Sometimes, I get really bored when I’m sitting in front of the computer, and I end up doing silly things. Like animals in polka dots.
I’m thinking that if I do the whole alphabet, it might make a cute little book. Mostly, I just love polka dots. So be it.
This great shop is filled with all sorts of goodies, from the handmade to the practical. Every item is hand-picked and gorgeous. I especially like all of the lighting options, but the kids toys are pretty cute too.
I stumbled across this blog some time ago and I was instantly hooked. All of her pictures (in addition to being simply fantastic) are so full of joy and love. And I’m a little bit jealous of her life – cute kids, out in the country, growing and eating, generally having a good time. She was nice enough to be subjected to some of my questions – and here are her answers. Make sure to check out her blog, Kids + Other Pets to see what I’m talking about.
1. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Goat Cheese + Eggs
2. What do you find most inspiring about where you live?
The River! It’s part of our daily lives, we are constantly checking on it. Always comparing how it looks today as to from yesterday, is it high or low, is the color green or brown or glacier green.
3. What kind of music are you into lately?
I like all forms of quirky folk music.
4. Are you a professional photographer, or do you just take pictures for fun?
Just for fun! Although I do have a BFA so I’m sure that helps.
5. What is your favorite photography subject?
Kids, for sure. They are non self-conscious and will do (almost) anything you ask them to. And their skin is always amazing.
6. Was there someone in your life who was a creative inspiration for you?
My Mom. She’s the handiest person with a pair of scissors that you ever did see. She can craft anything. I remember when I was a kid she once made a Christmas card collage out of hundreds of torn bits of paper that was a montage of our family skiing. It was crazy.
7. What else do you make other than art that you’re great at?
I’m pretty handy in the garden and I love to cook. I guess I’m sort of a homebody!
8. What is your favorite thing about your kids?
Leif is insightful and Io is full of joy.
9. What is your creative process like?
It used to be more of a process (pre-kids) involving spontaneity. Now I just squeeze in some computer time after the kids are in bed and hope the mood strikes. I try to take pictures all the time, although I have found that sometimes I take little breaks and other times I’m glued to the camera.
10. What’s a cool thing that you think everyone should know about?
Eating locally has been huge for our family this summer. We’ve managed to eat about 90% of our fruits & veggies from our garden, but when we’ve ventured out I’ve used the website http://www.localharvest.org/ to help find sources for meat, dairy, and flour. It’s amazing!
11. What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you?
Arriving at a local meeting for a “spiritual group” only to find out it was a swingers club. A W K W A R D.
12. Where’s your dream vacation spot?
Right now I’m in perpetual fantasy about taking a winter trip to Vietnam for some beach time and noodles.
13. What’s the last thing you bought online?
A medlar tree. raintreenursery.com – hours of fun!
14. In a perfect world without the constraints of reality, what would you be doing?
I would have my midwifery practice down the street, I’d have time for yoga every day, farm dinner dates with my husband on Saturday night, and my kids would running around the neighborhood happy and busy.
15. Do you make a signature dish? What is it?
I like to make cloufouti with cherries and almond flour.
16. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I don’t remember.
17. What’s your most treasured possession?
My daughter Luna’s first and only dress. It is a smocked gown donated by a woman named Anne to the hospital. Luna only wore it for a brief time, but I’ll always treasure it. My Nana made a beautiful replica of it that she donated to our local hospital should someone else be in our same situation.
18. Do you have any other pets?
2 Singapura cats and 9 hens and a big, dumb rooster.
19. What’s your best garage sale find?
A set of mid-century bird sketches done by two local illustrators. I’m in the middle of getting them framed!
20. What are you most passionate about?
Birth. It’s the confluence of my favorite things: health, science, spirituality, feminism, and wonder.
This shop is a great place to find the unique, the visionary, and the somewhat expensive.
Above are some of my favorites. I like the idea of ice cube alphabets, and the see-saw bookcase. That bear nightlight is delightfully evil. It’s a great place to have a look around though, even if you don’t have the money to actually buy. Who knows – maybe it will inspire you to make something new and unique?
I went on a short (2 day) road trip a few weeks ago with a friend. It ended up being really fun, and kind of hilarious! I’ll explain why, with pictures.
1. Driving through Yuma, Arizona in the middle of the day in summer isn’t exactly the smartest idea. It was 117 degrees outside. Basically, it was like being in a sauna, fully clothed, without all of the teak benches, lovely steam and cold shower afterwards. Not exactly refreshing. This building was cool though. You see lots of old bombed-out buildings along the highways in the Southwest, as the pretty much never decay.
2. Just in case it wasn’t already hot enough, there’s sand dunes to prove that you’re in the desert. I think it might have been even hotter here. A public service announcement to all of my dear readers: don’t wear sandals in hot sand. It seems like a good idea, but then the hot sand rolls over your feet and literally burns your skin. Seriously.
3. Hanging out with little kids who are just seeing the ocean for the first time is immensely gratifying. Although I’m pretty sure that I was also that excited.
4. It’s also nice to be able to get a few pictures of my friend and her son, for posterity’s sake. This is one of my favorites from the whole trip.
5. Did I mention were were on Coronado Island, in San Diego? If you look really closely, you can see the tops of the submarines. Yes, they were so close that I could have swam out to them (something I wouldn’t recommend).
6. My hair is wild and has a mind of its own, and this picture proves it. Also, I love building sand castles.
7. So here’s where the hilarious part comes in. My friend is moving to Germany, so we were driving to San Diego to drop off her truck so it could get shipped halfway across the world. She had arranged to rent a car to get back, but when we showed up at the car rental office, we were told that in fact, we would not be able to take the rental car across state lines. Great. Lots of chaos, taxi rides, and scary trips into the unsavory part of the city ensued, and in the end, it was cheaper and easier to rent a moving truck. So we drove back across the desert in an empty moving truck. A big one, at that. Luckily, at all of the Border Control checkpoints, they thought it was funny, so we proceeded unmolested. I think we were so hysterical, they were just trying to get us out of the way.
8. The sunsets in the desert are ALWAYS amazing. I didn’t photoshop this at all. That’s what it actually looked like. And In-n-Out? Also amazing. For anyone who doesn’t live on the west coast or has never been, I highly recommend it. I don’t even eat fast food burgers, and these are the best.
It was quite the adventure! Got home at 3am only to have to get up at 7 to make a flight out of town, but totally worth it.
The best part about a family reunion is getting to take pictures of lots of cute kids without seeming like a weirdo. And you don’t even have to wrangle them! There’s plenty of relatives around to do that. My family also seems to be blessed with some really adorable kids (or maybe I’m just biased).
I think she probably has the greatest job in the whole world (photographing animals and cute kids) and there’s an obvious reason why. She’s EXTREMELY talented. People always say that good photography lies in capturing a moment, and she seems to capture every one just perfectly. I also love the way that she uses negative space – not something that’s taken into account too much in photography up front but she uses it in a way that’s almost painterly.
She’s done an animal series that you can purchase at her etsy shop that includes pictures of all sorts of exotic creatures, from goats to macaws and llamas. I’ve been lusting after them for some time now but I’m finding it hard to pick just one animal. You can also see more of her great photography at her blog.
I feel like I should explain where all of these animal photos are coming from.
I’m pretty bored where I live, so I put out an ad on the local Craigslist for free pet photography. Needless to say, I was immediately inundated with emails, most of which never got back to me. However, I have had a great deal of genuine response so every few days I get to meet up with strangers and take pictures of their pets (and often, their kids).
It’s actually proven to be a lot of fun. I get to meet a lot of people in my community, and capture priceless memories for a lot of people who would be otherwise unable to pay to have portraits taken. And I get to play with a lot of cute dogs (and kids, and goats, and horses, and so on). It’s the next best thing to actually getting to have a dog (which I can’t). I love these latest pictures because to me, they look so much like summertime!
