black and white love

I have some little sewing news to share (not that I’ve actually made something, ahem *must get back to sewing*), but I’ve been kept from taking photos by a nasty cold which had me in bed for days. So until I get that post up, here’s a peek at a new photo series I’m developing.

I like color photos but in my heart I always love black and white best. Especially those that document connection of any kind between people and animals.


I’ve decided to make this a little series which I hope to add to during the year. If you’re interested in following it, I’ve posted some more images on my photo blog and will continue to add and share them on Facebook!

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precious #2

These two get me every time. Be still my heart.

Do click on the image to view it bigger!

So loving imperfect black and white lately.

(back) in business

I’ve hinted at this so many times and now I am finally ready to tell: I just founded my own photography business.
I offer portrait, family and animal sessions for now and you can find me on Facebook. In the coming months I will be launching a blog to share photoshoots, a website and a small online shop selling my most requested images as prints.

I am very excited! Juggling a full time office job, a photography business and my personal life will be challenging (in fact, it already is), so I am taking things slowly. In the past months I have done a lot of research, talked to my accountant and learned about taxes and the whole business side of it. I am doing everything in this myself (including the website), so the new pages will be up one at a time.

The idea is to build this business slowly but steadily over the next few years.

I’m happy to be finally doing this and excited to see what 2012 will bring!

random weekend shots

It’s a gray and quiet sunday morning with rain hammering against the windows (again), perfect for recapping a quite eventful saturday.
My friend Dana and I had made plans to go thrifting and met up at her mom’s place about an hour’s drive away from us. At least it would have been an hour’s drive if I hadn’t gotten stuck in a traffic jam on a blocked autobahn. But I made it there at last and settled down for a cup of tea in her mom’s cozy kitchen.

I love her apartment, it’s simple and so comfy with all the handmade and thrifted items in it.

We usually get to the thrift store with fuller cars than when we leave, because we always donate stuff. I’m a big fan of decluttering and getting rid of useless or unused stuff (I’m actually planning a post on that) and since our family and friends know that we make these thrifting trips regularly they often ask us to take some of their stuff to donate as well.
I’m always planning to take pictures of our full trunks or of the thrift store itself, but once I get there I forget. I’m just too eager to get started treasure hunting! We were quite successful again this saturday and when the endless rain lets off I hope to get some pictures of the stuff we bought.
Dana’s mum has a sweet (and newly pregnant!) icelandic horse, which she keeps at a nearby farm so we stopped by there and met some very cuddly goats.

That farm also has my dream veggie garden. They even planted a few of my tomato seedlings (not pictured) under rain cover and I was amazed to see how huge they had grown. They were as tall as me and laden with fruit. Especially the green zebra and yellow ones looked just so healthy and different that I realized that these really weren’t types that would thrive in a container.

We then drove on to another barn and watched Dana’s mum have a riding lesson, which was quite different to the lessons we’re used to, since icelandic horses are ridden so differently.

We met sweet horses and dogs and then went on to yet another barn in the neighbourhood where a speed rodeo was being held. Some of the people and horses from our barn back home were participating and we went to see them ride and cheer them on.

Just about as perfect a day as it gets for me. Filled with simple pleasures like having a cup of tea in a cozy kitchen, spending the day with wonderful, warmhearted and uncomplicated people, being around a variety of friendly animals to cuddle and play with and just taking the time to enjoy the rare bits of warm sunshine.
After a week in a dynamic and exciting but also challenging and at times hectic work environment a day like this is what grounds me and what makes me realize again and again what it is that makes me happy (it’s easy to forget sometimes isn’t it, getting caught up in day-to-day routines.)

bits and pieces

The hours are running away from me again this week.

I went treasure hunting (a.k.a. thrift store shopping) again yesterday and came home with the car full for about 15€ all in all! I’ll try to be faster in posting my pretty finds this time.

Murphy deciding he likes the soft flannel that came in the mail earlier in the week. I was really lucky to snag one of Jenny’s patterns a few weeks ago, it was sold out in minutes. So far I bought fabric for it and traced the pattern onto vellum paper and hopefully next weekend I will finally get to cutting and sewing and actually taking photos of it all.

Snapped at the barn on wednesday evening. Wednesdays are my hardest days of the week and I usually get to the barn tired, in the dark and the cold. But then, riding my funny little pony (not the one in the picture, that’s his stall mate) and sweeping the floors and filling water buckets I realize how much I need this quiet evening. It’s a special sort of downtime for me in the middle of my fast-paced week. I will always believe that people without animals to care for are missing out big time. It gives so much more than it takes.

fur friends

Some random weekend shots.

Animals are a key element in my photos. I could not imagine my life without them. Their personalities and ways of thinking, their trust, their simple friendship but also their stubborness and independence, continue to amaze me. The weekend (or the day even) doesn’t feel complete without burying my nose into some clean warm fur and pausing to enjoy a moment of connectedness.

i have a plan

Think my kitties could learn that?

Mh, neither do I. But it sure looks like fun 🙂 I think we’ll stick to perfecting our high fives and sitting up and giving paws….later.

hi baby

I love you.

summer days

are there for meeting up in the evenings and eating well and having fun with friends.


And taking pictures of everything and everyone, including my friend’s vivacious little daughter.



There were some cute kitties as well. Click.

It’s a good thing I have patient friends. But hey, they get rewarded with pictures, so that’s the deal I guess 😉