32nd birthday in Chicago

Jake was out of town at a work commitment for the entire week of my birthday this year. So I made a bunch of plans, including spending my actual birthday in Chicago with my immediate family. Since I got a DSLR, most of my Chicago trips haven't allowed for a lot of random wandering and picture taking. It was great to spend a few hours out in the city with family, camera in hand, on my birthday.

 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who made my birthday and my entire solo week so great. I am blessed to live near a lot of family and to have so many good friends in Milwaukee.

behind the scenes: DIY Lowel Lights

  I've mentioned my new artificial lighting a couple times now with the promise to share a little more about it soon. So here I am, sharing a little more about it. To recap: my original inspiration to make these lights came from this post and I used this tutorial for my lights. Full disclosure: this is NOT a full tutorial for making or shooting with these lights. There are tons of tutorials available if you're interested in making your own. I hope to share more in-depth insight in the future about shooting with these lights, but I can really only offer some preliminary thoughts and example shots this point.

In these first few photos, you get a close up look at the lights themselves. I decided to make two lights because I've always worked with two lights in my lightbox, and I love the way that you can create soft shadows a lot more easily with two lights than one light.

I added some removable white cotton to diffuse the light. It's awesome to have lights that are so much more powerful than my lightbox lights (400W total as opposed to 120W total), but I don't want the lighting to be harsh. The cotton attaches with Velcro so it's really easy to put it on and take it off as needed.

I have a new set up for these lights, but it's also really easy to move them around the house and shoot in other locations, as I did here in my kitchen.

Here are just a few examples of shots with the new lights. As I said before, it's still way too early to talk too much about shooting with these lights, but I plan to revisit the topic in the future.

I have three new backdrops: large ceramic tiles, faux chalkboard, and faux wood. Ceramic tiles of all sizes, colors, and finishes are readily available at any home improvement store at very affordable prices. You can read more about the other two backdrops over here.

This is a sneak peek of the first finished sample for my second ebook. I'll be posting more about that in the coming months, too.

Have you bought or made any new photography equipment lately? What photography skills are you working on right now?

Pinterest picks for my birthday

I haven't put together a Pinterest favorites post in forever. My birthday seemed like a good excuse to make that happen again. Enjoy.

Recently I've started pinning cat pictures, which is a slippery slope. Of course many of them are little orange guys. That face...seriously, how does your heart not melt every single time you look at it?

Ever since Christmas, I can't stop browsing kraft gift wrapping ideas. Apparently this is going to be my thing now because I literally have enough ideas to keep me going for decades.

 This is the best melted crayon idea.

This picture is so perfect for so many reasons.

Because I can read about all things photography for hours at a time lately (surprise, right?).

Butterbeer is a real thing, and no, it doesn't contain beer. I made the hot version for a get together earlier this month, and it was a big hit. Put it on your list of things to do.

Finally, the past few months I've been listening to Pat Metheny's cover of The Sound of Silence all the time. And at the end of the day, I still have The Simpsons' The Sound of Grandpa in my head instead. #reallife Also, this made my whole month better.

What have you been pinning lately? Feel free to share links in the comments!

a favorite early sign of spring

We don't need to talk about the fact that it snowed in the Midwest this week (and no, it didn't stick around for very long at least). Instead we'll talk about the fact that plants are starting to bloom! Even though it won't be really green for another month or so, it's so exciting to start seeing little shoots everywhere. Our front bushes start blooming in mid-March, and it always makes me happy to see those buds.

What are some of your favorite signs of early spring?

first 2015 trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo

Many of you know that I'm a huge fan of the Milwaukee County Zoo and I go multiple times each year. Somehow before this month, I hadn't been since the summer of 2014. The beautiful weather we've had this March was the perfect excuse to go again.

Where have you been taking pictures lately?