Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: photography
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

Monday, February 15, 2016

Valentine's Day Celebrations, Beauty Swap, and Card Exchange

Hi Folks,


Update

I've been busy this past week and fighting off a cold.  This winter is just a tough one for my body apparently.  But there are lots of good things to appreciate as well.  I've been filming a bunch of videos, mostly unboxings of fun beauty and lifestyle boxes.  I also have that darn winter capsule wardrobe post nearly ready to post.  I know I keep saying it's coming, but I keep running into snags while putting it together.  It'll be here soon, promise!  (Maybe today!?)

MuteMath

Friday I headed out with my brother in law Michael to see MuteMath at The Cat's Cradle.  The last time I saw them live was back in 2006...the last time they were at the venue with Switchfoot actually.  While I don't think they allowed SLR cameras at the show I did take some reasonable phone shots and a little video I thought I'd share.  The show was just amazing, MuteMath is one of my favorite live bands hands down!



02-12-2016 Mute Math


Hopefully you can get a feel for their energy!  I think I was dancing almost the whole time!

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Next up is the real reason for this post - I wanted to share a pair of videos I made for Valentine's Day!   I did a card exchange with some fellow bloggers and YouTubers from the Geeks & Beauties Community.  And I also participated in a beauty swap challenge where Zainey Laney and I bought each other the makeup for a Valentine's Day date look for under $10!  These were both loads of fun and if you hop over to the videos on YouTube you can see links to other folks from the group joined in as well.  Part 1 has the cards and me opening the items for the beauty look.  Part 2 is putting on the makeup and chatting about life!




The cold I've had also made me have to take off the makeup almost immediately after putting it on....my eyes were just so itchy.  It made me sad.  And things stayed that way for our actual Valentine's Day date as well.  So I went with some extra bright lipstick and a couple doses of medication to help me make it to our double date with Bryan's parents.  We decided to see The Force Awakens again, and went out to lunch once we realized we'd have to catch a slightly later show than planned because the show we wanted was sold out.  It gave us a chance to go eat at Chili's together, and do a bit of shopping before the movie as well.  We oogled some board games at Game Theory, a great local gaming shop.  There may need to be some board game review posts here in the future!  We also discovered once we arrived at the theater that it was newly renovated and had super nice reclining seats.  We had a wonderful time watching Star Wars a second time and came up with more fan theories (you can hear some of my initial ones in this post) and discussed what we'd observed since we listened to the Hello Internet podcast on The Force Awakens this past week as well.  Here's a parting shot of us!



Thanks for reading, I'll see you all again soon.

www.lydiadickson.com

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Photo Bucket List + Book Reviews

Hello again everyone,

So I read a post a while back from a photographer from the Rising Tide Society which contained her photo bucket list.  I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to make my own list.  It's a really great exercise in being mindful about my goals, and since two of my goals are using my DSLR more and getting my home darkroom set up this goes right along with them.


My Photo Bucket List

  1. Set up my home darkroom.  Right now I have an unfinished bathroom that's just the right size for a personal darkroom.  I also have an old enlarger, some small trays and tongs, a beaker, and some other small things.  So what I really need to complete this is a sink/cabinetry for the wet side, a redlight bulb, chemicals and jugs to store them, a heavy duty trash bin, a table for my enlarger, some shelve for storage, a couple of large trays, and a proper seal for the door.  
  2. Go back to Ireland and photograph more of its beauty.  
  3. Photograph a castle, even better if there are costumes involved. 
  4. Go out west and photograph the milky way.  
  5. Photograph all the national parks I visit in my quest to visit all the ones in the US.
  6. Photograph a North-South tour of Chile.
  7. Visit some of the towns in Germany that my ancestors are from and photograph them.  
  8. Get better at editing digital photos
  9. Get better at using DSLR settings to optimize the amount of work to edit photos
  10. Become more comfortable photographing people
That's my list, and I'd love to hear about yours!  Comment below, or write your own blog response and tag me.

On to the Book Reviews!

From here on out every Wednesday you'll get a comic review and a novel review.  Today's novel is Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer.

Image used under Fair Use guidelines

In Off To Be The Wizard our protagonist Martin discovers a computer algorithm that controls all life as we know it.  He does what more any guy would and messes with it, first to get cool stuff, and then once authorities are on to him to jump back in time to the middle ages where he has plans of becoming a wizard and living well.  Only it's not quite as easy as he thinks to pull off.  I found this book to be a really fun read, and have already started on its sequel.  The only problem I has with it was the severe lack of female characters, this book would in no way pass the Bechdel-Wallace test.  It left me feeling that the author just didn't know how to write women.  However this next book may change that, we'll see.  In any case this book is sci fi, nerdy, light-hearted fun, that's also very accessible to readers of all kinds.

Image used under Fair Use guidelines
Next up is Princess Ugg Volume 1 by Ted Naifeh and Warren Wucinich.  Princess Ulga is urged by her mother to find a better way for her people to live, so she goes down into the valley, leaving her highlands for a princess academy.  What follows are misunderstandings, a community that looks down on her and many obstacles for her to overcome.  Ulga has the determined heart of a warrior however, and is set on learning from all the encounters she has in the valley.  It's a cute, mostly light-hearted, and rather witty read, that is welcoming to both younger readers and adults.  It has just enough twists and excitement to keep what could have been a very formulaic read more interesting.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you all again Friday!

Love,
Lydia

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

5 Fall Favorites

Hi folks,

This week it's finally feeling like fall, and I'm thrilled for it!  Bring on all that cooler weather, cause for cocoa, and copious amounts of cinnamon.  Mmmmm, and so many other magnificent munchies.  Ok, I'll stop it with the alliteration, but all you fall lovers know just how I feel!

I just got involved with a fantastic Google+ group called Geeks & Beauties, which happens to be running a fall "Sweater Weather" swap.  The idea is you create a box of some of your favorite autumn inspired items and someone else does the same for you.  I'm already thinking up fun things I can add in, but it got me thinking I should share a list of some of my favorite fall things.  In no order whatsoever:

5 Fall Favorites


1. Bonfires

Whether they're in home firepits, out camping, or at fall events with friends they are some of my favorite times spent in the chill air with friends.  Summer ones are just too hot, unless you're in Maine or someplace with equally cool summer nights.


2. Hoodies

Sometimes a fire alone isn't enough to keep you warm, so you put on your sweatshirt and it fills up with the smell of woodsmoke that lingers till the next time you wash it.  They're the coziest piece of casual clothes you can own.

Picture taken by Corey Ann Carlton 2008

3. Pumpkin/Cinnamon spice things

I'm not sure I even need to explain this one because it's so common.  My favorites are not the Starbucks beverages (I prefer Dunkin's), but all the fantastic baked goods and my favorite cinnamon apple chamomile tea◊.


4. Less humidity

Unless you've been to the south I am not sure you can fully appreciate this one.  Put simply, I like being able to breathe, not sweat when I walk outside, and be able to see the stars on a clear night.  Feeling stuffy and humid makes me angry, kind of how some people get "hangry".  I love crisp air that allows me to wear those hoodies from #2.  This is probably why so many of my pictures have been taken indoors lately.  This is where I'm tempted to live all summer:


5. Fall Leaves

You know my list couldn't be complete without this one.  The best place to see leaves is the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I always want to visit most in the fall.  I may have moved away from the mountains, but they always feel like home in a way.  And I still can't resist crunching leaves underfoot.  My favorite chore?  Raking leaves!


Honorable mention goes to knitting, because while I always feel like it in the fall, I often knit year round.

So what are your top 5?  Tell me in the comments!

Love,
Lydia

Friday, September 11, 2015

First Fall Outfits

Hi again friends!


This week I'm highlighting some of my first outfits from fall as I start getting used to my new capsule wardrobe.  Ready?  Let's go!

Shirt - Target, Shorts Levis/Amazon, Flip Flips - Old Navy
Day one of my fall wardrobe had me dealing with temperatures over 90F.  Most of the past two weeks have been like that with a couple days in the 80s.  I'm looking forward to next week when it'll be in the 70s and I can wear jeans a bit more.  I miss the cool weather here in North Carolina, I think the climate in Columbus, Ohio where I attended college was just right.  But I'm here and I'm learning to love summer clothes and light layers most of the year.  It's no Florida, but I'm pretty sure I'd be dead fast in Florida between the heat and all the sunburn I'd end up with after 15 minutes outside.

Oh look it's that Thred Up bag!  Stuffed full as I could get it, I'll soon know what they took and what they didn't.

Top - Forever 21, Shorts - Levis/Amazon, Boots - Trendsetter/Hushpuppies
I'm officially in love with these boots!  I'm pretty sure they can be worn with almost everything I own and dressed up or down accordingly.  Plus Bryan likes them too, so that makes me happy.

Top - Target, Necklace - Pick Your Plum, Skirt Target, Boots - Trendsetter/Hushpuppies

This is my outfit from this past Sunday when we went to hear Michael speak about his time in Jerusalem.
Top - T. La/Anthropologie, Necklace - Fossil/Macy's, Shorts - Levis/Amazon, Sandals - HG Bass/Modcloth


My hair had finally faded enough that it was time to give it some new color, so I did!  I bleached the roots and used Manic Panic After Midnight Blue (my favorite shade!), Arctic Fox Purple Dream, and some Manic Panic Purple Haze (not around the face, so it's less visible in these shots).  I was trying out the Arctic Fox for the first time and really liked the color, it's a nice grape shade of purple and the dye even smelled like grapes.  If it lasts well enough I may keep using it for purple, since I'm not as big a fan if the Manic Panic shades I've tried (Purple Haze, and Mystic Heather).

Shirt - Switchfoot, Scarf - a Keffiyeh from Palestine, Jeans - Torrid, Flip flops - Old Navy
So Michael brought us back some fantastic gifts from his time abroad and I'm very excited to share this Palestinian Keffiyeh with you readers.  The Keffiyeh (pronounced kuh-fee-yuh, and spelled many other ways) is a symbol of the Palestinian Nationalism movement.  (You can go here to learn more about the keffiyeh or here if you want to buy one from Hirbawi, the only manufacturer left in Palestine!)  It's been associated with the long history of the Middle East in general as what farmers and everyday people would wear to cover their heads as they worked and went about their day.  It's also linked to the Palestinian Liberation Organizer Yasser Arafat, and more recently has been appropriated in western culture as something that just looks cool or is linked with terrorism.  It's kind of funny since the patterns on the scarf are thought to have come from fishing nets or heads of grain.  So I wear the Keffiyeh as a statement of solidarity for the many Palestinians who have lived peaceful lives in refugee camps for over 50 years, just hoping to have a place they can see their children grow up freely, and one day have a country of their own.  I also think the Israelis have it tough too, with terrorist bombers on their doorstep, but neither side is necessarily good or bad.  Peace and renewed hope are my prayer for them all.

Top - Old Navy, Bracelet - Cornerstone Festival 2004, Shorts - Levis/Amazon, Shoes - Toms
 And finally I'm playing around with the camera a bit for today's look.  I work from home most days, so I've been trying to change up where I take my photos if I can remember to/aren't too busy.



So those are my outfits, otherwise I've been busy this week adding to the features of my blog:

  1. New contact page
  2. More listings for Ethical Plus Size Retailers (Now the BIGGEST online!)
  3. A new banner
  4. Better right sidebar tools
  5. I'm now a member of The Rising Tide Society!
The Rising Tide Society is a great group of small business owners (bloggers, photographers, shop owners, and more) whose core principles are:
- Community Building over Self-Promotion
- Compassion for your fellow Creatives
- Purpose over Popularity, Quality over Quantity
- Camaraderie over Divisiveness


I'm loving getting to know them all and be a part of the community there.  They even have a monthly event called Tuesdays Together to meet and discuss different subjects.  Hopefully I'll make it out to next months!  That's all for this week, I'll see you all again soon.

Love,
Lydia

Monday, September 7, 2015

My First Camera Stories

ALL the cameras!

That was my prompt for this post.  Really when I start thinking about all my cameras, the old ones and new, I end up thinking about what made me love photography in the first place.  Above all that was the magic of film.  I don't remember when I was given my first camera, but I was pretty young, and it was just a simple one that took 110 film.  Who remembers what stuff?  haha  110 film is even smaller than 35mm and honesty makes it hard for whoever processes it.  Not as hard as the film my next camera took though.

Mine looked something like this, though the image is from https://irishbear3455.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/why-do-we-love-photography-a-thirty-somethings-photographic-journey-the-early-years-1976-1986-part-six-week-three/ who got it from Google images....an image chain.

My second camera was an APS film camera, a weird little format in hard to open cartridges that I hated having to deal with when I worked for Ritz camera years later.  It's advantage was that it had a switch for making different format images, and recorded which you selected so lab techs would know which to print later.  It led to some expense since the panoramic shots cost more to print.  However it was perfect for trips as a teenager.  I ended up losing my first camera after a couple years during a fall weekend retreat, while out in the woods.  It was found the next summer in a creek, full of grit and inoperable, but the film was still intact.  In the meantime I have saved up my babysitting money for another similar model that I kept using until I finally got my first digital camera in 2004.

Switchfoot, Purple Door Festival in Shippensburg, PA, 2003
It was a humble little model, outdated almost as soon as I bought it, but it was what I could afford between my pay at a bookstore and all the concert tickets and trips I went on that year.  But the little Fuji A330 lasted for a long time with all of 3MP at its disposal.  I went from taking photos like the one above to photos like the one below.

Red Umbrella, GMA week show in Nashville, TN, 2004


Meanwhile, I decided to try community college out and one of the classes I thought would be fun was photography.  My brother had taken a photography class and liked it when he was in high school, but he was hesitant to lend me his camera.  But one of my coworkers, Jim, lent me his camera for the semester.  I was shocked because it was so nice I was almost scared to take it from him, temporary as it might be.  But he was incredibly kind about it and insisted I should.  I think he knew I'd do well at it.

The first day we stepped into the darkroom I was terrified.  I felt like I couldn't handle all the chemicals and was scared of making mistakes and of the potential toxicity of the chemicals themselves.  I almost dropped out of the class then and there, and I think I must have said something to my instructor about being worried.  Ms Talbot, being the lovely person she is took it in stride and told me to just keep coming and she'd help me out if I needed it.  So I came back the next week, and everything went perfectly.  I excitedly developed my first roll of film from that beautiful Olympus OM-2 camera and started down a path that changed my life.

Image via Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-OM-2-35mm-Film-Camera/dp/B0084X2RIS

I think Jim knew he was influencing me back then, and I'm so thankful he was a part of shaping my life and career.  Not too long ago Jim passed away, but I will remember him as a wonderful, kind, Christian man who put a camera into my hands when I needed it most.  Thanks Jim.

I will write more about cameras at a later time, because I want to share more about my current set up and what I used while in school, but I wanted to end my post on this note as a way of thanking everyone who helped me find my passions.

Love,
Lydia

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Beach Week Aftermath

Welcome back everyone!

I ended up taking time off of blogging while at the beach.  Obviously I didn't intend to, but the week ended up being a busier one than I anticipated.  I didn't even get any reading done!  However, I did spend lots of time with a great bunch of people playing board games, card games, computer games, going on a double date night, having late night chats, making a trip to the outlets, and celebrating my birthday.  I've been reviewing all the photos I took today, but also relaxing because I don't feel so hot.  It's really rather nice to have an excuse to relax after such a busy week.  I know most people don't feel like a vacation is work, but when I'm around a lot of people and get no real time to myself for a while it can be really draining.

Here are some highlights from the week at North Myrtle Beach:

On our first night there the moon was still nearly full and begging to be photographed, so I did!

The yard leading up to the beach.

I stayed up all night Tuesday because the air conditioning was out at the beach house, but in the morning when it was a bit nicer out (it was incredibly muggy all week and mostly very hot with the occasional thunderstorm) I went out to the beach and watched the sunrise with my camera and a couple of the guys.








And finally a little close up nature shot, my favorite kind!



As for the indoor activities I didn't take many photos at all.  Just a shot of the tournament poster I made for our Magic: The Gathering tournament, which I did surprisingly well in.  

On the way home we grabbed Michael to make things more fun and stopped at South of the Border, one of the kitschiest little bits of America that ever happened.  There we saw:
A terrifying jaguar with an unhinged jaw, the horrors!

Our brother Davey, flying his kite.

A very fake shark.

The sad mannequin, with tear stained cheeks, the poor limbless guy.

King Kong and a menagerie of other fiberglass creatures, real and imaginary.  My favorite was the lavender jackalope, I should have taken a picture of it and now kick myself for missing the chance.

The giant sombrero tower.

And the iconic sign.


We also saw plenty of fiends of old corn, peanuts, and tobacco (what's pictured above).  We got stuck in traffic on I-95 multiple times before and after lunch, and eventually got off of it altogether.  But we did enjoy the side trip for a fantastic Cuban lunch in Fayetteville, NC at Habana Cuban Restaurant.

We may have gotten home Saturday, but Sunday was busy too as Allan (Bryan's dad) and I went to see Garrison Keillor on his Prairie Home Companion: The America The Beautiful tour.  I had heard about it only a couple weeks before and near the same time heard of Keillor's upcoming retirement.  Having listened to the show with my parents many Sunday afternoons I had fond memories of his show and wanted to be able to see a bit of it live just once, and thus asked for a ticket as a birthday gift.  While the performances on this tour aren't all aired on the radio they have many of the same features as the show, plus some delightful sing along elements too.  We had a wonderful evening with perfect weather, and a fantastic venue in the Koka Booth Ampitheater in Cary, NC.  I'm hoping to take Bryan (and anyone else inclined to go) back this fall for some of their more moderately priced bluegrass concerts.






I'll be back Wednesday with another set of book reviews.  Thanks for reading!

Love,
Lydia