Something New

Lately, I've been picking up a lot of random hobbies. I took up crayon-melting with my friend Kami (look it up on pinterest, it's so cool!). I've been experimenting with lip balm ingredients--not because I'm trying to improve the 7th grade lip balm activity, but because I'm interested. I've also been looking at food blogs and trying a lot of new recipes; eventually, I want to make a recipe book with all my favorites (with pictures).

But mainly, I'm obsessed with photography.


After 7 years with my little point-and-shoot Canon, I got a new camera. I read a review about a fancy-schmancy DSLR that costs more than I make in a month, and it got me thinking about, well, DSLR cameras. They give you a lot of freedom for creativity and you can take great low-lighting shots. I hate using the flash on my camera--it sucks battery life and is so annoying, plus it creates red eye and doesn't even look all that great. So I started researching DSLR's, and I ended up getting a Canon Rebel. So far, love it! At my roommate's birthday party last week, my other roommate and I got in a conversation about cameras. By the end of the night, we had a pile of photography books and both our cameras out. I took a lot of pictures of my feet, experimenting with shutter speeds and f-stop numbers and ISO settings. I now understand what all those things are, and basically there's no stopping me. My camera comes out at the drop of a hat (or the second I notice a potential photo op.)

First, I took pictures behind my school. I have an awesome view of the mountains and the temple. There's a shot I really want to take--in the morning, when it's still dark, when a crescent moon is hanging right above the mountains. Next, I visited a local gigantic pumpkin patch. Pumpkins seem pretty photogenic. Last, I wandered around my neighborhood. I have about a hundred complaints about the house I live in, but the neighborhood itself is so cute. I love the trees.

This weekend was my fall break, so I headed up north to Mom and Dad's. They are also experiencing an extraordinarily colorful Fall. I took the opportunity to practice with my camera.

I'm really itching for human targets; you can only take so many pictures of inanimate objects before you get bored. Mom and Dad don't really like having their pictures taken. I can't wait to chase Seren and Jonas around with my camera at Thanksgiving!! And Christmas?! Oh boy!

(Still, I think those shots came out pretty cool. The blurred background is called "bokeh".)


We worked on a lot of fun things this weekend. While chopping up apples for apple cider on Thursday, we watched a bunch of Good Eats episodes, including the one about marshmallows. They looked so delicious we had to try making them. They turned out just about perfect! Great for hot chocolate, or just cramming them in your mouth. I told Mom she should put as many in her mouth as she could so I could take a picture, but she wouldn't do it.

I've also been obsessing a little over lip balm. I just survived my first round of CTE lip balm-making, and I've been thinking a lot about how to improve the unit. I've also been thinking about trying other ingredients, so I bought some new ones and played with them yesterday and today. The first test batch came out kind of greasy. Today, I tried again and came up with the pictured lip balm. I call it "Nostalgic Wassail." I used orange, cinnamon, clove, lemon and vanilla flavor oils to flavor it, and I used Mom and Dad's lanolin for moisture-locking. The flavor can't mask the fact that, when you put it on your lips, it smells like you've kissed a sheep.

Here's my first real attempt at night-sky photography. I've been reading up on it, and looking at really cool pictures (link, link, link) . It's tricky and requires a lot of patience (which is hard for a self-diagnosed ADD girl like me). Basically, you have to mount your camera on a tripod, find a spot with as little ambient light as possible (like city lights, car headlights, lamp posts, etc) and hold the shutter open for a long amount of time. In this picture, I sat out on the front lawn at 10pm in the freezing cold, holding down the shutter button for three minutes. I barely made it the 3 minutes, but ideally you want to hold it open for 15-30 minutes. Most people use a remote-shutter release cable thingy. Eventually I will have one of those. In the meantime, I think this shot turned out pretty cool! (despite the lack of focus--something else to work on)

Anyway. It's been fun. I should be a real pro at this by the time Christmas rolls around. Get ready to smile a lot! Gonna take awesome pictures!

*To view larger images, click on them!