I looked outside in my lawn today and surprisingly couldn’t find the perfect dandelion since we didn’t have that many (I think the doggies might destroy them as they frolic through the yard all day).  Anyways that got me to thinking, what am I looking for a “perfect” dandelion?  Well duh of course you can’t find it!!!!  Nothing is “perfect”!  Much like nothing is perfect neither are people and that’s what went through my mind as I was searching my yard.  I began to think of all the people I quickly judged, those that I was embarrassed to be see with in public, those that I wanted to hang around to make me look cooler, then I began to think of myself and how imperfect I really am.  I’d like to think I’m perfect and I’m sure my mom and my husband could attest to the fact that I’m never wrong.  This thought must have been in my mind all day because while I was getting my hair cut by my favorite stylist Sarah Faye Burnett at Black Sheep I had the realization that everything in the world is an opinion (we were talking in context of parenting) but really this applies to pretty much everything!  Think about it……..I think white = clean.  You might disagree and think white = dirty.  But for me when I see the color white it signals in my brain that something is clean, much like going to a hotel and everything is white in the bathroom while I’m thinking it’s spotless and clean it’s probably really really dirty in all actuality!  Ok my point besides all this rambling is simply that we are all different and I am greatful for that!  How boring would all my photo shoots and weddings be if we were all the same!  YIKES!!!  I used to think there was a perfect person and I wanted to be that person.  I wanted all the coolest clothes, I wanted to have long beautiful hair, I wanted a clean fresh face (which I still want that), I wanted white teeth, I wanted a cool car, I wanted to wear a certain color nail polish, I wanted to be someone I didn’t even know (probably bc that person didn’t exist in real life), but now I’m excited to meet all the different people out there!  So many of us have such interesting stories and experiences to share with each other so why don’t we stop being so judgmental and open up!!?!?!?!?  When was the last time you struck up a conversation with a complete stranger?

This isn’t the perfect dandelion but he’s still a cutie!

Enjoy!

-erika

I took this image off of my front porch this evening!   I love a beautiful sunset!  Now all I need is some lemonade, a husband, and a hammock!  Oh and a little warmer evenings!

Enjoy!

-erika

In my life I’ve had lots of hobbies come and go, everything from scrapbooking to refinishing furniture.  So I’m honestly not sure how long this one will last either but I’ll share my newest hobby.  Vintage cameras!  I love how cool they look.  I’m sure since they are in style right now that attributes to my newest obsession but still that’s what it is.  It’s so fun to go in and find a cool looking old camera for $10!!!!

Enjoy!

-erika

I love to imagine that I am a gardener, but in all actuality our garden measures 6ft by 2ft and it’s only sprouting our two small rows of corn so far!  The new doggie has dug into our cantaloupe mounds already!  UGH.  But I will say I was super excited to actually see something come up!  I planted several flower bulbs in our front garden bed (you know the ones where you’re supposed to put pretty bushes to accent your house) and seriously they haven’t sprouted at all and that was at least a month ago!  I’m loosing hope on them………

Here’s our tough corn sprouts!

Enjoy!

-erika

Tonight I saw the neatest tree being illuminated by the street lights in front of my mom’s home.  I like this image because it was straight out of the camera and it also reminded me of the fall.  I love how much yellow is in this image even though in real life that tree is totally green during the day!  Isn’t it interesting how much things change from day to night and how much of an impact light has on our subjects?

Oh and FYI the majority of the comments have been about choosing my new plan.  Although my momma’s comment was the best she still even leaned towards the new idea!  :)  I love that girl.  She secretly reads my blog.   I guess that’s not a secret anymore.  I hope you all enjoy my new venture.  I’m pretty excited about the things I am going to be able to offer you visually!

Enjoy!

-erika

As you know or maybe you don’t and you’re just now finding out (which is totally fine), I have been involved in at 365 day self portrait project.  I got pretty excited about this project a few times back and have never been able to complete it.  I was challenged by one of my headshot clients Andrew Baker (which he’s famous on cruise ships by the way!) to finish it.  I decided to take him up on it just since I thought this would be a good year to document myself, with all these baby changes going on and all.  But then the other side of my brain has been thinking alot (that’s trouble).  So here’s where I’m at…….Actually I was going to just decide to change this myself but I think I’ll leave it up to you guys.  Let me lay out my new plan first though.  NEW PLAN:  Involves a picture everyday still, 2 self portrait pictures a week (one Tummy Tuesday and then a regular one), 5 photos per day of anything but they have to be somewhat creative (no bottles of hand lotion bc I can’t think of anything else).  OLD PLAN: 365 pictures of myself in the shot somehow.  A few reasons I have been thinking about changing it up……

-I have been noticing little things around me that I would love to shoot but really have no real good reason to (now I could post them daily)

-I have been wanting some art work in my house of my photography but obviously I don’t want a bunch of pictures of random couples (as beautiful as  they might be)

-I feel like a failure when I post images with letters from Google because I don’t feel like taking my picture that day

-I don’t feel like forcing myself to take a self portrait of my hands or something useless then writing about it is really the point of the project anyways, it’s about being creative.

-I have enough self portraits now!  :)

So I want to hear your opinions.  Should I stick with the OLD PLAN or change it up and go with the NEW PLAN?

I’ll post a few images I took today just as a sample of things to come…..

My mom is in Engineering and in one of their classes she’s in a group that  has a bunch of fish to take care of and produce a filtering system and keep them all alive.  Here is one of her team’s fish.  I will name him Harry.  I think Harry was a little irritated with me today.  They needed some good pictures for a powerpoint so I offered to help out.

Man we live in a beautiful area!  I took this as I was driving home, obviously yes I got out of my car to shoot this.  I just loved the way the light was coming through the trees and all the yellows!!!

I thought the ground looked cool.  For some reason this image reminded me of the ocean?  (Insert your own interpretation here)  This was taken on my way home as well, actually as I was walking back to my car from the above shot.

Enjoy!

-erika