Simple Valentine

My valentine's simple.

All it takes is a little paper and a little tape to show some love.

Love to my Bon Jovi concert-going girlfriends.

Love to my girlfriends who should've been there for some Richie.

Love to my ma and pa.

Love to the rest of my family...especially all the cute nephews.

And, most importantly,

Love to my sweetie.

p.s.  Amy's special love-centric V-day pic is here!

Shot for the Week: Frosty

Amy chose the word for our photo challenge this week. 

Frosty

I really wanted a big cold, icy mug of beer to shoot, but instead I went to the freezer...

and found these peas from a month or so ago...all that frost doesn't really make them all that more appetizing.  haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I love the accent on the frost crystals, though, so I still think it was a good composition.

There are some other shots out on Flickr you can check out.

Bright Yellow Posie Poses

The Rebel's adventure for the week was to find BRIGHT YELLOW.  I'm still working on macro challenges with my Copper Diem friend, Amy. 

Luckily, my sweetie Curtis sent me a big flower arrangement that had some big yellow posies that were perfect for the shoot.  I kind of tore the flowers up and out of the basket to get them posed the way I wanted and lighted the right way, but I think he will appreciate that I was able to put them to good use!
Here are a couple of the blossoms laying out on the denim pillows from my fave old couch that we don't have any more.  I like the close-up shot; the macro setting on the camera seems to give me the best results.  I have to learn more about the aperture adjustments and then work on taking pictures before it's all dark in here in the evenings.





And here's a similar shot with a little different composition.  I like the touch of orange from the curtains in the background. 

I didn't really like any of the other posie poses that included the other colors in the basket, so these are the ones I'm standing by this week.

Coast to Coast Challenge with Amy F.

The other day when I posted about my new camera I got lots of great comments and encouragement--thanks!  One note, though, from Amy F. at Copper Diem got me thinking...she said that she's been so focused on her day job and making jewelry that she's let her photography fun fall by the wayside.  So, I asked if she'd be interested in a little challenge so we could work with each other to learn, practice, and be inspired.  I heard back from her today that we're on!

The plan:  use the Art Bead Scene January challenge color scheme for inspiration--there's purple buried in there, so it'll be a great way to find interesting and exciting color combinations.

We're going to focus on macro shots--these are really up-close pictures.  Bead and jewelry shots will be a certainty, but food, flowers, and other organic subjects are also going to be big players.  I think some textiles and textures will be fun, too.

Since we still both have to work and make jewelry, we're shooting for a weekly post to share.  Plus, we're going to use flickr to share--once there's pics in there, I'll hook up the links.

It's going to be hard without a macro lens.  Amy's lucky enough to have one--she saved up for it and, to quote her, "LOVES to pieces!"  I'm going to focus on my aperture adjustments and my baby Rebel's standard macro setting.

Here's another shot of the palette from the ABS post.  I love that the purple is called "strikemaster." 

If you want to play along, feel free...nothing super-organized, just leave comments to share posts!