stunning product photography

a really stunning example of fantastic product photography.   (for some reason posterous.com is not letting me post links properly.  thus the long url...) http://www.etsy.com/listing/56182024/5-small-frames-made-for-refrigerator-or?...

product photography: hearts cake pops + u should 2!

something i want to put more work into this coming year is my product photography for my shop.   being as i sell artistic photographs, i've fallen into the trap of just slapping them up there, using a cool but "everyone has it" virtual frame to show my photo in a display.   in my mind, however, i'm a world away - i envision a beautiful thick, black frame, with some sort of tangible swirly-ness texture around the bulbous edges.  i envision myself buying the necessary tools to make them myself, offering a storyboard with different colors available... indulging my love of paint in this way while, as a bonus, i get to offer a completely ME experience.   turquoise, black, light aqua... these would be my favorite colors to offer.   {swoon...}
while browsing etsy, {i'm addicted, i admit it...} i love seeing amazing presentations from jewelers, candlemakers, and so forth.   it really makes a product i may not even need or generally use, such as fancy soap or bath crystals (which are loveyl!  i'm just bad at taking the time for me...)  morph into something i MUST HAVE.  right now.   because, if nothing else, it will look gorgeous in my bathroom next to X item i already have in the bathroom.  selling photography is devfinetly something people do not need, but would like to have, but maybe can't spare the cash for.   and so i think, it comes down to, trying to capture that MUST HAVE feeling. 
a great example off-etsy of product photography is Angie from Bakerella.  she is the lady behind the {Awesomeness} that is Cake Pops.  if you've never see nor tried a "cake pop" - you are mising out!  they are super-delicious.   and cute!  so cute, you will feel horrible for eating the cuteness!  only briefly.   {don't worry.}
ever analyzing things through the lens in my mind, i was initially drawn to these from an artistic standpoint - the photographs were stunningly gorgeous!  i soaked them up.  they made me want to make cake pops.   desperately.   had there been a cake pop store, i would have bought several.  i couldn't help myself.   don't worry, i didn't want to EAT all the cake pops.   i have some control.   i would give most of them away to my kids' friends.  (wah hah hah. these have sooo much sugar, it's almost evil to do so to unsuspecting parents...)
this was the post that started it all:  Don't Lick, Bite.   not only was the photo clear, with close in detail, the presentation was cool.   balls of cake on sticks!  an inside view!   a clever title.   and what are they standing up in?   this would be great for kid parties!   etc.   it provoked my thought process, is what i'm saying.  now, there are all kinds of embellished cake pops, as  you can see if you click around her blog.   even better super-cool-ness. 
so i guess this is a long-winded way of saying i want to provoke my customers' thought processes.    more effectively.  
PS - i'm thrilled to see she has written a cake pop book for the masses!!

collecting soul pieces

i've just snagged this { http://www.etsy.com/listing/60760489/chasing-the-dragon-large-size-limited } amazing, amazing piece of art.   i never have any $ for such things, but, well, christmas was somewhat kind to me.   i'm setting most of it aside to take care of fending off the horrors of last year, but i'm allowing myself this one, happy thing.   ok a few other small, inexpensive happy things too.  but thats it, really, i'm setting it aside. 

one of my goals this year is to do what makes me feel alive.   more often.   as in "not so rarely" as it's always been.   something is wrong inside me, that i put msyelf so last (within reason of course!  {see how i have to qualify everything?   also working on that!} )

anyhow my heart soars when i find these little {huge!} things that speak to me.   so...  this is my unofficial new year's resolution.   enjoy life, live, breathe, and collect things that inspire and delight.  

 

 

{ forsaken }

loving this photographer

Stumbled onto this amazing photographer via lost @ eminor ( a wonderful inspiration / creative fix site ):  Raissa Venables.   I love the way she pieces together various photos in some of her work, creating a surreal, modern alice in wonderland aesthetic...

lovely lomographic centered site

i may possibly have died and gone to heaven.  
i've long enjoyed lomographic photos, and this site is dedicated to them.  it's a whole community of lomographers.

here is a particularly beautiful photo i came across using the random photo link:

photo credit: domyblue

lillith loves photojojo always

i do. 
really. 
pretty much {everything} in there is on my wish list!  

this morning i read the article below and thought i would give the shape hack a try.   however, i don't have a 35mm on hand - i'll have to use paper and tape over my lens.  

Transform the Shape of Your Photos With a Film Mask 

Here is an example:

fPOE Artist Exposed Treasury is Live

the treasury looks great!   if they got more than 16 artists, they were going to rotate them out, so i guess i will be in it at some point when they rotate everyone.   i hope.   either way, it's still super cool that someone would feature artists in this way...

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4ceed2cad2f48eefd5f5d38f/the-female-photographers-of-etsy-artists

Treasury For VAST Team

 

the Vast Team is {so} inspiring.  i put together this treasury with some awesome, beautiful art!

lillith on FP!

velvet morning featured my dandelion photograph in a treasury which made the front page of etsy on november 17!   please check out her beautiful shop - stunningly gorgeous work!  also, holy cow!  i got on the FP! did i mention i was hysterically excited at the time?   she so rocks!

Artists Exposed fPoe on Etsy

I'm a member of Female Photographers of Etsy, and recently we were all given an opportunity to participate in a Treasury made by Vicki Diane as part of her Artists Exposed! series.  Which is so utterly cool and an amazing exposure opportunity!  It will start running in December, so be sure and search on Etsy for the series title to see the faces of various Fpoe photographers!

I always think it's {wonderful} when people give back, and go out of their way to mentor, teach, and generally help others.  So I'd just like to give a big shout out to Vicki Diane.  What you do is pretty awesome.  

You can check out Vicki's shop here: http://www.VickiDianeDesigns.etsy.com

♥ lillith

new listing: lost among stars

lost among stars,
{ in the middle of nowhere }
they found what they were always seeking -
each other..

♥ visit http://www.lillith.etsy.com to purchase this print for the holidays! ♥

the pieces in time that i am with you,
are the moments i can draw my breath -
everything else
is simply waiting...      everything
{else}
is unfriendly, transparent {glass}...  
i'm
looking through it always -
hoping for a glimpse of you...

Blog Feature

I'm excited that my "Dreaming of Laguna" photograph was featured in ginaphoto's blog here:  http://thephotoblog27.blogspot.com/2010/11/dream-photos.html#comment-form

WOOOOO!  Thanks!!

Dreaming of Laguna - New Listing

She missed cramming her car into tiny little street parking in search of the perfect, quiet beach... descending 1,000 jungle-covered stone steps to the bottom, not knowing if this would be the One... But more than anything else, she found she missed most of all the crashing of the waves in their endless, repetitive chorus...

On the Turning Away - New Listing

 

Not knowing what else to do, she turned and walked away under her own power, unable to linger any longer in the purgatory of coldness and mistrust...

Print available in my etsy shop

Heart Mondo

I've just finished catching up on the finale. I have to say, I loved ALL the last designers. But Mondo was my favorite!! He had the most personality, and his quirky style was so fun to watch and reflect on inspiration-wise. I'm sad he didn't win!

Did you know he has a shop on etsy?? It's lovemondotrasho. Currently only Team Mondo t-shirts but still cool.

Lovely Saturday

It's a gorgeous Saturday here - hazy blue sky and not so cold that you don't want to go outside for fear of freezing in the crazy wind. I {should} be out shooting today. But the kids are all in a relaxed, let's-stay-at-home mood, and I'm sitting here messing with treasuries over yet more coffee and so forth. So I think, nothing is going to get done today really.

My daughter has devised a clever scheme to get me into the playroom when I'm focusing on something other than her - she will claim to need a drink, snack, etc, then take my hand and say, n'er mind, now we feed de dollies! Tricky. So I guess I am off to feed dollies...

My Messed Up Babies

Moments in which I was almost there, but not quite... I adore these photos even tho they are quite flawed. They were each taken during times of intense personal change and transition, and therefore represent so much more to me than what anyone else can see here...

{ Dissipation } - Too much shadow; I'd love to redo this shot with better lighting.   To me, the background cloud made it appear that her soul was wafting upward out of  her body...

{ Sweet Tarts } - The mirror of my Duaflex has stains on it, and sometimes, photoshopping them out just doesn't  look right to me.  Another one I would like to redo.  My lens had some smudges on it, and those turned out looking like scratchy brush strokes, which I like...

TLUT Team on Etsy

I've joined a great treasury making team on Etsy called Treasury Lovers Unofficial Team {otherwise known as TLUT}.   I love, love making treasuries, but what fun are they if no one sees them but the people I feature?   I'm excited to be in the group, and think it will be alot of fun!

Some things I put together for fun this weekend...

{ underwater }

faux ttv texture credit: amy higgins

{heart bokeh castle}

bokeh texture credit: gloeckchen

What I Shot Today

{distance}

{loneliness}

remembering the stars

tonight my husband took the kids out on one of the trails to hike and look at the stars. late at night. they were thrilled, to say the least. i stayed here with the littlest, and thought of how cool it was for them to get this experience. as a child, i loved to go wandering around and find "secret places" to hang out and think. it probably drove my parents nuts. but i carry these memories with me still, as they will when they are older. i am reminded as well of when we first met, how we went out into the country and just stared at the stars, enjoying the quiet of the world and just being together. nice memories...

7 inspiring suggestions

Should your interest be piqued, you can find the entire article about this here.

Etsy Holiday Boot Camp

I joined up with the Etsy Holiday Boot Camp recently and can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying it so far. It's getting me to focus on elements I have been neglecting, and I'm learning so much - not only about myself and the scope of my journey into following my dream, but also about better business skills. I'm meeting people too, and that is so nice as I can be quite shy in reaching out to others around Etsy.

it's the little things

the littlest things that take me there
i know it sounds lame but it's so true
i know it's not right but it seems unfair
the things reminding me of you

sometimes i wish we could just pretend
even if only for one weekend
so come on tell me
is this the end?

lily allen - little things

far from home

my camera misses me. it sits there, staring at me with its one closed eye, silently accusatory. i can almost hear it whispering... "why aren't your hands on me? don't you long for the world you see through my lens?"

i miss it, capturing light through glass. i miss the magic, the perspective, the this-fills-me feeling i get when i am focused on snapping. sometimes, you just go through so much that instead of throwing yourself into things you love, you fade out of them for a time. i feel like i've almost forgotten how to see... how to bend this tool to my will...

{ plunge }

this is me... moving beyond my current self, figuring out who i am, pushing my creative boundaries. taking my crayons back, so to speak. i'm a girl with a camera who often feels if she doesn't take photos right now, this moment, today - she will die of the wanting. compositions whirl in my head and demand to be set free. i now try to balance my family and other obligations with letting these insistent elements free. astoundingly, giving myself permission to be more of a person has not, in fact, caused the world to come crashing down around my head but has instead lent itself to more internal quiet than i have known in some time.

mesmerizing, this letting go and free-falling...