Embroidered Photos

These embroidered photos were one of my favorite holiday gifts this season!

This project is perfect for giving at any time of year (birthdays!, Valentine’s Day!, etc.) because there’s a lot of room for customization, from the photo you choose to the embroidered design. Bonus points with this one because it’s really not difficult. In this post I’ll share all of the details and resources that I used. It’s the perfect sort of DIY gift that’s fun for both the maker and the receiver.

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Our Favorite Phone Camera Accessory (Macro Lens!)

Want more photography posts? Here’s a Photography 101 course from Sarah. You can find her favorite equipment here, and here’s what I use when not pulling out my phone’s camera.

I’m not going to claim that this post is going to change the world, BUT maybe if some people looked at things from a different perspective… I don’t know. Maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in?

Click on through for my favorite way to change my photography perspective.

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Wildlife Camera Experiment

Two years ago I shared some photos taken with our wildlife camera. It’s worth popping over to that post if you want to see some of our neighbors.

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For the longest time we had the camera pointed on our pond to catch a glimpse of the wildlife, but recently I’ve been itching to do something more with it. A fortuitous moment made that possible!

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Five Tips For Shooting Better Fall Photos

If you’re curious about the cameras we use, here is Kate’s camera and this is my current camera model. If any of these photography terms are unfamiliar to you, here’s a primer on all that too!

Happy fall y’all! The cool air and changing leaves launch me into a love affair with the Autumn season. How about you? This month I’m hosting an outdoor retreat in the Blue Ridge mountains and I can’t wait to revisit this range with my camera in hand. I’ll be photographing my guests and the natural environment all weekend, so I thought it’d be fun to give a little refresher on how to take better fall photos.

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Wildlife Camera

If you’re interested in photography, you can find many of our archived posts here. This is the perfect time of year to review Sarah’s tips for better fall photos. And if you’re curious, you can read about both Sarah’s camera equipment and Katie’s.

It’s no surprise that we’re into photography. We love the art of taking photos and we appreciate it as a form of documentation. We use photos (and this blog) as a instrument for recording everything from favorite meals and drinks to vacations and the mundane.

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Today I’m excited to share with you a new piece of equipment that’s helping me to document (and spy on) the wildlife in our backyard.

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Next Level Landscape Photography

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Ask most photographers what they truly want to shoot and the answer is almost always landscape and travel photography. If there was a viable way to make a living from nature photography, we would all be doing it. It’s not impossible, but it usually comes with the goal of selling something, a product, a place, an agenda, it’s never just a nature shot. That doesn’t stop us from taking our cameras to the woods though. There are landscape shots and then there are landscape shots. Here are a few tips to elevate your game.

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Postcards from the Olympic Peninsula

Happy Friday! What a month! I took it pretty easy last weekend at the lake and the weeks before I spent in Seattle and on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

On Tuesday, I spent my birthday camping in Wharton State Forest, New Jersey, before heading down to Saxis Island, Virginia. I’m here spending time with Momma Schu and grumbling about the slow internet and hundred degree weather. Life’s not too bad, but as my bones readjust to the extreme heat, I’m sifting through photos of cooler times out west.

Here are a few post cards from the first half of my trip. The snowy peaks, evergreens and lone deer were captured on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. The tiny crab and seaweed covered rocks were shot near Sekiu. The sun setting into the ocean was taken from our campsite in Ozette and the warm sun over the water was taken on my first night in Seattle at Alki Beach. I feel like I was able to see so much in such a short trip and still I’m itching to go back immediately. I’m another year older, but nowhere close to staying in one spot for long. Come Monday morning I’m headed to Texas 🤠 Happy weekend!

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Vacation Family Photo Tips (from an amateur)

If you’re interested in photography, you can find many of our archived posts here. And particularly relevant for today’s post are Sarah’s tips for taking better kid candids.

Hello! We’re back from our vacation and still recovering from all that fun. Today I wanted to pop in and share a few photos and tips from a quick and successful family photo session attempt. Since Sarah is the trained photographer in the family and I only take photos for my own enjoyment, I’m calling myself an amateur. Although, I think a lot of Sarah’s skills have rubbed off on me, so (hopefully) this advice has some merit.

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The Situation

Most of the family was together for the 4th of July and we wanted to take a few group photos. We talked about taking pics in the days leading up to the 4th, but never did it. Then the holiday came and we were adamant that we had to take some before the day was over. We just had to work around naps, trips to the beach, bike rides, and other shenanigans.

P1240316I knew that whenever we finally had a the chance to take photos, we had to keep it simple, relatively fast/efficient, and not make too many kids people cry or stomp off. It happens.

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Winter Photography Tips

Sarah is a professional freelance photographer – she’s always sharing tutorials. Learn how to find flattering natural light for selfies and portraits or catch tips on photographing kids and pets. See what camera Katie shoots with or check out my favorite lenses.

Live Seasoned Spring 16 Photographing Winter Landscapes08Live Seasoned Spring 16 Photographing Winter Landscapes14 We agree, it’s a little bit strange to talk about Winter Photography Tips in mid-April, but did you see all the snow that fell in Boulder this past weekend? It wouldn’t stop! With a house full of food and relatives and the fire on full blast, we enjoyed every second of the snow.  We even made it outside for a hike up the mountainside.  If you’re still enjoying wintery snowscapes, here are a few practice pieces of advice for photographing in the snow. Continue reading

Our Camera Equipment – Sarah’s Camera

We often get asked about the cameras we use to take pictures for the blog and our instagram account, so today we thought it would be fun to do a series of posts where we each talk about our equipment and how we use it. This won’t be a lesson in photography, rather just a discussion about what we use and why it’s worked for us.

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Sarah here:

I use a Nikon D300s with 24-70mm f2.8 & a 35mm f2.

If I’m being honest, (which of course I’m always striving to be) I’m due for an upgrade. I’ve had this camera for over five years, but I truly love it so the years fly by and I keep clicking with this babe.  The tricky thing about shooting with DSLR cameras is that the lenses are just as important (some would argue more important) than the camera body and the good lenses tend to cost more than the camera body itself, so it’s always a struggle, for a frugal freelancer like me.

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