Steve and I took a relaxing Sunday drive together this afternoon. And of course, along the way I had to stop and take some photos…I couldn’t help myself, there were these pretty little wild sunflowers along the side of the road just begging to be photographed.

Now, as many of you may know…I’m terrified of bugs. Any kind of bug really…spiders, bees, ants, the list goes on and on. I’m always very aware of where the bugs are when I’m photographing flowers. Today, there were bees. So I positioned myself far enough away from them. I thought I was safe, so I found my camera settings, moved into place, focused…and saw this little guy staring back at me! I squealed and jumped a few feet, but was able to press the capture button in the process. I’m surprised that this shot is as in-focus as it is!

So my tip for this week? When photographing flowers, check the back for bugs. And if you find one…stay calm. You could end up with a pretty cool shot!

Share your fun tips and photos with us this week in the Love Your Shot! | Link-Up.

I edited this photo in Photoshop, using Photo Veils and Textures from Love that Shot.

My tip for the Love Your Shot! Link-Up this week?…look for a unique point of view. Don’t be afraid to look silly while photographing your subject! For my photo below, I was practically laying down on the side of a country dirt road. Of course, I had a spotter to make sure I wouldn’t get run over (thanks, Mom!). I’m so glad I tried this different angle…it would have been a completely different shot, had I been standing up…capturing more of a traditional landscape with fields and mountains in the distance. I love the simplicity of this photo, the grass against the blue sky gives it just the right amount of contrast.

Do you have a tip you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you, so click on over to Love that Shot and link-up your photos!

It’s that time again, time for the Love Your Shot! Link-Up. This week I’m featuring the color red…it’s happy, exciting, and dynamic…and it’s my favorite color. What better way to feature red than with a red rose…

Whenever I’m shooting flowers, I always look for opportunities to combine them with man-made materials, such as wrought iron fencing, gates, or wooden structures. Including these elements in the composition adds contrast and gives it a unique quality. I shot this photo in the evening and wanted to experiment with adding just a touch of grain to my photo. I used a very high ISO of 1600. My exposure time was 1/100 sec. with my f-stop set to f5.6. I love the results! And with the addition of a vertical texture from my Olde World Collection, my photo was complete.

How do you experiment with your photos? Do you try different settings that are outside your comfort zone? Do you like to combine different elements or experiment with unique compositions? We’d love to hear your tips, so click on over to Love that Shot and link-up your photos!

A business just isn’t a business without these little guys. Last night, I put the finishing touches on our new Love that Shot business cards. They’re at the printer as we speak! Although Michelle and I do most of our business interaction online, on occasion we have the opportunity to meet a few photographer peeps offline as well. So it’s always a good rule of thumb to carry a few cards with you, just in case. You never know when an opportunity will come up…and now we’re prepared to whip these little beauties out at a moment’s notice!

The photo above shows the front view of the card, as well as the back view. Cards have been printed full color on heavy-duty 15 pt. card stock, with a UV gloss coating to give the cards a bright vibrant finish.  Visit Overnight Prints for more information.

Have you ever wanted to take a walk back in time and visit an era that’s long been forgotten? Well, if I had the chance, you can bet I’d go back to the Nineteen Forties.  It was so much more simple back then…time didn’t fly by so fast and there was just a certain charm to…well…just about everything…the way of life, the automobiles, the fashion. Oh, the fashion…what I wouldn’t give to go back and gather up a few pairs of those Forties-style heals. But that’s a bit off subject…

This last weekend, my family and I took a walk back in time and experienced a quieter side of life….and I discovered a new love…Vintage Boats! As you all know, I absolutely love shooting vintage cars, so when I heard about a Vintage Boat Show held in our area, I was overflowing with excitement! I’ve never had the opportunity to shoot vintage boats before, and I was anxious to experiment with this new subject matter. As soon as I hit the docks, I was unstopable. I found my groove and lost myself in a forgotten era…

Photos edited in Photoshop, using Photo Veils and Textures from Love that Shot.
Click on over to Sweet Shot Tuesday for more photo inspiration!

For those of you who have not seen the movie, “Horton Hears a Who!”, I must apalogize in advance. For what I’m about to write will make no sense to you whatsoever, and you might just think I’ve lost my mind. This is my favorite, and by far the most classic line in the movie, when Horton is talking to his little friends and trying to explain to them that there’s a tiny little world living on the fuzzy purple flower he’s guarding with his life…

“In my world, we’re all ponies! And we eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”

Now, tell me this flower doesn’t look like the one Horton is holding…

I happened upon this little treasure a couple of weeks ago, when I was out on a photo shoot with Michelle. I think it’s the perfect photo to kick off our new Love Your Shot! | Link-Up weekly feature over at Love that Shot! Here’s proof you don’t need a fancy macro lens to get fun up-close shots…I shot this little guy with my standard issue 18-55mm lens! Here are the details:  shutter speed: 1/25 sec, f-stop: 5.6, ISO: 200. The wide-open aperture allowed me to get the focus right in the middle of the flower with the entire background blurry.

Do you have a fun photo and a tip you’d like to share with us, click on over to Love that Shot and link-up your post!

Photo edited in Photoshop using two textures from my Olde World Collection Photo Textures.

A week ago I joined a challenge…a challenge to build a better blog in 31 days. Since a lot of my readers here are also bloggers themselves, I thought I would share with you a few articles I ran across today in my research.

The first article, “How to send a personal email” by Seth Godin, was a good refresher on how to write multiple emails without sounding like spam. Nothing kills the personal touch more than unwanted spam. So I say, just be yourself…when you’re writing emails, pretend as if you’re talking to that person directly.

Now here’s a different view I thought was interesting. How about thinking like your readers for a minute with, “10 Reasons Readers Don’t Leave Comments” by Liz Strauss? I loved how this article shifted the way I thought about my blog. I was asking myself, “Do I make these mistakes?” After reading Liz’s article, I made a goal for myself…to write content that will make my reader’s “hands jump to the keyboard”.

This last article caught my eye for two reasons…one, the topic has been rolling around in my head for a few weeks now, and two, how in the world could a person embrace bad comments?! Well, as Jeremy Schoemaker writes in his article, “Why You Should Embrace Negative Press“, there are several reasons negative comments can work in your favor. They generate new visitors who otherwise might not have run across your website. Negative comments mean that someone considers you an authority, why else would they take the time to write about you? He goes over several more points, but the one thing I walked away from the article with was this…if you become well-known enough for someone to leave negative press about you, then you’ve made it…you’re now successful! How’s that for looking on the bright side of things.

I hope you find all of this information as useful as I did. I think there’s always room for improvement in anything we do. I’ve come to this realization in my artwork. I’m always learning and growing…I look back now on the things I created just a few months ago, and I find little things I would do differently.

So, tell me what you think…how have you grown as a blogger? What resources have you found along your blogging adventure that have helped you improve?

If you’re like me, sometimes you’re just not in the creative groove and no matter how hard you try, the ideas just aren’t coming…so what do I do when I’m stuck in this rut? I’d like to share with you my favorite go-to places to find inspiration.

Magazines   In addition to the popular design magazines, I love thumbing through others like Vogue, Better Homes and Gardens, and Architectural Digest. The idea here is to surround yourself with visually appealing articles, layouts, photographs and type styles.

[ Images taken from Architectural Digest, Vogue, Communication Arts, and How magazines. ]

Go Shopping!   That’s right, I said to go shopping. And the best part is that you don’t have to empty your pockets to come away with some amazing ideas! I find the best inspiration when I’m out and about window shopping…filling my mind with current styles, colors, and fashions.

[ Images taken from Anthropologie. ]

Hit the Road Jack!   It’s such a treasure when I run across a small town oozing with small-town character. So I say, take some time off, take a drive, and breathe some fresh air into that creative mind of yours!

Go Back to the Basics   I just have a blast when I pull out the crayons and construction paper with my two little nieces. Children have the most unexpected imaginations…so why not tap into that imagination and just have some fun for a change! You’ve heard the saying, “Laughter is the best medicine,” right? Let’s apply that to our wounded creativity…cut loose, color outside the lines, fall in love with your artwork again…

Get Your Groove On   Literally. Nothing get’s the creative juices flowing like a great tune. So turn up the music and groove out to your favorite band. Mix things up a little and listen to a song you’ve never heard before. Tune your mind into a new wavelength and see what happens…

What’s in my iTunes library right now? How ’bout some Owl City, Lights, The All-American Rejects, Yellowcard, Mat Kearney, and Colbie Caillat…just to name a few.

The most important thing you can do to get un-stuck from a creative rut is to think differently…step away from the project at hand and let your brain recharge itself. Most of all…laugh and enjoy the process!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.“   –Albert Einstein

To me, imagination is everything! I remember when I was younger, I would often stare up at the sky, send my thoughts up there to float among the clouds. I remember how good it felt to be lost in the moment. When I ran across this quote today, this memory of when I was younger came flooding back…then it hit me! I haven’t done that in a really long time…and I kinda miss the feeling. Here I was, just a little girl where imagination was everything and I didn’t have a care in the world…and now…as an adult it seems like more importance is put on how much I know rather than what I can imagine. I think I’ll take it from a genius like Albert Einstein, it’s not what you know that’s important, it’s what you can imagine…

So, here’s to using your imagination!

Photos edited with Photo Veils and Textures by Love that Shot.

I don’t know about you but I have trouble coming up with ideas unless I have a starting point, so…

I came up with this little idea to help me accomplish my Project {365} this year. I downloaded Michelle’s inspiration list here and wrote each word on a small piece of paper. I folded all of the little pieces and dropped them in a cute container…now the fun part…each day, I’ll draw a word out and focus on it as I take pictures throughout the day. I really think this will help me keep up, I hope it helps you as well!