faces

I haven't been very nice to my camera lately...it has sadly been collecting a wee bit of dust.
It is sad, I know! Hopefully "it" won't be to harsh on me... :)

I got asked to help out with some christmas photos this weekend and it had me look back in my archives a bit and found some treasures.

Makes me really want to pick the camera up more. Yes...I have a thing for capturing faces and expressions. Capturing the soul itself. :)
These are just a few that has been taken this year, have so much more to go through. (Another thing I have been slacking in recently)

Onward and upward right?!? :)

What actually goes on inside someones head?!

have you ever wondered what is going on inside someones head when you take their photograph?!
 
I do...especially when I have a lot of series shots. Not that the little guy could tell me if I was right or wrong, but this is how I saw it from behind the camera:

Oh was I laughing hard when I opened these up after the party....:)

Want to win a Tamron Camera lens??

Go check out MCP-actions website and submit aswell... :)


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Good luck!

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Cleaning+Photoshop Actions

After Christmas I have been on a cleansing path you could say.
Been cleaning out one closet after the other and really did a hardcore cleaning of junk or stuff that I have tossed in there. Mostly due to the fact I didn't want to deal with it at the time.

So my closets are cleaned out, except for the linen closet...I am soo dreading that one but know it needs to be done. This weekend I took down all the remaining christmas decorations and put those in storage until next year. And when doing that I stripped my shelves and windowsills from everything...

...I mean everything! (it was stripped bare to its nakedness)

And I dumped in in the kitchen....
..well it had to go somewhere! :)

The idea for this is to go through every piece of décor I had and re-style my apartment. Living in a small space has its pro's and con's, con's being you pile up every blank space after a while.

So far I am almost done in the living room, and have realized I have way to many candles and holders. Not sure how I could fit them all before, half is still on the kitchen table.

Oh well it is a ongoing process and hopefully I will be done soon.

Besides that I have also been going through my stash of photos, editing some and well tossing some in the trashbin (the ones that don't make the cut and just take up space).

I thought I would share with you where I get my photoshop Actions at....



The Pioneer Woman (free stuff)








MCP actions (free actions to try)








Totally Rad Actions (free actions to try)


Willette Photography


I use them all and love them!

Have fun using them...

Gifts

I am the kind of person who loves giving away gifts, especially when I know the recipient will love them. And especially when they don't see it coming...:))

I like to hunt for gifts, maybe not hunt but...no hunt is the right word. I go out and find the gift that either screams the recipients name or something that they are passionate about.

Sometimes or mostly always I try and give the gift of memories.

This past Christmas I gave away a certain gift I knew would be highly appreciated and one that I am oh so proud of myself.
Since I live a few thousands of miles away from my second family I tend to search online for the gifts for them. This year however I didn't have to go far...

A few months ago on vacation I had a mini photoshoot with them and what is more perfect than give away a collage of a few of those photos.

I used Shutterfly and totally love the products they have. Check out below one of the projects I made as a gift.

(note: this is not an advertisement, but a recomendation from me to you)

Blank Project Wall Art

Create personalized greeting cards and invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I have also done a digital photo album that were highly appreciated.

in waiting for christmas

Around this time of the year things get pretty hectic and stressful. Luckily I have stayed far away from that as I could.

(not mentioning the trip to the shops yesterday....yuck for crowds!)

The presents are all done, just need to wrap some of them. (sweet)

Christmas candy and sweets are all done! (yum)

And the tree is decorated too! (lovely)

Best part of a tree is that it bring such amazing boké to the photos

 We did have  a few disasters in making of the truffles....

 First off: The kitchen mess....and this is only from one of the 4 batches!

Note to self: don't put a cold pan with chocolate onto a hot stove....it will melt...

Truffles are just not easy and fun...but soooo delicious!!

The recipe I made I got from Jamie Oliver:

300 ml cream (I used heavy cream)
300g good chocolate
a pinch of sea salt
a knob of butter (which I forgot in batch 1 and batch 2, 3,4)

+ whatever taste you want
I used clementine zest, orange zest+juice, ground cardamom, grated ginger, liqueor (baileys)

All turned out pretty darned good!! :)

Birthday present

This year for my birthday I wanted one thing and one thing only!

I am a woman and we have handbags to hold pretty much everything that we need to have around all the time. The thing was...I wanted to have my camera with me all the time, cause you never know when you will find that Kodak Moment!

So with no further ado....here is what I gave myself for my birthday:

An Epiphanie Camera bag!!!

Love love love it!!

I went with a brown color...you know so it would go with any outfit.

I am a woman, alright!!

That wasn't really the yes factor to it...it was the inside...TURQOUISE interior!!

It literally screamed my name!

It has been a jewel and it keeps a lot of stuff! Lots of pockets and it fills most of an amateur photographers camera equipment.

Go over to Epiphanie's website to check out all the other camerabags.

I have my eye for a Lola....

sneak peak on what I busy with...

                               före (before)                                         efter (after)

                                                 före (before)                       efter (after)

                                            före (before)                            efter (after)

just for me

I did this crazy thing...or maybe it wasn't that crazy?!

I am a person who don't really put myself first, and just pretty much always put my dear and loved ones first. Making sure that they are okay and fine and I come last in the line. In other words I don't do that much for myself...not often anyway. :)
But this year for my birthday I promised that I would treat myself to something nice. Didn't matter if it were a new pair of shoes, spa treatment, a leisurely trip somewhere...just anything that I wanted and wouldn't feel guilty of buying. (yeah...weird to feel guilty by shopping right, but that is me in a nutshell!)

So I thought long and hard, the guilty side of me kept looking for stuff that I really needed but hadn't bought yet. The other side of me...we shall call her the Devil, cause she really went out there I tell you. ;)

Eventually the two came together and thought of this:

(Epiphanie bags)

A camera bag that looks like a handbag!!! Have been secretly coveted this for months and decided to buy one. The "guilty" side of me had hard time to say yes to this purchase but the "Devil" finally wore her down. :)

Absolutely love this bag!!! All sorts of pockets and the inside is even better, all lined with a Turqoise color fabric!! And adjustable walls. Love it love it!!

You would think that this was it...right?! No...somehow the "Devil" side of me couldn't stop itself and during our trip to Stockholm in late june I also purchased this:

(nikon)

I were in one store to just look and discovered that they didn't have the 50 mm that I wanted so I pretty much said that was fate and left it to that. It wasn't the time or place to buy one at that time....or so I thought...

On our way home from the Shopping spree, I (the driver) went on my gut feeling and went to a different store to just see if they had the 50 mm. And some 30 minutes later I walked out with the lense (which were cheaper than the other store btw)!

Lets just say I did go a bit overboard....:)

But....I am loving them both!

Toys...

For my birthday I got a neat little toy to play around with. It has something to do with the photo above...

No guesses?!?!

Ah come on!!!!

Give it a go...humour me!

No??

Alright fine...I will tell you then.

It is this beauty:

                                    

A Wacom bamboo fun, it will allow me to use some creativity in my photoediting.

Been dreaming of getting my handwriting on photos without ruining them with markers.

Imagine the fun to use sketches and drawings too...

Endless possibilites.... :)

Monday monday...

what does monday mean to you?
For me...well it is a new day to a new week, it brings me sadness to know that I have to work this coming weekend....yuck, it means that the days go faster...wanted the weekend to be long!

Monday is one of those days that we could just skip altogether. I mean why not start it on a Tuesday or something...??!!

Anyway... the weekend turned out great. Was off friday to Sunday and was much needed.
Took a little daytrip down south to Skåne and a scrapbooking store down there. A lot of fun and need to go back and really take some photos. (not that I didn't bring my camera...but the timing wasn't really the best one)

All in all took it really easy and laid back, and somehow spent money like crazy! (oatmeal for dinner this month!) :)

Did do some thinking on a topic though...a topic i have thought of before but never really put much though to. (you still with me??!)    
I need to practice my photo skills and improve my learning and the only way to do so is to shoot photos! (I mean if you do your math that is...)
But in order to do so I need volunteers...

So....is there anyone who would like to be a model for a few hours or so?? I won't charge for my time and you will get the photos on a CD to do whatever with. All I want is the privilege to put a few up on my Photography blog and to practice my skills.
Oh and you would have to live within a vicinity of Halmstad, Sweden would be great too! :))

Let me know via e-mail if you are interested to be a model (mikaelalindman@yahoo.com)

Over and out