A Week of Fall

I woke up this morning to the aroma of a wood fire. Ah! It was the first time my dad has started the wood furnace since it has gotten colder, and it just makes me feel so cozy and happy! 

The grass might still be green around here and the trees haven't quite changed colors completely, but I'm loving the fall feel that's in the air. 

Over the weekend, I went on a hayride up to a bluff to enjoy games, supper, fellowship, and an evening service. Not to mention, it was a great place to take family portraits of a beautiful couple and their little toddler. {I will have to hold on sharing those until Christmas, so they can send them out in their Christmas cards, but trust me I can't wait to share! I already have the blog post made up and scheduled for December 26th ;) }

Anyway, I wasn't feeling very much like a photographer that day, until I took the family portraits, ha! But, I did take a few shots of the scenery.

I never tire seeing this sight. It is always an awesome experience to go out to the bluff with the leaves crunching beneath my feet, the fresh woody smell of the trees nearby, and then to look out over God's vast creation.

Yesterday, I got to take a break from being at college to visit my Aunt. She had cookies in the oven and apples and dip prepared, and it was just perfectly fall-ish to get cozy on the couch and have a nice chat. Maybe it's safe to say that I just love life and all of it's seasons! God is so good to me!

On my way back to college the sunset was so dazzling that I had to pull over and get some road-side shots. Well, and some of them were taken while I was driving, as you can tell. Shame on me, I know, for being a distracted driver on the road! ;)

I hope that placing two portrait images side by side will allow everyone to see the full image. I chose to do this because I was really wanting the width of the images on the posts to be the same. So just keep letting me know if it's not perfect. 

-MarLeahJoy

Oh the Joys!

...of losing pictures.

I lost all of my pictures from the March to May of this year because I didn't have my mac yet. They were on another laptop and it crashed before I could get them off. :( 

Bye-bye to all of the pictures I took when I first got my camera... :'( {Thankfully I had really important ones on a flash drive... like a senior session. Whew!}

At least I have this blog that I have resized images on... and flickr has some original sized ones.

So I remembered this picture I wanted to find... and of course it was one of the thousands that I lost. So I had to download it from Flickr.

Great! ...with one small problem. It had my watermark on it! :/

So here's a little of what I had to do so I could use the picture again.

Not something I can do with all pictures, but thankfully this one worked and I can submit it into a little local contest.

"I will obliterate you, little watermark!"

Before - After

-MarLeahJoy

Antiquing

I needed a little time out of the house, out of school, and just by myself to do something non-pressing ;)

I was super excited for the Maple Leaf Festival coming up, but it turns out that I might not get to go. So, last night I decided that I would take my camera on a date to an antique mall on my way to school to get that little relaxing me-time. 

So, I'm all stuck in a vintage mood today. Packing a thermos of tea to keep me warm until the car heated up... leaving early in my old beetle... sipping tea and zipping along back roads... swerving around in an effort to miss of all the pot holes and bumping along from all the holes I didn't miss... the morning sun glaring in my face... finally pulling my little car into a parking spot on the town square. Ahh, it was all too perfect :)

First stop out of my car was the little street market.

A quick snap as I walked into the antique shop.

I really should have brought my Lensbaby in, but I only had my 50mm, so I did a little freelensing. I'm really glad I have the Lensbaby so I don't ruin my camera's sensor, but sometimes freelensing is just a tad bit more fun... ;)

Neosho newspaper from 1969... Same year as my car ;)

And I didn't leave the place without a purchase for my new room upstairs.

A question for my readers...

Should I make the pictures a little smaller or is it good like it is?

-MarLeahJoy

Flash from the Past {Personal}

I just love pictures so much... too much.

So I will share some cute ones from my past (hopefully you agree that they are cute, I mean, I'm not biased towards myself or anything, right?!) ;)

50's day dress up for 2nd grade :) My mom was always so good about sewing us the perfect outfits for these occasions.

Everything about this picture is perfect, and I will be forever grateful to my mom for capturing it on camera. I mean, it doesn't get more little-girlish than pig-tails, tippy-toes, and mouth gaping open ;)

Some how I really remember this day so vividly in my mind! Momma was working with the garden, and she had removed some of the elephant ear plants for some reason and I was so, so happy to get to use one as an umbrella. I held it proudly above my head back to the porch and I don't know how long I sat on the swing like that, but apparently long enough for someone to come take a picture of the happy girl.

"Fwhello? Yesh, we are marshmallows today! Now, just let ush go play in the snow!" Haha

My Nanna would always supply us with snacks at camp (It was mostly because she wanted us to come visit her in her trailer, but we loved to visit her anyway). I think graham crackers were actually my all-time favorite, but vanilla wafers must have ranked up there pretty close for me to be doing this.


I just love childhood, and I love the memories :)
-MarLeahJoy

Vintage Style Wedding

Last Sunday was another lovely, happy wedding that I got to attend {and of course bring my camera along as a guest} So I got some shots from my seat that had people's heads in them. But hey, I'm okay with that; there can be a certain creativity and perfectness in the most un-perfect situations in photography.

When I first walked up to the front doors of the chapel I saw this most adorable old car and I exclaimed, "Oh, that looks just like Kariann!" They were going away in a '61 Cadillac! How cool is that?! Of course, I do have a certain pull to old cars now that I drive around a retro one everyday :D

So, I've made a little video for you that shares just what my view of the wedding was like as a guest. The song was "I Walk The Line" that Dusty sang to Kariann during the ceremony. It was just terribly sweet! :)

Dusty and Kariann {October 6th 2013} from MarLeahJoy on Vimeo.

During the ceremony, Alyssa leaned over and whispered for me to take a picture of "him". Well, I happened to be looking at the photographer at the moment and so I swung my camera up and was about to take a picture of the photographer doing his job, when Alyssa was like, "No, the little boy!" I was like, "Oh. Haha!" She told me that I was waayyyy to ready to take a picture of the photographer. ;) Well, all I can say is... you know where my mind is: on photography (the man was using a really sweet lens, btw) ;)

The adorable couple...

As you can tell from the video, all the food was even vintage-y. Like the old-style coke and root beer bottles. Well, I'm not a fan of either of those products, but I had to get one just because I loved the old glass bottle it was in. ;) It turns out I really should have got root beer! Blah! I forgot how completely nasty coke was. :P

Have a wonderful, wonderful Saturday!
-MarLeahJoy

A Wedding Shower

Wow, we are getting super-ooper-dopper close to my sister's wedding {less than a month now}.

Thank goodness I actually have my bridesmaid dress mostly complete because I really didn't foresee it sneaking up on us like this. {Especially when you have your sister and bride-to-be constantly sharing the countdown, by the second, to the time of her wedding... it seemed to drag on with her "nagging"} But I can't wait for the big day {Nov. 2} :D

The bride-to-be and her momma :)

I spent my whole day off from college on Tuesday cleaning and getting the decor ready for the shower. Then, it was time to relax and enjoy our friends. {Does anyone else find it difficult to transition from the frantic I'm-rushing-around-getting-the-house-ready to the calm and collected Hi!Welcome-to-our-home.I'm-trying-to-be-hospitable-now?}

Anyway, and time to eat Butterfingers! Yeah, you might spot them in a picture below ;)

Sweet little bit of "happy-baby" drool :P

And then of course, after the lovely evening was over, and all the guest had left... time to bring out the books and get my homework done and a little bit of sleep before going to school the next day.

And, yes. I have updated my blog and I will be making some more changes to it. :)

It was really a last minute thing I decided to do last night after being inspired by a blog I liked to try to make my little bloodspot look as less-blogspot-ish as possible! :P

I must get on my accounting homework now. Goodbye, while I hole up for the next 4 hours with my nose in my accounting book and my fingers flying with numbers. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Familiars

Ehh... I'm sorry if my blog is boring you because it's boring me. Ha!

I've been thinking, "Why haven't I had anything cool or exciting on my blog lately?"

Well, I have been in a tad bit of a photography rut. I tried to prevent it, but I must say,

I'm definitely there. :/

So, I brought out my camera yesterday and I was determined to take some pictures. The result: pictures of my common, everyday life. ;)

We've had a lot of fresh flowers around the house lately :) Not sure why, but hey, I'm not complaining.

The rest of these images I was just experimenting with the quality and desired bokeh. (out of focus areas) :)

my dad at work

my mac :)

me

my car :)

-MarLeahJoy