Today I am thankful for the chance to walk campus on my lunch hour, capturing the soft snowfall and the serenity that campus exuded under it’s first layer of snow this season:
.jpg)
“He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it.” Job 26:7-9
in His love,
Laura
Last weekend was scheduled to be very busy and by Friday, the week had caught up to both J and I. Our house had been full of big decision weighing over dinner, maniac baking and shopping. To add to the ‘chaos’, we’d been out of town the three previous weekends (which always makes me especially feel a little CrAzY). With a trip planned to go to KC and celebrate both our moms birthdays, we decided to give ourselves Friday night to catch-up and sleep longer than six hours in our own bed….
After a glorious morning that began after 9:30am, I awoke to find out that a few photographers from the La Brisa Aspiring Photographer group were getting together to hang out. Can you say fabulous reason to delay our KC departure? They had a place to meet but needed something to shoot. I started to think through people that might be up and around and willing. After a minute of dead end thoughts, my eyes suddenly fell onto my husband (who was still relishing his last few minutes snuggled under the covers). After a reaaaaally nice “hey babe, how would you feel if we left a little later….and went and hung out with some other photographers this morning….”, J caught on and agreed to let us take headshots of him. 45 minutes later, he was wearing a full suit, ready to go spend his morning modeling. (Is this my life?
)
Special thanks to Chris of La Brisa Photography for getting Jenna, Elizabeth, Autumn and I together to hang out. Chris runs the Manhattan Aspiring Photographer group and I am so thankful for his willingness to share, lead and organize. captured in His image is growing and learning in huge part because of his great leadership. As if he couldn’t get any cooler, he also brought Varsity Donuts for us to chow down on pre & post session. I told you, he’s awesome. Oh, and he also taught us how to ‘turn off the sun’ during our Saturday hang out. See below.
.jpg)
Chris demonstrating his ability to 'turn off the sun'.
We explored Old Stadium and the Alumni Center, working specifically on depth of focus, natural light and exposure. It was awesome to help one another and share different perspectives, settings and results. It didn’t help that the model was pretty great, too
One of my favorite portraits of the morning
Paparazzi
I loved that Elizabeth brought her foster dog, Ranger, along too!
Old & new friends shooting away
Who knew I married such a stud? I think I said "wow" outloud while I was behind the camera
Blue Eyed Boy
Another favorite
As we were wrapping-up, Jenna (one of the photographers there), offered to let us take a couple of maternity photos of her. She’s due on February 14th (love!) and super cute. Thanks for letting us take a few, Jenna!
Definitely an awesome Saturday morning and maybe one of the last warm ones we will have for a while. Thanks again to my fellow photogs for spending the morning with us! Stay tuned later this week for birthday bash updates, snowscapes (I hope) and other fun and exciting photo (and friend) adventures happening at the Foote House. I’m off to have a sleepover with my husband and best friend. Oh ya, we are THAT excited about the impending blizzard
in His love,
Laura
no comments
I’ve sat down a couple of different times now to write this post without any success. There is something about this time of year that always seems to leave me feeling like I don’t have the ‘right words’ to articulate my feelings about the season. This year seems to be no different, however, i’m going to give it a try.
The joys of this year, so far, have come as Christmas and our new marriage have begun to intertwine with one another. It’s been a surreal, challenging, remniscent and magical. For this, i’m thankful. Even better, the holiday itself has not even arrived and yet we have already made some wonderful memories. To name a few :
- Putting up and decorating our first tree (a leftover from my college days but our first nonetheless!) To use our resources and incorporate reminders of our wedding, we filled out the tree by wrapping it with leftover satin chair sashes and skirting the base with my bridal pashmina. Still working on a tree topper idea….
We even had the snowy winter scene going on the TV to really set the mood
- Going Black Friday shopping in Kansas City from 11:30pm-7am all so we could pick-up some great gifts for our family members. Black Friday fell just days after Jordan left his job (more on this later in the post) and the bargains this year were definitely worth the sleep deprivation. This night/morning also served as a true test of teamwork and love. “Divide and conquer” was a motto we quickly adopted!
- Running to Aldi with only 15 minutes left before close to stock-up on baking supplies when we had an urge to give some recipes a try.
- Watching ‘Rudolph’ on ABC’s 25 Days of Christmas (an annual favorite during December) and talking to each other in all of the character voices for the rest of the night. Our neighbors probably thought we were crazy but we definitely got a good laugh.
- Finding an ‘our first Christmas’ ornament dated for 2011 among my old decorations that we didn’t purchase… It’s still befuddling (or magical), that an ornament neither of us purchased was found amongst a bag of decorations that had been packed away for over a year. Maybe someone knew this would be our first Christmas before we even did….
- Giving each other an early Christmas gift because my feet were freezing at night in our house and Jordan knew he had slippers for me hidden in his trunk and I, well….I just didn’t like any of his winter ‘pjs’ (if you can even call them that), so new purple and black plaid pants it was! Plus, these accessories have made our cozy, tree-lit, hot cocoa- filled weeknights even better.
Yesterday marked two months that we’ve been on this this fabulous, lifelong journey called marriage. I’m so thankful God created me for J. Most days that thought alone is enough to take my breath away. It’s the same feeling I get when I look at pictures of us from when we were little. Jordan, in Georgia and me in Illinois, born only 13 days apart and experiencing most of lifes milestones at the same time, just not knowing it yet. Our tendencies and means of exploration as children are very much the same today in our adult life and I enjoy thinking about the context of each childhood photograph and how we will remember and recall the moments captured in a photo today, 20 years down the road.
After moving our living room furniture and getting dressed up (for the sole purpose of taking these pictures), we employed my self-timer and did a holiday session at home to capture “Our First Christmas”. Who knows what our kids will think someday when they look at these. They’ll probably say something like “geez, mom was as crazy then as she is now and dad still just goes with the flow” :
Beyond the newness of this year’s season and all of the ‘firsts’ we have been celebrating, there has also been loss and transition which adds a bittersweet feeling to a time of the year that already flurries with emotion. Last weekend J, Mom, little pip and I all headed to St. Louis to lift up Grandpa Clem’s memory and spirit in the form of good ole’ holiday cheer. He left us two and a half months ago but I know my heart will ache his absence fully this month as I am reminded of him with every singing store display and tacky Santa hat I see. The man loved Christmas and everything that came with it. I can still remember getting out of the car as a kid after the five hour car ride from Kansas City, only to be startled by Grandpa yelling ‘hello’ from the ROOF. Light up baby Jesus had to get up there somehow, after all….
Well, grandpa, you’d be proud. Over seventeen of your crazy family members gathered last weekend and knocked out 300 buckeyes and a couple hundred sugar cookies for you. I don’t think the buckeye chocolate dripped down the side of the house while they were drying but I can’t say that the kitchen carpeting didn’t take a hit. Also, like always, people gave up on sprinkling and icing the cookies long before all the dough had been used. Don’t worry though, we rallied and got them decorated.
You were right there with us. Everywhere we turned, there were little reminders…….
Oh, and you can probably see it from heaven but in case (by some miracle) you missed it, the front porch also got a Christmas makeover:
It’s funny how life shows resolve in the face of trials, even when we sometimes don’t feel like we have any resolve left within us. This thought has been tumbling through my mind this month. One of the beautiful and complex things about the Christmas season is that most of us have traditions that keep this holiday consistent and predictable from year to year. This ‘snapshot’ effect, however, can make change, loss and transition painful and challenging. What a blessing, in moments where we feel emptiness over joy, that our hearts can turn to the true reason for this season. Christ’s birth changed everything and brought redemption into a world thirsty for a savior. The promise we receive in Him is like nothing this world can offer and for this, I am oh so thankful.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To wrap-up for tonight, here’s my promised mini-post on playing with heart bokeh! This works best if you have a 50mm lens. Also, I made my bokeh cap the simplest way possible, please feel free to be neater in your endeavors
Step 1: Using dark construction paper, cut out a circle large enough to cover your glass. Step 2: Cut out a heart (or use a punch if you're super fancy!) right in the middle.
Step 3: Gently tape your bokeh filter (yep, just made that name up!) to the front of your lens. Note- you can also make this into an actual hood that slides on without using tape. I was too lazy and don't like cutting construction paper enough...
Step 4: Situate yourself away from the tree (depending on how close you want your shot to be) and make sure your lens is in manual focus mode. The settings of this photo are: ISO 800 f1.8 1/160 sec.
I wanted to brighten up the room a bit for the next couple of shots. These were all taken closer to the following settings: ISO 3200 f1.8 1/125 sec
And voila, Christmas (heart) bokeh to add some fun to all of your holiday light photos
Much love to you and yours, have a good weekend!
in Him,
Laura
no comments
by capturedinhisimage
no comments