Farmer's Market

One of the mornings in Santa Barbara, Ryan and I went and wandered around a farmer's market. All the beautiful fresh vegetables, fruits, and flowers really made me wish I lived close enough to buy things and take them home. There were sooo many good things there. Fresh carrots, berries, flowers, potatoes, breads and loads of other things. One of the things I loved about it was that the people displaying the different things really took the time to make them all look so nice, clean and fresh. I loved how the artichokes were all set up and displayed.
There was this one booth that had these beautiful dried gourds that were painted a variety of beautiful bright colors and then lacquered up so they were nice and shiny. It was by far one of my favorite things I saw there that day. I also LOVE all of the beautiful healthy orchids they had there...but then again I've always loved orchids :)

Santa Barbara Chalk Art

So, while I was in Santa Barbara there was this festival of sorts. Every year there is this contest where people draw these AMAZING chalk drawings in the parking lot of an old Mission during Memorial Weekend. We went on Saturday, which was the first day of drawing, and then went back again on Monday to see the final product of these talented people's hard work. It was sooo incredible! I told my mom I wanted to go back next year with her so she could see it.

Santa Barbara

So, I spend Memorial weekend with Ryan in none other than...wait for it.....Saaaanta Barbaraaa! (...in case you missed the title.) He was working there for the weekend, and I'm ok with that because I had a wicked good time! Even if it was just one week post wisdom teeth removal. My face was all sorts of swollen and bruised up. Lucky for me, I wasn't in huge amounts of terrible pain. I did however keep telling Ryan that I was going to tell the people he worked with that he beat me :) I know... not very nice of me. Anyway, back to the subject at hand...Santa Barbaraaaa! We went to the Farmer's Market one morning and we parked across the street from this beautiful place. Turns out it's condos that were just wicked cool. They were so beautifully done, with so many little details to everything. I had to snap a few pictures because I loved them so much. But I guess with detail comes price because these little condos come in at $4000 a month to lease!!! Yeah, I said $4000, that wasn't a typo. Crazy huh!!! So yeah, these were just a few of my favs that I had of this beautiful place.

Hogle freakin Zoooo... yeah that's right!! So, this was just another one of the ways Ryan and I kept ourselve entertained and out of too much trouble. I didn't even beat up on any kids while we were there. I competely behaved myself :) Giraffes have always been one of my favorite animals. I don't know why, they are just so wicked cool looking. I even asked one of my friends that majored in biology if he could genetically make me a mini giraffe....he thought I was joking, but I so wasn't. I mean if they can do it with donkeys they can do it with a giraffe right?? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Anyway, these are pretty much the only too that I liked out of that day. I just wasn't having a high hitting day I guess.

I had SO much fun last weekend! Ryan and I traveled all over Southern Utah in the several days that we were there. We made it to St. George and Zion one day, then out to Lake Powell for a day, and the last day we headed to Bryce Canyon. It's sad that I grew up around those areas and haven't seen some of them in YEARS.
One of my over all favorite things from that trip was when we stopped at Ponderosa Point in Bryce Canyon. We pulled into the pull off and there were these two HUGE ravens perched on the sign. As soon as we got out of the car they both jumped off the sign and made their way over to us. I figured they were probably looking for a snack, so I got some chips out and broke them up a bit and to my surprise when I threw them the chips they caught them and ate them right up!!! So, I kneeled down and they ate right out of my hands!! It was crazy! But really really fun :) Of course I had to snap a picture to remember these guys by....

This was yet another early morning outing with my mom and our cameras. We got up early one morning in the fall and went up to my Great Grandma Addie's and wander around her place. We found this old rusted up bike leaning against the tree. Of course you know me....I just love the old rusted stuff. I loved how the blue and the rust looked with each other. After we made our way around her backyard looking through different things, we went out to the apple orchard where someone had left the sprinklers on the field over night. The result of that was ice everywhere in the trees, hanging from the branches, and covering the wheel lines of the sprinklers and the grass around them.

I found this one little leaf left on one of the apple trees that had been frozen in place by the sprinklers. I just love how you can see the casing of ice that surrounds the leaf. I like how the depth of field turned out with the background out of focus so that the leaf stays the focal point of the photo.

All and all it was another good but COLD morning out with my camera.

Christmas Morning

I realize this post is a bit odd placed, being that it is March and all... However, I came across these photos today while I was cleaning out a few things from my photo files, and just remembered how much I loved this Christmas morning! Morgan with her crazy bedhead hair, and Andy in his Bob the Builder outfit...infact he wouldn't even answer to Andy while he was wearing it. He would just turn and say, "I'm not Andy, I'm Bob the builder!"
It just made for a really really fun morning. Christmas isn't all about what we find under the tree on Christmas morning, but you do have to admit that having kids around always make Christmas more fun :)

Merlin Olsen Park

I took this photo about two years ago, and it still remains one of my favorite photos. I just love the simplicity of it, and also I LOVE black and white photos. I think sometimes with black and white it makes the focus of the photo stay on the subject, because it takes away what might be a distraction of color. Don't get me wrong, I love bright vibrant colors as well...but there is still just something about the solitude that you can get from a black and white photo. It almost makes it timeless...

KaeCie

I shot a few photos of KaeCie Rae over the weekend. Even though I did have some good turn outs from it, I was a little disappointed in my over all series. I feel like I got too suck in the notion of "missionary pictures." As a result I feel like I was a bit of a slacker, and didn't really do as well as I would have liked too. It's a good thing KaeCie is a beautiful girl, or I probably wouldn't have had them turn out as well as they did.
I did however love the natural light that I was lucky enough to pick up on. It was nice that it was a soft light, and gave a nice over all tone on the skin, whereas I think a flash really makes for a more harsh lighting. Soo...I guess if nothing else I learned a little over the weekend :)

Brooklyn

I kinda love how these photos of Brooklyn turned out... even though they were a bit overexposed, I really kinda like it. I like the soft, almost glowing look of her skin with the color, and how pink and rosie her cheeks are from being out in the cold. I love how the contrast on the black and white turned out. I just really love a high contrast black and white!! I guess another reason I just loved these photos, was because of the cute little look on her face, and her pink earflap hat. I love the little half smile, and the little sparkle in her eyes.

Sweet's Street

For two years I passed this building three or four times a week, and everytime thinking "I should really stop and take a shot of that." I don't know why, but I love these old signs painted right on to the side of brick buildings. I love them even more so when they are old, faded, cracked and chipped peeling paint. I took some in color and in black and white, but I felt like the black and white gave it more of that older aged photograph kind of a feel.

A Cold Morning In Zion...

My mom and I decided to leave early one morning and go to Zion to take some photos. It was sooo cold!!! But a lot of fun. The ice and snow with the red rock was cool. It's not a way you usually see photos of Zion. This panoramic turned out to be one of the best of mine from that trip. I like how the ice really shows up on the rocks in the left side of the photo. The river laced over with ice crystals, the snow brilliant white against the red of the sandstone, and the sun coming up over the edges of the mountains made for a great morning to be out and about with a camera. I don't think I will forget anytime soon the feeling of being out that morning in the cool crisp air.
I had this photo printed in a really big print...it didn't even make it to Logan from Southern Utah before one of the family friends decided it would be perfect for her husbands office and bought it. I didn't mind though, I was just please as all get out that someone other than me (and of course my mom, that's her job after all) liked it enough to buy it! My first photo sold :)

Red Cave

I took these last summer while I was home for a visit. My mom, Celeste, and I went hiking in Red Cave, and of course I had to take my camera. I loved how these turned out. I love the red orange sandstone with the texture from the weather. I also love how the sun was shining through the slot canyon. It was a great little trip up the canyon. This one of Celeste is one of my favorite photos. I made her stand there for a whole 30 seconds without moving!!! I know it doesn't sound like very long, but it sure feels like a long time when you have to be perfectly still!! I'm glad she humored me, I couldn't have done it without her!!