As you may know, I take a lot of photographs. Of course, this means that my camera is a huge part of my life. It is always with me, helping me capture memories and moments. (photo below taken in, 2008)
I started my love of photo taking in college. I focused on black and white photography then, processing all my own negatives in my closet dark room, and then developing all my own photos in the University of Arizona darkroom. I enjoyed it immensely. However, I majored in something else, graduated college in 1999 and went off on the roller-coaster of life. My little dark room full of photos and pictures sat frozen in time. And sadly, some of my favorites were stolen, negatives and all…
When I started blogging in late 2006, I didn't think about taking photos as an art. I simply was taking photos to share bits of my life here. They were dark and not very crisp.
Then something changed…
As I took more and more photos, I realized that everyday photos held a curiously magical quality~
and I wanted to grasp the moment in its truest form, with all of its light and crispness.
So I purchased a good camera, taught myself a little photoshop, and my journey with photos in the digital age began…
My perception had changed completely, and I saw photo ops everywhere I turned…
Last year I took about 80,000 photographs and kept about 77,000 (you may have noticed, I have a penchant for being a tad, umm, overzealous ;) about things I am passionate about). Then my camera kicked the bucket, so I upgraded again… (I love the yellow and blue in the photo below)
This year I have already taken 4,500+ photos. My photos may not be perfect in a technical photographic sense, but they make me happy, and capture moments well enough for me to be able to jump back in and relive moments.
So, I was going through the beginning of my 2010 photos, and decided, I wanted to do an ode in photos, to the everyday snapshot. To moments that may have gone forgotten amongst the sea of photos…
Of course, there are thousands of photos that I would love to share, parties and family and painting and studio time and more. Alas, there never seems to be enough time. And, I have so many chores on my list, that I can't spend all day on the computer. So, the photos pile up sky high…
There are so many photos that only I see. Photos that hold meaning for me…
These photos are just plain everyday moments in our lives, on a walk, in our space…
I had envisioned this being a simple wordless post. I guess that didn't happen, haha!
Anyhow, here we go. A few everyday shots (totally unchoreographed) from 2010 thus far + a post that may turn out to be way too long 😉
(I am listening to Cloudland and With Dignity by Patrick O'Hearn while uploading these. His music kept me company through many late nights of painting in the mid to late 90's)
Signs of Spring ~
A Sunday Morning ~
Blooming in the wind ~
Love in the rain ~
An unusual amount of rain is making everything grow quite wonderfully. This is a part of our back yard, which never gets played in much, as all the nonsense happens in the front yard…
The best most unreal Paczki ever…
Where fairies roam ~
A red chenille blanket gets washed with slippers on February 13th at 11 p.m., and surprises me with an early Valentine explosion. Or at least, that is what I told myself 😉
My two boys at the piano ~
Bookmark treats I have been putting in all my orders for a month or two ~
Mornings ~
Helping a hurt woodpecker out of barbed wire, and watching him climb up a tree to fall asleep and fly up into heaven…
A tiny hummingbird flies around the woodpecker and me ~
On the deck, watching the rain dance, and never hesitant to join in ~
Precious droplets ~
Lights in the sleeping nook ~
Country Living Magazine April 2010, Corn Pudding. It's a winner (see my notes on pdf link). Here's mine…
More Challah this weekend (cooking time notes attached on messy pdf) ~
Enjoying all the green the rain brought to our garden, whilst being trampled by fur ~ (weekend before last)
Crushed by my crush ~
Everyone wants to be a baby forever and sit in Mama's lap, no matter how big we get…
3 loves, doing their own thing ~
The tooshie we love to love ~
Enamored. Refueling with fur love after a heartache night of tears while watching Hachi. Mister and I cried our hearts out. Moved to pieces by that beautiful film…
Me and her… (we both need to be brushed 😉
An Ode to Everyday Life, through the eyes of love…
Taking time to enjoy all the beauty in our own lives is really what it is all about. Isn't it?
I can hear Mister's shovel outside, so I must be off to finish all the gardening we did this weekend, and get back to work on my projects.
Seeds and paths and digging and organizing storage sheds, and sore bodies…
I love spring.
🖤 ,V
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I absolutely love this post. The little things are where it’s at!
thank you Vanessa
Awww this was such a sweet post. My heart is melted 🙂
There is beauty everywhere, all the time! I just treated myself to a new camera and my eyes are open for the first time!
Thank you for the inspiration!
LOVE YOUR POST!!!
You’ve absolutely CAPTURED the magic of everyday!!! As much as these moments are so PRECIOUS NOW… just imagine the treat we will get when we revisit them in 20 years!
grass! you have grass! it is spring somewhere!
wonderful post – but all I can think of now is Challah French toast! mmmmmmmmmmmmmm With unsalted butter and powdered sugar and maple syrup.
OMG
we’re having breakfast for dinner tonight. I just have to run to the baker and get a loaf of Challah!
Miss V
thanks for sharing, that’s how I take pictures, just run around the farm or stop at the Lake and take a few! Memories of life it is great
your fairy friend
Karey
Very nice post, I love posts that share the simplicity of life, especially when it’s combined with beautiful photos. I need to be better about always taking my camera with me, there have been way to many missed shots.
That challah looks scrumptious, I’ve never made it, but am willing to give it a go.
Have a great Monday!
Each and every one is a story of perfection. Oh and I love your jammies…tee hee!!!
Vanessa:
This is such a beautiful post. I collect vintage photos and I especially love “vernacular” photos (everyday snapshots taken by anyone). With the digital age upon us, most folks just get rid of photos that are “everyday”. They only want perfect. I strive to find everyday vintage photos. My husband and I spend hours digging through lovely and dusty boxes at flea markets just looking for the everyday snapshots!
Thank you for sharing yours:
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
EVeryday is indeed magical and your photos are lovely, thanks for sharing your EveryDay!
Kiss Noises Linda
This was the perfectest post, delivered at the perfectest moment, like only Veevala can do.
tonic for the soul, it tis~
xoxoxoxoxoxox
Lovely! I love seeing magical moments of everyday captured like this.
Your pictures may be of the everyday but they are never boring. Such beauty, thanks for sharing! 😀
Wonderful post Vanessa…having just started my own blog, I can relate. I now take my camera everywhere with me, and am really enjoying being present in the here and now…noticing the little things, being aware and awake to the beauty that surrounds us. I would love to buy myself a really decent camera and teach myself photoshop too…thankyou for inspiring me as usual x
Oh, Hachi! We sobbed through the end! I’d heard wonderful things about this movie, but hadn’t taken the time to read what the story was. So I got it for my 10 yr old and her 9 yr old cousin last night. “A fun movie night!” I said. Sob…. not so fun after all. But beautiful. I knew of the story, but didn’t realize it was what the movie was based on. BTW, love the pictures!
How lovely…I remember also taking photography a million years ago and being in a dark room. While I love digital because of the ease and the way one can be so prolific…I miss the feeling I got when I was developing photos and they would swim to the top of the photo paper like magic…
Your pictures speak with beauty, truth and love. Now, I’m missing my digital camera which went the way of the wind last Autumn.
I always enjoy you let all of us peek into your creative and magical life.
lovely as always and such an encouragement to look at the simple things to find the joy that is right there in front of us!
i am thankful to have an older desktop computer to keep my photos and digital playtoys on in my studio….i just started taking pictures and have amassed so many!!
I did have to chuckle at your valentine’s day ‘present’!
I remember the beauty of the dark room in my uni days, I loved the darkness, the quiet and the fact you had to go slow, just stand, slosh things about and wait for the magic.
I love seeing your everyday photos
awww hummingbirds, bless
enjoy your springful days
xxx
You are an angel!
My grandmother used to make the most wondrous corn pudding…so thank you so very much for this fabulous recipe. I think she used real cream in hers too.
And thank you for the Challah recipe too…I do love baking bread.
I loved all of your sweet photos of life…
Have a lovely day, Miss Vanessa…
Your photography is always ALWAYS stunning, and I love hearing your written voice. But you’re killing me with the paczki! Yum!
Hello Vanessa! I have been waiting for this post for days, and it was just what I wanted to read! Your posts are so inspiring , sweet and pure.
I also have a passion for photography, that’s why I think this is one of my favourite posts. 🙂
I wanted to ask you for the recipe of your Corn Pudding and the Challah.
Have a nice week!
Nicole
This is such a beautiful post Vanessa, thank you for sharing some of your everyday moments… you are right, there is beauty in every single day and I don’t want to miss one precious moment of it! Love to you… xoxo Julie Marie PS Thanks for the info on the email problem… new email for me now!
Inspiring post (as ALWAYS 😉 It’s true…it’s the little things and that you capture them all, is wonderful!! Love the ‘signs of spring!’
Jamie 🙂
p.s. I have a wine cork trivet that my sis-in-law made me too, tee hee
Thank you so much. I so enjoy your posts and lovely pictures.
Tracy M.
Great pictures and journal of life. I’ve had to purchase portable external hard drives to keep all of my photos on. From creations, life and off roading adventures….and a camera that takes many mg pictures. The sad thing is that no one will ever come across these pictures and fall in love with them at some future date in an antique shop…
Sweet Sweet Magical Vanessa!
Greetings from Bainbridge Island WA!
I never cease to be mesmerized everytime I pop into your world.
DO you know how much I am loving you out in the yard rolling around in that Lanz gown!!!
Ha…haha! Only YOU…and well ME! ;o)
Your world is lovely…
I have told you before you could do reality tv and I would never miss an episode! ;o)
Now..when you have a moment…could you tell me one more time…what kind of lens you have on your camera?
I am searching for the perfect lens for my cannon. I have a nice 70-200 lens for distance…but need a close up lens.
Vanessa you are lovely!
I can only imagine what you must be like in person! xxooxx
Sure wish I could follow you in my blogger roll…or by email…as I know I would pop over more often
Have a sweet sweet night!
Teresa
Bainbridge Island WA
Snuggles to your fur babies!
xxooxx
Okay…. so I am scrolling through your luscious -as usual -photos, when I came upon the Paczki, my mouth dropped open and a little drool came out.
I had to call my friends over to look at it and we are now on the hunt!!!!!! Where oh where did you get that delicious looking goodness?
As usual, your post is full of creammy filling!
so true…i have so many photos that no one else sees…but they are all so special especially those of my girls at their most natural state. lovely post, thanks babe.
xx
The bookmarks are adorable!
Like Teresa, I’d like to ask too, what lens(es) do you use?
Your photos are great, really love the mood and light – everyday beauty at it’s best 🙂
Dearest V, If only I could get you and your camera to Jordan with me. I know you would love it. Thanks for sharing these lovely vignettes of everyday life, as captured through your lens. You are amazing and I adore you. xoxox
Hi Vanessa, thank you for such a magical post. I’ve always loved photography, as well. I’m kind of crazy with my camera! LOL Taking photographs is, to me, creating a portal of memories – some big, some small – but all very important in the duration of one’s life. I love thumbing through old family photographs and reminiscing about what happened on the day that inspired the photo. There is indeed so much beauty to be found in everyday things – a flower, a shell, a speck of dirt on a loved pup’s nose. You always capture it so well. Thank you for sharing that beauty with us today! 🙂 🖤 Theresa
I love your photos, Vanessa. You capture everything just beautifully, from scenery to casserole… that is a gift! 😉
The caramel corn looks yummy!
Thank you for sharing this picture book of ordinary life. Your camera work is true poetry in still life. It makes me feel like spring.
Simple and delightful are the dearest things and you show us this with this post. What joy. Blessings dear.
Wonderful photos! I love the pretty print of your dress…you always look so sweet! 🖤
Love, love photos of everyday life. That’s really what living is all about ~ making memories. The Challah looks delish!
Oh! Such precious, lovely, magical everyday moments!! I remember your sweet tale of the surprise pink!! 🙂 I got a surprise green rug the other day!! tee hee….just in time for St. Patricks Day!!
I love Patrick O’Hearn…Rain Maker was one of my favorites 🙂
How lovely to see your world through your eyes.
Wishing you, Mr. Lovee and the Babies of Fur a day filled with sunshine and love,
LuLu🖤
Aw, super sweet. I love the last group of pics especially – the one with your dogs. I can’t wait to get an upgraded camera – it’s my birthday wish – I want a Canon Rebel Xsi!
I would never want to disagree with you, my Beloved Magical Muse, yet, oh I do. Your photos ARE perfect in a technical photographic sense. Always have been. You see through magic eyes and bring that magic alive in our lives, and for that I shall love you to eternity. I love each of these. Equally. Oh ya, and I adore you.
**blows kisses** Deb
I loved seeing all your day to day photos Vanessa. I take loads everyday too-though maybe not quite so many as you!
The color and the light! Spending the day with you is such a delight! Your photos are amazing and I so miss my furbaby. Give your a extra snuggle from me?
Hugging you
SueAnn
I always love your photo’s and – oh my gosh – I don’t know what a Paczki is but it looks like a delicious creme filled doughnut. nomnomnom…eat it all up.
Here’s a moment of beauty (for you) from my end of the world. I spent a day at the Dallas World Aqarium and made a video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcFbQw9j2UQ
Vanessa,
Your photographs are just beautiful. I had to first browse your blog just to breathe in all the eye candy before I read your post. I know all about taking gazillions of photos. I often put too many in my posts, because I can’t decide what to keep and what to remove. I have about 7500 on flickr alone and two galleries on my computer. Photoshop, OMG I am addicted.
Your photographs add such magic to your stories. I love it all. Happy Spring.
Karen
P.S. have you printed anything on blurb yet. I have created several little books, but I am thinking of creating a coffee table book of my favorite photos.
Your photographs are beautiful. Thank you for sharing your world.
I completely agree. Once you start taking photos your perception of the world changes. Everything becomes a photo op…the right colors next to each other, light falling on the earth at just the right angle, the fine details that we typically miss when rushing through life. Loved this post. Actually, I love all your posts. Thanks for always sharing your magical life with us.
You inspire me!