I'm Thinking Retro

This is a mural of an ice cream parlor by Janice Wagner that I came across while looking through google images. Ain't she cute? The turquoise doors, red stools, checkered floor, striped awning, apothecary jars full of colorful goodies, and ice cream sign all speak to me. They are saying, "Wouldn't it be darling if you decorated the sandwich shoppe in this style?"

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Well? Wouldn't it???

Maybe I've gone off the deep end, but this mural has become my future inspiration for the sandwich shoppe. It gives me lots of crazy ideas. Is it weird to get ideas from a mural? Too late! I saw the mural and something just clicked. When the sandwich shoppe is actually a livable space (...about 40 years from now...), I really think I'd like to restore it in a retro style to pay tribute to it's original purpose. Ok, so the front will be an office and the back will be a guest bedroom of sorts, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring!

What do you think?

Also, I've sent out feelers to find out more information about the history of the house and sandwich shoppe. I know that the sandwich shoppe was at one point a tea room and an ice cream parlor. I have a neighbor who has a relative who is a relative to an 85 year old man who's lived in town all his life. She's going to inquire for me.  I've emailed a contact at the historical society. Again. The first time, the lady was dealing with illness and was unable to get back to me. And I'm going to put a sign in the front window of the sandwich shoppe that says, "Know anything about this building's history? Call this number." Heck, I might even start asking random old strangers on the street or go digging through the town newspaper archives at some point.

Somewhere, there is a breathing human who can tell me what I want to know. If I'm really lucky, I'll be able to find an old picture of the place. That would rock my world.

The Colliscroft Entry & Staircase

Remember last week when I introduced you to Colliscroft, the gorgeous 106 year old manor/soon to be my aunt's B&B and wedding venue? Well I'm back to show you the front entryway and main staircase. Brace yourself!

This is the view when you first enter through the front door. The moldings! The rosettes! The pocket doors! The 16 (18?) foot ceilings!! The parquet floors! It's too much. I'm going to start crying.

 

Here's the view from the other end of the entryway looking back at the front door. The worst part of all of this?? This is what my Aunt's home looks like *while* she's in the middle of renovating. How unfair is that? She's fixing things up left and right and running a restaurant business and this is what her house looks like. What?!?!? Clearly, I need to set some higher standards for myself...

 

And this, be still my heart, is the main staircase:

Hello gorgeous!!! Can I hug you?? I promise I won't drool while I do!
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Oh to be a bride on that stair! I'd don my dress all over again just to descend those beautiful, beautiful stairs. Again, let me give you a little perspective and help you with the scale of this house...

I am 5'2". The baluster is taller than me. It's almost as thick as me. Now scroll up to the photo right before this one and look at the doors in relation to the baluster. They are HUGE!!

And the little dip in the rail where it rounds out right here:

It only comes up to just above my knee. Again, just picture a bride standing right behind it... *Sigh* And then the molding! The wainscoting! THE WAINSCOTING!!!!! Sorry. I get worked up every time I look at this staircase. I spent a great deal of time sitting on the stairs just staring (ha) in admiration (and envy).

There is a special place in my heart for rounded, curly details...

If I get this excited about curly details, just imagine how I'll react when I eventually get to visit the Biltmore Estate. I'll probably swoon. I'll need a partner there to catch me. Any takers? Hmm? Want to go to the Biltmore Estate with me?? HMMM??

My aunt is planning on eventually ripping up the blue carpeting. It's squishy and fun to walk on and it isn't bad,  but she has other plans.

I resisted sliding down the banister. Just barely. But I resisted. Aren't you proud of me, love?

Side Story: I slid down the banister of the hotel at prom. In my pale pink dress and high heels. I twisted my ankle when I got to the bottom. My then friend and now husband (but not my prom date) picked me up and carried me to a little settee to examine my ankle. His date was less than thrilled with him. I was secretly very thrilled with him. Not that I let on. I would have hit him if he tried anything. Ah, love.

To this day, I have a very hard time resisting banisters.

Anywho...

More on Colliscroft's magnificent interior to come in the not so distant future. Have I whetted your appetite?

Photography Fridays - Manual & White Balance

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Welcome back! So far we've covered:
Lesson 1: Aperture Basic Training
Lesson 2 (Part 1): ISO & Shutter Speed

This week, we'll be learning about adjusting your white balance and shooting in Manual (M). Eek!

Before we get started on this evening's post, I want to clarify something:

These lessons are not just for people with fancy schmancy DSLR cameras. You can apply a lot of this stuff to your standard point and shoot cameras. Most point and shoot cameras have action settings which allow you to take pictures with high shutter speeds. Look for a running restroom sign man.

Some point and shoot cameras will even let you decide if the background of your picture should be in or out of focus. It just depends on your camera. My recommendation? Read your manuals! You can take awesome pictures without dropping $1000 on a fancy camera and it's corresponding equipment.

Anyways, let's get on with today's lesson.


Lesson 2 (Part 2): Balancing ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture in Manual with DSLRs

I kind of never got around to the second half of last weeks lesson. Something to do with lack of self control and a ridiculous number of water photos.

Also, part 2 of lesson 2 scared the bejesus out of me. Why? Because it meant shooting in MANUAL!! Excuse me while I faint dead away.

I did read part 2 last week, but I didn't apply it until this week. So, here goes!

When you shoot in manual (M), the camera doesn't make any of the decisions for you. You have to set the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. yourself. So, if the picture turns out terrible, it is completely your own fault. You can't blame Auto. More's the pity...

The trick to shooting in manual (so I'm told) is to balance the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture so that you achieve proper exposure. This is where the exposure meter in your camera becomes your bestest friend. You may even set up a play date with him to play hopscotch after all of this.

When you look through the viewfinder in manual, you will see something approximating this:

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You want the little green dash on the exposure meter to be near the "0". If it is in the negative, then your picture will be underexposed. If it is in the positive, then your picture will be overexposed (not that overexposure is always a bad thing).

When shooting in manual, first decide whether shutter speed or aperture is your priority.

So, let's say that I want to take a picture of a runner and need to use a high shutter speed. I would set my shutter speed where I want it. Then I would change the aperture until the little dash on the exposure meter moved to the "0". On the other hand, if my goal was to blur the background of an image, I would set the aperture really low. Then I would change the shutter speed until the dash on the exposure meter was at the "0".

This is how you balance out your shutter speed and aperture while shooting in manual. Finally, you adjust your ISO so that it is at the appropriate setting for the amount of light you have available (low ISO in a bright setting and high ISO in a dim setting).

Am I making any sense?? No?? Color me shocked. In that case, you should probably read lesson 2 part 2 here.

Having learned all of this, I began shooting in manual for the first time in my life yesterday while exploring white balance in lesson 3. Continue below to see the dubious results.


Lesson 3: The Color of Light

Have you ever noticed that when you take pictures of people at different times of the day, they change colors? I guess you didn't realize that all of your friends are chameleons. Too bad. The cat's out of the bag now.

Light contains a variety of color temperatures which range from warm to cool. Here are four pictures taken at different times of the day - sunrise, high noon, an overcast afternoon, and sunset.

See how the time of day gives each of these photos a different color cast? The sunrise photo has a gold/yellow cast to it and the sunset photo has a orange/pink cast to it. Both have very warm color temperatures. The photo taken at noon contains a lot of harsh light and shadows which result from the sun being directly overhead. The photo taken under the overcast sky is very cool color temperature and has more of a blue/green cast to it.

The time of day and lighting drastically impact the look of each of these photos. However, it is possible for the camera to correct for the lighting using something called white balance. The purpose of white balance is to remove the color casts and balance out the color temperature of your photos.

Usually, your camera will be set to AWB or Auto White Balance. All four of the above photos were taken on AWB. Many cameras have other automated settings such as cloudy or shade which you can choose depending on your situation. Here's a standard set of WB settings:

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While all of these settings are very helpful, none of them can beat setting the white balance yourself using the "Custom" option. This weeks photography assignment was to fiddle around with the custom white balance setting.

To demonstrate, I intentionally chose a low light situation. I took these pictures at night using the one lamp as my only light source. Since the bulb was tungsten, it created a yellow cast in the room. I took a bunch of pictures and tried out a variety of white balance settings.

AWB has a yellowish cast. Tungsten corrected some of the cast, but still has some yellow to it. However, the Custom WB setting removed the yellow cast and captured the truest colors. So how do you set the custom WB? Using AWB, I took a picture of a piece of white computer paper under the light of the lamp. I made sure the white completely filled up the screen. Here's the stunning and original work of art:

Impressive, I know. Then I went into the menu on my camera, went to the white balance screen and chose the custom option. I set the custom white balance to the picture of the white piece of paper. Then I made sure my white balance was set to "custom" and I took a slew of pictures. They all came out without a color cast!

I know. It says "Custon." I was too lazy to change and reupload the picture again. Will you forgive me?

Of course, this custom setting would only work under this specific lighting situation. If I were in a different situation, I'd have to reset the custom setting.

So, you can use white balance to take your pictures from yellowed....

...to blinding pasty white and natural. So if you want to appear as you actually do in real life, use your custom white balance! I am now keeping a piece of white paper in my camera bag and you should too.

Another option to the white paper is something called a gray card which is 18% gray and accomplishes the same thing as the piece of paper. It may even do a better job of it, but the paper is cheaper. Though, from what I've read, the gray card is best for adjusting your photos while editing them on the computer.  I don't have one, so I really can't tell you for sure.

That's it for this evening. See you next Friday when we explore the flash.

Read lesson 3 on white balance here. Also, most point and shoot cameras will allow you to fiddle with your white balance. Check your manuals and go to town!

{Embrace} the Camera

Hey everyone!! It's Embrace the Camera Thursday and, yet again, self timer and continuous shoot are my heroes!! (Sorry Superman, but the truth is the truth.)




Reading to Joseph is so much fun now that he is interested enough to pay attention. Ok... Interested enough to grab at the pages of the book.

We've been reading "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle the last few days. He also wrote, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," among other favorites. I really love how bright and colorful his art is (and so does Joseph!).

I am going to have some serious forehead wrinkles as an old woman. It will be SMOKIN' HOT!

Joseph likes to touch the pages while I read. He's even turned the pages a few times by accident. When we read smaller books, he grabs on where I'm holding the book. It makes it harder to turn the pages because he doesn't want to let go, but it's so cute!

Our current favorite book is "Barnyard Dance" by Sandra Boynton. I almost have the whole thing memorized.

"Clap your feet! Stomp your hands! Everybody ready for a barnyard dance!!" Whenever Stephen hears that line, he yells out that it doesn't actually rhyme. Silly husband. (Trix are for kids.)

Whatever. It's close enough. Besides, the rest of the book rhymes. "Bow to the horse. Bow to the cow. Twirl with the pig if you know how!" Do you know how to twirl with a pig? I think it would be rather difficult. Just think about it. Pigs are seriously cumbersome. And all of that mud has got to make them slippery. I really don't think pigs are twirl material.

Did you know that you can also find children's books online? My new favorite online books to read to Joseph are the bluebison.net stories by Hayes Roberts. I can't decide which I like more  - "The Wiener Dog Magnet" or "The Brave Monkey Pirate." His illustrations and storylines crack me up. You should DEFINITELY go read them. They are great for both adults and kids.

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(The site also includes fun printable coloring books here.)

Come on? How can you resist that illustration??

Another favorite activity of ours is to sit on the front porch and watch the cars and trucks drive by. As soon as Joseph hears one coming, he turns his head towards it and then follows it's movement until it's out of sight. He does this over and over. When he gets a little older, we'll start calling out colors and types of vehicles. Those chicken trucks should be very interesting...

Inspired by his striped pants, I decided to tell him a story today. (I do this often when I run out of things to talk to him about.)

"Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Vir-jinny, amidst the tall, dark mountains, there lived a scary baby monster named Joseph. The poor tigers in the land quaked in fear at the very mention of his terrible name. Whenever Joseph got tired, he would stomp throughout the land rubbing his eyes and letting out ferocious roars that would shake the very mountains. One day, a brave little tiger came up to Joseph and asked him to stop roaring. The little tiger just couldn't get to sleep above all the racket. The mean, grumpy Joseph ignored the little tiger's request and sat down on top of the tiger, squishing him flat. From that day forward, Joseph the baby monster stomped around the land with a squished tiger on his diapered butt.  Sometimes, Joseph's mommy made him wear a squished tiger bib to match his tiger-ed bottom (he was a hapless victim of baby fashion). Showing no mercy, the baby monster Joseph would drool all over the bib until it was soaking wet. After all, he was a baby drool monster and that's what baby drool monsters do. Outraged by the horrible actions of Joseph the baby drool monster, the tigers of the land had him arrested. They forced him to wear striped pajamas and put him in baby drool monster prison. There, finally behind bars, Joseph the baby drool monster was forced to serve his sentence sleeping. Peace finally returned to the land and Joseph was never allowed to squish or drool on a tiger again. The end."

Don't worry. Joseph isn't always the villain in our stories... Sometimes he's very heroic and goes about rescuing mommy damsels in distress. Then he gets rewarded with smooches.

And sometimes, we pretend we're living in a musical and we sing about everything we do throughout the day. "Oh, folding laundry is fun! Folding laundry is fun! Hi ho the merry-o, folding laundry is fun!" Poor kid has to listen to his mother sing... It's ok, little man. Between the smooches and the singing, I'd try to eat my face too.

Embrace the camera, people, and embrace the crazy!

Colliscroft, A Series

Welcome to Colliscroft! My aunt and uncle (ala the Italian restaurant) are working to turn this gorgeous old house into a B&B and wedding venue. They're still working out the purchasing details with the owners, but they've been living there for two years and have done a lot of work in that time. They are hoping to have the business up and running by late Fall.

Colliscroft was completed in 1904 and was used as the summer home to the wealthy Huntington family (railroad owners). It's huge and gorgeous and I could happily live there.

I am in love with this house. I walked in and immediately entered architectural heaven. I definitely have a major case of house envy. I may have even leaned against the side of the house at one point and whispered, "I love you, house. Run away with me!!" (among other sweet nothings not suitable for this blog).

The porch will eventually wrap all the way around the back of the house to grant wheel chair access and make for a great party venue. My aunt is also going to put in some spectacular sweeping gardens all around the house and a giant wedding gazebo out front. She has a real knack for growing seemingly wild, overflowing gardens. That whole side of my family inherited green thumbs.

As an extension of her restaurant and catering services, my aunt also creates beautiful wedding cakes. She is very prepared for this whole wedding venue thing.

Can't you just picture brides being kissed senseless against those giant columns??

Let me help you with the scale of this porch. The flooring of the porch is nearly as high up as I am tall.

More on the inside of this house to come!

Baby Toppings

This is my aunt and uncle's Italian restaurant, Alfrescos.

This is my cousin Critter (short for Christopher) making pizza.

And this is the largest pizza I've ever seen.

Some people keep potpourri or nuts or change or candy... I am not one of them.

I found a home for one of my yard crawl purchases!

The knock-off milk glass bowl has taken up residence in the living room.

But let's take a closer look. It has a very specific purpose...

Yes. Those are pacifiers. It's my new pacifier collection bowl! Or, the Bowl of Previously Lost But Recently Found Pacifiers.

We have lots of pacifiers from our February baby shower and they habitually get scattered throughout the house. Now, they have a home for whenever I find one in the kitchen or the bedroom or in the sandwich shoppe (How in the world???).

It's great way to use the bowl until I find a better use for it!

Photography Fridays - Shutter Speed Addiction

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Welcome to lesson 2 (part 1) of 12 Weeks to Better Photography! Last week, we learned about how aperture (f/) controls the depth of field. This week we're learning about ISO and shutter speed.

ISO is the film speed (how fast your camera captures an image) and determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light. If you are outdoors in the bright sun, you should use a low ISO such as 100. If you are indoors on a cloudy day, you should use a higher ISO such as 800 or 1600. There is one drawback. The higher the ISO, the more noise will be in your photograph. In other words, the image will appear grainy.

Shutter speed controls how fast or how slow the shutter in front of the image sensor closes. Slow shutter speeds blur movement and fast shutter speeds freeze movement. A fast shutter speed might be measured as 1/1000 of a second. A slow shutter speed might be 2 seconds. When you use a slow shutter speed, it is best to use a tripod or to set your camera on a stable surface. Otherwise, the entire image will be blurred. When you use a fast shutter speed, it is important to have plenty of light. Otherwise, your image will be very dark.

This weeks assignment was to photograph moving water using the shutter priority ("Tv" or "S") setting on the camera. In this setting, the camera lets you select the shutter speed and ISO while automatically setting the aperture for you.

I began with low shutter speeds. Since I was outside in the bright sun, I left the ISO low at 100. See how the splashes are somewhat blurred?

Note that as the shutter speed gets higher, the aperture (f/) is automatically set lower by the camera, causing less of the photograph to be in focus.

As we get into the higher shutter speeds, we have to bump up the ISO to keep the images from getting darker. The splashes are considerably less blurred in these.

The highest shutter speed my camera goes to is 1/4000th of a second. It makes the water look completely frozen. I now have the power to freeze water. I am Ice Woman, defender of pink eye free penguins, supreme empress of the winter lands. All tremble before me and look on in awe.

At 1/4000s, the aperture is set at it's lowest, so only the water is in focus. The ISO is set high as well to keep the image bright.

On the other hand, this is what happens to water when you set the shutter speed low around 2 seconds. You get a blurred, cloudy effect. This is how people get pretty pictures of waterfalls. I had to use a tripod for this shot (and it's still not that great).

One last thing... high shutter speeds are ADDICTIVE. Everytime Joseph went down for a nap today, I snuck outside with my faithful pitcher of water and poured water over the nearest unsuspecting innocent bystander. Whoops, I mean inanimate object. I took a gazillion photos on 1/4000s. Or maybe I'm just addicted to taking photos? Nah. Not me.

Remember, I am not to be trusted when it comes to explaining these things. It's much better if you read lesson 2 (part 1) here.

Now go out and see what you can do with those high shutter speeds. This is what Stephen can do by tossing the contents of a cup into the air:

 

And this is what I can do by pouring pitcher-fulls of water onto the hood of my car:

 

Pretty nifty, huh?

Did I mention that high shutter speeds are addictive?

And that I took a gazillion, bajillion pictures of water?

Because I have no self control...

And, after all, I am Ice Woman. It's my birth right.

Any who attempt to stop me shall suffer my icy wrath (Except for the pink eye free penguins).

Unless they bring me cookies.

Forgiveness can always be found in a snickerdoodle and a cup of milk.

Aren't photos taken at sunset terrific?

I just love the warm light of a setting sun.

Are you still here? I would have left the blog by now.

I'm impressed with your perseverance.

Good gracious, someone take the camera away from this woman!

She's clearly gone too far. She must be stopped.

Didn't anyone ever tell her that everything is better in moderation?

 Maybe we should dump a pitcher of water over her head. That might stop the insanity.

Ack! They just keep coming! Photo police! Arrest that woman!

Ha. I'm a woman. I always feel like I'm about 7.

It probably doesn't help that I still listen to Disney music...

Do you ever get sucked into Disney Channel Movies? Even though you know they are terrible?

Pfft. Me neither. Glad we got that out of the way. How potentially embarrassing!

See you next week, folks!

(You are coming back, right? My excessive photo taking and pathetic lack of control didn't scare you off, did they?)