shop opening

It’s finally open, my brand new print shop on Etsy!
Ever since I registered my photography business over a year ago I dreamed of being able to sell my travel photography as prints. I got quite busy last year and the shop idea took a back seat.
During the long winter months I was able work on it again and I have been very hard at work since christmas. Opening a shop is so much more time consuming than the shop front suggests, but I’m super proud to announce today that it’s open for business! I am still in the process of stocking it, but I didn’t want to wait another week or two with the announcement.
So hop over to my Etsy Print Shop to check out some stunning Travel and Landscape Photography, including some much loved prints I shared on this blog!
Also, to keep up with the shop and promo deals (and who knows, maybe even an opening discount…) sign up for my newsletter.

If you’re on Etsy too, let’s connect! I’ve been on Etsy with another username but decided to start afresh for this shop, so unfortunately I lost all of my feedback and connections and I’d love to get in touch with other Etsy users and seller.

Advertisement

waiting for spring

I’m so over it being winter. Being cold all the time. Not being able to use my balcony or to plant anything because it’s all still frozen solid. Winter seems to drag on indefinitely this year and no matter how much I’m trying to be positive I can’t stand it any longer. I think I’ve got cabin fever from being indoors and out of the light for too long and from working too much.

A visit at the ponies still does wonders for my spirits though.


And we do try to be cozy at home, watching movies and doing our best to eat something other than frozen pizza.

A bit of a rant this time, sorry! I’ll be bright and happy again once spring is here ok?

doing

To start this off with a photo, here is 10/52, titled ‘connection’:

Last week I read Jenna’s Post “You do too much” and it really resonated with me.
I get this a lot too, people telling me I do so much or I do too much. It’s true, I have a full-time job plus a growing business, I sew my own clothes, I do yoga, I go horseriding, I have friends, a household etc.
And I am sometimes plain exhausted by it. And I don’t get up at 6am on a Saturday after a long week at the office and jump for joy because I get to work another couple of hours on my own business doing tax stuff.
But still, I’m with Jenna. Not doing it all is simply not an option. Even if inspiration looks like “this” a lot of the time, it is what keeps me happy and inspired and proud and pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me grow in ways I could never anticipate. All the hard stuff is so worth the rush of adrenaline and happiness that creating something good out of thin air gives me, whether it be a garment or a photo or a whole business.
This is so much less eloquent than Jenna put it, but it needed out today on a cold, grey, snowy morning on which the excitement of inspiration and creation (and the anticipation of a spring hopefully just around the corner) is pretty much the only thing which could make me crawl out of bed.

And speaking of inspiration, I updated and sorted my Pinterest boards a while ago and made some new ones too and always forgot to mention it here. So, all new and tidy over there in case you want to have a peek (I do love Pinterest so!).

4/52

A portrait a week.

The old mare at our barn, enjoying the quiet of a snow-blanketed world.
This challenge is so good for me.

video: rodeo party

Looking forward to a charity event at our barn and realizing I’ve never even shared this video of our big rodeo party some weeks ago.

By the way, I get asked sometimes why I keep my videos so blurry and in case you were wondering:
a. I like how out of focus photos and videos can sometimes capture the feel of a situation much more intensely than in-focus shots. And my videos are essentially designed to capture athmosphere and feeling rather than every detail of a situation. For me big events and masses of people in reality often seem to go by in a blur, unsharp with little details sticking out unnaturally clear (must be the HSP in me I guess…my way of dealing with information overload) and my videos try to accentuate that.
b. I plain don’t feel comfortable filming people in detail and putting this stuff online without getting written consent from them first (something I do with all my photos incidentally).

Wishing you all a great weekend!

video

A first approach, a quick cut of one perfect day at our beautiful barn.
Please be kind…I know it’s too choppy and shaky and short and all sorts of things, but it literally took me days to make it.

I learned loads making this and I’m hooked…even though video is so much more complicated than photography. I think I still prefer the (almost) instant gratification a lovely picture offers but I’ll keep on playing with video in the future!

sundays

It’s about time I posted some random horse shots again, right? There’s a new boy at the barn and he’s gorgeous.

Sometimes the sunday I spend at the barn, in the arena or going for a relaxing trail ride, is the best part of my week. Definitely this week.

I don’t like to be negative in this space, but the truth is, I’m plain exhausted this week. There’s some family troubles right now (or still I guess), coming at us from different directions. Some days I think it’s going to be ok but often it just feels as though we’re all falling apart at the seams.
I’ve always been proud to say that I’m a person people can rely on, that if someone asked for help, I’d be there. Now I find myself drawing back, trying to proctect my emotional balance, fragile as it is anyway, to be able to keep on going. I guess there’s a fine line between self-protection and egoism and I can’t see it.

Anyway, that was just waiting to get out. We do have a lot to be grateful for and one thing I am intensely grateful for is some down time at the barn and a pony who makes me laugh, trying to catch waterdrops landing on his nose wile he’s being brushed.

Another cowboy shoot

I’ve been meaning to share these photos since november. I was asked to take some photos of the guys at our barn who like to run around in full-flegded cowboy outfit at the weekends.

The aim of course was to make these look like real, vintage cowboy photos so while I liked the simple black and white processing, the vintage look is of course more dramatic.

There were ten or eleven guys to photograph within less than an hour! I’m only showing the best shots here, but every cowboy got his picture into the calender they eventually made from the photos.


So, just this quick sharing and now I’ll have to get ready for another week at work. Have a good week!

rare bits of sunshine

I hastened to capture these last week, sensing I had only minutes left before the sun would be gone.

How the days seem to rush by…at work between meetings and deadlines and a new baby (my co-worker’s) and at home between resting and planning and preparing.
All sewing and making has only been going on inside my head since we found a new place (which shows how behind I am with posting). At the weekends we are too busy decluttering our home. It’s unbelievable just how much stuff accumulates when you live in the same place for 5.5 years. And a small space at that! We’re ruthlessly getting rid of everything we don’t use any more or have multiples of or simply don’t like the look of any more. It’s liberating but exhausting. Just one more weekend should do it though. My dream home would be having just as much stuff as we actually need and use and not one item more.
Liberating, and exhausting, but fun, too.

autumn glow

Just popping in very quickly on a tired week night to quote the amazing Alicia:
“This week, I have noticed that the light has changed, much gentler than the bright summer light. The autumn glow is here…”

The change in the air is barely perceptible here, we’re still having wet, stuffy days and at night are kept awake by thunder and lightening.

But the light…she’s right. The autumn glow really is here.