2012 in review

2012 was a big, big year!  Above, one photo from each month of the year.  Below, many things that happened since 2011 ended...

• I bought my first medium format film camera and fell in love.
• I was published!  In a magazine I loved.  This was super exciting.
• I got a job at the very same magazine!
• I shot (and second-shot) my first weddings!  Five in all--thank you brides for giving me the chance and thanks Molly for having me along!
• Spent two and a half weeks in beautiful Ireland, and have been dreaming about it ever since.
• My fiancé and I got engaged...
• And a few days ago, we bought our first house!!

holly jolly

things i love thursday

This is my last TILT post before Christmas, and very likely my last before the new year.  And it's a good one!

• Christmas cards.  I guess growing up is having Christmas cards addressed to YOU as a person and not as a component of your larger family.  I received a few with the sweetest notes inside and can't wait to start sending them myself...next year.
• Our HOUSE!  We close on our first home in one week.  I can't wait to start getting it ready to move in!
• TWO end-of-year weddings to shoot!  I've had one on my calendar for almost a year now (and can't believe it's almost here!) and added another at the last minute.  I can't wait!  Next week is going to be busy busy...
• Paint-by-number.  I'm attempting my first one, since I saw it at the store and wanted a project to work on.  It's way more complicated than I'd expect something called "paint by number" to be!  But, it's an 11x14 canvas that we plan to hang in our new kitchen when it's finished!
• deliberate wedding-pinning, both for my own wedding and those I photograph.  Wedding photos are such beautiful and joyful things!
• Hector and the Search for Happiness, which I'm currently reading.  Really sweet.

foggy in the morning

foggy in the evening

fogstagram

Partially because I'm an Instagram fiend and partially because I've blogged every other day this week, here's a quick few fog snaps from the past few weeks (and this is only a few!)

Also, I updated my website a few weeks ago with more recent work.  So there's that!

Happy weekend!  

things i love thursday

• this photoshoot by we are the rhoads for Kinfolk magazine.  Grey weather, boots, a canoe...come on.
• Do Not Disturb mode on my iPhone...I think getting emails in the middle of the night disrupts my sleep (even though they don't completely wake me up) because the first night I turned on Do Not Disturb, I slept like a baby!
• Ink stamps...I'm wrapping Christmas presents in paper grocery bags and having a good time dressing them up with glitter and stamps!
• The number of foggy mornings so far in December.  Thumbs up to that!  
• Medformat, a tumblr that posts, you guessed it, all medium format photos!  I love it, I guess partially because medium format is just beautiful, but also because the people who shoot it aren't messing around.  Also, 120-mm (though any film lover would know that the "mm" shouldn't be there)

Also, this shouldn't really be a TILT bullet point, but have you checked out my print gallery on Zenfolio yet?  Right now if you use coupon code GIFT20 when you check out, you get 20% off your order...that's a pretty good chunk!  Head on over and have a look...

sweet potato & apple soup

I'm going to be able to start working from home a bit more, which means more opportunity to make a hot (or cold...either way) lunch, and photograph it in natural light!  I love soup, and there's a big box of sweet potatoes in the garage, so I decided to attempt a sweet potato concoction.  After doing a bit of searching (and eliminating recipes that required ingredients not on-hand) I decided on a sweet potato and apple soup.  My method, based on multiple recipe findings, is below...

Ingredients:

3 very large sweet potatoes, washed

2 apples, peeled and diced

1 large or 2 small onions, diced

1 TB butter

salt and pepper to taste

1 qt low-sodium chicken broth

Method:

Heat oven to 400F.  Line a cookie sheet with foil, prick potatoes with fork, and place on pan in oven.  Cook until potatoes are soft (I started with 40 minutes, took them out of the oven and sliced in half, but they weren't even close to finish and it took another 45 minutes.  They could have cooked even longer!).

While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in large pot.  Cook apples for a few minutes, until they begin to soften.  Add onions and continue to cook.  Season with salt and pepper.

When potatoes have finished cooking, slice in half and scoop the flesh into the pot.  Add chicken stock and warm through.  Remove from heat, then blend with immersion blender (or in batches in a regular blender).  Enjoy!

This soup is gluten-free and could easily be made vegetarian or vegan by substituting vegetable broth and olive oil for the chicken broth and butter.  I think you can play with it (I did!) to see what you'll come up with!

O Christmas dog

through countryside

december fog

sun to fog to sun again

thanksgiving in the south. part 2

things i love thursday

I should have done this last week on Thanksgiving, as it's a combination "things I love" and "things I'm grateful for" post, but I was out of town and more or less taking a break from the computer and posting on my blog didn't really seem pressing or important...

• inspiration.  I am realizing that it is important to take time to be inspired, through beautiful photos, blogs, magazines...seeing lovely things others have created lights a fire under me and makes me want to get out and do something of my own.
• photos by Michael Melford (particularly his Glacier set in the National Geographic tab on his site.  A whole new rush of wanderlust...) 
• Cypress trees (above).  We visited my grandparents in Arkansas, my first time at their house in many years, but I remembered fishing in nearby lakes among trees covered in spanish moss and growing right out of the water and wanted to go back.  I was not disappointed.  They seem otherworldly are are so fascinating!
• Zenfolio.  I created an account and am loving how easy it is to upload images to share with anyone in a simple and, if necessary, password-protected way.  Also really excited to finally have a comprehensive print gallery (which gives me an excuse to go through photos from past vacations and dream of traveling again).  Right now I have best-of Ireland, France and New England posted!
• My support system.  I am so, so thankful to have people who support my photography efforts because it keeps me working hard (even when I am too hard on myself).  Big hugs to all of you!! 
• The collection on adoremore.blogspot.com.  I only found out about it because the curator kindly asked if she could use one of my photos in a future collection, and now I'm totally hooked!  I really love sets of similar photos and she chooses some of the loveliest things.

thanksgiving in the south, part 1

a sweet rainbow

megan & jim / married!

t*i*l*t

• my new iPhone!!  Finally joined the club.  Loving how beautiful and fast it is.
• Bejeweled Blitz (often on said phone)...which I should say is more of an addiction than a love.  Shameful.
• this ^ beautiful box of macarons!  A friend dropped them off for me to photograph and they're so pretty I never want to eat them...except I do because they all sound SO good (six different flavors!)
• Etsy...I will go broke shopping on there if I'm not careful.  Evin and I will soon be moving into our first house (!!!) and I desperately want to decorate it with every sweet watercolor print and cutesy thing I find. (plus...psst...I just opened up a shop!)
• nasone's photostream on Flickr.  He makes beautiful, inspiring photos all around the world with a handful of film cameras (and can develop color film beautifully from what I've seen!)
• the fact that the election is finally over!!