I'll try to be 

a better blogger this Spring.

I have tons of photo shoots coming up

for the next

Best of Fredericksburg magazine,

and for the first time, I'm going to be mailing out

FREE copies to at least
100 blog followers when the next

issue hits the stands in June.

Start planning those Summer vacations to

beautiful Fredericksburg, Texas now!

Next up, a whirlwind trip to Warrenton ( maybe ),

so until next time...

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The Barn Door, Etc.....

Well, hello there!

I just took a little blogging break to focus more 

on my photography projects, and I'd love to share

some peeks with you now.

First up,

the barn door.

Whenever I tell my husband something

along the lines of

"Hey, guess what? We're putting a barn door

in the dining room!"

He usually gives me the side-eye like

I've grown a second head.

But thanks to my sweet friend Theresa Cano of

Garden Antqs Vintage,

we now have a barn door behind the table!

This will hopefully be part of another magazine feature

about our farmhouse, so be on the lookout for it!

I've also been keeping busy doing more

commercial shoots for local clients,

such as the precious Frenchie below, Pickles.

Actually, the shoot was for her talented mom,

artist Sandy Ohlson. I photographed one of her

exquisite mixed media pieces for an upcoming book,

and both Sandy and Pickles were a delight to work with.

As I've been getting more comfortable

photographing people instead of just "things",

I've added to my lens collection.

Here are a couple of the hubs

using my new 85mm prime lens.

I absolutely love using our barns

as a backdrop for photo shoots.

And you?

What's new in your world?

Happy week, happy weekend!

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The Thrill of Discovery

I had an absolute blast photographing

my good friend Chris's cottage this past week,

{ after nagging her relentlessly for the better part of a year },

and I'm delighted to share some peeks with you now!

Chris is an amazing decorator as well as

an accomplished textile artist,

as you will see when you gaze upon

her life-size, altered Victorian dress form.

Her home is headed for magazines

later this year, but here are a few early peeks

for my followers!

I'm calling this post "The Thrill of Discovery"

because we all know that so many times,

you pick up a magazine and it's the same homes,

and the same people over and over and over again.

I think it's too cool for school to introduce the world at large

to someone new and fresh and exciting.

I hope you agree!

 And just get a load of THIS......

All lovingly created by Chris herself.

And this is only the tip of the proverbial

creative iceberg. Your minds will be BLOWN

when you see her full array of magical art!

I'd also like to thank my sweet friend

Angie at Knick of Time

for including me as one of her featured posts

at Knick of Time Tuesday

Have a happy, safe 

and WARM week!

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On the Precipice

Precipice n: noun

an overhanging or steep mass of rock, 

such as the face of a cliff.

This is where I stand.

Transitioning ever so slowly from my comfort zone

of photographing beautiful vintage shops and homes,

and entering into the world...stepping out on the precipice,

so to speak....of doing portrait and bridal photography.

My fears and insecurities have held me back,

but thanks to the friendship and flawless mentorship 

of the amazing photographer

Amy Lynn Scarborough

of AL Gawlik Photography and Gypsy Pearl Studio,

I've taken those first few daunting steps.

I've been the second shooter on two of

Amy's recent shoots, one a bridal and the other

an engagement session.

I'll let the images speak for themselves.

First,

Here Comes The Bride....

 And then one week later,

the soon-to-be Mr. And Mrs. .....

 I'm not at all sure yet

where this will lead,

but I'm thankful that I've taken the chance.

And to say that I'm grateful to the amazing

Amy Lynn Scarborough of AL Gawlik Photography

would be an understatement to say the very least.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to
Chelsea Steffek of
I Love Floral Design
based out of the Austin area.
She designed the beautiful bridal bouquets
used in the shoot.
She also added multiple images of mine
from the bridal shoot on her page
on the mega-wedding site, The Knot!
Click HERE to see!

Soooooo......thanks for looking!

I'll be sure to share more as the opportunities arise!

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Anne Lorys Photography

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