Soups On!

http://www.danasjewelrydesign.blogspot.com/

My Bead Soup Swap partner is Dana James (see above link for her blog). I don't think that Lori Anderson could have matched us up any better. Dana and I seem to be on similar wave lengths. We gave ourselves a deadline to mail the beads by and we both ended up mailing them early and on the same day! I just love what she sent to me. How did she know that blue-blue and cobalt blue were the colors that I was lacking and was in the process of adding to my stash?

She made many of the charms from found objects, including a cute silver bullet bell that has the cutest tinkling sound. I think she also made the beautiful pendants, and I fell in love with the soldered two-sided one. I think that the lady is suppose to be the front, but the floral is to die for so that might be the front for me. She sent me two clasps, one a heart shaped toggle, and the other a floral design (which by the way happens to be very similar to the very first toggle I purchased for my very first necklace I made).

We both sent each other ribbon, had a heavy blue theme, sent mother-of-pearl items, gemstones, and they both had Scrabble tiles involved. Talk about a meeting of the minds! It must be that she lives in Washington and I'm from Washington...

I couldn't be happier with what she sent to me especially since many of the items have been on my wish-list and just haven't been able to justify getting them yet, like the lapis. Check out her blog to see what I sent to her. I can't wait to see what she does with her soup. Keep checking back for possible sneak-peaks and the Blog Hop on February 26th.

Side Note: On the bead swap that I am doing with my family, the main beads are called "Crazy Horse Jasper". (see prior post for pictures).

Photography

I just received a nice compliment from my Bead Soup partner. She said "your photography is wonderful. If I dedicated myself to it a bit more I'm sure mine would get better but it really is hard taking good photos of jewelry." Wasn't that sweet of her?

I really like to take pictures so that is a bonus, but I think that a person needs to change their mindset about the picture they are taking.

Ask your self why you are taking this picture. Is it just for the purpose of providing documentation or something else? There is nothing wrong with being a documentator, there is a true purpose and value to this type of photography. Many things might get otherwise missed, and if it's the difference between getting a picture of it or not, do what you have to to capture that memory!

I am trying to work on my compositions, evoking emotion when possible other than straight forward documentation. For example, my husband is a “documentator”, give him a camera to shoot a scene and he takes in everything with individual elements being very small overall, but you get the entire scene. I tend to zoom in as close as possible to eliminate background distractions and to find the nuances or story in the scene.

I find that both types are good but don't forget to zoom in and get close. This can be used for trips, family get-togethers, pets, objects, etc.

Here are some examples:

What story do these pictures tell? What (if any) are the emotional responses? What do you prefer; the wide-angle, miss nothing or the close-up, focal? I'm curious what other people prefer.

Sunrise, Sunset

Here is a small reason why we love living in Arizona. You can actually see the SUN almost everyday in all it's glory. Whether it is rising or setting, there is usually a spectacular display. The pictures are from my camera on my phone (so no the colors haven't been doctored, if anything they are a little washed out) since I am either going to work when the sun comes up, or I am heading home when it is going down.

Don't be jealous, you can move here too...there are plenty of houses!