Turner Falls is reopened!

Many months ago the Davis, OK area got nine inches of rain which caused Turner Falls to overflow its banks and cause massive damage to the park. Unfortunately, it's been closed this whole winter season and just reopened this week. Not all areas of the park are open because things are still under construction, and it was so sad to see all the damage that had been done. Don't know how they'll get it all done in time for the kickoff of camping season on Memorial Day weekend.

With the rain we've had this winter (thank God!) the falls are nice and full and the redbuds are in full bloom. This is at the overlook right off I-35 that doesn't cost you anything except for magnifying telescopes if you want. The winter rates are only $4/person but go up to $12/person on April 1.



As you can see, almost all the sidewalks were washed out from the parking lot to the falls. The bigger of the stone castles is open but the smaller is still not accessible.



They're just now setting forms for new sidewalks.





Looking back to the parking lot. There used to be trees and picnic tables along the bank and now they've been replaced with huge rocks. No more picnicking along the creek. :(



When you round the bend, this is the only part of the sidewalk left to the falls.



The sidewalk in front of the falls is still standing, but the railing is gone so it too is closed. It's unfortunate because on the other side is a wonderful hiking trail.





A beautiful redbud along Honey Creek.

More wedding details

I'm feeling time slipping away as it's only a few months till our daughter's wedding, hard to believe! This week I've been making tags to go on wishing trees to use as our guestbook. We will be using live trees still in their pots (decorated of course) so that we can plant them in our yard later.

I went to Staples and found bags of 100 tags, but there was no way I could put those through my printer. So I then found a kit of 50 perforated tags that you put through your printer, but it was again more than I wanted to pay ($20). I noticed on the front of the package that it said to go to www.avery.com/print and plug in the product number and get the template for free so I jotted that down.

I then went to Hobby Lobby and got a package of cream non-textured cardstock for $4.00 (50) and decided to print my own tags. When you go to Avery's website, you can look up templates by product and choose either premade ones or blank ones. I chose the blank ones so I could do my own design. I then uploaded the chandelier clipart (part of our theme) I had bought from Etsy and plugged in my own words. The template automatically puts 8 tags per page with the same words/image so it was just a matter of printing them out onto my cardstock and cutting them out with a paper trimmer. I made around 75 tags for just a couple of bucks, can't beat that!

Stay tuned for even more details AFTER the wedding at the end of May because I can't give everything away, lol!

Riding lessons

Some church friends invited me to come watch them at their English riding lessons and take a few photos today. Had fun trying out my new Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II lens. Great lens! This was my favorite shot even though my husband said, "I think you missed her my dear!" Umm...where's his artistic eye?

This is a test

Trying to figure out if I can go bigger with my photos. Woohoo, I can! This is my youngest daughter. :)

Speedlite magic

Years ago I purchased my first off-brand speedlite but never took the time to learn how to use it much. Then I got the Canon 430EX and found how much more freedom it gave me to light a situation and add catchlights in my clients' eyes at outdoor locations. Even though I prefer to use a large reflector, I don't always have an assistant with me.

Finding that the 430 wasn't as powerful as I would like, I then got the Canon 580EXII speedlite and wow, it's a little powerhouse! I'm learning to use it on and off camera and how to bounce it off a wall or ceiling for more soft, diffused light. These skills will come in handy for upcoming weddings.

I just discovered photographer Neil van Niekerk who gives you tips on how to use what he calls a "black foamie thing" and lots of other tips on how to use a speedlite. I also incorporate the Gary Fong Lightsphere when there's no wall/ceiling to bounce off of. Check out wedding photographer Melissa Jill who uses it. She's a fabulous photographer who's blog I've been reading for years. She's very generous in sharing her expertise with other photographers. I believe the post starts in August 2011, and you'll want to read all of them because they build on top of one another.

The other things I've bought in the last six months to help me fire my speedlites wirelessly is the Paul C Buff CyberSyncs where you put the transmitter on your camera's hotshoe and attach the receiver (via a cable) on your speedlite or strobe lights. I attached some sticky velcro to my speedlites and strobes so it wouldn't just dangle. It allows you to take your speedlite off your camera, put it on a light stand, have an assistant hold it or whatever creative way you can think of. The PCB company is well known for their fantastic customer service and their prices are reasonable. The CyberSyncs do take batteries so that's the only limitation.

So last night I had the idea of taking a photo of one of our beautiful Bradford Pear trees that are in bloom right now with a speedlite either in the tree or behind it somehow so that it would shine through the white blossoms and illuminate the whole tree. It was a bit of a challenge getting my lens to focus so I used a flashlight to shine where I wanted the focus to be, locked the exposure and turned off the flashlight. I put the Canon 580EXII speedlite on it's included stand in ETTL mode and set it on the ground about 20 feet behind the tree. The whole time I kept pushing our cat Kovu away, but he insisted on hanging around and for the "winning" shot, he stepped into it! I love it!

It's official

I'm adding weddings to my photography business this year! I've had more requests for weddings than anything else over the years and have turned down most of them for one reason or another. I've done a few small ones in the past and have come to realize that I absolutely LOVE taking photos of couples in love and what's more LOVEly than a wedding?

If you take a look at my website you'll see some photos I've done and also the reduced pricing for this year only. Until I gain more experience, my pricing will stay low for the time being. I'm also willing to travel a few hours away so tell your friends and family. I'd love to be their wedding photographer!

Here's a few photos from the last wedding I did of Trevor and Ashley in San Antonio. More can be seen on my website.

Sunset

We live out in the country with woods behind our house and unfortunately the sun sets on that side so whenever I see a beautiful sunset, I have to run through our woods and into our back pasture and quickly try to find a tree or something to take a picture with the sunset in the background. This time I stayed near the creek and quickly took a shot of the beautiful colors. Sometimes the most beautiful sunsets happen in the winter. I wonder why that is?

Lake Murray in Winter

This morning it was really foggy, and I was hoping to capture some cool photos at Lake Murray State Park which is just 15 min. from our home. I got just a few before it all burned off but that's not so important as the feeling of relaxation I get being out there in the middle of winter all alone. It's so serene, and the ducks and birds are very active.

I was really happy with the photos I got in the Pecan Grove picnic area. The trees are really cool in there!



And the cattails were all bursting with seeds.











I then went to the fishing pier and was surprised there weren't any fishermen there. I used my Lensbaby Sweet 35 lens for this photo which adds a cool effect.



And again on a cool-shaped tree trunk.



So even though it's cold and dreary, get out there and see what you can find. You might be surprised!

Another sneak peek

Since our daughter's wedding is vintage inspired, I'm making tons of mason jar lights and vases. Here's some of the lights where I'm using a hot glue gun to cover with twine, flat-sided pearl trim and buttons. I found the lace fabric on clearance at Hobby Lobby. It was in the decorator fabrics and is actually plastic tablecloth material that I'm cutting the lace panels out of and using spray adhesive to attach it to the lights.



And here's what it looks like when the candle shines through it. Just gorgeous!

I should have been a graphic designer!

In the coming months I hope you don't mind me sharing all things wedding since Celeah is getting married on May 27.

Her theme is vintage so we wanted to come up with something that fit that theme for her save-the-date postcards. I went researching for vintage postcard ideas, stamps, anything I could use to make one in photoshop. Thankfully I found the perfect photoshop brushes from pixelsandicecream. I just had to change the colors and use the stamps like brushes onto a 4x6 transparent template I made. It turned out perfect, and all of them went out in the mail last week.

It saved us money, and we got exactly what we wanted and I sure enjoyed the hours it took to make it!