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I know the writing is bad and the relationships in the books are unhealthy at best but you know what? It’s good escape literature that you love to hate. I also hate to love it.

What’d I tell you? It’s complex.

Last week Hayley text me and asked me if I would want to take an epic journey to Forks, WA next (now this) week. “Heck yes!” I replied. “It’s not like I have a job or anything going on in my life!”

That’s my typical response now: “It’s not like I have a job or anything happening.”

Wednesday morning came and Hayley showed up at the ridiculous hour of 7:30am. Doesn’t she know I have no job thus like to sleep till noon? (I’m half-joking!). She patiently waited until after I had a phone interview for a (potential) contract job and then we loaded up into the car and hit the road.

Oh boy can you sense the excitement?

After two hours of driving through the Olympic Peninsula and a whole lot of nature we hit Port Angeles and knew we were getting close.

And if Super 8 wasn’t helpful enough there was always road signs:

About 45 miles outside of Forks we hit some epic road construction by a lake that had us sitting there for 20 minutes. It was all fine and dandy since hey, at least we had a view! We managed to eventually escape that joy and within another fifty minutes we hit Tourist Spot #1:

I won’t tell you how many tourists were gathered around to pose by the sign but at this point I started loudly proclaiming “I have no shame” and “I embarrass myself.”

Driving through Forks itself was very… interesting since obviously their sole purpose is now catering to the rabid fans who descend in masses to be somehow apart of the series.

And I’m not even talking to the specific areas of town specifically catered to objects/places in the books.

Yes, that includes the Visiter Center.

This was just awesome: capitalizing on the madness:

“Twilight firewood”. Yes. I’m sure it’s wood from trees the Cullens broke while playing vampire baseball. I had to give whoever did that props since I’m sure someone will buy it since it’s from Forks and has Twilight written above it.

Even heading out to the reservation they got into the Twilight madness:

Here’s some overcast beach shots for those who are under the misconception that Washington state only has grey skies:

Overall I have to say that I had a good time but it was kind of sad how tourist trap the town now is. Like, you couldn’t walk down the main drag without Twilight being shoved into your face… especially as you go by the store Dazzled which, of course, sells only Twilight related apparel.

If you’re a hardcore fan who wants to go “experience” Twilight I’d say make the trip to Forks, WA since they cater to making the fans happy. I enjoyed my time with Hayley (despite a few times of refusing to get out of the car to take pictures due to embarrassment). Now when I tell people that I live in Washington state I can tell them yes, I have been to Forks, WA, and hopefully watch them explode in a dazzling display of diamonds.

Or whatever those vampires do.

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They now reside in our backyard.

I’ll go into more details later as to the building of the coop and adjusting to life with chickens (and all those tasty “farm fresh” eggs) but instead I want to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart: how uncooperative chickens are to photograph.

I mean, I get it since I know what a giant pain photographing our cats is but seriously? Probably nine times out of ten I end up with shots of chicken butts.

I secretly think they take pleasure is showing me their behinds and knowing that I fear them almost as much as they fear me.

I grudgingly text Emily last week and admitted that chicken butts are, in their own way, kind of cute.

That is until I see what a mess they’ve made in our backyard.

While showing their rears for photos.

There is, I guess, a reason why I named them after Hades’ sisters.

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wordless wednesday

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Late last night Mack and I got back from our trip to Texas for my friends wedding. Lots of stories to come about the weekend (like the whole wedding party almost eating boat deck when a strong wave hit during the ceremony) but in the meantime: get a taste of a Texas wedding!

Technorati Tags: texas, weddings, summer, texan wedding, traveling, photography, casual photos

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Sometimes, when they think we aren’t looking, the cats like to be affectionate and help groom each other.

And it’s quite adorable…

I’ve never had cats before who actually liked grooming each other.

My cats growing up were quite content licking their own butts and leaving it at that.

These cats though enjoy the downtime of affectionately licking the other and helping with the 10+ hours cats spend on primping themselves.

Since you know that the rest of the time they’re sleeping. Of course.

It melts my heart when they do these touching little gestures… especially since it usually ends up in biting, scratching, and full on jerk mode to the other. Sigh.

Cats, you really are a mystery in what makes you tick.

Technorati Tags: house cats, domestic shorthairs, indoor cats, felines, fat cats, animal patterns

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When I went digging through some drawers I was not disappointed. Here’s a sampling of a few of the pictures I scanned.

Internet, meet my grandma as a baby:

Don’t you just want to pinch her cheeks?

She was obviously a very loved child.

Pictures like this and how they used to dress just get me. So lady-like!

Here she is probably about the time World War I was going on.

I think my brothers need to stop telling me I was found in a dumpster since obviously I am related to this woman.

I don’t know about you but it just boggles my mind to be able to look at a photograph of my grandparents from 1930. I can really see my Mom when I look at my Grandma and my uncle when looking at Grandpa.

I like to say this is their mob shot. I can assure you that they were Mormon and probably the farthest thing possible from the mob.

I do love old family photos and do hope you like them too! Since trust me: I plan on sharing more.

Technorati Tags: antique, vintage, “old family photos”, “old photographs”, photographs, history, historic, “historical photos”

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I mean look at Blue. He was once so… skinny.

And Brutus? He used to be… not innocent but so itty bitty.

I mean, Brutus can never claim to be an innocent but his size made it a lot more tolerable.

And Bucky? Well, we’ve known from the start that he liked to talk.

And look! He used to be able to fit into ONE hand!

Now I’m sure his weight would break our hand if we attempted it now.

I adored them as kittens but you know what? They’re fun as cats.

Especially since they’re a lot more fun to mess with.

Technorati Tags: fat cat friday, cats, kittens, indoor cats, domestic shorthair

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Isn’t that the mentality of a sheep? I don’t know. I don’t really want to examine that.

Now, not to toot my own horn but I also happen to have two degrees in web design meaning I have a fairly good idea about it. Of course, design is very subjective but I think in earning those two degrees and working the field I have a fairly good idea as to what works and what doesn’t. Or at least that is what the $400+ a month I am paying back in student loans tells me.

Since I am now taking my photography seriously I’ve been trying to figure out a watermark to place on my photos so that people won’t steal them and claim them as their own. Sure, it would my photos out there, but it accomplishes nothing for me if my name isn’t attached attached to said photos. And I want people knowing me by my uber skills.

In going through other people’s photography, I noticed that there are a LOT of ugly watermarks out there. Like, to the levels of “why did you ruin your photo with that watermark?” bad. Some of them are honest mistakes but make me stop when I’m looking at the photo and stare at the watermark and get angry about it… as though the watermark itself personally offended me.

I have issues, I know.

So after seeing the ump-teenth million ugly watermark I thought I’d do a guide as to what makes BAD watermarks and show some good ones based upon my subjective opinion.

Note: I’m not claiming to be the expert on this subject matter and welcome your comments and how you watermark YOUR images. This is all based upon my education/experience/design subjective opinion so take it with a grain of salt if you must.

First, let’s take one of my images.

Such a sexy tulip!

Now, a very common one I see is the excessive use of cursive fonts since frilly makes it “professional” looking.

There is so much curly stuff going on I don’t know where to look! Trust me, I personally like handwriting-esk fonts but using them as watermarks is simply distracting and doesn’t give it the “personal yet professional” edge you’re looking for.

Next is using my mortal enemy font, Curlz:

This font should be taken outside and shot. If it happens to survive the shooting may I suggest shooting it again? It looks like a kid wrote on your photography and I immediately lump you in to a category of “you don’t know what you’re doing”. I have very strong opinions on this font but who doesn’t. Don’t use this font, plain and simple.

Next would be the long name watermark:

Trust me I get the long name thing. I have four legal names! That doesn’t mean that I want ALL of them on my photography though! Try to stick to three words or less with your watermarks.

What about putting what kind of photography that you specialize in!

Let’s give the end-users some credit that they’d be able to figure out what you specialize in photography wise from the picture alone.

What about putting the URL of my blog/portfolio on the image? That’ll guarantee if the image is stolen they’ll know where to go!

I’ve thus far only seen a handful of this method successfully pulled off. Again, it’s distracting and unnecessary in my opinion. Just put your name on it or something and a simple google search would turn up all sorts of juicy results about you!

The HTML wannabe watermark:

Are you even trying?

BIG DISTRACTING watermark:

You’ve got my attention! It’s focused on the watermark and NOTHING ELSE.

Unnecessary objects:

I like icons but if they’re, again, complex my attention will be focused on trying to figure out what the heck is in the watermark and completely ignore the actual photo.

Watermarks that work

Now that I’ve thoroughly ripped on what doesn’t work here are some examples of what I feel does work. Again I know this is all subjective but stick with me.

Simple name and copyright with slight fade:

Marks my territory without being all up in your face. Now, I put this in the corner which is very easy for people to crop out. I’ve seen people successfully put these type over their images in an attempt to prevent thievery of the images and not distract people who are trying to enjoy the image. I hate to break it to people but if they’re bound and determined to steal your image and erase the watermark they will but hey, at least this way it’d present a challenge without being too distracting for honest people.

Sideways copyright:

Again, my territory is marked and you aren’t pulled immediately to that copyright information.

Finally: a simple and clean logo:

My information is there with a clean logo that doesn’t, again, distract. Just my initial and my nickname underneath. It’s magic! I also grabbed colors from the actual image to make it blend in more. Let’s hear it for the color selector!

And look, I can even put it over the main part of the image to give those thieves more of a challenge:

Alllllllllll right.

I hope these were helpful and make you ponder your watermarks. Consider: are they distracting and taking away from your photography? Remember that you want your photo to be the focal point. No matter how large and obnoxious your watermark is if there is a will, there is a way for thieves to make off with your work if they want to.

With that in mind: keep it simple and clean. And have fun!

Technorati Tags: photography, how-to’s, watermarks, guide, watermark guide, photography, suggestions, subjective design

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And in comes the Hipstamatic app.

The cats are, of course, used to having the phone shoved into their faces at a moments notice.

Literally.

Usually they can find some sort of humor in it.

Especially when I go for the “artistic” shots.

I also secretly think they like posing for me sometimes.

Or maybe not.

I guess they’ll just have to learn to deal with it.

Technorati Tags: hipstamatic, iphone, iphone apps, photos, photography, iphone photos, cats, felines, lolcats

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