And since Casual Friday is (usually) about things I love, I have to mention that these were all taken with my 50mm lens, which  I love, but don’t use nearly enough.  I’m trying to change that.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

What in the world does limeade have to do with New Year’s Eve?

Well, first off, I didn’t have a very New Year’s Eve-y type photo. No party hats, no champagne… oh well. BUT, since it is New Year’s Eve, you’re supposed to be looking forward to the new year and what it will bring, right? Ever heard of that saying about make lemonade when life gives you lemons? I much prefer limes and limeade. I like green better than yellow.

So, limes it is. 

Anyway. So, in 2011, I want to focus on the positives and turn challenges into successes. Limes into limeade. I hope everyone else does the same and has much limeade, and only a few limes next year.

Oh, and a small resolution for 2011? Get back to blogging like normal next week. Like posting Casual Friday’s on time, on Friday.

Merry Christmas to all!

Last weekend, I went to the Renegade Craft Fair with the super fun Lauren Le Pine from Ryan Alexander Events. It marked the first significant snowfall Chicago has had this year, and it was definitely wet, cold, and gloomy. The day was gray and sad for another reason too… just before meeting up with Lauren, we discovered that my cat Zoe has kidney disease. She had just had the required blood test for a dental procedure the day before, and we got a call from the vet on the way to the fair, letting us know that the bloodwork showed she has kidney disease…which is a sad day for kitty. So, despite it being the first snowfall, which is usually a fun time for photographers, I only took a few random snaps with my iPhone because I wasn’t in the mood to exert the effort to take proper photos.

So, this Casual Friday post really isn’t about anything I like… cold, snow, and sick kitties aren’t exactly on my list of favorite things. But, there is always a silver lining. I did get to meet a fabulous person in Lauren that day, and I’m also glad that a routine dental procedure helped me find out my kitty was sick before she got REALLY sick. Now at least we can do what we can to help her. I guess the point is that even if you do have a dreary, gloomy day, just remember that good things can also come out of it. Yin and yang.

Yesterday on my Facebook, I asked if I should post old film shots, photos of Zoe, or fall photos.

Old film shots won the vote, obviously.

What I didn’t say when I asked for a vote was that these were summer film shots from a barbecue. Isn’t it cruel of me to ask you to to look at pictures from a summer BBQ when there are several inches of snow forecasted for tomorrow? I apologize. I won’t be too sincere in my apologies though, because these pictures are from a super fun day, and you should never apologize about fun.

The drive to visit my family is long, and despite books, music, and even photo editing in the car, I get bored. So, I take pictures out the window. I was too lazy to drag out my camera, so these are taken with the iPhone (with a little bit of the tilt-shift app thrown in). The drive was obviously dreary, and while dreary doesn’t always work well, I loved the mood with these bare trees. It might be something out of Wuthering Heights.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I wanted to do something a little different this week. I have the typical pictures of fall leaves that I could have posted, and some old film that I will post eventually, even a study of my cat cleaning herself (full of funny cat faces)… but those all seemed boring. So, what exciting pictures could I take without leaving my house (it’s SO cold outside)?

I have an old desk/office set from the 1800s. It’s beautiful hand carved old wood, and I love it, despite the fact that it’s really uncomfortable and delicate and thus mostly unused. It used to be my parents’, but when they divorced, no one really had room for it, so I inherited it. The bookcase is my favorite part of the set, probably because I have a thing for books. But really, it’s awesome. So, I decided to make that my focus for this week’s Casual Friday. Books and old furniture definitely quality as something I love.

I wanted to make these shots look old and abstract-ish because the bookcase is so old. I used my tilt-shift and shot through glass to help get that out of focus, old lens look, shot at a high ISO to get grain, and then purposely underexposed a bit.  Convert to black and white, and tada.

Yeah, the title says it all.

Despite living in Chicago almost as long as I lived in Southern California, I’m still not used to the Chicago winters. I cringe at snow (unless it’s on Christmas; I’m okay with white Christmases), I start shivering when it drops below about 60 degrees, and I become a bit of a hibernating bear when the temperatures drop. As far as I’m concerned, the only good thing to come out of winter is winter boots. I do love those.

So, for this Casual Friday, I’m celebrating the last few warm days I think we’re going to have with one of the last summery photos I took. This is it until it gets warm again (or until I run away to Mexico, hmmmm).

This is not my cat. Nope. This is my cat, Zoe (in a bathtub, no less).

My cat weighs about 7 pounds and is a bit psychotic. She runs around the house for no reason some days and likes to talk, often just to hear her own voice.

This cat weighs about 15 pounds (um, I think?), but really feels like 200 pounds when you’re used to picking up a 7 pound cat. And this kitty is a bit more low-key and much quieter. He’s also a boy. Not like my cat; Zoe’s a girl.

This is Rufus.

He was nice enough to model for me while I finished up a roll of film. Or, maybe he was just trying to figure out which part of me would be best to eat first after he attacked me.

You never really know with a cat.  Rufus and Zoe are the same in that regard.

This is a HUGE blast from the past.

While I am largely self-taught, I did take an intro photography course in film in college. I learned how to develop my own film and make my own prints….which, if you’ve never done it, is something I think every photographer should do at least once in their life.  There’s nothing quite like the frustration of dust on wet negatives, the triumph of finally burning and dodging a tricky print just right, or emerging from the dark room hours later, feeling like it was only 20 minutes.  It’s a more tactile version of photography, instead of digital developing, which only involves fingers touching a keyboard.

Anyway, these pictures come from our pattern and shadow assignment in that class…. not the most creative assignment, but I do like some of the photos that came out of it.

So, dear readers, welcome to a few pictures that 22 year-old me took.

Oh, and I have many more negatives where these came from, so don’t be surprised if a few more old-school Casual Fridays appear.