And I Quote...

Max Lucado: "Think like Jesus. Act like Jesus. Be like Jesus."

You Capture: Autumn

Last Saturday, my little family went for a walk in one of our favorite places, an oak grove behind a local apple orchard.

It was pretty quiet back there, compared to the hustle and bustle of the orchards and apple shed. Apple season is in full swing, and there are tons of tourists.

Generally, we don't go to the orchards on the weekends during apple season, crowds aren't our thing. Since we only live a few minutes away, it's easy to go after school, or some other less busy time.

It's so much more pleasant with out hordes of people milling around. It's also easier to take pictures without a stranger unexpectedly popping up into your carefully composed shot.

And pictures, well, it's what we do.

I love vignettes with a beautiful, bokeh blurred background, (hows that for an alliteration!) they're my thing. Faces are Matt's thing, he does them well. Naturally, Gemma is often his subject.

Sometimes I feel a bit bad for my daughter, often we're sticking a camera in her face, asking her to be still, to smile, do this, now that. Sometimes she minds and sometimes she doesn't.

Sometimes it's better to get a picture while she's in action if she doesn't want to stop and pose, like the above shot. I love the action caught in the blurred motion with only her basket in focus. She was gathering fall leaves and acorns to decorate our home with and build "fall fairy houses".

  

But I love it when she is willing to cooperate, because then you get a shot like this.

You Capture: Autumn

Precious

"When that day arrives, the LORD their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown."  Zechariah 9:16

You Capture: Orange

What better orange thing to take photos of this time of year that pumpkins? Well, maybe some beautiful autumn leaves, but I live in Southern California. We generally have a delayed/nonexistent fall here, although this year, the leaves are already starting to change. Sometimes that doesn't happen until mid November or later here. Often I can't even buy pumpkins this early with out them rotting, so I have to find ways to improvise.

My garden is still producing, although not with the same rapidity. My cultivated wildflowers are still blooming too. But fall really is coming. The leaves on my peach tree are starting to turn. These pumpkins didn't come from my garden harvest though, they came from a store. Maybe we'll plant some next year. They take up a lot of room though.

These photos were a challenge to shoot. Sunny So. Cal. has been foggy, chilly, and rainy all week, so light in my studio* wasn't pouring through the eastern facing window like it usually does. On top of that, for a while I was using my Lensbaby macro which is not easy to focus properly. I wanted the aperture at 16, which of  course, means that I'm going to need a lot of light to get a clear picture. I'm happy to say that I was able to get several shots that I was pleased with.

 Besides the macro shots, which are featured in the second collage, all the other pictures were taken with our Nifty Fifty (fixed 50mm 1.8). That is my favorite lens. I'm most comfortable with it and love the beautiful, blurry backgrounds it can create.

Old books and pumpkins just seem to go together. I really love these last two shots. I'm always pleased with how my photos turn out when I use old books as props. I should do it more often, as I certainly don't have shortage of those!



"You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance."

Psalm 65:11 

You Capture: Orange

*My studio is white foam board set up on my desk in my art/craft room.

And I Quote...

Amy Carmichael: "If there be any reserve in my giving to Him who so loved that He gave His Dearest for me; if there be a secret 'but' in my prayer, 'Anything but that, Lord,' then I know nothing of Calvary love."

The Day of Surprises: Part Five

The final surprise was the greatest one: Matt took me to see The Phantom of the Opera! I've wanted to see it forever! Seriously, I've read the book, and have the whole thing on CD. As a child my parents had the the whole show on cassette tape that we loved to listen to in the car. I grew up listening to it and think the music is beautiful, but I'd never actually seen it, despite the fact that I know the words to the songs and can practically quote the whole musical.

It was such a wonderful surprise to have him take me. It was funny, because during dinner at a wonderful little Italian restaurant, my favorite song from the Phantom started playing and I commented on how much I loved it. Matt never let on that we were going to go and see it.

Imagine my surprise as we were leaving the restaurant and he gave me an envelope with tickets to The Phantom of the Opera in it! I asked him if he had planned to have the music playing during dinner and he hadn't. It was just a happy coincidence.

The musical was wonderful and the perfect end to my day of surprises!

You Capture: Animals

We have male two cats. The green eyed one is Cyril. The one with yellow eyes is Methodius.

 My husband wanted to name them Pinkerton and Winkerton, but I thought that was ridiculous. Too undignified and weird. He thought they were hilarious names and said we could call them Pinky and Winky for short.  

I wanted to name them Plato and Socrates, but he thought that was ridiculous. Too pretentious. Probably he was right.

So we named them Cyril and Methodius after the first missionaries (who were brothers) to the Slavonic people during the Byzantine Empire. Cyril was the creator of the Cyrillic alphabet and the brothers translated the Bible to the Slavonic language.  

This may seem a little irreverent because Cyril and Methodius are considered saints in the Catholic church, but we thought they made good cat names.

You Capture: Animals

The Day of Suprises: Part Four

The next place Matt took me was the Getty Center. I've been wanting to go for a while, but in all the times we've been to L.A. we haven't made it there. Now I want to go back!

 We didn't take too many pictures there. One outside view of some buildings from the garden is the only picture of the actual center that we took!

 All of the other pictures were of flowers.

 The gardens at the Getty Center are different and lovely!

 You know I just can't resist taking pictures of flowers,

 so I took lots

 and lots of photos!

Oh, and one of some leaves in a fountain. The colors were so beautiful.

More to come...

The Day of Surprises: Part Three

One of my favorite things about visiting an urban area (we live in the sticks!) is finding art in unexpected places, whether it was intended as art or I simply perceive it as art.

I found Living Sonnet scrawled on an old mail label laying in the street. I don't think this one was intended.

This sticker was stuck on top of many others on a newspaper stand. 

The City of LA stamped into the sidewalks was definitely not intended as art.

More to come...

The Day of Surprises: Part Two

After lunch we walked around a bit and visited a vintage store. I may have an affinity for flowers, but I also have an affinity for random old stuff. There was some really cool things in the store:

 There were tons of plaids and tweeds. I think these were all pants!



 All of the wigs made for an interesting shot.

 An awesome typewriter. I would love to own one someday.

While the vintage store was cool, we didn't buy anything. It was kind of expensive, and for me, part of the fun of  random old stuff is the search for it. A vintage store takes away the thrill of a treasure hunt because someone has already done the work. They've already found some awesome stuff and they're selling it. I'd rather scour thrift stores and yard/estate sales myself. You get better prices that way.

Anyway, more to come...

The Day of Surprises: Part One

Matt took Thursday off and planned a day of surprises for me. We went to L.A. for the day. One of the things I really love about living in Southern California is that we are within day tripping distance of so many cool places.

Our first stop was Canter's Deli for lunch. It's a Jewish deli/bakery/restaurant in Fairfax (a Jewish center in  LA) that's been around since the 1930's.

They plop a plate of pickles on your table when you order. I'm not a fan of pickles, but they looked really cool.

 The sandwiches were delicious, backed with fresh carved meat and on soft bread made on site. Matt had pastrami and I had a French dip.

 It was so good. In a few months we'll go back down to Fairfax to take Gemma to the American Girl Store, and hopefully we'll go back to Canter's.

Matt liked it so much he bought a shirt and he never does that, so he must have really liked it. Or maybe he bought it because it's a cool shirt.

More surprises to come...

Another Blog Make Over

If you're reading my blog  in a reader (Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.) click over and check out my new fall color scheme. And because I can't post without a photo, this is one I took yesterday.

And I Quote...

"I confess that when I have to argue about the truth of Divine things it is a dreary task to me... while they are wanting me to argue about this point or that it seems to me like asking a man to prove that there is a sun in yonder sky. I bask in His beams, I swoon under His heat, I see by His light; and yet they ask me to prove His existence! Are the men mad? What do they want me to prove? That God hears prayer? I pray and receive answers everyday. That God pardons sin? I was in my own esteem the blackest of sinners, and sunk in the depths of despair, yet I believed, and by that faith I leaped into a fullness of light and liberty at once. Why do not they try it themselves?"

 - Charles H. Spurgeon

You Capture: Faces

A prayer for my daughter:

 May you grow up knowing that Jesus loves you, that He made you beautiful inside and out.

May you grow up wanting Him desperately and find that He meets your every need.

May you grow up and be captured by the grace of this great God who loves you and wants you.

May you grow up and love His Word and make it the basis for everything you do.

May you grow up and serve Him all the days of your life with the joy that only comes from following Him.

 "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results." James 5:16
So I'll pray for this girl whom I love so much, expecting God to answer my prayers. What do you pray for your kids?

You Capture: Faces