Isn't that what life's about?

But this is what life's about, isn't it? 

Dull winter afternoons. Kids playing basket  ball in the yard. Little birdies punching on the blackberry bushes singing to each other. Me on a walk, stopping to sit by the river and listen to the lap, lap, lap of the water on the bank by my feet. Masses of water rushing down stream every second. The river looks like someone dumped millions of gallons of chocolate milk into it, the result of all the rain we've been getting lately.

It's strange how easily I can compare my life to the sticks I see bobbing up and down in the current. Being sucked under but rising up again... And comparing the lovely yet baffling clouds in the sky to the things I can't control or change. And yet they do change because of the wind, I look down and then up and everything's different. 

Theres so much we can't control. I want to be someone that is controlled by the beauty I see all around me even when life is dull or stifling. Yet maybe controlled is to strong of a word. Maybe inspired is a  better fit. I want to be inspired every day by a little birds song or the sound of running water. By the interesting textures on a bolder and by the changing colors in the sky. Don't be too busy to notice the good things all around you, the things that can't be bought with riches but are given to us free. Because that's what life's about, isn't it! 

Sorry about the bad quality of this picture, just a quick snap of a little daisy!

Happy Monday! 

-Mary K.

The Gap

Hey people,

So yesterday I came across this video. It's called "the gap". The video explains the gap creatives go through between our tastes and the art (or whatever it is) that we make. When we start we have good tastes, we know what we like, but we struggle to make our work reflect what we see in out minds. We're disappointed because we know that the stuff we're making at first isn't good enough. This is the gap. Many people quit thinking that they'll never make it over this gap. But the key to make the jump
is doing a lot of work. Maybe even put yourself on a deadline, commit to doing one project each week or month. And by doing volumes of work you will start to catch up. You'll get to where you want to be. As Dory would say "just keep swimming, swimming!" It's a battle but you just have to keep fighting through it.

I'm in that gap. It's exactly like the video says I feel like I have good tastes and I absolutely love photography but when I look at the photos I've taken I'm disappointed. Sometimes I do feel like quitting. But I'm not going to.

My goal is sharing one project per month. It could be a photograph or a drawing or who knows... But I will share something here every month or perhaps week. If anyone's reading this please keep me accountable. Tell me when I forget. I need your help!

If you do creative work and doubt yourself or really if you do anything and doubt yourself go and check out this video: http://vimeo.com/85040589  It really encouraged me and I think it will encourage you too. Like seriously I've watched this 8 times in the last 24 hours! :-O

Night all!

Cheryl || Bridal Shoot

I literally don't know what to say. Cheryl was such a good sport to get into her wedding dress for me. In the middle of August I rented a couple sweet lenses and a camera for a wedding I was photographing. I had a few days to practice with the new equipment before the wedding so I had planed to have a mini shoot with my friend but her gorgeous Mother heard about it and offered to let me shoot her in her wedding dress. I was thrilled to have the chance to photograph a bride. As her wedding photographer hadn't gotten many bridal portraits on her wedding day this was somethings he was excited to do as well. 

So after I made TONS of mastiakes, cracked stupid jokes and had to pause every now and then to figure out the new stuff... This is the result. 

Cheryl and her daughter put this stunning bouquet together.

A personal favorite.

Can you beleive she paid her sons to help haul this amazing furniture out side just for our shoot? So awesome!

And another fav.

A little bit of a different edit.

That's it for now.


-Mary K.

A cold, wet, beautiful day...

Sometimes life can be hectic, busy and frustrating, and sometimes you just need to get away form it for a little while. Get some quite time and just read for a while or watch waves crash. 

Friday two of my sisters a friend and I went to the beach for a little day trip get away. We armed ourselves with tons of blankets and way to much junk food. We had a smashing time! Here are a few lines I scribbled down sitting in the middle of a storm with cold feet. 

"Today I went to the beach with my sisters and a friend. We wanted to get away for a little while,  have some quiet time on the beach, read, eat junk food and relax. 

Now I'm sitting in a  rock shelter with a log roof and benches made of logs. On a beautiful hill with the most spectacular view of the ocean. On a cold, wet and windy day. Great. 

The clouds are all around us. Its not raining hard but it's consistent and cold. The shelter where i sit is facing towards the ocean and rain. It has two doors and an open wall or half wall looking towards the sea. The Roof isn't over that part of the building. Also it had a few windows leaving this "fort" well... drenched. The floor is almost wet all over (with a few dry patches here and there). And the benches are for the most part only damp. Every now and then the wind drives the rain further into the shelter and we become even more wet. 

But I said beautiful. And it is! 

The rain dropping into puddles, stirring reflections with small ringlets. The sound of the ocean below. A soft rustle of the leaves. 

And us all bundled up in every coat, blanket and hat we have along. 

Cold toes, cold hands, cold nose but warm hearts. 

Outside one of the windows I can see part of the coast line. The think fog rolling in makes it fad away in a almost magical way. So prettily framed. 

The contrast of green on dark gray and brown. A small weed has grown up in the floor. White light defused in the clouds reflects onto the wet rocks everywhere. 

My toes are even colder now. And it sounds like the rain has grown harder now. 

It might not sound like much to you. Sitting warm and dry somewhere but I am overwhelmed by its subtle beauty. And grateful for a warm coat. 

Thank you God for giving me all this."

-Mary K. 

more blogging... and hello.

So maybe i'm not so good at this blogging thing. My biggest problem with blogging is that you need to do it often. Keep it recent and new. I want each blog post to be as close to prefect as possible. Grammar, spelling etc. But that's not me. I'm not perfect. And the things that I do aren't perfect. 

So i'm going to try again. Posting a little more often. The posts won't be perfect or even very interesting but hopefully they'll be a little more "me". Weird and funky but cool. (Yeah and i might just fatter myself again.) They say flattery will get you everywhere. I believe that.
So here we are. All I want to say to day is Hello. So here goes. 

Hello! 

Queen Ann's Lace

Oh my goodness guys! It was beautiful... The orange sun was setting behind the far away trees. Blue skies stretched for miles in every direction. Little birdies flew over head, singing their happy, bed time, tunes. Me on my bike, camera bag slung over my shoulder. Riding along soaking in the evening air. 

This time of the year is beautiful. Just beautiful. (Sometimes a little hot for this Oregon girl) but just gorgeous with blue skies and lots of excuses to eat Popsicles. One of the things I love about this time of the year is the flowers.

Went on a bike ride with my camera a few days ago right at sunset. There's a huge field like space near where i live and some of the bike trails go around it to create what we call "the long loop". This time of the year the field is just chocked full of Queen Ann's lace. Talk about beautiful! :) 

These photos really don't do it justice. It was that pretty.

Lady Bugs. There was tons of them. (Yup! I'm gonna have to be getting a macro lens sometime down the road.)

This stuff smelled like Mint but I've never seen look like this before. Must be some sort of weed. Anyone know what it is?

Hoping your having a beautiful summer.

-Mary K. 

The Big Picture

In life it's easy to get bogged down by the all consuming little things. Everything that makes your day great or your day suck. Bills, not enough sleep, to much to do, stress, chores, homework, and the list goes on. All those things that demand so much from us on a regular basis. You stop noticing beauty in life and forget to see how much you are blessed every single day. Things you take for granted, good family that loves each other and God, yummy food to eat, a good roof over your head, a car to drive, warm sunny days, green grass and trees all around you, and a God that knows everything about you and loves you anyway. ;) Yes you may not have everything you want in life, but you are blessed. In life its easy to lose sight of the big picture.

And when I say big picture I mean a high res. landscape with you as the focal point. Time to brake out your wide angle lens and capture the big picture. I don't know what yours looks like, but even though mine is a bit blurry right now, it's looking pretty ding, dang, dong good!

(Disclaimer: This is a random photo of a friend from a while ago. I don't actually have a "big picture" but I thought this one was cool.)

I got a chance to go outside today, lay on a blanket in the grass, listen to my favorite music, sip a yummy smoothie all while watching the end of a beautiful sunset. (I would recommend doing this as much as possible.) It was nice to lay there and just enjoy being. Listening to encouraging songs that somehow speak to me in new ways almost every time I listen to them. And it was good to think. Think about what is going on in my life, in the world, and how God is in control of it all. 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

    and the son of man that you care for him?

O Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Till later...