Muffins, reading, high aperture ;)

I made muffins the other day! I loved the design of the paper muffins, there like my favorite, but not sure if we have anymore! which, is the sad news.

 The before...

                                                                 and after


So today we went to the library with the kiddo's, t'was fun as always. ♥
I put a hold on this like.. a long time ago, and we got it today! this is an amazing book, I've never met a more learning photography book then this, usually, the ones that i get, are boring, but this one? no, no, no....  this one actually kept me reading! i seriously recommend it. =)

{Fine art wedding photography}

----

High aperture? love.

-----

{My lovely little growing peas,}

there like twice this size now... can't wait for them to grow even bigger, 

Do you grow anything?

What have you been doing lately?

Wordless Wednesday | Flowers

On entertaining yourself (guest post by Megan)

You know those times when you are outside, in the car, waiting for your mom to come out of the grocery store? When you're thinking to yourself 'I thought she said that she just had to get bread and pretzels? What's taking so long'. Or when you little sister decides that she randomly has to go to the bathroom just before you were about to leave the library. And fifteen minutes later, she finally comes out.


All of the above happens very often in my family of seven members. I can remember endless hours of sighs and complaints while we waited unhappily for family members to return to the car from stores, or the youngest child to finally stop throwing a fit. And through all the years, I've needed to come up with endless things to entertain myself during these times of what would normally be boredom.

1. Take Random Pictures.
If you're like me, you will probably have your camera handy (itouch and phones work too). Start snapping some random pictures of your surroundings. You never know what interesting photos you can come up with!

2. Make a bracelet.
I usually have some floss or hemp stuffed away in my pocket incase I ever get bored and need something to do. It's come in handy plenty of times and never gets in the way when I'm not using it.

3. Study designs and color schemes.

When I'm bored, I often find myself studying designs; chairs, carpet, wood, jeans, teeshirts, jewelry--everything. I then go on to realize the colors of things. I find colors and patterns that go good with each other. Oddly enough, this can be very entertaining.

4. Weave Grass Together.

I know, I know, you are probably thinking that I've got to be the weirdest person on earth to actually go as far as weave pieces of grass together--but I was really tired and was trying to keep myself awake while being extremely bored. And it was actually kind of fun. So yes--if it ever comes down to it, you can always weave pieces of grass together.

5. If all else fails--play the metal on the vents.

Okay, now you're not just thinking it--you know it. I'm crazy. I know. But when you're bored, you really have to rack your brain for things to do. Unfortunately for me, there happened to be a vent there which played three different distinct notes if you plucked the bars. So I began plucking them. Eventually my sister came out of the bathroom. And dad had taken a video. I'm really very smart sometimes.

Now you'll never be bored again. You may thank me later.

My name; Megan. 13 years old. Soon to be freshman. Friend. Daughter. Sister. Writer. Photographer. Artist. Musician. Following God's plan to the best of my ability daily. One of the craziest people you'll ever meet.  Blogger at Me. {That's all I have to be}.

All that I am -a guest post by Bethany-

My name is Bethany. I am a fellow blogger over at Priceless Junk, and I am simply delighted to be guest posting on this wonderful blog. This will be a simple about-me post, so here goes.

Most importantly, I am a daughter of Christ and I sing his praises all day, everyday. I am so blessed to have so many fellow believers as fellow bloggers, it's incredible.

I. Love. Photography. That's all there is to it. I only very recently discovered my love (er... obsession) for the hobby, but it has already proven to be very fulfilling. In fact, if it weren't for Rachel here, I would have never had start a blog or photography.

I think she deserves a nice round of applause.

Of course I have other hobbies. Writing. Guitar. Piano. Sewing. Knitting. Reading. Riding horses. Art. Cooking. Re-decorating rooms.

The list goes on, and on, and on, and on.

I love quotes:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Suess

I also love followers over at Priceless Junk.

That is my only blog as of now, but I am seriously comsidering a photography blog.

Well, that's all i have to say on the matter.

Thankyou All.

-Bethany

A {little bit over} 60 followers Giveaway!

Hey Ya'll, Thank you all for following!!!! thanks for all the comments, the sponsoring, the emails, thank you all, your all so dear..♥

Here we are to start! 

Donated by, Autumn

                                    Donated by, Me And my etsy shoppe

1 print of this green walking path..
Donated by, Jordan

1 calender
Donated by, Jordan

Its just gonna be 2 prints. click on her name, and you can choose. (if you win of course)

 Donated By, Hope

Black and white button bracelet and ring.
Donated by, Ellie

Required Entry

Follow this blog, {rachel photography}
and Leave a comment with what You have planned for the rest of the year.

Extra entries:

Add this button to your side bar.

Follow Autumn's blog

Follow Jordan's blog

Follow Hope's blog
Follow Ellie's blog
Heart my etsy shoppe
Blog Post about this giveaway

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have fun!

Forever 21, IKEA....etc

Forever 21 was awesome, my first few minutes in there felt like i just had and espresso, It was awesome. haha =P
Have you ever been there?
Also we went to IKEA, that was amazing also, you'll see below all the millions of pictures i took! so get your self ready to sit here and watch. :) oh, wait! Go get yourself some coffee! ;]


For lunch we just had to go to Chipotle, that was amazzzing too! ;]
 Sorry i haven't been posting lately! 


I've been really busy, and so yeah that's kinda why i have been making this a different week full of fun! i mean, hasn't it already been so? speaking of, Ya'll who haven't entered in my photo contest, need to! ok? like, you'd make my day if i got more then ten entrants! Here's the link to the post.     *Enter here*



Me and my awesome "stay cool" shirt, and some random other' things!
btw, I did  get it! :0 and i love it! its my only shirt, that is mostly white! =P haha





So, yeah, Did anyone see that beka, got her hair cut? it was major, like a pixie cut! Its so pretty, I love it, and great for this crapy weather we've been having! :)
I hope you guys liked em'! :)
Now off to go watch a episode of Merlin!.


Pssst! Did anyone notice I'm kinda in love with GIF's? Yup, there awesome, great for lots of pictures, yet still short posts! :)


Have a lovely awesomely smashing evening! ♥


P.s. Please vote on the side bar!

Fabulous Friday | Sunsets

Well, to launch off my fun\exciting week, (haven't figured out a name yet! D: )
Were gonna do a PHoto contest!!! Exciting, huh? If you have any other fun and exciting Ideas, PLEASE either Comment or E-mail me! 




My photo is...

I took it with my Ipod touch! :)

Rules:  -Only one entry per person  

-All pictures need to be appropriate. 

 -Your picture needs to be posted on your blog/flickr account with my button 

 -You need to make sure you announce that your entering my  contest on your post 

 -YOU need to take the picture and YOU alone. 

-Enter in your picture by friday -Blog hop around and comment on at least 3 other  entries 

-Have fun! 

Thank you all for entering! I hope you enjoy this, and dont forget to tell ALL of your friends! :)  

Have a lovely day everyone!
~Rachel

Today i...

Today i... have been in love with this color blue.

-----------

Today i... already had two cups of cold brew coffee and its 9:16 A.M. (don't worry)

{from our trusty google}

Today i...  was finally re-united with my camera...♥

Lately i... been loving all the beautiful sunsets. Isn't this beautiful?

{of-course filtered through Instagram}

Lately i...  have been loving sister dates at the small coffee shop up the street. ♥♥♥

Today i... i got this awesome peach flavoring for my famous peach lemonade tea. :) sometime I'll have to post about it.

Hmm, I think I'll have to do another one of these, i mean there are so many things that i love, ♥
I will have to do that. So yeah, i can't believe, that my last post got 10 comments! I was really super excited when i see that! like you guys are so awesome! Thanks! :)

 I hope your all having a wonderful summer!

Volley ball ♥

Volley ball is Awesome..... ♥
Have you tried it before? if not, Your crazyyyyyY!

Capturing Sunlight {digitally} (a guest post by ashlyn)

hello.

my name is ashlyn.

i own an Olympus Digital, Point and Shoot, Camera.

and i realize that it is diffucult to get

a

 beautiful sunlight look

in your pictures.

One thing that I definitely have trouble with is

getting a good picture with good sunlight in it.

and it not being silhoutte.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Don't get me wrong. I do like silhouette, when I want it.

Hey, do you want every single picture that way when you are taking pictures in bright light with a Point and Shoot?

Because there are times when the sun is extremely bright, there's no shade trees in sight, and you just have to take a pictures of your sister running to you.

But, doesn't the picture above look better instead of the one below?

Evening is especially hard. This is around 7:30 central.

It's completely dark in the shade; glaring without.

You know the feeling.

So... what do you do???

I have three tips. Number one is definitely important, the most helpful. Heeeere goes.

 

1. Shoot in Macro/Super Macro.

{I use this mode all the time}

Let me explain why.

Your focus point in your camera, naturally, is drawn to the light.
Thus making for the sillhoute effect.

When using macro, you can manually 'figure out' where you want your focus point at, and it still gets the sun as well.

Here's an example(s).

example #1.

Below: This is in macro.

Notice that while the sun is there, you can still see the purple flower and the green leaves.

 Not taken in Macro. All you can see is the sun and the trees in the background.

example #2

please ignore the red dots. that's something I'm working on.=D

Anyway, the one below is in Macro. The green is still there and you can see the red raspberries.

 Below, not Macro. The camera focuses on the light, thus the result.

 example #3

This one I had in Super Macro. I focused on the grass a few feet ahead, thus blurring the ones there. You can still see the bright lighting in the picture.

Not macro. (although, I do like this picture!!!)

Does everyone see the difference. Macro changes your whole picture. Also.

Macro is not just for close up--- it can be used, basically, in every picture.

{Unless.... you are trying for a sillhoute.}

2. Darken Manually.

Turn the brightness down!

(a.very.simple.one.)

example.

See the drastic lighting in this picture? The shaded area looks almost completely black. Not what you want!

 Too bright!!! Yes, the shady area is not as dark- but look beyond. yuck.

 not perfect, but better. The shade area you can tell is actually green, and the place where it is getting direct sunlight is not causing you to blink your eyes.

It can really change a lot!

3. Position your camera better.

As you will see below in the two pictures, I noticed where the glaring sun was at and changed my position.

Well, Hope that Helps! It has helped me anways!

I know these ideas are simple, easy, and I'm sure ya'all already know, but I'm learning!

Until Next Time, Happy Shooting in

The Sun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashlyn: A Christian, saved by the blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. A daughter, homeschooled by her mom. A sister, to six in September. Aspiring Photographer, loving and learning to Capture Memories for a Lifetime. Avid Piano Player, History Lover, and a girl who loves to write. {Read more about me here. }

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for guest posting Ashlyn! :)