Awkward is...
Hey y'all! How are you? How have you been? Me? I've been here and there, but mostly busy doing and thinking. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't thinking! If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen my instastories where I talk about being in an interview and being as awkward as all get out (thankfully the interview was at the place where I work so I think they have seen my awkwardness before)! Then I found this mug at Target. I thought it was pretty appropriate. Sometimes we just need to embrace our quirks instead of trying to hide them or fight them. At this stage in my life I think I'm just gonna embrace them, m'kay? How about you? What are you embracing lately?
The Mister and I were discussing photography the other day and I was telling him that I wanted to take my photography to the next level. I'm self taught and play around with my camera a lot and watch some videos, but I don't think I've grown as a photographer lately (can I call myself a photographer yet?!?!). Anyway, he was showing me some of his fancy cameras and told me to start using one of his--a Nikon d300s! Who am I to say no? So I will still be using my cheapy base model Nikon d3100 until I get comfortable with the fancy camera. Don't get me wrong. That cheapy base model has been so good to me and I love her. She was my first camera and will always hold a special place in my heart. And I'll still use her. But I'm excited to see where this fancy d300 can take me! I also have some videos left to watch. And this time around I think I'm going to read the manual, which I never did with my camera. The d300 looks so different from my camera. Plus the Mister has it set up the way he likes it. But I think it will be fun! The pic above is one I took with the new camera. Not bad. It's grainy and so were the other pics I took with it. But, as they say, practice makes perfect.
This is still one of my favorite photos I've ever taken. It reminds me of the type of photography that I achieve to accomplish. It seems that lately I've just been snapping photos just to have something to post, rather than being thoughtful about my subject. I've been reading Victuals by Ronni Lundy and oh-my-word it is a fantastic book. And the photographs are just amazing. Not amazing in the mind-blowing beautiful that you see over on intsa, but amazing in that they evoke feelings of nostalgia for me. Having grown up in Southern Appalachia and now living elsewhere (well, in Northern Appalachia) there's nothing like the Appalachian mountains and its people. That's what I want to focus on in my photography. Tell a story about the Appalachians. And I don't think I've been doing that. I guess in a lot of ways I've felt directionless. Just taking the pictures just to take the pictures (not always, but sometimes that what it feels like). So now I feel like I have a direction and a story to tell. I'll still throw in pictures of Anna Lee and my homesteading journey because who wouldn't want pics of that?!?! But I guess my point is that my photos will be more focused. Here's another one from the vault that evokes those feelings for me.
I also like driving around backroads and taking pictures. These back roads tell a story too. And usually I snap the pictures from the passenger seat of the car. But I'd like to be more mindful and stop the car. Look at angles. Use different lens. There's so much to see and to share with y'all. I can't wait. Next week is spring break and I'll definitely be using some of that time to travel around and take some more 'slow' pictures. Slow meaning that I'll stop. I'll change lens. I'll play around with the new camera. I'll look at things from a different perspective. It'll be fun.
I'm not sure where I was going with this post. It just kind of took on a life of its own! They do that sometimes. I think I was just meaning to talk about awkwardness or what I've been up to lately, which isn't much. I'll have a shop update sometime in the next week. I started a new instagram to peddle some of my wears. I'm selling some of my fabric stash, yarn stash, homesteading books, and vintage items. I'm selling some here in the shop too. But I'll also have some handmade items listed soon-knitted items, salves, and I'm excited to start selling another homemade product very soon. But I'm going to keep you guessing on that one! And one last one for the awkward category:
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