One of these days...

...I'm going to learn how to properly slow down and relax. But not now! I finished the semester (all A's and I passed my Ph.D. qualifying exam!!!) and now I'm getting ready to head out on a trip with my research group. (Thanks in advance to Shannon, Mark, Mom, and Dad for babysitting my apartment while I'm gone!) I had grand plans to do a post on natural framing before I left, but that's just not going to happen. Too much to do before we leave, and long informational posts, unfortunately, do not help get my affairs in order or my clothes in my suitcase. ;) But I will leave you with one of the photos I was going to use as an example:



Gardenias are by far my favorite-smelling flower. They smell sweet and heady, especially in the still (aka hot and humid) night air of the Gulf Coast. They're not the prettiest, but oh goodness do they make up for it with their scent. And, if you catch 'em properly framed by their leaves, they're not too dreadful to look at, either.

And on that note, I'm audi. Don't know what the interwebs situation will be, but I'll definitely be taking pictures and hopefully be posting them sporadically! Ciao! =)

A Poll

Which do you like best?

Sun?


Or Shadow?


The pics are of two different sides of the old Arsenal at the Louisiana State Capitol Building (the New State Capitol, if you know the difference), which I visited with my parents when they came to visit over Spring Break. (Some more pics here.) I was really struck by the texture on the walls, so I took a bunch of pics, and these two were my favorite, but I can't decide if I like the more even lighting of the Sun one, or the more detailed texture of the Shadow one. What do you think? =)

Flowers!

Hi friends - I'm back! For a little bit at least...I may have to disappear again soon, but for now, I have a few days of relative freedom! Woohoo! So here are some pics that I took a while ago, to celebrate! Even when I'm super-swamped, like I have been for the past few weeks, I try to take a few pictures every week. It clears my mind and puts me in a good mood.

A few weeks ago, I went back to Texas for the weekend, and my dear friend Shannon kept an eye on my apartment while I was gone. When I got home Sunday night, I found these:



You may or may not have noticed, but I kind of have a thing for flowers. Kind of. So I was pretty psyched to come home to such bright, pretty, happy ones! A few days later, I was up early and the light was nice, so I brought the flowers out to the back patio and took some pics. I liked this one a lot:



Bright, colorful, in your face flowers. Love it! Then, in my current state of relative freedom, I figured I could have some fun with them. (Ok, ok, if you follow my Flickr, you know that I played around a little bit before the relative freedom hit, but I was desperately in need of a study break, haha. Most of the editing was done post-test, don't worry parents.) Anyways, I popped over to Picnik and went to town:


The "1960s" Effect


The "Orton-ish" Effect (To actually do an Orton photo takes a lot of steps. In Picnik, it's one click. Love.)


The "Posterize" Effect


The "Cross-Process" Effect (Real cross-processing info)

Fun, eh? =)