Week 5- Texture

This week for the theme "Texture" we thought we would play a little game. Guess the texture! Some are really easy... some not so easy!! Whoever gets them all right gets virtual cookies and milk! :D Dont forget to go check out Kims entry at Bambini Photography! :D

Week 4 - Serenity

This week the lovely Kim of Bambini Photography let us choose the theme. We chose Serenity. Here is what we came up with! If you want to join us in this 52 week project feel free! You dont have to be a professional photographer, or even have a blog! You can just post your pictures on Facebook and write a caption underneath what that weeks theme means to you. Think about it!! It would make us SUPER happy! :)


Sara

I know what your thinking. Is that a chicken salad sandwich?! Why yes..... yes it is. You see... this weeks theme was hard for me. Again, I know what your thinking. Didn't you help pick the theme?! Why yes.... yes I did. But all my ideas were not working out. Most of them got rained out, and then when the rain stopped it was still to muddy. The places that make me most serene in the world, I unfortunately could not travel to this weekend. And the other ideas, I was quite sure how to take a picture of them. So I came up with chicken salad. Doesn't take much to make me serene right? Actually, this isn't about the chicken salad in itself (while a good chicken salad does make me quite happy). Its what it represents to me. You see today I got to go eat lunch with one of my best friends. We don't get to see each other nearly often enough because we live so far away from each other. So today, we both drove half way and met at a quaint little coffee shop, and talked and talked and talked. We caught up on each others lives, ups and downs and all the in betweens. Over chicken salad. And this isn't the first time. In fact, this is kind of a ritual, when Britney and I just want to go out to have fun, not necessarily talk about business, if we aren't eating chinese, we are eating chicken salad at a quaint little shop. When my mother comes to visit me, we normally end up at a similar shop. When Kyle and I go for a lunch date, same thing. Its not the chicken salad, its the friends, family and the laughs that matter. Cause in this crazy, crazy world, our friends and family are truly what give us serenity (and sanity for that matter). I appreciate my friends and family so much, and I cherish these moments that dont happen often enough. The moments where we can sit, chat, laugh, and eat whatever it might be.



Britney

Serenity,
the deepest corner of calm.
The winds of peace,

and whispers of quietness.
Serenity,
it's the moment of stillness.
Goes to the depths

of one's own Tranquility.

Oh yeah, totalllly google'd "Synonyms for Serenity" to come up with some of those big words.

Oops..secret's out. But, it's no lie or unknown fact, I am only able to live and think with google, especially after spending waayy too many hours reading one amazing book and not getting enough sleep this weekend.

My goal was to capture a picture that when you looked at it, gave you a sense of Serenity. Whether I captured that or not, well, you be the judge.

My best friend who I've known from birth practically, is my sense of Serenity. Even though it's never exactly what you would call peaceful when we are together. She's someone I can go to the beach with for a weekend, get lost, drive around for an hour trying to find a place to eat that isn't just seafood, make her swish her hair multiple times as old men fishing nearby stare in confusion,  and sitting in a hotel room for 3 hours, not talking to each other, just simply reading our own books and munching on popcorn. 

Serenity, to me, is having a void filled. Whether it's the lack of traveling, lack of food (heh heh), lack of laughing, lack of being with a good friend. And I'm thankful I have Serenity every day.

Thinking Outside the White Box

Dare to be Different.

Think outside the box.

Cliche's are soo....cliche.

Don't be boring.

Live out Loud.

These words are tossed in our faces. Phrases we bump into on almost a weekly basis, if not daily.

"Don't try to copy someone else, when the original you is best."

Yeah yeah.

We know these words are wise. We want to follow them. All of us want to be unique, we don't want to be like everyone else. We want to create, write, think, imagine, something that no one else has done before.

But, the question is...how?

With the help of Facebook, making it easier to stalk, I mean, follow other people, see their ideas, their creatings, (yeah, I made up a word, what what?) writings, imaginations, and thoughts. To see hundreds, if not thousands of different people and what they have created. And don't forget Facebook's trusty super side-kick, Pinterest. Oh my. It's FILLED to the brim with ideas. But...are any of them truly YOURS? Then there are those evil little villains, master of disguises these ones are, every thought that has ever happened, can be found on them.
Blogs.
Because there are millions of them. I mean it. Millions.

You can't help but look at these things and wonder if there will ever be a way when you see something with your own mind's eye. That's truly yours. Not a bit of it came from, Facebook it's side-kick Pinterest or their trusty friend Blogs.

Some have taken the oath....

"I (insert name here) vow to never read another person's blog. To stay clear from stalking other's facebook pages, and last but not least, plunge my own eyes out with a fork before I dare say look at Pinterest"

Okay, maybe that was a bit graphic.

But really..

What do you do?

Be original.

How?

Some like to say. "Well that's easy! Be Yourself!"

Okay, but HOW?!

Now I'm not purposefully trying to come across as a two year old. But you know what, there is nothing wrong with that. Keep asking the same question over and over again until, finally, someone gives you a decent answer. (or you just grow tired, want some animal crackers, apple juice, and a nap.)

Well, you know, to each person their own. But I say...
dive into the ocean of Facebook, swim through the sea of blogs, and enjoy the wave pool of Pinterest.

See what others are seeing.

Our life is what makes us, us. Who our friends are. The family that we are with. The city we grew up in. The choices we make. The places we see.
But what if we can't be friends with a world known artist? Or we've never seen the ocean for ourselves? What if we made this one choice, while someone made this other one? What if we were born in Ohio and not in California?
Stick an infant in a room. White walls. White floors. No windows. No toys. No colors. No noise. No nothing. Let him grow up there.
Will he be able to ever imagine anything?
The answer, is no. (although, this has never been scientifically actually done, so I don't have legit stats to give you...but..would you agree?)

So these places we can venture to online and talk to others about. And see what they see. Is like the splash of colors and music thrown into our white room.

We don't all see things the same way. Sit and stare at the clouds with a friend and see what you each find in the shapes. It'll be different every time.

Be yourself. But challenge yourself..to be yourself. Don't take the easy course and directly copy someone, but take their experiences and insights and add them to your own. It's the way you look at something and what your brain and heart and soul tells you, that makes you different.

So go Explore!

Yes, I know my Blogs don't always make sense. And I have a really bad habit of always rambling on and on and on... I don't even know what my point is. And nor do I feel like I am actually in any kind of position to give advice and explain things, because I'm still trying to figure it all out...Am I making any sense?? Am I?!


...where's my animal crackers, apple juice and a nap??

Week 3 - Night

We all have them. No matter how normal or unusual they may be. Those little routines we do at night before we finally fall to sleep. Whether it's brushing your teeth, watching the ten o'clock news, or dancing around to 90's pop music. This week's theme made us think of what our nightly routines are. No matter how normal...or unusual..they may be.

Sara's

Britney's

Sidenote: if you click the images they will appear bigger on your screen :D

Check out our friend and fellow photographer Kim of Bambini Photography 's blog to see what she did for this week's theme!!!
Also! Kim was nice enough to let the two of us decide next weeks theme..which..after much consideration..we've decided:
Serenity 

Week 2 - CHEESE

Yeah. We so cheesy we make Cheetos jealous.

Yeah, that's right.

We said it.

Don't be hatin'

If there was just one thing you needed to know about the two ladies that work at Saritney Photography, it would be that we strive, live off of, and eat all things cheesy.

Sorry. We're getting a little carried away with this cheesy thing aren't we?

But, if you ever work with us, this is a little preview of what you may end up having to deal with.

Our cheesy jokes.

Much love and nachos to all!

Check out our friend and fellow photographer Kim of Bambini Photography 's blog to see what she did for this week's theme!!!








(Feel free to share with us some of your cheesy jokes, you'll be sure to make us laugh!)

Meaghan and Darrell

These two were the sweetest! This was a very special day. In fact, this was not only the first time they had kissed, but even the first time they had ever held hands! And we were there to capture all the special moments! Thank you for letting us be apart of that! We wish you both the very best!

Week 1 - About Me

Our friend and fellow photographer Kim over at Bambini Photography is starting a 52 week photo project. Each week is a different theme, and she is encouraging all other to join in on the fun and share each others work. We think its a super great idea!

So Week 1 has the theme of About Me. We are supposed to interpret the theme the way we want too. No rules. So here it goes.

About Sara...

My three year old tells me, "Mommy, I love you... five!" You see, his favorite number is five. He is very particular about his favorite things. For instance, his favorite color is blue. So he must have the blue candy, the blue cup, the blue bowl, etc. So in his world, I love you FIVE, is as good as it gets. Its the top compliment. He also says, "Mommy, your my blue." Again, this is big stuff, he is very particular about his favorite things. This might all seem silly to you, but to me, this three year old is expressing himself more clearly than a lot of adults do. He has put thought into this, trying to get his point across. Thinking, how he can tell me how much he loves me.

What does this have to do with the "About me" theme, well this three year old and his daddy are my world. I learn from them every day, learn how to love, to laugh and to live. Without these two, I feel there could never be a complete me. Sometimes we get so caught up in life, we dont take time to stop and think about whats really important. We dont sit and think about how to tell the most important people in our lives how we feel about them. Life is to short, it goes by in an instant. I want these two never to forget what they mean to me. That they are where my story starts and ends.

About Britney...

Free spirited, spontaneous, witty, funny, dependable, hard worker, filled with imagination, original, and a tad bit crazy. Oh, no no no, these are definitely not all things that I am. But they are things that I hope one day I will be. I am currently always a little frazzled, have the memory of a gold fish, a professional procrastinator and is more of a daydreamer than a deep thinker. Oh, and yes, I am definitely a tad bit crazy. Check and mark that off the list. You can even put a little gold star next to it if you want. I was a little stumped when I found out the theme of the week was "About Me" and wasn't really sure what to take a picture of. So, I decided to go with what has been on my mind the most in this moment of time. Traveling. Anywhere. I really want to see the sights Italy has to offer. Or the foods Greece has to give. Or the green valleys of Ireland. Or hear the sounds England is flooded with. But Honestly I'd even take a quick get away to the beach with my best friend.

I think the things people see, the foods they eat, the culture they are exposed to, the people they meet, the places they visit, all form who they become today. If you stay in one spot and don't see the world, you become stagnant. Go, see the stars from another back yard. Watch the sun set behind a different mountain. Talk to a person who speaks a different language than you do. Because it's when you do these things that you become free spirited, spontaneous, witty, funny, dependable, hard worker, filled with imagination, original, and a tad bit crazy.