Exercise Two: Your Reflection

The other day I realized something.  There are only three more months in this year. September is almost over and then comes October, November, and lastly, December.  The first official day of Fall was only a few days ago.  I can't believe how fast this year is flying by!

To be honest though, I'm so glad summer is over and am really looking forward to cooler weather (so I can wear my boots and scarfs!).  Summer is my least favorite month because I don't like the hot weather and I just can't help but get excited at the fact that it's over until next year.

I figured it's about time I got around to another post on this blog.  I have been meaning to get to the next photography exercise in my book but I just haven't had the time. At the moment I currently have two seasonal jobs so I have been busy with work and as soon as I get home I just want to relax. Today is actually the first day in awhile for me that I have, for the most part, been home the whole day and have been able to get things done that I've been wanting to do.   

Anyway,  for the second photo exercise I am supposed to take a picture of my reflection.  I have taken pictures of my reflection multiple times before so I am just going share with you those instead of waiting until I find the time and inspiration to take pictures.

This picture is from a few years ago.  We were at the zoo and this picture was actually my friends idea so I can't take full credit for the creativity. The mirror is part of a carousel that was at the zoo. That's why there's a pole in front of the mirror.  The only thing I don't like about this picture is it's really grainy.  

I actually stumbled upon this picture the other day.  Last year my family went on vacation to the San Juan Islands in Washington and we visited a manor house from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. It was called Rosario Resort. It had a little museum but it was also a resort that people would stay at on their vacation.  I saw this weird mirror set up in one of the rooms.  I believe the idea behind the strange design of this mirror was so you could see more than one angle of yourself at the same time.  I really like this shot because it looks kinda deceptive.  Not only did I capture my reflection, I captured the reflection of my reflection as well.

Last Christmas I found the perfect ornament.   It was so red and shiny.  I opened up my Bible to the Christmas passage in Luke and took a picture so that you could see my reflection in the ornament.

I don't know if this one really counts, but I took a picture of me taking a picture.  It's kinda is a picture of my reflection but not really because it's my iPod's camera.  I really like this picture a lot because it's not your typical self-portrait picture.

*UPDATE*

I have to add my newest reflection picture!  It's my absolute favorite picture to use as profile pictures.  I took this picture at a really cute candy story in Monterey Bay.

Exercise One: Glimpses of You

I'm so excited!  Today I actually get to share with you some of my photography! Photography is one of my favorite hobbies and it will probably always be only a hobby for me but I know how a camera works and I can't stop myself from taking pictures of everything that catches my eye.

In my last blog post I introduced you all to a book I am currently going through; Shooting with Soul.  I've been busy reading and I have finally come to the first exercise; Glimpses of you. For this exercise I am supposed to take a picture of myself that captures my personality in a creative way.  Being that I like to take lots of pictures I ended up with quite a few pictures that I believe capture the essence of who I am.

One thing you may notice with my pictures is that the colors in these pictures aren't very vibrant.  I figured since these pictures are supposed to describe me I went ahead and edited them in a way that I thought fit me.  I love everything that has a vintage feel to it and when I edit my pictures I love fading the colors to get a vintage effect. For editing my pictures I use Photoshop Elements 11, and also Picmonkey. 

This may sound weird but I love taking pictures of my feet with different backgrounds.  I'm a girl and I love my shoes and I will admit that I may have a few pairs to many. You can tell a story through your shoes, whether it's a shot of your boots buried in snow, or rain boots splashing in a puddle.  These our my all-time favorite shoes to wear in the summer. They are comfortable and did I say cute.  

As I snapped a lot more pictures of my shoes trying to get the perfect shot I was thinking of other ways to express who I am.  I've learned to never take only one picture.  Usually if I share a picture I'm not showing you the 50 pictures that didn't turn out right. Anyway, as you can see in this picture, I've been growing my hair out for a long time and even though it's not quite as long as I want it yet it's getting to be really long.  I think this picture really captures this aspect of myself.

As a photographer I've learned that props really help.  I love old books and I love reading. You will never be able to guess, but this picture has a double meaning for me. This picture tells you that I love reading but the book in my hand is actually a blank notebook.  Not only do I love old books but I feel like I can never have enough empty notebooks. I have my own little collection of notebooks just waiting to be filled with my writings.

And of course we have here the picture that was never intended to happen but it did and I love it. I was really bummed that this picture ended up being blurry but after downloading my pictures to my computer I actually really liked the dreamy effect the blurriness adds to this image.

All these pictures have been taken by me using my tripod and shutter remote (Nikon D5100 and my 35mm lens).