Stone Oak

Climb me, for I'm made of stone

Lean against me when alone

Come and rest beneath my shade

I am the place where dreams are made

Lie beneath me, call me home

I've learned so much as I have grown

Find beneath my ancient limbs

The wind here sings the wisest hymns

My Limbs won't break, my roots go deep

Your secrets I am sworn to keep

So come to me when hope is gone

And climb me,

For I'm made of stone

xoxo- Leah

#TennesseeTuesday - Monochromatic Foggy Morning

Woke up to a thick, foggy morning one day last week, and after my morning taxiing of kids and whatnot, I went home, grabbed my camera, and set off to see what images I could capture before the fog lifted.  the following images are from that morning (some of them after the fog lifted), all of them taken within 3 miles of my house.

And if you ever wondered why the chicken crossed the road, it's still a mystery.  I asked, but couldn't get a straight answer out of them.

Technical Details:

Nikon D700

Nikon 28 2.8D | 50 1.4D

Lensbaby Composer Pro + Sweet 35 Optic

Until tomorrow-

xoxo Leah

Experimenting with Light - #FindingTheLightWithErinHensley

I have a lot of photographer friends. A lot. Really.  And I have learned from and been inspired by all of them at some point. But there's this one, Erin Hensley, that has a nifty little group on facebook, and every month she has a theme to inspire people to get out and shoot, and I really, really love it.  Not only is it filled with eye-candy of nearly 5k photographers (yes, nearly FIVE THOUSAND), but it's filled with lots of support and sharing of knowledge. August's theme was "Experimenting with Light", and since I had quite a few interesting images as a result of this theme, I thought I would blog them.  I am really loving the results of trying some new tricks and re-trying some old ones.

So, without further jabber, here are the fruits of my inspiration.

 This one was shot as I rode shotgun with one of my best friends, Amie (another amazing photographer friend), and she indulged my quirky desire to shoot landscapes at a slow shutter speed while in motion.  That's a good friend, y'all.

Another one from my drive with Amie.  I love this so much, I am going to name it and write some poetry about it.  Don't judge me.

 These two were also done while Amie drove and let me hang out the window of her car with my shutter slowed waaaay down (it was past sunset).  These two look to me like paintbrush strokes, or the pinkish one like a peacock feather and the blue one reminds me of wind.

 Now, this one looks to me like a reflection in a puddle.  It's actually an out of focus image shot through a glass door while it rained, with one of those little spiral shaker balls (like from a shaker bottle for smoothies) held about an inch away from the lens.  Neat, huh?

 Teensy-tiny little ant-sized bug of some sort, on a tiny little flower in my yard.  This one was captured "reverse freelensed", or with the lens detached and rotated backwards for the soft, dreamy effect with macro capabilities.

 Another reverse freelensed image.  I love the way freelensing catches and manipulates flare.

 This one and the next three, were done using a prism.  It's a nifty, but tricky little gadget and makes for some really beautiful, surreal, other-worldly images.

Very surreal, like a dream.

And this one looks like either heavy fog, or a pathway above the clouds.

This one makes my rainbow-loving, inner-child happy.

This lovely, glowy image was catured at dark, beneath Amie's porch light.  It's actually a multiple exposure using a prism. I think it's dreamy, and I dig it.

Technical Details:

Nikon D700
Nikon 50 1.4D | Nikon 28 2.8D
Prism
Imagination
Rad friend willing to drive while I hung out the passenger window

If you want to be inspired, or just have a hankering for eye-candy, join the Finding the Light with Erin Hensley group on facebook, follow her on Instagram and like her facebook page.  You can thank me later.

Love-

Leah

Camera Junkie - All the Film, All the Cameras

I'm addicted to old cameras.  It started about 7 years ago, when my husband brought home a vintage Minolta SRT-101 from an estate sale.  Some I purchased from ebay, some from thrift or antique stores, some were gifts.  Some of them work like a charm, some of them are hopeless, and a few of them I just haven't taken the time to figure out yet, but here I am, staring at this beautiful collection, determined to use the ones that work, and to proudly display the ones that don't. There is something fulfilling in looking at my mantle and seeing all these old cameras.  I look at them and wonder who they belonged to, and what kind of memories were frozen in time at the click of the shutter.

Lubitel Universal 166, Made in Russia 1980

Minolta SrT-101, Made in Japan 1966

Kodak Brownie Target Six-20, Made in USA and France 1941

Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash, Made in USA 1950

Steky Model II, 16mm sub-mini, Made in Japan 1950

Steky II in the palm of my hand.  I swear it's like the puppy of cameras.

Kodak Brownie Starmite, Made in USA 1960

Minolta Autopak 700, Made in Japan 1966

Yashica Electro 35 G, Made in Japan 1968

Kodak Brownie Bullet, Made in USA 1957-1964

Minolta Maxxum 3xi, Made in Japan 1991

This camera is particularly special to me.  It documented my life from 21-31, and was the camera on which I learned the basics of photography, and truly fell in love with the art.

Dick Tracy Toy Camera, 1940s

(A real, working camera! Shutter sticks, but a fun addition to the collection that I snagged at an antique market several years ago)

Minolta Freedom 115, Made in Japan 2001

(found recently at a Goodwill for $4)

Mamiya ZE-2, Made in Japan 1980

Minolta Hi-Matic G, Made in Japan 1974

Nikon N2000, Made in Japan 1985

Nikon F100, Made in Japan 1999

The ones I use frequently are the Nikon F100, Minolta SrT-101 and Hi-matic G, and the Mamiya ZE-2,  I just got the Lubitel, and I am anxious to try it out, but I realized it's missing a handle and may have to find a solution for this before I will be able to test it.  

So there you have it. My "dirty little secret" is out, and please, whatever you do, don't schedule an intervention.  If loving old film cameras is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Until next time-

xoxo Leah