Category Archives: photography

the ocean

Before 2021 the ocean seemed very far away to me.

Although it’s only just over an hour’s drive from home, my family and I rarely made our way down to it. The days and nights spent by the crashing waves of Charlestown beach were mostly during our one week of summer camping every year. We would spend all day in our hot campsite at Burlingame, just counting down the minutes until it was time to gather our towels and put on our swimsuits.

It was a salty, sandy, windswept occasion, and oh, how we’d soak up those evenings. Driving back to the campground in our damp suits, and rinsing off in the steaming-hot, coin-fed shower stall before we went to sit around a campfire…it’s a warm fuzzy memory that will forever be sitting comfortably in the back of my mind.

2004, click on the photos to enlarge them

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social media + me

A lot of people ask me how I have the willpower to leave social media, but I often don’t know what to tell them…because once I hit the point of wanting to leave, it’s usually not very hard for me to do so. I mean, sure, there are some days where I miss the bliss of easily wasting time by scrolling into the deep dark heart of Instagram, but more noticeable is the immediate change that happens to me as soon as I get off. Usually within 24 hours I’m happier, calmer, more inspired, more motivated, and more creative.

Let’s face it, we’ve probably all wanted to walk away from social media at one point or another, even if it was just for a day, a week, a month…just to get some space, some freedom, or to experience life for life, instead of experiencing life for the ‘gram. That constant pressure of getting the perfect picture to show the world (or, uh, your ex) that you’re having an amazing time!?

It gets heavy.

click on the photos to enlarge them

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🍭🍬🧁

The only reasons that this photo series exists are:

1. I wanted more practice editing photos

2. I was feeling way too good about myself the other day and simply had to document it

click on the photos to enlarge them

Although those are the only two reasons, I think they’re pretty good reasons.

A lot of times when it comes to photo editing I feel a bit of imposter syndrome try to edge in; after all, I’m definitely no professional. But I’m trying to work through that and just continue to figure out what I’m doing as I go. And since my stomach issues (which I touched on briefly in this post) have been getting me down a bit lately, every day that I feel amazing is a day to celebrate. It’s slow and steady progress over here.

My mental health has been kept aloft by a short list of songs that I’ve been listening to on repeat, and it’s pretty successfully brainwashed me into thinking that I am the absolute shit.

Curious? You shouldn’t be.

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buttercups

I don’t know how y’all are doing, but so far June has had me unexpectedly emotionally and physically overwhelmed. AHHH. There have been a few tears, but that’s just how I process things.

So what better time to share some photos from a few weeks ago when I was feeling 100x better and honestly very much like that bitch™

I took these photos last month, before the poor wildfire air quality made everything hazy, gloomy, and all-around depressing.

Now, if I had Photoshop (and also knew had to use it) I’d be unstoppable. But right now I’m just going through long and unprofessional processes to simply make a vision come to life.

Think: multiple layers of photos and tediously erased lines.

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white picket fence

Does this post contain an obscene amount of photos? Absolutely.

If you’ve been following my blog long enough, then at this point one may be beginning to think: is she completely obsessed with herself?? Does she really think we want to look at 30 individual photos of her silly face??

And, I mean…yeah, kinda. But that’s beside the point.

{click on the photos to enlarge them}

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70’s sundress

Last week I was grateful to wake up with the inspiration to take photos of some of my newest sewing projects.

Up until then, the thought of spending hours posing for, taking, and editing photos sounded like absolute hell to me. My almost-ten-years-old Canon Rebel T3i is just a wee bit too old to connect to a Bluetooth remote, so when I do photoshoots, half the time is spent running back and forth from my tripod to my designated photo spot. Pressing the shutter, and then quickly getting back in time for the self-timer countdown is the routine (and a very good workout).

Perhaps it’s not the most professional way to go about things in this day and age, but it’s worked for me thus far (even if it does take twice as long!).

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may 14th, 2023

We’ve had multiple birthdays, day-trips, and holidays since I made my resolution to start taking more candid photos (you can read my post about that here), and so far, I’ve been successful in capturing the year.

Now while Riley Mae is lugging around a 5-pound birding camera, I go on hikes equipped with a straw hat, fanny pack, and my trusty old point-and-shoot camera from 2014.

Honestly, I’d say I’m aging pretty well.

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twenty-five

on march 14th at 5:45am I turned 25

Or, as I like to say: a quarter of the way to death ✌

My cousin and I said that now that we’re 25, and our frontal lobes have finally finished developing, we can now process and learn from things we couldn’t when we were young and ignorant.

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