Tag: photography (page 20 of 22)

The Anatomy of a Christmas Card

Last year, due to the general craziness of school, the cottage being painted and other things going on, I never mailed out Christmas cards. Instead I made, “Happy New Year” cards in January and mailed those out. Since we were already being non-traditional, we kept it that way and had our design printed up on postcards with envelopes to mail them in.

I had so much fun doing that, that this year, I decided that I would do it again. I created a design to fit on a postcard and this time I had the help of Mr. Michie, Goose Girl & Foxy.

I gathered up a few of my Christmas items, GiGi & Foxy invited over some gnomes and deer to the party and we got to work.

We set up a green screen, laid down “snow” and set up lighting. It was a regular little photography studio we had going on here.

We posed everyone in different positions, until we found one that would work best, after going through all the proofs, we picked a few images to work with and got going.

Through Photoshop, I extracted out the background, placed in an image we found, that seemed to work in harmony with everything else and adjusted the lighting, placed an overlay on the top, to create a frosty feel and added in a “Merry Christmas” banner, drawn by Mr. Michie.

We designed a back for the postcard as well, with a small Christmas message and a vintage picture of Santa. This was a project I truly enjoyed working on and I can’t wait till next year, I already have ideas like sugarplums dancing in my head!!

(My work is my own, please do not use it for your own purposes! Thank you.)

The Christmas Angel

When Mr. Michie and I were first married we searched high and low for the perfect angel for our tree. She couldn’t be just any old angel, she had to be special. We searched here and there for quite some time and one day, I came across this angel and she spoke to me.

I met the artist who created her out of vintage French millinery items and had handcrafted and painted her face. Claire was a kindred spirit and I knew this angel was supposed to be ours. I asked if she had a name and I was told it was Genevieve, that sealed the deal!

She was nestled into a pink striped box and tied up with a vintage ribbon. So, home she came with me and we have enjoyed taking her out every Christmas. She looks like she could be on top of a Christmas tree in Little Women.

This year, I have put up a smaller tree in the bedroom and so Genevieve is gracing our mantel instead. She looked so pretty in the white wintery light this morning I just had to take a picture of her. Is there a special item that sits atop your tree every year? I’d love to know if there is!

A Gift to the Woods

On Sunday, Mr. Michie and I took a walk into the woods. We were beginning to deck the halls in the cottage and still had a few pumpkins left over from the Autumnal season.

So, we loaded them up into a basket and carted them off with us. We photographed the beauty of the woods as we walked and I took one last picture of the pumpkins that were ours this season.

Then, Mr. Michie smashed my large pumpkin up and we tucked the chunks into different recesses near the pond, so that the muntjacs, bunnies, squirrels, birds and other woodland creatures would have something delicious to feast on as the weather has turned truly frosty.

P.S. Happy St. Nicholas Day!

National Geographic 2011

The other night, Mr. Michie showed me some of the photographs that have been entered in this year’s National Geographic Photography Competition.

I was astounded by what I saw, and I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you.

I love the image of the Geisha. I find these women and the culture surrounding them to be truly mesmerizing. Even today their existence carries on a tradition that supersedes all the technology we have and the fast pace we seem to constantly be moving in; it still holds that they are just as highly respected and still a truly elite group of women who traverse around Kyoto in all their beauty.

To see more of the photos go HERE.

Happy Fourth of July

Freedom is never Free. – Author Unknown

I wish all of you a safe and happy Fourth of July and I hope we all take a moment to remember all those who have stood before, who stand now and who will stand in the future for us to continue to have the freedom we are blessed with.
Jennifer ♥

Seven Years

Today, I have been married to Mr. Michie for 7 years and I am still loving every minute of it! We started off our anniversary with a bang yesterday and went into central London, to just roam where ever our feet took us.

We ate lunch, spent some time at the National Gallery, wandered through Covent Garden and picked up our tickets for an evening of Vivaldi by Candlelight at St. Martin in the Fields.

It was a wonderful day! We ate dinner at Cha Cha Moon, a new Chinese restaurant we wanted to try off Carnaby Street. It was very authentic, a lot of Chinese people were in there eating and that, to me, is always a good sign. Their dumplings were too die for!

Then we headed over to St. Martins just before they opened their doors. The Church was wonderfully cool and candles were lit everywhere, it was very romantic. The orchestra came out and and played a series of pieces in the first act, one being Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 3. Which is very special to us as we walked down the aisle to this piece after we were married.

My parent’s instilled a true love of all kinds of music into my sister and I. We both played with a symphony and even had the opportunity to travel through Europe playing with them as well. My sister is a star violist and I am an oboist. I find that having played an instrument, I am so much more appreciative of what the performers are going through.

The second half of the concert was the entirety of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and as night began to permeate around us the glow of the candlelight became more heightened. We had the great fortune to see the lovely Kerenza Peacock play her first concert since she injured her wrist. It was outstanding. As her bow struck the first note, I was beyond moved.

What a sight to behold. Music that has been played for centuries to Kings and Queens and we had the opportunity to see it played within the hallowed walls of St. Martins in the Fields by an outstanding orchestra. The entire audience was on the edge of their seats, there was a true electricity in the air and I found that more than once I was holding my breath. How lucky we are to have had the opportunity to see and hear this!

We finished off the evening with a few little surprises from Laduree. They have opened a new store in Covent Garden and since I can’t go to Paris at the moment, at least one of my favorite things from Paris can come to me!

So, Mr. Michie, here’s to seven more years on the roller-coaster of marriage and may they be as wonderful as the first seven!