Snowfall

We had perfect fall weather Monday and Tuesday, then BAM! on Thursday and Friday we get snow!

I like it though. I do really want to go outside and be active though, but it doesn't take me long to realized that I really want to be back indoors snuggled by a fire.

I've seen several photographers take amazing snowflake macros recently. And when I saw them, I mentally thought "Cool thing to do one day... I'll go pin it so I don't forget it."

Well, in less than a week we had our own snow. So, I went outside and began to follow their tips and I was like, "What's wrong!?" I wasn't getting anything good. It turns out that macro photography (with a magnifying glass) is really probably not something for one person to do because you have to hold the camera and the glass and keep moving them both until you get it perfectly in focus. 

Plus, your hands are shaking because it's COLD! So I put my camera on continuous and took a ton of pictures to get some steady ones.

The picture on the right is kind of hard to see, but it is a cluster of snowflakes... it reminds me of geometric planes, haha.

-MarLeahJoy

Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones

The things are just scrumptious! I have made them twice in the last week and a half and they don't last longer than 24 hours :P Partially because it does't make an extremely large batch and I live with a family. But mostly because they end up in the mouth of the cook! ;)

Blueberry Scones

• 1 cup of blueberries (I use frozen and they work just fine)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Dash of salt
• 1 stick of butter
• 2/3 cup milk

Heat oven to 425 degreese. In a bowl mix the dry ingreedients. Add butter and blend with two knives or a pastry cutter untill it is crumbly. Stir in blueberries and add milk. Mix batter until it clings together. With floured hands, form into balls about 1/2' thick and 2 1/2' to 3'in diameter. Place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 13 minouts or untill golden brown. Makes about 11 scones. After they have cooled, I coat them with the orange glaze. It will run off, but the more you can get to stay on there, the better ;)


Orange Glaze

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large orange, juiced and zested
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add the orange juice and zest. Stir in the powdered sugar, portions at a time to make sure it dissolves.

The little bits of orange zest add just the right "pop" to the sweetness.

I was taking these on a morning before I left for college. (Only two full weeks left! Woot!) So I was a tad rushed after taking pictures and didn't even get to drink the tea. Oh, well, it would have probably been cold and way too strong from steeping the whole time I took pictures. But I ate plenty of scones, of course, before heading off to school. :D

So, I must admit that it took me by surprise when I picked up my camera and started taking pictures. I thought to myself, "Hey, I like the sound of the shutter!" as if I had forgot what it sounded like. Then I chided myself for not taking pictures for such a long time... or blogging. :P I've had some people remind me that I haven't blogged since the 7th of this month, lol.

Well... delicious stuff. 

Guess what? You should make them! So we can share the love of them :)

-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

Shadows

I really want to challenge myself to keep going in photography even though I've devoted this school year to learn about running a business. So, I've been browsing Flickr and different places to get the ideas rolling. But, my idea for this week actually came from an article I found... so I've been scouting out shadows all week. Actually, they are everywhere, but it's hard to think outside of the box to capture them.

I love natural light so much! Bright light, dark shadows, gradients, and everything in-between :) I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a window in my room.

Then last night, laying in bed, I saw this little "spot-light" on my wall from a Scentsy warmer I had going. There was some junk setting around that was being "shadowed" onto the wall that triggered me to think about my shadow project, so I moved the junk and had a little fun myself. :)

Does this look like a bunny? Ha! I'm really bad with making those little shadow figures, don't judge :P

Elephant! probably my favorite animal besides pets :)

A little motion blur + a shadow. Though, I'm sure the motion blur is more dominate in the picture :P

me and my camera

-MarLeahJoy

Close to the Earth

It's one of those days where I will be perfectly happy to sit by an open window and do my homework. I love the low light and the perfect coolness of an almost fall day (2 more days - Yay).

The earth smells so good after a rain, especially up near our pine trees.
I spent a little time this morning, just hanging out up there with my camera.

You know what this is reminding me most of...? Colorado. Yeah I'm getting
pretty nostalgic right now, lol.

-MarLeahJoy

Hello, Right Brain!

My creative side has been feeling very deprived lately!

Today, I realized that I just needed to get out and take some pictures.

But, then I remembered why I practically haven't taken pictures in two weeks...

Both of my memory cards have been full of wedding pictures.

I wanted to be double sure that they were safely backed up before I took them off.

So I just grabbed my camera tonight with a fresh memory card
and just took the most random nature pictures ever, but at least I
feel a little more connected with my camera now! :D

Oh, wow. People have been talking about fall... and taking
this picture, just kinda made it all sink in. Fall is definitely approaching!

Yep! It's a grave stone! I normally jog at the cemetery. It's really

a nice place to go (better than a park where everybody in town 

know that you're running) though I would much rather be on a 

wooded trail... but we don't really have any of those around here.

Yeah, I'm definitely feeling fall... sigh...

-MarLeahJoy

Macro

I'm entering a Macro Photography Contest.

I really don't know what to think about contests.

I mean I know I'm not going to win, so why do I still

want to enter every contest {and giveaway} that comes along?

Maybe it's just what I need though, to challenge me to keep

seeing things in a different way and to keep trying diligently 

to improve and improve some more.

Anyway, you should check out my entry to see the images crisp and full size :)

I actually have two entries: linked here and here.

And feel absolutely free to leave a comment in my guestbook :)

So glad I nailed the focus on this one. It's quite an ugly critter, but who 

cares as long as it's in focus, right? lol

-MarLeahJoy

Myrtle Camp

I didn't really take too many pictures during the camp.

Actually, I am quite sure that others took more pictures on my camera than I did ;)

I would include some of those that others took,

but since they mostly consist of pictures of me with my

eyes crossed or my tongue sticking out... we'll just leave

those pictures alone. Maybe, my kids will find them

when they want to browse through my "old" pictures --

that should give them a good laugh! Haha

It rained off and on the whole time.

I guess that has happened most of this 

summer anyway, so nothing different there.

These little guys were quite serious about their horseshoe game.

I think I could be just as amazing at horseshoes if I pitched

two feet away from the stake, too... ;)

I had my extra lens sitting around and my cousin picked it up to look at it and 

wha-la! there's a mini version of him hanging upside-down. 

This is from Grand Gulf State Park.

It's a pretty cool place, and you can hike 

around down there as long as it's dry... 

and you can even go down through the natural 

bridge or cave and come out in another gulf.

Sad to say, I got stuck up in another area taking pictures of these little 'shrooms and missed my chance to actually go through the natural bridge. I only brought my 50mm lens so I used this little method to turn it into a macro lens. It was pretty damp out that day, so I actually risked quite a bit by detaching my lens to make it macro... and it kind of gave me a scare later because the auto focus wouldn't work on the lens later o.O But now it's all okay! :)

And then, of course the picture I just posted about recovering. 

She's so pretty.

And her nickname is Amazing-Amy!

So that pretty much sums her all up :)

The next day a few of us went back to the state park and 

followed the water bed to where we could view the entrance to the cave

or natural bridge, but it was filled up with at least 15 ft of water. It was crazy that 

one day you could walk through it and the next (after the accumulation of 

the rainfall) you couldn't have even floated through it. Anyone want to go 

scuba-diving in some muddy water??

 Anyway, it was a beautiful little walk and I have some more 

pictures to share of that day later. :)

-MarLeahJoy