Photography
I’ll Never Tire of Weddings
Hubs and I went to our friends’ wedding on Saturday and we had such a blast. Although I’ve been married for almost a year already, I never get tired of weddings. They are such a testament of a couple’s personality. Whether the event is simple and sweet, or luxurious and grand, I always have fun at weddings.
Of course, I made a card for the newlyweds with some new stamps and supplies from my recent SU order.
Card Recipe: SU Upsy Daisy & Best Yet stamp sets, SU pink pirouette, chocolate chip, and kiwi kiss paper, PTI ribbon, Heidi Swapp flower, SU corner rounder punch (to make the border), K & Co pearl brads.
And below, just a few pictures of the happy couple:
Scott prepares to feed his bride.
Cheers!
Congratulations, Scott & Sareen! Welcome to the married club! 
Return from a Cultural Paradise
After a missed connecting flight and being stuck in Philly for a night, I’m finally back from Europe! Boy, what a trip. It was amazing, to say the least. I have about 20+ gigs of pictures to sort through, but I did get to pick out a few of my favorites last night.
This place is called The Hamlet and it’s part of the Versailles palace grounds. It was one of my favorite places in Europe. Doesn’t it look ethereal? This mini village was Marie Antoinette’s personal retreat on the grounds.
Barcelona by night. This was outside the National Art Museum of Catalonia.
And Barcelona by day. Outside the same museum, this is the view below.
Of course, the lovely Tour d’Eiffel. It was lit up in blue to commemorate France’s leadership of the EU.
The beautiful Louvre. I could spend days wandering aimlessly in this place.
On a riverboat cruise on the Seine, the sun was setting and I captured this shot of Notre Dame in the background. Paris is my favorite city in the world. I could live there.
Lastly, a picture in the Barcelona metro station. We took lots and lots of metro and I didn’t miss my car one bit.
Of the three cities Hubs and I visited (Paris, Madrid, Barcelona), I highly recommend Paris and Barcelona. Madrid was nice, but the other two cities were really my favorites. I’ve been really busy ever since we got in, but it’s good to be back. More to come soon!
I Want One Just Like Him!
Yesterday, Hubs and I hosted dinner for six people we invited over. Yes, we want to kill ourselves with activities before our Euro trip on Saturday (I haven’t even packed or planned our itinerary yet), but it was really nice to have the company. I also finally got a chance to break out our wedding entertaining gifts.
Dinner was delicious. We (and by we, I mean I) cooked up a yummy meal of Italian sausage and fennel soup, milk braised pork, smashed potatoes, and warm apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. Everything came out quite well and I was able to prepare most of the dishes the night before. I found some great entertaining recipes and I will share them all with you very soon. Our guests contributed a tasty platter of buttery mashed potatoes, salad with amazing homemade dressing, and a decadent cheesecake. *burp* I’m still stuffed!
Our friend, Jo, brought her little boy, Nathanael, along. He has grown so big since last I saw him! Babies are so fun to photograph. I had a chance to test out the lens that Hubs brought home a few weeks ago, a Sigma 30mm f1.4. Poor Nathanael, I chased him around with a camera all night.
I am not quite in mommy mode yet, but after tonight, I might change my mind. I know Nathanael caused Hubs to want a kid even more than he already does (and he wanted a kid to pop out of me, like, yesterday). How could I blame him? Nathanael is one of the cutest babies ever. I mean, take a look at those deep almond eyes and that tiny button nose.
Jo and Brian don’t know it yet, but he’s going to be the cutest little rock star ever. Just look at him playing Guitar Hero already… He’s barely twelve months old!
Nathanael loves his Auntie Jen. I demonstrated my Cuttlebug last night for Jen, and I think I inadvertently convinced her to buy one. Sorry Jen! Hubs says I’m a bad influence because I get everyone addicted to stamping. I don’t do it intentionally, I swear!
The pictures with the Sigma lens came outsurprisingly sharp, especially with the aperture wide open. I didn’t test the lens against the Canon 50mm f/1.4, so I don’t know how it compares. But, I like that that the Sigma allowed me to be much closer to my photo subject. Now, I’m just debating which lens to bring with me to Europe.
One more day until Paris! It’s going to be a crazy, jam-packed, insanely busy day, but nevertheless, only one day left—yay!
No Bug is Safe
No bug is safe from my camera, that is.
Hubs came home yesterday with this lens in hand. It’s Canon’s EF 100mm f/2.8 macro USM! That’s a lot of camera jargon, but it basically translates to me spending all my free time hunting for butterflies and daisies to take pictures of.
Hubs + his friends had an extra macro lens that they purchased for their startup company, where they take pictures of stuff and make it spin around. So now, this awesome lens is basically on loan to me… for as long as I want it. Yipee!
Of course, I had to test it out right away. Love it already!
Hubs took this one. I turned it into a B&W in Photoshop. You can’t see here, but in the full sized photo, my fingerprints are crystal clear. This lens is sharp! Hubs wasn’t even using a tripod.
Hubs’ ring needs some polishing.
A card that I made a while ago.
Everyone, meet Brownie. He’s my very first amigurumi animal. Amigurumi is basically Japanese crocheting in rounds without joining and it’s typically seen in cute stuffed animals and such.
I can’t wait until the weekend. I’m going to take this lens for a test drive!
Sausalito Photo Shoot
I mentioned that Hubs took me on a photo excursion to Sausalito on Saturday. Well, it started off as a photo excursion, but it turned into an impromptu engagement/portrait session. We found a patch of really good light so we couldn’t pass the opportunity up. I got some great practice with my trusty DSLR. I’m loving this little cam! Before I post some of the scenic shots, I’ll share a few of the portraits we took:
Hubs took these silly pictures of me goofing off. I’m digging the natural sunlight on the hair though!
I took this one of my brother + his fiancee. I really like the backlit effect. It gives them a nice glow.
A few more in the same lighting conditions. Love it!
Now I understand why photographers hunt for good lighting.
I also started working on my post processing skills. In particular, I’m experimenting with a vintage photo effect look. Here are a few results from my experimentation:
Lil bro took this one of me + Hubs. So cute. It was a bit blurry so I vintaged it up to make it look like the photo was shot out of focus purposefully.
And so you can compare, here’s the before.
And here’s the after.
I like both, so I guess my preference just depends on the starting photo and what kind of look I’m going for.
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
I often forget what a unique and beautiful city I live in. San Francisco is seriously a place of inspiration and a great city for a gal to practice taking pictures with a spankin’ new DSLR.
I went on a photo excursion last Saturday with my ‘lil bro and his fiancee. We were fine tuning our non existent (or rather my non existent) photo skills. One would think that I’d come home with a camera full of amazing pictures. Well, let’s just say I have a lot more tuning to do. Practice makes perfect!
Here are some of the more presentable shots:
This water sculpture is located in a plaza called Justin Herman Plaza. Years of living here and I only now found out the name.
Inside the Ferry Building. I love how the ceilings let so much light into the space.
Squawk!
Lil bro on his dSLR.
Chinese slippers, a.k.a. taw hai.
Indiana Jones visits SF.
Tall towers make me feel short.
Mushrooms from the Ferry Building.
The Photo Madness Begins
I am jumping out of my seat!
In a month, I’ll officially be in my “dirty thirties.” To console me celebrate with me, Hubsters bought me two early birthday presents. One of them was a Canon Rebel XSi. People, it is the most beautiful piece of technology that $730 can buy.
My Papa bought me my very first lens—a Canon EF 50mm f1.4. I LOVE THIS LENS. It has a very shallow depth of field and makes a nice blurry background (I think photographer people call it bokeh or something), perfect for portrait shooting and taking nice close ups of my greeting cards.
Hubsters also bought me a Tamron lens. The comparable Canon version costs $1000+. We opted to buy a similar $400 Tamron version. I haven’t tested this one yet, but it received rave reviews on Amazon.
I’ve been digging my nose into plenty of photography tutorials and I’m ready for some practice. Anyone up for a photo excursion?
