Hollow inside

That's the best way to describe how I feel right now.

I know I said I'm keeping this blog for photography, and I mean that, but sometimes I feel the need to express myself in words only.

Today is one of those days.

I just returned from an assignment inside the home of a woman who has had NO HEAT FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS. Stop for a minute and imagine that ... To have to rely on dangerous space heaters and your COOKING STOVE to keep yourself and your family warm.

On a positive note, this story I'm working on is about a group of students from Ivy Tech who are installing ductwork and a furnance for this woman. "An answer to a prayer," Marcia told me of the men who bustled around the cramped confines of her decrepit home this morning.

It is moments like this that stop me in my tracks. That remind me of how much I take for granted in my life. How, as much as I think I'm doing my part (tithing at church, giving food to a local mission), I am disconnected to this gorilla in the room we call poverty. And how easy it is for us all to pretend people like this ... well, we know they're out there, but "out of sight, out of mind" is all too easy to adhere to, right?

I am happy for Marcia, who is getting a Christmas present this year beyond the realm of anything I'll be asking for or need. And I am humbled to think I've been given so much in my own life that my prayers ... yeah, they've gotten nothing on Marcia's.

It's finished!!!

I love to knit. It's only been in the past year (thanks to the wonderful, wonderful ladies at Danner's, our local gift/book/yarn shop) that I've progressed beyond basic scarves and hats to bigger (and better) projects.

Here's a peak at one of those BIG projects. I decided to make an afghan for my mom this year for Christmas. The same mother who, until this summer, had the same living room furniture she'd had since I was in diapers. And I decided the avocado green/gold/orange/brown color-scheme of the beloved afghan my grandmother made my mom (pre-me-in-diapers) would no longer (ahem) complement her new stuff.

This pattern was REALLY easy (a good thing because the one I started with was NOT) and if anybody out there is a knitter wanting to tackle a similar BIG project in baby steps, drop me an e-mail and I'll get you the pattern.

I can't WAIT to see the look on mom's face when she opens this Christmas Day (and no, I'm not worried about her seeing it on here because my parents don't have the Internet - and yes, they've accepted the fact they are among possibly the last few people on the planet who don't!)


One final note: You know you are addicted to knitting when the only shop you hit up at 6 a.m. on Black Friday is a yarn store!! (but hey, I wasn't alone!!!)

More nieces and nephews to come ...

I went home again this week ('tis the season, I guess) for a belated Thanksgiving dinner with the family and for a birthday party for my niece, Grace, who turned 10.

I'm working on something fun I did with the kids -- a sort of VERY impromptu photo shoot (with bad lighting to boot!) but I HAD to post one of the images I'm editing from the evening. This is my niece, Emily, 2, and nephew, Jake, 4. Both of whom, if you couldn't tell, are the BIGGEST HAMS ever! And I LOVE IT!

Holiday 'fixin's

I love the holidays and while everybody else I knew this year was busy eating turkey on Thanksgiving, I came home from work :( and decided to get a jump start on the season and get our Christmas decorations up early this year. I know, I'm crazy right?

What's better than a little tree trimming while watching the Colts overcome the Falcons?

First I tried to get Daisy in on the action (ala Dooce's Chuck,) but she was having none of it:

We have an artificial tree, which I know some people say boo! to, but it's just so much easier. Here's a few stages of the process:

Time to top things off with a star!:

I love pulling your holiday decorations out of boxes and discovering what it was you tucked away last year (I think this stems from childhood). Last year, I scooped up what is probably my favorite holiday collection I'll ever own. This is one of a series of holiday plates done by Saul Steinberg. I love his creations and his ingenuity, so when I spotted these, I knew I had to have them. I don't know if they'll ever be worth much, but, some day, I want to hand them down:

Time for ornaments! I love that both Nick's mother and my mother bought us each Hallmark collectible ornaments over the years. Now we have a great little Keepsakes collection. Here's one of my favorites:

Anyone else still have baby ornaments handed down to them? The "1983" train on the left is Nick's and, to the right, is my first baby ornament from 1982.

Two years ago, Nick's mother had these glass-blown angels made for all of us by a local glass blower in Brown County in memory of Nick's grandmother, Shirley. She loved angels, and she was such an amazing woman, that this has become one of my most beloved ornaments to hang:

Struttin' her stuff

Last Friday, I made my first trip back to my high school in years to attend a fund-raising dinner for my niece, Erin, a senior, and her show choir group. It was a tad surreal to go back, get a meal through the lunch line again, and discover so many changes to the school (like finding our junior high gym -- where I spent days during gym class my freshman and sophomore year "sweatin' to the Oldies" -- turned into practice rooms for the show choir.)

I was also so proud of my niece, who did an amazing job. It feels like yesterday Erin was watching me go through my pivotal high school moments -- state competition for marching band, getting ready for the prom, crossing the stage at graduation -- so it's a reminder to me of how fast time flies that I'm now seeing her reach her own senior year milestones.

I can't wait to see what comes next!:

The theme for the night, with tunes that covered the oldies,
country and Broadway (how could a show choir forget Broadway, right?)

Warming up

I snapped this photo as the girls were horsing around with the guys before showtime. Technically, it's not the best shot (the focus could have been sharper) but the expressions on their faces is -- to me - just priceless!

A prayer before they take the stage

Getting action shots of the group while they were on stage was pretty difficult because we weren't allowed to use flash. This is one of my favorites from the night - I LOVE the flare of her skirt!

Another favorite

Congratulations Erin! Aunt Gail loves you!

Baby oh baby!

What a busy weekend! I was all over the state this weekend, from Friday's trip to Fort Wayne to see my niece in her show choir dinner theater (a blog entry of which is to come!) to today's trip to West Lafayette to attend the baby shower of my cousin-in-law Julia.

It was a fun day, filled with plenty of the laughs, oohs, awws and coos typical of most baby showers. Julia and her husband, Dan, are expecting a little boy, Zayne, on Christmas Eve! Talk about the best kind of Christmas present!

I'm so happy for them both and I have no doubt this baby is going to be a cutie!

Julia had toys from her childhood there with her for the day -- including this baby Pooh!

Julia loves frogs -- which means Zayne likely will too!

We played the game where you "guess" how big the mom-to-be is
(that's Julia's mom, Aunt Jacalyn, on the left)

My guess was RIGHT on the money!

She has that beautiful pregnancy glow!

Isn't this cake AMAZING? Made by the cake decorator who made Julia's wedding cake ...
(if you look closely -- even the blanket the bear sits on is made of fondant)

And I couldn't finish this entry without a photograph of Stewie, the pit bull pup that belongs to Julia's brother, (cousin) Christopher. What a face!!!

Fall's fading fast

Fall is hands down my favorite time of year. And October my favorite month (maybe that's why I decided to get married in it ;) This year, we had predictions fall colors were going to be yucky because we had a bit of a summer drought.

When Nick and I paid a visit to Brown County last month, I didn't think the trees could be any prettier than what I saw there. But I was wrong ...

Even though November has crept up on us (a month known as much for Thanksgiving as the onset of that lovely shade of color known as "winter drab"), our neighborhood in Muncie has had the most BEAUTIFUL pop of color -- brilliant reds, yellows and oranges -- that's seemed to come overnight.

I knew there was a good chance the colors weren't going to stick around long enough for the weekend. So I took my camera during lunch break yesterday and this is what I caught standing in our front yard (okay, the one of the hedges is right around the corner, and it's not a spectacular shot by any means, but the color is so vibrant I wanted to share with everyone what I've see on my way to work every day this week.)

Too bad fall couldn't last more than a few weeks, huh?


The tree right outside our den's front window has dropped the most vibrant colors of leaves and, while they're a total pain in the rear for Nick and I to rake up -- they're too beautiful to complain too much about:


Our neighborhood has some of the most mature, beautiful trees in the city. This is looking out to our neighbors' yard. Had I time to take a "nature walk" of the 'hood, I would have had countless photos like this:


What is it about gold and blue that works so well together?:

Here's those hedges I was talking about. Do you suppose the person who planted these 30 years ago had any idea he would one day stop traffic with these guys?:

A craving ...

The other night, while putting away the box of rice we'd used to make dinner, I stumbled across a box of muffin mix I no doubt bought six months ago.

Something about orange-cranberry muffins must have sounded good (or maybe it was me knowing we had nothing in the house to eat for breakfast), but I couldn't resist.

Am I making you hungry?

Until next Halloween ...

A few years ago, I read about artist Lori Mitchell and was intrigued by her creations (they so reminded me of Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas). Anyway, I didn't think much of her until recently, while shopping with my mom, sister and mother-in-law in Nashville (as in, Indiana, where my husband grew up), when I came across some of her little guys.

Charmed, I felt compelled to go against all of my instincts of collecting "stuff" (I don't want my kids someday to have to bubble wrap box after box of oddities their crazy mother left behind) and purchased one of her designs. Well, I ended up so liking the sight of Mr. Funny Bones perched atop the ledge over my kitchen sink, I had my mother-in-law pick me up a Little Frankie Stein.

Yes, I do realize this is how these knick-knack collections start. But check back with me in a few years and hopefully I won't be collecting potato chips in the shape of Bob Hope.

Anyway, I really enjoy Lori's Halloween figurines -- they've brought an extra smile or two to the holiday -- but now it's time for me to pack 'em up until next year (when yes, I might break down and have to buy more).

These little guys aren't going away, however, before I snap a few photos! (These were shot using my 50mm f/1.8 lens, which I picked up not too long ago)

Yes -- I did it!

So my major accomplishment for this evening has been figuring out how to create a custom header for this blog! Mission accomplished!

Whereas the standard header for those who create blogs on Blogger is just boring 'ol text, I wanted to punch mine up a bit with a design that featured some of my photography (see above).

It's amazing what you can teach yourself with tutorials out there on the Internet, that's all I'm gonna say! This baby is still in the early phase, but I can't wait to experiment now!

Flickr rules!

I think one of the great things about starting this blog is I plan to share what I am learning about photography. Some family members have asked for suggestions on new cameras, so when I hear about something cool, I'll post such items.

I also want to post about cool sites I'm discovering. The latest: Flickr!

This is available to anyone with a Yahoo account (and if you don't have one, you can quickly create one, as I did). It's a photo sharing Web site, and what I love about it are all these groups that are out there, sharing information with one another.

For example, I recently joined various Canon groups, including one for the Rebel XT (which I own) and I've already received some invaluable advice — including some guy who posted an entire photo tutorial for me to better understand manual settings! People are so QUICK to post and I love that!

I'd recommend checking this site out if you're curious about a new camera and want some feedback from people who've used it (you can search "Groups" to find a camera type/model and go from there).

If you have more questions about the site, drop me an e-mail.

Not a good night

So the picture to the left of this entry of journalist Lisa Ling was GOING to be the fantastic photo I snapped of her while covering her appearance tonight at Ball State. But that idea got thrown out the window a) after learning all of my shots were crap and b) discovering that -- in the process of my co-worker teaching me how to reformat my memory card -- I had erased all images from that evening. Not that they were anything to write home about ...

What tonight taught me is that this photography stuff is HARD. It's easy to capture great images when you have available light. It's quite another when you're in a setting with HORRIBLE lighting, no off-camera flash, and an inability -- no matter how hard you fiddle with aperture/shutter speed and ISO -- to capture anything that resembles less than a blur without help from a faster lens (why oh WHY did I not bring my 50mm f/1.8?) and a tripod.

I don't want what happened tonight to be a deterrent in my becoming a better photographer (even though, after something like this, it's easy to think I'm NEVER going to get the hang of this).Rather, I want tonight to be a learning experience. Here's hoping that, with diligence, hard work and patience, I'm able to capture better shots the next time someone famous comes to town!

(By the way: Lisa's presentation was fantastic!)

No turning back now ...

Heads up, everybody: Gail has entered the blogosphere!

Yep, I'm becoming one of those people who has a blog. No, it's not just so I can tell others to read about what I did last weekend or my thoughts on this movie or that album (though those asides may find their way on here), but because I have a purpose in mind (if you couldn't tell by its title!)

What I'm finding is as I delve deeper into the world of photography is that a lot of the people I admire in this field -- be they talented professionals like my wedding photographers or simply amateurs with aspirations like mine — is that they keep others posted on what they're up to via a blog.

Creating this blog is a step I knew would come if I was going to get serious about this whole photography business. I just decided to make the leap now because I figured — the sooner the better, right?

I'm hopeful this little site will get bookmarked by friends and family (and someday, clients!) who remember to check in with me on occasion. By doing so (though they may not know it) they'll be helping keep me accountable in reaching my goals and staying active taking pictures — even if (for the time being) they are just of the Werner family dog.

So, without further ado, meet Daisy.