Category: Uncategorized

The answer to the question “What’s cookin'” 9 times out of 10 in our house is nothing. Cooking isn’t really my style. I much more enjoy choosing the lazy convenient route of a local restaurant where someone will do the work in the kitchen for me. It’s not that I can’t cook, I just hate the amount of shopping, dishes, and leftovers that are involved when there are only 2 of us in the house.

If anyone wants to come over for dinner I will gladly cook for any/all of you! I love finding and making new recipes but only when there are more then 2 people to share the final product with. And I am pretty darn good at cooking. Just don’t ask me to bake. That’s a whole other story entirely!

But I digress….

Unfortunately the theme for this week’s Best Shot Monday is “What’s Cookin'” and since there was absolutely no cooking or domestic activities going on here tonight I had to take a different interpretation on the theme besides the obvious. This evening in my house what I have cooking is a relaxing night on the couch with my favorite Calmer and 2 furbabies.

Last week I had the pleasure of introducing you to my beautiful boy Vincent through the eyes of my Lensbaby. This week, meet Ebony, through my amazing 35mm/1.8 portrait lens. She’s a pro at cooking up a relaxing evening with the rest of us.

The buzz around Shutter Sisters this week has been all about positive self talk. Feeling alive. Feeling empowered. I am trying. I really am.

But sometimes pain and the hurting  just feel right.  So if you don’t mind I am going to mourn for a bit today.

This week I miss her. A lot.

Have you ever gotten that raw mind numbing feeling? Where you’re just going through the motions but not really all quite there. Where every little negative comment or statement seems to set you off into an angry tirade or a bawling mess?  Where your rational mind is thrown out the window?

That’s me this week.

Longing for her. Wishing for the pain to end. Waiting.

Maybe its the weather. It’s been rainy. And gray. The seasons are changing. You can feel it. You can smell it. You can see it.

I feel a lot like the trees this week.

Stripped.

Delicate.

Raw.

Hopefully the sun comes out soon so I can be lifted out of this funk. It’s been an exhausting week.

Thank to those of you who expressed your support as I muddled through a rough week. I am feeling much better for those of you keeping track. And really, who can be sad on Halloween? It’s such a fun holiday!

I am currently having a love affair with textured photos.  At first the idea of texturing a photo seemed so complicated. A long process. One not to mess with. But then I discovered  Ishtexture on flickr.  And suddenly I wanted to know how to add texture!  If you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop it really isn’t too hard. I even have a link to a little tutorial to get you started if you want a new obsession like me!

I love ishkamina’s textures because she has many fun ones to play with.

Ones that sparkle.

And shine.

They are sure to brighten anyone’s day!

So here’s a little sparkle and shine on this Halloween.

I hope yours is as bright and hopeful as mine!

Happy November! Can you believe it?

I surely cannot.

In my world, November = the official start of the holiday season. It’s time for the mad dash to Christmas. The weather is getting colder. Parties to attend. Decorations to hang.

And gifts to buy.

I don’t know about you but I’m always struggling meticulous with gift giving. I want to find the perfect present for everyone. And I always wait until the last minute. ALWAYS.

Sooooo, in order to hopefully make your holidays (and mine!) a little less stressful I am going to be offering weekly gift giving suggestions. All reasonably priced and with a photography twist of course!

Today I am going to introduce you to a really cool website called memolio.

I stumbled upon this gem of a website a few weeks ago. Based in the Netherlands they have adopted a new way of photo sharing.  A memolio contains 24 business card sized images printed on durable plastic and bound together into a cute little book. Each memolio costs about  $23 (US currency).

I decided to put memolio to the test and printed 2 books.

My favorite color images

My favorite black and white images

My first concern with the site was that these babies were being printed and shipped form the Netherlands. No worries though. They came within a week of my order! I was very impressed with the level of customer service and the quick turnaround time.

My second concern was with the image quality.  Unfortunately, the printing really is not professional grade. There was some color bleeding. Not a huge distraction though.

I give the memolio high marks for it’s compact size.  They’d make amazing brag books for weddings, children, vacations, events. The possibilities are endless.

So go check out memolio now and get creating!  I’d love to see what you come up with so stop back by here and share if you decide to try it out.

Kindness Meditation

May you be healthy and happy;

may you be peaceful, prosperous and well;

may you be free from inner and outer harm;

may you overcome difficulity with grace, courage, and determinantion;

may you love and be loved.

~Unknown~

Namaste: ‘the light within me bows to the light within you’

November is the perfect month to celebrate gratitude.  Which is exactly what Shutter Sisters is doing this month via their One Word Project.  They have teamed up with Memolio and an organization called Epic Change for their Tweetsgiving. You can find more information about that exciting collaboration here.

I have decided to celebrate gratitude along with them this month.

I am grateful for a lot today.

• I am grateful that the Shutter Sisters chose my namaste photo as their One Word Project photo of the day.

• I am grateful for Memolio who will be sponsoring a blog contest here soon. (yes a contest. with prizes. on this blog. yay! details are forthcoming…)

• And and I am forever grateful for good friends….and coffee.

Yesterday I had coffee with 2 of my favorite ladies.

And this baby.

Meet Danny. Isn’t he just the happiest, cutest, I want to pinch your cheeks baby EVER?

And this baby’s mom is a totally amazing woman.

Just trust me on this one. Sharon is truly amazing. And she’s an even more amazing mom.

You might also remember these guys from not too long ago.

They were there too. Keeping busy as you can see.

Lexi is another fantastically amazing woman. And her son Alexander is super cute. And super smart!

He is only 3 (almost 4, but who’s counting?) and he LOVES puzzles. And he’s good at them. REALLY good. Even ones with 100 pieces. Go Alexander!!

And he’s so proud when he finishes one!

Lexi, Sharon and I have been friends for over 15 years. Yep, 15.  Time has sent us in many different directions. We’ve each had our share of joys, successes, sorrows. And no matter where the wind blows us we have always been there for each other. In person. On the phone. Via email. Flickr. Twitter. We’ve stayed in touch. We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. We’ve been silly. And the common thread that binds us?

Coffee.

Starbucks Coffee.

Somehow all roads always lead us back to our regular coffee dates. Where we can talk and talk and talk. About anyone. And anything.  Our date last night was a long time coming. It had been over 3 years since our last Starbucks gathering. Alexander was the size of baby Danny at our last meeting!  But this date was just like the others. It felt so right. And so relaxed. And so needed. I am so glad to have these amazing ladies (and their amazing children) in my life.

That is why I am grateful today.

What are you grateful for?

I never intended to turn November into the month of gratitude. It just sort of happened and it feels right. November is the right month for appreciation. Don’t you think?

Gratitude just sort of fell from the sky into my lap this week.

Have I mentioned that I am loving working with textures as of late?!

Today I joined the 30 days of gratitude group on flickr.  A photography project where I’ll be posting a photo a day on flickr for the month of November of the things I am most grateful for. Don’t worry I won’t post them here everyday. The daily bloggings will be coming to an end after today. I think. I’ve just been so inspired this week I’ve wanted to share it all with you! I hope you don’t mind!

But I digress…back to gratitude.

Today I am grateful for you, my blog readers. And so is Memolio. Remember them? They sell these cute little brag book albums with your images!

Memolio and I are so grateful for you as a matter of fact that they are partnering with me to reward 5 of my lucky blog readers! I am totally loving that I get to have a contest to show my gratitude for you and I hope you’ll enter.

Now on to the most important question.

What do you get?

The 5 winners will each receive a gift certificate to create their own memolio album of 24 of their images FOR FREE! All the winners will have to do is visit their site, upload 24 images, tweak the layout, and voila! memolio will ship the winners their album speedy quick (maybe even in time for Thanksgiving!)

How do you Enter?

I think its pretty easy, and you can increase your chances by following the simple steps below.

To Enter:

1. Start by commenting on this blog to the following question: Who you would make a memolio album for with your winnings? Yourself? Your significant other? Your parents? Grandparents? A friend? Why are they so deserving of a memolio album?
2. Double your chances to win by linking this giveaway (copy and paste this link http://bellarose-photography.com/?p=228) on your own public blog or send out the link through Facebook or Twitter, then come back and comment that you’ve done it and you’ll be entered a second time into the drawing!
3. Triple your chances, by becoming a fan on the official Bella Rose Photography Facebook page (see link to the right) or following “bellarosephotog” on Twitter (http://twitter.com/bellarosephotog).  Become a fan or become a follower and then come back and comment that you’ve done it and you’ll be entered a third time into the drawing!
4. Keep your fingers crossed! There are 5 prizes!

Good luck! I can’t wait to see who you want to create these little album gems for. Comments will be closed next Wednesday November 11th and winners will be announced next Friday November 13th right here on the blog so stay tuned!

As I’ve mentioned previously, once upon a time I picked up my camera and decided to take a photo a day for an entire year. All was well and good when I started but eventually the passion for the project expired.  Instead of being excited to photograph I’d spend every evening with an impending sense of doom because I had no inspiration for a photo. The evening would end with me scrambling to take a photo of every random knick knack in my house. or my cats. or my dinner. rinse. repeat. It became redundant and boring. So I quit. And I hate being a quitter.
I wasn’t tired of taking pictures. I just didn’t feel like the photo a day project was serving its purpose anymore. So, last week I got online and looked for some new sources of inspiration. I wanted a regular photography assignment but preferably one that wasn’t going to give me an anxiety attack every night!
So I googled.
And I found some GREAT ideas at Photocritic.org – 10 ways to break photographer’s block.
(you totally need to check it out).
I’ve been itching to try a few of the ideas I discovered there.  Finally this morning I woke up and decided, “TODAY IS THE DAY!”  The project starts at home. At your front door. Here is mine. Welcome!

I am very excited to launch this new project, because it’s interesting.

And it’s interactive.
The more people who participate the more exciting it will be.
I promise.
I swear.
So you better play along!

The project is called “100 Steps” and the instructions are this:

1. Get a camera. Any camera will do just fine.  (film. digital. cell phone. point and shoot. DSLR).
2. Start walking. (can you guess how far you’ll be walking?)
3. After 100 steps stop. Right where you are.
4. Take a picture. Take 5. Take 100. But you must take a picture of something right where you are. (don’t cheat!)
5. Upload your photos to a photo sharing site. I enjoy Flickr.
6. Post your comments on the project and a link to your photo here.
My 100 steps today allowed me to start capturing fall. Here are 3 of my favs:



I will be taking my 100 steps weekly. Each time starting from my doorstep. And each time walking in a different direction and capturing something new. I am excited to see where this takes me. And the little intricacies I uncover. I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what you come up with. Go get out there. Take 100 steps. I hope you’ll step weekly with me and share here.
Ready.
Set.
Go!!

Last weekend The Calmer and I were in Tampa, FL. A former co-worker and close friend got married and much to our delight dismay decided to set up permanant residence in a prime vacation locale close to the beach. After Bella’s passing we were invited and encouraged to visit and relax. It didn’t take much convincing for us to book our ticket down South. We had a lovely time and can’t wait to go back.  Our hosts were wonderfully hospitable and something about being at the ocean, soaking in the sun, and sinking our feet in the sand aided in the healing process.  Here are some of the highlights from our trip.

Our homey accomodations for the weekend

Beach day. Bright sun peeking through. Beautiful.

A new friend in the sand.

Getting ready for sunset in Sarasota. Lido Beach, FL.

Ok, one more Lido Beach at sunset. A sunset this gorgeous derserves to be pictured twice.

Last day. At the Greek Sponge Docks. Tarpon Springs, FL.