it's been so long...

Winters in the Northwest are tough for me.  It's soggy and gray and chilly and I spend lots of time indoors, which makes me feel like a trapped animal (in cozy slippers).  When we do get a sun break, I'm out the door as soon as possible.  

I was lucky enough to get out to the forest for an hour or so before it started pouring again last week.  It was quiet and solitary and raindrops adorned plants and trees and spiderwebs everywhere I looked.  The magical thing about the forest is that you don't have to walk more than a few feet, stop, look around, and you'll be transported to a magical world full of tiny wonders.  You can escape from the dreary ordinary world.

This is how I've fallen in love with the magic of macro photography, and why it feels like my therapy, my meditation.  It's what keeps me going through these long winters.

dress up photo shoot in the garden

Here are a couple shots that were warm-ups to the staged photo from my last post on the new photo series I'm working on.  My adorable model is wearing my great great aunt's communion gown from 1916, and a crown of lavender and roses we made together, which smelled amazing.  We went out alongside my neighbor's house, where the tall foxglove bloomed and captured these images.  I think she looks like a little fairy.  So much fun!

Happy 4th of July!

light in unexpected places

Today I watched a CreativeLive workshop with Brooke Shaden.  She's incredibly inspiring and is offering participants a glimpse of into her world behind the camera as a visual story teller, instilling the gifts of creative license and freedom of expression above all else.

For months, my creative soul has felt cracked and dry as the desert, devoid of inspiration and flow.  But today it rained.  It poured.  My notepad is full of ideas, adjectives, stories.  With camera in my hands, I am full of new potential.

I photographed clouds.

I threw out the should's and doubts and excuses and reconnected with my inner beast - an animal of impulse, aroused from too long of a slumber.  She's hungry.