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Thursday, April 17, 2014

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
and here
or even here

And who knows?
Ya might even find me right here,
on the blog.
:-)




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Friday, March 28, 2014

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! )
as well as some of my recent uploads.

The first five were taken at


{ double click all photos to super-size }








The next three were snapped at






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
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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Saturday, February 22, 2014

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
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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Thursday, January 30, 2014

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



Have a happy, safe 
and WARM week!




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Thursday, January 23, 2014

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
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
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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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Spreading My Wings


Thanks to the tutelage of an amazing photographer
and FRIEND,
and as the result of much prayer and soul-searching,
I think that this year, 2014, I might just be ready
to spread my wings.

My raison d'être in the photography world,
or more accurately, my wheelhouse,
has been shooting things....stuff....places....houses....shops.
But hardly ever people.
People scared the bejeebers out of me!

But I think I'm ready to branch out.
To step out and try some things
a little unfamiliar, a little scary.

I'm only sharing a couple of photos here,
and none of the bride herself.....not yet.
I was super blessed to be the second shooter 
at a bridal shoot earlier this week,
and here are a couple of my images.




Taking chances is always scary,
but if you never try, you'll never know.


:-)



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