Nature Challenge: Friday

You might notice a bit of redesigning on the blog these days. I'm making small changes every day and I can't wait for the final result. Anyways, HAPPY FRIDAY! 

Nature Challenge: Thursday

You'll have to forgive me for the text-heavy post. And the run-on sentences!


I usually try to always keep things cheery here since this little blog is my escape from the stresses of life. But man, it's been a really off week for me and I'm struggling to kick so many negative emotions. Of course, there are those feelings of self-doubt. At 22, the future is as exciting as it is daunting. And often times, I go back and forth deciding which dream I need to wake up from -- my ambitions or my fears. Ultimately, I seek the Lord's plan for my life and I know that I'll do great things in His plan, regardless of whether or not I consider them great achievements.  But the uncertainty about my future really frustrates me so I eventually just decide on which direction to move in and how I'll get to the end goal -- hoping that I've made the right decision. I'm sure that God is moving me to where I need to be.

Then there are those feelings of insecurity that bog me down. I look at all these amazing, talented people around me and in the blogosphere and wonder why I'm not like them or why my life doesn't look like theirs. I know its unhealthy to compare yourself to others. I shouldn't. If I find myself different, I should consider it a blessing that I have something different to offer...right? I guess that solves it then.

Finally, there are those feelings on the ever-so-common spiraling post-grad social life. I feel most comfortable keeping people at a friendly arms length away, but I witness close friendships and I start to think about those few special friendships close to my heart that have slipped my grip over the years and how much I wish that I could get them back -- but then I wouldn't know how to do so if I approached them. I need the courage to face the possibility of being rejected.

The last two years of my life have been the most hectic years of my life. I've never spent so many late nights stinging with anxiety as I did these past two years, but I've also never grown so much. I am a very different from who I was two years ago -- and I'm very thankful to God for those growing pains. Every tear was not shed in vain, but pushed me to be better. Praise God! That being said, I still have a long ways to go ;)

Thanks for sticking with me, whoever you are reading this. :) Until tomorrow!

Nature Challenge: Wednesday

My favorite flowers.

 Forgive me from pulling this one from my archive! A photo from this shoot that didn't make the final cut.

Until tomorrow :)

Nature Challenge: Tuesday

Some moody garden flowers to lift your ... mood! haha

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Nature Challenge: Monday

Good ol' New Jersey has such unpredictable weather. We've been getting all sorts of it around here lately --  blazing 90 degree heat one day and the next day we have thunder and lightning. Haha all the more reason to spend some time outside, right?  Hopefully I'll be able to catch some of that lighting in the next few days, as I'll be attempting a nature challenge this week. Here are a few garden photos that I was able to shoot a few days ago.

Hope you had a great start to the week!

Bokeh Challenge: Friday

I had scheduled for this post to automatically post on Friday, but...it didn't work. >:(

Oh well, here it is! A few shots of  greenery around my house. It's a shame that I didn't have all the resources to try out all the ideas I had planned.

Finally some good rain to cool down the weather, eh?
That wraps up our bokeh challenge for this week! :)

Bokeh Challenge: Thursday

I wanted to shoot some water bokeh this week but I'm deathly afraid of bringing the camera to the beach or around any large body of water. So when I came across this lily pond which was no larger than the size of a kiddie pool, I did a mental fist pump. It wasn't long before I went running back for air-conditioned shelter. Can you believe the weather out there? Sweltering!

Shot some fine cattails in the pond as well.  It's almost Friday! Can't wait for the weekend :)

Bokeh Challenge: Wednesday

This glitter bokeh idea was one that I was eagerly looking forward to shooting this week. I am so glad that I have friends who are more than happy to be in front of my camera...makes my life A LOT easier :) Thanks for being my lovely subject today, JJ!

What a pretty gal, eh? :)

Above is a behind-the-scenes shot. Very quick and simple set-up -- she just blew on a small handful of gold glitter. 

Until tomorrow!

Bokeh Challenge: Tuesday

Eep, rushing to get this in before midnight! 

My mom received 6 cartons of blueberries from her friend, who had them home-grown. Usually I don't like blueberries all that much, but these were the most amazing blueberries I have ever tasted. I may or may not have finished 2.5 cartons on my own =X

I love this bowl. In case you can't tell, the bowl has blueberries painted on it :P

I'm a stinker for set ups like the one above, even though this type of shot is so overdone. Oh well! Saw the opportunity and went for it. :P Until tomorrow!

Bokeh Challenge: Monday

You can't NOT bring out the christmas lights when taking on a bokeh challenge, right? Hopefully, these will not be overused this week :P

I seriously contemplated baking a batch of cupcakes for this photo (bokeh photo + cupcakes = win)...but I didn't have the right ingredients :( 

So I drew a little cake instead :)

By the way, I'll be making a few changes to the blog this week, so you might have to excuse its appearance for a few days!
You all rock. Have a great week! Be seeing you tomorrow  :)

Bokeh Challenge: Sunday

 I had so much fun with last week's challenge that I thought that I'd take on another challenge for the new week! This time around, I'll be focusing on bokeh (heh heh) and thinking up of creative ways of including bokeh into my photos.

I was pretty happy about being behind the camera instead of in front! I asked my sister to be my model today (YAY!) and we had some fun in the front yard. I spotted that watering can shown as I was walking around the house and  knew that I wanted to shoot some water bokeh for today's photo. Also, I love the bokeh in Stephie's dress in the photo above!

Below are two outtakes. Before shooting, the photo I imagined was something like the one on the right. Unfortunately, I cut off the watering can and the bokeh circles are too large and not defined enough :( 

I asked Stephie to stand far behind the flowers so that she would be the same size as the flowers in this last photo. I had a "God uses little people to do big things" kind of inspiration behind this picture. If I can think of a more appropriate caption, maybe I'll add some text into the photo later. Any suggestions are welcome!

Catch you tomorrow! Hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day! :)

Saturday Portrait

Since the beginning of this week's challenge, I wanted to shoot a portrait with an open, light aesthetic and overexposed background. And I finally got around to trying it on my last day of my portrait challenge :P The light turned out a little too harsh, in my opinion -- I'm not sure if that's just something that I'll have to accept when shooting digital or if some reflectors would have fixed the issue. Also, I think today's photos would have come out much softer and more "glowy" if I had shot them in film (I read that film is much more soft and forgiving when it comes to exposing.) I guess this is something that I'll have to experiment more with.

This photo above was the shot that I envisioned before shooting. Just in case you can't tell what that green mess on my hair is, I tied some ribbon in my hair to make the back of my head look more interesting. Again, please note that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a hairbow as girly as this! :P

Shot mostly for the hands.  You don't want to see the outtakes for this -- I didn't realize that graceful hand modelling is actually pretty challenging! 

One out of all the many things that I learned this week -- I learned that I most prefer closing my eyes when in front of the camera to limit the discomfort. Hah :P 

That wraps up my 7 day self-portrait challenge! Thanks for bearing with me this week :)

Friday Portrait

Getting this in 3 minutes before Midnight! I will NOT lose this challenge!

Destressed from the week with some Photoshop.

And a gratuitous photo of me smiling, trying to make this as unawkward as possible, for the both of us. :P Kidding.

Have a great weekend, folks!

Thursday Portrait

Three days of pouring rain over here in good old New Jersey had me wishing for some sunny weather. Today I got exactly what I wished for...plus a wave of sweltering humidity. (I told you I was dramatic, right?) Whew! 

Since I've been wearing black in all my self-portraits so far, I decided that the weather called for some color. I chose this dress because it used to be my mom's when she was my age. She chose her own fabrics and sewed her own dresses to fit her perfectly, which makes me love this dress even more. (Love my artsy parents.) It's a 40-year-old dress so it has a bit of wear and tear on it, but I think it gives this dress some character. It makes me feel like I came straight out of an episode of Mad Men...

For the record -- I'm a few inches taller than my petite Mum and my torso is a bit longer, so the dress bunches at the stomach when I sit like that. I promise I'm not preggers!

:Cue epic Mad Men opening credit music:

My self-portrait challenge is coming to an end in two days! Until tomorrow, folks.

Wednesday Portrait

This self-portrait challenge gets more awkward everyday. In order to stop myself from apologizing to everyone on every post, I'm won't say another word about it for the rest of the week. </annoying unnecessary apologizing>


Usually I'm not tongue tied when it comes to my blog posts, but since this week's photos are focusing on none other than yours truly, I really don't know what to write anymore. I'll start typing about anything that relates to the photo, but then I hit Ctrl-A Delete and repeat this vicious cycle until my forehead hits the keyboard in frustration. So I'm just going to post a thought here and publish it whether I like it or not. 

One of the most fascinating things about blogging is that people can be in control of their image. Everything from the things they write to the photos they post can be orchestrated to influence the way others perceive them. As a person that tends to keep the outside world at arms length, blogging allows me to tell people about who I am from a safe distance. (I like to call this distance "maintaining my professionalism." :PP) Knowing this, I sought out other blogs to observe how they shared their personal lives with an audience. I remember that I used to bounce from fashion blog to photo blog to food blog and back, admiring the glamorous lifestyles each blogger led. I could practically smell their sweet glossy lives with each blog post and as soon as I turned my nose from the monitor, the scent of my own life would stink up my nose. (Sigh, I was so dramatic!) Soon enough, I was starting to realize that all these blogs were sending me the same message -- that I had to wear this trend to be beautiful enough or dine at this place to be elite enough or be this-that way in order have an interesting life worth talking about. I'm embarrassed to admit that I bought into this message for a while until I finally came to my senses. I certainly don't have the reach that many blogs do, but I hope that I can be a tiny contribution to the part of the blogosphere that sends a different message that you don't have to dine at exquisite restaurants or confidently take beautiful photos of yourself dressed head to toe in J.Crew, to be a person worth something. (But just to let you know, if you do dress like that and dine at those restaurants, power to ya and keep on keepin' on!) I didn't know that God was working in my heart then, and I keep on learning over and over again that my worth comes from Christ and not from how I look or how beautiful or ugly my clothes, vacations, or dining experiences are. That is a beautiful lesson that I intend to keep close to my heart, no matter how or where I end up in life. 

Anyways, I've turned this post into a novel. Until tomorrow! :)

Tuesday Portrait

This self-portrait challenge is actually teaching me a lot -- I've already accumulated a handful of mental notes about what kinds of light I can shoot in. Typically, I'm a natural light kind of girl. I've always been drawn to that glowy, warm look of natural light. But for the sake of experimentation, I locked myself in a room, hit the off switch, and lit up a sparkler for today's self-portrait. 

I'm one of those people that can't concentrate on anything else when I see fire. It's a fascinating weightless ball of energy emitting heat and bright light -- how is anyone NOT amazed by it?! I'm practically useless at birthday cake lighting and s'mores making because burning candles, bonfires, and lighters always have me hypnotized. :P All those little insignificant things that often bog my mind just melt away and I start thinking about the few things that actually matter in life, you know, the good stuff.

Blowing out the candle.  Until tomorrow :)

Monday Portrait

 

Preparing for a thought-out self-portrait is not as easy as you'd think! Before shooting this photo yesterday, I sifted through the house looking for some sort of prop to focus on, and came up with this whimsical-looking hair pin. Don't be fooled, this is NOT something that I'd ever be caught dead wearing, but it was what I envisioned and it did a great job of pulling attention away from me without overpowering me in this photo. All fine by me.

I'm starting to feel pretty ridiculous for taking photos of myself and posting them up on the blog. Haha but it would be even worse to give up now, so I'm going to finish this challenge. Bear with me!

Hope you're having a pleasant start to your week! The sun doesn't set until around 8:30 PM, so get outside and enjoy the weather :)

Sunday Portrait

I never thought that my budding interest in photography would have grown with so much passion into the hobby that it is today. Maybe it's in my blood -- I've heard that a lot of tech people like me fall in love with photo making.  Another thing that I've heard over and over again is that one of the best ways to learn about light & photography is to take self-portraits, but I kept this advice at a far distance because I feel very uncomfortable being in front of a camera. Instead, I opted to take photos of my twin or my model friends.

So...I've decided to take up a small challenge this week -- seven days of self-portraits. :record scratch:
I've made this decision for two reasons. First, I think its time that I heed to the advice and discover how much there is to learn about photography through a self-portrait. Second, I want to become more personal on this blog rather than continue hiding behind a shiny monitor. In some silly way, I consider my upcoming self-portraits to be a big slap in the face of insecurity and refusing to be held back by them. I know this is so much easier said than done, but if I don't make even a little step forward, I'll always be in this same spot.  
It has been a CHALLENGING one year since I graduated college. (For those of you who have just graduated, you're about to get a big wakeup call as to who you really are!) I've had more warranted and unwarranted meltdowns over the past year than I can count and somehow managed to pull myself together everytime and force myself to fight. Praise the Lord for pulling me out of dark places and pushing me/encouraging me through the few around me. 
That's enough of me for now, I've got to get ready for church. Here's to the start of a week-long segment here on the blog. Hope you and I will learn a little something about me. Until tomorrow!

Tutorial: Decorating Speakers

I thought that I could start a nice little tutorial segment here on the blog. This one is not very complicated at all and a little silly, but shrugs! I've had these wonderful speakers for a little over two years now, sent to me as a gift from someone special. I needed them to be able to hear audio from my computer (Long story short, my very old computer got into a fight with some headphones and lost, now with a broken built-in speaker and torn-out headphone jack.) Since its been two years, I thought this it was time for a little re-vamping. 

I'm sure this goes without saying, but the instructions are read left to right and down. Enjoy!

Love these babies! Promising some fun updates soon :)