waiting for your return.

are you ever coming home?

- Hello Alone by Anberlin

3/365

This was taken last Tuesday, on mine and Yona's unforgettable adventure ;) I still need to blog about that day. Crazy. I will.

I didn't get the chance to shoot today, so I edited this instead. I'm sure you guys won't mind. I won't miss a day of uploading, even if i post an old picture.

I don't like that the exif data changes when you process a picture in photoshop. At least i think it does. . .? the date and time it says I took this is actually when I edited it.

Seaside, Oregon. Way too early in the morning. Especially when you've been driving for 4 hours after pulling an all nighter.

Yes, we were foolish.
No, we will never, ever do it again.
Yes, we will always remember how we celebrated my 18th birthday.
No, we will never regret it. Well, not really.

I have lots more from this day to upload. Just a heads up.

2/365

Yesterdays shot.
This is bad, I know.  When it gets late and you still haven't taken a picture, you have to settle for less.

Post and run, sorry guys.  I'll catch up as soon as I'm able, I just have no idea when that will be. 
Thanks for your continued support :D

Mmm.

My lovely mom and sweet brother. 

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up.

just try to never grow up.

1/365
With 8 minutes to spare.
This is pretty suckish. Not what I envisioned. But I'm committed to doing a 365 so I had to upload it.
Please don't look for flaws, you will find many if you do. I'm too tired to fix them.

I'm officially an adult. Or so I'm told.
Hmm.

This is also my entry for the contest we're having on my group, Immaterially Focused. The theme is "goodbye." This is me saying goodbye to childhood.

Conviction.

Shem, my little brother, sidled up to me and asked in a sweet voice, "Lula, can we have a sleepover at your house soon?"

I sarcastically replied, "Sure, I just love having such peaceful, well behvaed children stay in my house."

His face lit up, he let out a gasp, and jumped into my lap. "Thank you!"

I felt awful.
So the kids are coming down tonight ;)

From strange to stranger.

This picture is #1 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

I finally got up the nerve to start the 100 strangers project. I've been wanting to do it for months, but always had an excuse as to why I shouldn't start. Well, I started. And I plan on making it a regular thing.

Meet Dave and Susie Payne, whom I met at a beach along the Oregon Coast. I actually don't remember the name of the beach, or where it was, as I drove a lot of the coast that day.

Now, I am a very shy person. I'm not very good at talking to people I don't know. This is one of the reasons I was so intent on doing this project. I thought it would force me to get out of my comfort zone. I think the key thing is to not be self conscious. So what if people think you're strange? You're probably never going to see them again anyway.

So, I kind of just jumped right into this. And it just so happened that the first people I asked were more than willing to be a part of what I was doing. Remind me why I was so scared?

This lovely couple intrigued me with their stylish bikes and leather jackets. Despite the rough biker look, they were very warm and friendly :) It just goes to show that stereotypes are meaningless.

I can't describe the feeling I had after taking this. . .it gave me a much needed boost (I'd pulled an all nighter in order to get to the coast early, so I was quite tired.) Just doing something you never thought you could do makes you feel so good ;)

So, thank you Dave and Susie for not backing out when I told you that you were my first "victims" ;) I hope you see this!

My best friend took this. I'm so proud of her :) (Sorry Yona if I got impatient when I was trying to teach you how to compose the shot :P) [hehe you see that little red dot that blinks when you press the shutter half way? You want that right on my eye. Right on my eye Yona!]

Yona and I went to the coast yesterday to celebrate my coming birthday and we took lots of pictures so I'll be posting those soon.

I look very tired here. . .perhaps because we left for the coast at about 2am without going to bed the night before. I figured out that by the time I went to bed I had been up for around 43 hours :O

More info on our adventures later. . .I might write a long post about it if I find time.

wake on up from your slumber, baby open up your eyes.

Beautiful bones.

I recently did a shoot with my beautiful friend, Hannah.

You consume me.

you consume me. like a burning flame, running through my veins.

save me, I'm swallowed by the guilt of this. you're gone.

I'm alive.

Today I discovered how much fun freelensing was :) It opens up a whole new world. . .
It makes me smile sometimes when I look at a picture and think about the position I was in when I took it.
Maybe someone walking past would wonder why I was lying on the ground with my feet in the air, holding a camera without the lens attached. Perhaps they would mutter and sigh, "kids these days."
But I don't suppose it really matters, does it?
It's art. We can do what we want.

Sorry for my absence. . .
Oh, and I'll pick the winners for the print giveaway later and post the results on my next picture. Thanks to everyone who bothered to enter, I know it was a hassle! But your feedback is greatly appreciated, it was exactly what I wanted.

Ask me something? Or tell me something ;)

yeah, I feel it in my bones.

like a rolling stone
an enemy unknown
I lose control
I feel it in my bones
like a rolling stone
you'll never find me on the high ground
I lose control

I cast no shadow on the grave
no one knows my name
I ride the wind of seven seas
gone before the rain
I am both friend and enemy
an object of disdain
living it up in the down and out
I roll with the foxes and hunt with the hounds

I draw disaster from the fane
like fire in the sky
I am the bandage and the bane
the furor of the fires
I stand alone when none remain
a creature of the night
I'll cut you in, but there's no way out
I roll with the foxes and hunt with the hounds

I am the death that makes your life seem good
I am the pain that brings you close to God
I am the prophet warning of the flood
I am the answer you misunderstood

I am the answer that you misunderstand
I do the evil that an honest man can't
I live in shadows that the enemy casts
I have no future and I have no past

lose control by House of Heroes. One of my all time favourite bands.

................


When lacking inspiration, do a cliche silhouette or hair flip. When desperately lacking any form of creativity, do both.

You'd never guess, but this was taken a few feet away from this.


I just felt like doing a square crop.

PRINT GIVEAWAY!!

I went on a photoshoot with my lovely sister yesterday :) I must say, it was the most successful photoshoot I've ever done because the lighting was incredible. It doesn't hurt that Willow is gorgeous, and very good at modeling ;) She looks so comfortable with a guitar in her hands. I can totally see her on an album cover. . .the next Taylor Swift perhaps?

Now, I really, really want feedback on these. I tried out some new things and want your opinions. So, as a little motivation, I'm doing a print giveaway :D Here's what you have to do.

Rate each one of these on a scale of 1 - 10, and tell me why you like/dislike it. Then pick 3 of my pictures that you would like to receive. (look in the archives and tell me the date of the post, then give a description of the picture. I'll know which ones you mean.) Tell me why you like them. It's that simple! I'll put the names in a hat and pick 5 winners. You do not have to be a contact of mine to enter! It's open to anyone :)

This is what it will look like:

1) 5/10 - I like this because. . . but I think it could use improvement in these areas. . .
2) 8/10 - I love this because. . .
3) 1/10 - I hate this because. . .
etc. etc. etc.

Thank you ahead of time for doing this ;)

Some of the colours look a little off on flickr :( Oh well. They look different on different monitors too.

Completely natural lighting in all of these. Editing done with GIMP and Photoshop Elements 9. All taken with a 50mm f/1.8.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15)

16) The main!

A solar flare shines through her hair. 3/365

it's so unfair
when you compare
the one who's fairest of the fair

.....................

The song was so random. But oh well.
Lots of outtakes.

Willow.

This is my sister, Willow :)
I think she's one of the most beautiful people I know. This picture does her no justice. We seriously look nothing alike :( I'm particularly envious of her bright blue eyes and high cheekbones ;)

This isn't my 365 by the way, just a shot from a few days ago.

I've been shooting quite a bit of film lately. I just can't afford to get it developed right now.

I'll catch up with your streams and flickmail later!