Hello, dears!
I’m SO excited to post this photoshoot, because I think it’s one of my favorites ever! The evening was certainly wonderful. ❤ Plus, the lighting was so perfect I didn’t have to edit most of these at all! Definitely a bonus. Continue reading
Guys, I have SO many extra photos. And that happens pretty much all the time. So I decided to make a new little series: these “Etcetera” posts will have random photography as well as recent life, thoughts… etc. XD (kind of like monthly wrap-ups, but different). I hope you enjoy reading them!
Now, where to begin? I have SO much to cover. Aha, Maggie is a good subject to start with.
I was trying to take a picture of Maggie’s eye but she kept MOVING. XD I did get this one good one, though:
I also got some other, less close-up shots of her. I just love all of Maggie’s expressions, hee hee. It looks like she’s saying, “Aww, you shouldn’t have,” don’t you think?
Such a pretty pup. ♥
It looks like she’s praying. 😛
Dad just finished combining (harvesting corn) for the year. WOOHOO! Now maybe we can jump in the grain bins…
Speaking of fields, Megan and I (and Maggie) did a little mini photoshoot in the soybean field while it was golden green and brown. Isn’t the lighting AMAZING?
If you guys like my photography/lifestyle posts, you should totally check out Emmaline Figura’s blogs, Lucillian Photography and Crystal Ice Studio! Her photography is AMAZING – she deserves so many more followers!
I love this picture, but it sure took a while to clone out the soybean that so rudely butted in front of Megan’s chin. XD Humph, I shouldn’t have said that. Now you’re all probably inspecting Megan’s chin…
Megan got a few pictures of me but most of them didn’t turn out or I had a weird expression, heh heh. This is probably the best one. Still have a weird expression. XD
Guess what? My younger brother and I were driving to piano lessons today, and when we got there we found that one of my car’s tires was completely flat. O.o But guess what again? My brother changed it himself, while I was having my lesson! I really want to learn stuff like that – I’m much better at art than mechanics. XD
The sunset did capture well on my camera, but it did make for some neat silhouettes and bokeh!
Singing hymns is one of my favorite things at our church. The congregation sings beautifully, and it’s glorious when we do an a capella verse. ♥ I like singing for things like that, but not enough to take voice lessons or anything. I usually just hum and whistle at home. 🙂
Do you guys have any special plans for Thanksgiving? We’re having three different celebrations because we have a rather large extended family. 😉 Are you traveling? We aren’t – most of our family lives quite close by. But if you are, here’s a tip: salty snacks like chips really take carsickness away. Well, I mean they help if you eat them. They won’t do much good just sitting there by your seat.
Dad and the kids always pick out a hanging flower basket for Mom for Mother’s Day, and it lasted all the way into late fall this year! Isn’t it pretty?
Ugh, I have to write a 15-30 page research paper for school. *Long sigh* At least we’re taking this week off for Thanksgiving!
We also have a rose bush (well more like a rose vine) by our door, and it’s a weird mix of knockout-type roses and “real” roses, as we like to call them. There are usually only a few “real” roses a year and this was one of them. ♥
To find the rose you must first get past the thorns. To find the rainbow you must first walk through the storm. Bad things make the good more beautiful. And always remember, my dear, there is beauty even in brokenness.
GUYS. LOOK AT THIS PHOTO! I just pressed the button and the moth behind just happened to fly in at the right moment. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.
Pretty butterflies + pretty zinnias – my photobombing car = a mildly pretty picture.
We have one very old apple tree that usually produces nothing but food for worms. XD However, this year it actually grew real apples and they were DELICIOUS! I don’t know what kind they were, but they were stupendous. And I found this one extremely large apple – see? (The one on the right is a more normal-size one.)
It weighed 15 OUNCES. ALMOST A POUND.
These might be some of my favorite pictures ever! I just love the golden lighting so, so much, especially with the golden tones of the flowers. ♥
Sometimes I feel wise and knowledgeable, and then I wonder if that simply means I still have so much to learn. I guess that happens when you’re a teenager, huh? 😛
(Side note: I rather dislike the word “teenager” for some reason. Don’t exactly know why.)
And would you look at all that bokeh? AHHHHH.
This picture seems relaxing, like you can feel the sun and hear the breeze through the willow branches. 🙂 I can sort of remember planting this willow tree, even though it’s quite a good sized tree now – it’s a curly willow so it grew SUPER fast.
This isn’t really a garden, but it’s golden. Even dust is beautiful when the sun shines through it.
I think cameras can make anything beautiful. In fact, here’s a challenge: find three things you think are ugly and try to take a beautiful picture of them.
We also have two black and two English walnut trees in our yard. I strongly dislike the bitter taste of black walnuts, but English walnuts taste great! (They’re the kind you get in stores.) We don’t usually shell these though, because it’s a lot of work for not much result. Have you tried black walnuts?
This is rather random, but I wanted to take a picture of a begonia blossom from my grandmother’s hanging flower pot because I noticed the beautiful, intricate curlicues in the center of the blossoms. I love the little things like this. 🙂
I got a picture of my youngest brother pressure-washing one of the wagons. 🙂 His birthday was today, actually! The frame was supposed to be transparent but it’s showing up black here…? I hope it works once I publish the post, but I’m doubtful.
I like the way shadows look on this barn. 🙂
And now we have come to the end of this post. Wow, Allison, what a moving conclusion. *clap, clap*
ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed reading this gathering of orphaned thoughts and photos. 😛 I know it was an enormous post, but I’m only half-sorry because phew, I now have a large chunk of my random photos squared away. XD I don’t think Etcetera posts will usually be this long, though, if I do them in the future. Which category/picture/random thingy was your favorite? Do you think Etcetera posts would make a good series or are they too random and scattered (because I would kind of agree with you on that XD)?
Have a wonderful day, dears, and thanks so much for reading. ♥
***Allison***
Heh heh, I know this is rather late for a summer post, but hey, we haven’t fallen too far into autumn yet, right? (See what I did there?) Anyway, I loved Clara’s summer recap post, so I decided to do one of my own!
Here’s a recap of this summer’s happenings in pictures.
Raising and selling a litter of darling baby bunnies. ♥
Taking a lovely trip to Assateague and Chincoteague Island.
Playing piano at the nursing home and filling in for the pianist at church. O.o
Finding barn kittens.
All the flowers.
Working on a project I will hopefully reveal soon… (Here’s a sneak peek:)
Swimming at our neighbor’s pool.
Re-designing a board game I created. (Sneak peek:)
Saying goodbye to Clementine. 😦
Making lots and lots of art.
Taking lots and lots of pictures.
Watching sunsets.
Celebrating fourth of July with family. (Photo credit to my aunt.)
Going camping in tents with cousins and grandparents.
Hatching swallowtail butterflies.
Cutting and creaming 150 quarts of corn from our sweet corn patch. O.o
Books.
Watching the eclipse (even though I got rather poor photos XD).
Having simply splendid time at Amelia Island with friends.
The County Fair.
Starting WordCrafters 3.
Gardening and canning produce.
Sewing class.
Making decorations for our monthly church meals.
CWWC (see my entries here) and BIBPC, (this my latest entry).
Nature Study with friends.
Bonfires, big and small.
Megan’s birthday (which included a water balloon fight).
It was a lovely summer. 🙂 I had a lot of fun but I also learned a lot, I think more in practical knowledge than book knowledge. It’s been good.
How was your summer?
***Allison***
The other day I asked my mom and youngest sister Carmen if they wanted to go up the hill and see the sunset with me, and they did. It was GLORIOUS! Not quite the best sunset I’ve ever seen (I still think this sunset is the winner), but it was indeed beautiful. See? The pictures speak for themselves.
Ahhh, now isn’t that breathtaking? I just loved sitting up there on the hill and soaking it all in. ♥ I pieced together a couple of pictures for this panorama. What do you think? It’s not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well for piecework. 😛
I hope this brought a little sunshine to your day, my friends. (Pun intended. XD )
Have a great one!
***Allison***
A little while ago Megan and I decided to do another sister’s photoshoot! (See the first one here. Oh yeah, she’s gotten contacts since then!) I don’t take pictures of people very often, so I thought it would give me good practice, and not to mention Sisters Photoshoots are really fun. 😀 They are certainly not the best portraits ever, but I had fun experimenting and I thought I’d show you guys the results. 🙂
Megan wanted me to get some pictures of her in a tree with the golden sun shining through the leaves, so I did… but they didn’t turn out quite as golden as it seemed like it should. XD
This is a random photo I took of Megan for a co-op thing. :
She was certainly looking here! No, I just scared her and she jumped. XD I love taking jumping pictures! Apparently Megan does too. XD
After that, Megan took some pictures of me. I was inspired by Loren’s gorgeous post to make a crimson clover flower crown. 😀 Heh heh, it was a bit too sunny so I’m squinting a bit and my smile looks kind of pained, but otherwise I like these pictures. XD XD XD I’ll keep trying… 😛
After that I took some pictures of myself with the timer on my camera, since I don’t have a remote. I kept running back and forth until I wore a path in the triticale field (and got my capris rather green). XD
I did get one that I liked enough to be my profile picture, as you might have noticed.
There we are! I hope you enjoyed these photos. 🙂 Do you like taking pictures of people?
***Allison***
P. S. Well, I am officially 17. I feel old. XD And I had a wonderful birthday, thanks so much for asking! 😀 Would you guys like to see a “haul” post? (Ugh, I really don’t like that name for some reason, so I shall change the title if I do it. 😛 ) This feels like an awkward ending now so… um, thanks for reading. XD
Yep, yet another sunset post. XD Heh heh, I seem to have a slight obsession with sunset pictures… but that’s all good, right? Most of you don’t seem to mind my habit, which is quite good of you. Thanks. I couldn’t show you pictures of sunsets without you. XD 😉
Ahem. Let’s proceed.
I’m going to save the best for last, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t beautiful! I loved how crystal clear this sunset was.
Okay, now for the other one. I probably say this in every sunset post, but this truly was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I’ve ever seen! It was certainly one of the most vibrant – maybe THE most vibrant I’ve ever seen. I wish you could have seen it too… It was way more beautiful than this, but these pictures should give you some idea.
That’s what I love about photography: it allows you to save one scene, one little piece of life, and to keep it as long as you want. It allows you to capture joy and sadness and thousands of memories and hold them forever.
What’s your favorite thing about photography? Do you like sunsets? (If you don’t, you have a problem. XD )
***Allison***
Yes, yes, I know, another sunset post. “Will they ever end,” you ask me? “Well of course not!” I reply indignantly. XD Why would I give up sunset photography – sunsets are one of my favorite things everrrr! 😀
Therefore and thusly, onwards we go!
I hope you enjoyed yet another sunset post. 😀 Have a lovely day, lovely people!
***Allison***
P. S. Random fact of the day: my littlest sister tried to “polish” the furniture and now everything is greasy. XD One of our desks was literally oozing furniture polish. :’) Oh well…
Bonjour! (Or hola, since I’ve been studying Spanish…)
I’ve wanted to do a lyric photoshoot for a long time, and I finally got around to it! I love the song “Undeniable” by TobyMac because it’s so uplifting, and so true. Especially on these gorgeous autumn days it’s easy to see God’s “evidence piling up” in the beautiful world he created for us. Click the play button on the video below, then enjoy the rest of the post while listening!
*********************
There are moments that I doubt You.
Blind to the beauty that surrounds me,
I try to push away the need that I’m needin’ proof.
And this struggle that I have, it ain’t nothing new.
But the evidence is piling up, yup.
You change my heart isn’t that enough?
You give me life that I can’t take credit for;
Call me to walk through an open door.
Undeniable, You are, You are, You are;
Unmistakable, You are, You are.
You’re the bright and morning star,
But still You speak to my heart.
Undeniable, You are, You are.
Your work doesn’t stop with me –
Your signature’s on everything we see.
From the hills of Negril, Jamaica,
To the kid that the doctor said would never make it.
Which is harder to believe: that You don’t exist,
Or that You orchestrated all of this?
Living in the world that is so confusing,
You’re the argument I’m never losing.
‘Cause I believe.
Undeniable, You are, You are, You are;
Unmistakable, You are, You are.
You’re the bright and morning star,
But still You speak to my heart.
Undeniable, You are, You are.
From the hymns that my Daddy sang,
I know I was made to glorify Your name.
And from the prayers that my Momma prayed,
I know I was made to glorify Your name. [x3]
So undeniable, You are, You are, You are;
Unmistakable, You are, You are.
You’re the bright and morning star,
But still You speak to my heart.
Undeniable, You are, You are. [x2]
You’re the bright and morning star,
But still You speak to my heart.
Undeniable, You are, You are. [x2]
Which is harder to believe: that You don’t exist,
Or that you orchestrated all of this?
Living in the world that is so confusing,
You’re the passion that I’m never losing.
*********************
I love that line: Which is harder to believe: that You don’t exist/ Or that you orchestrated all of this? Seriously! Which makes more sense: that a Creator God designed our incredibly complex and beautiful world, or that God doesn’t exist and everything just happened to evolve this way?
Living in the world that is so confusing,/ You’re the passion that I’m never losing.
‘Cause I believe.
***Allison***
Lately I’ve been taking a bunch of pictures of sunsets. You may know this already but I l♥ve sunsets – they’re one of my favorite things to photograph!
Sunset #1: This first sunset had a gorgeous fiery sky with one of the biggest spreads I have ever seen!
But I love the composition with the silos to one side!
Sunset #2: I was swinging in the hammock and saw this sunset which was really more of a glow. It’s much more subtle and soft, but still bee-you-ti-ful.
Look at all the power lines in the next photo! Argh! In the photo after that I erased the power lines. It took me forever, but it worth it, don’t you think?!
Sunset #3: I noticed this sunset because it made a building look red, it was so bright!
Which sunset was your favorite?
P. S. CrazyGirl is hosting a challenge kind of like WordCrafters on her blog! Check out the rules and fun characters here.
Allison Marie 