Shadows and Light

I thought we would take a little break from Europe and talk about photography and a local sale going on in southern Maryland this weekend!

When it comes to taking photographs, I feel that trying new and different stuff is the only way to find what works best for you.  As a self taught photographer, I am slowly learning the terms of photography, but I doubt I will ever be an expert, heck I can barely remember which lenses I own, but I do know what I like.  And what I love doing is playing around with the settings and trying to grow as a photographer through pure luck and lots of trail and error.

In the photo above, it was early morning the other day when a heron landed right on the dead log by the end of our dock.  The fact that a heron did this is nothing new, but the fact that it let me and 2 boisterous dogs come clamoring out of the house without freaking out and flying away is nothing short of a miracle!  Herons are skittish birds in the wild, and they will fly off at the drop of a hat, screaming loudly at you as if to say, "you scared the heck out of me and I'm outta here!"  I have lots of pictures of heron butts to prove this!

This heron however, was quite content to perch on the log long enough for me to extend my telephoto lens to it's full 400 millimeters so that I could try and see every feather.  Of course I realized after snapping a few pics that my ISO was way too low and so the pics were going to be very blurry.  As a general rule, and without using a tripod, your shutter speed shouldn't be any less than the length of your lens.  So if you are using the 400 mm your shutter speed shouldn't be below 1/400th of a second.  This is the number that you can see when you look through the viewfinder, on my Canon it is in the lower left of my screen display. 

So I quickly bumped up my ISO, which makes the light sensors more sensitive, meaning you can have less light and still get a good image.  And voila, I got a great shot of the heron!

When shooting wildlife that is apt to move off quickly, you don't have a lot of time to stop and see if you got a good shot, you tend to just snap away and hope for the best once you are done.  So besides changing my ISO, I also switched to TV mode for a few shots.

In TV mode, you can set a fixed shutter speed, one that is quick enough to capture something in low light.  These images can often be dark, but if you shoot in RAW format, you can sometimes lighten things up and still have a fairly sharp image.  This is a great trick if you simply don't have a tripod for low light situations.  I actually used this trick while shooting in a castle in France, and even though the images looked almost black on my LCD screen on my camera, and I wasn't sure I would get anything out of them, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and manipulated the exposures in Photoshop...I got some wonderful images by using the TV setting 1/125 while using my wide angle lens which is a 24 - 70 mm.

Anyway, that is all a very long and boring way of saying that I like trying these different settings, and learning the capabilities of my equipment.  The image above was taken using the TV setting and I decided not to lighten it, I loved the dramatic effect that I got as much as I liked the first image.  They are both different and each have their own appeal, at least to me anyway.  Sometimes photography is about shadows and light as much as it is about the subject matter.

Ok, enough camera gobbledygook for one evening, but before I go, I want to tell you about a sale going on this weekend in my neck of the woods.  My friends Susan and Julie are at it again, pulling together a fall show that is sure to help you find those early Christmas presents!  

The flyer below will give you all of the details, and if you go, please tell them Kat says hello!  I will be up in DC meeting a bloggy/Garden Web forum friend of mine (for the first time) who will be in town from Atlanta!  We've been friends for a few years now, and I can't wait to meet both Traci and her husband!  

I hope you each have a wonderful weekend!

Terry John Woods...and a Sale

This week is off to a busy start.  It's funny how that happens after a holiday weekend when you've kicked back and done nothing, and then all of a sudden you check your email to find that everything is happening all at once!  It's a good kind of busy though, one filled with excitement and anticipation for projects to come and fun assignments!

It's been hot, hot, hot here the past few days, so I'm staying inside and pretending my AC is really a cool bay breeze.  Last week was much more pleasant, and I even spent some time out in my hammock catching up on reading.  You see, I got a wonderful surprise in the mail last week...Terry John Woods' new book...Summer House!  Amazon said it wouldn't ship until June the 1st, so I was thrilled when the mailman dropped it off last Friday!

I couldn't wait to sit down and properly devour it since you might recall how much I loved Terry's last book which I wrote about in this post.   I had loved his first book so much that I was almost a little nervous that this one might not live up to my expectations.  The moment I opened it and began reading the words so lovingly written by Dale West and began gazing at the amazing photos taken by Kindra Clineff, all of my fears were put to rest.


 

The book, which is peppered with wonderful vintage family photos from summers gone by, takes you back to a time when the scent of honeysuckle filled your soul as you rode down deserted roads with "no hands" and skinned knees.

The words and pictures intertwine to create an image of the perfect carefree summer, and a decorating style that lets summer live year round in our hearts and in our homes.

The more I read, the more I thought...I wonder if Terry and I were separated at birth...maybe we are long lost twins?!  Ok, ok, I know we were born on different days, in different places, to different people, and in different years...but the similarities are quite striking!

I mean he loves old watering cans and so do I!

And see that vintage Wayrite kitchen scale in the photo above...yup I have one of those too!

A love for old white wicker and petunias...yes, we share that same love.

Now this may just convince you that we truly are long lost twins, see those shell covered pillow shams in the photos...well guess who else has those same shams?!  Ok, are you freaking out a little about this...should I call someone from Ancestry.com to clear this up?!

And while Terry and Dale are sippin' on some San Pellegrino, there is always some chillin' in my fridge!

Blue and white platters with starfish anyone?  Why yes, I think I will!

Even if you aren't Terry's long lost sister/twin like I clearly am *wink, wink*...I think you will still love this amazing book.  Once again, I'm left speechless at how this book, Summer House, will have you plotting ways to sell everything you own and move to your very own summer house in Maine!  If you haven't ordered your copy already...then RUN, don't walk over to Amazon and get yours today!

Thank you Terry, Dale and Kindra for another wonderful book that will be a fixture in my decorating "must have" library!  And I would also like to give Kindra Clineff a special shout out and thank you for spending time talking to me on the phone recently about creating my website!  Your advice and help were much appreciated!

Now, on to some important info if you are within driving distance of southern Maryland and are looking for something to do this weekend.  My friends Susan and Julie are working on another wonderful sale to be held at Susan's waterside cottage, and you won't want to miss it!  Below is a flyer with all of the info...it's sure to be another winner, just like her last sale!

Ekster, Ekster, Read All About It

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to photograph a barn sale for Fifi O'Neill and Romantic Country Magazine a few weekends ago.  It was my first "real" photo assignment, and I was a little nervous about the whole thing.

But I knew, based on what I had seen from previous Ekster Antiques barn sales that it really couldn't be too hard.  I mean, how hard can it be to shoot beautiful things in a gorgeous setting just outside Leesburg, Virginia?  Lots of great vintage items, antiques, ironstone, chippy furniture, and so much more...so what's not to like or better yet, take pictures of?!

Caroline and Jon-Paul Saunier (pictured above) live in a historic home set among rolling hills in the rural town of Hamilton, Virginia.  The same wonderful sense of style they have used to create their own home, (which was photographed for Fifi's upcoming book entitled Romantic Prairie Style), translates to their wonderful barn sales held several times a year.

In between sales, Caroline (a native of Holland) and her sources scour Europe looking for the perfect pieces to sell at each of the sales she and Jon-Paul hold in one of the huge old barns on their property.

Before each sale, they post pictures on their Facebook fan page "Ekster Antiques" to help whet buyer's appetites.  And lines form early each morning during their weekend sales as people eagerly anticipate the event!


 

Fifi selected her favorite photos from the shoot to use in an upcoming issue of Romantic Country, but here are a few to give you an idea of how truly massive and wonderful each of the Ekster sales are.  It was all I could do to snap photos instead of grabbing everything in sight to take home with me!

Caroline and Jon-Paul work tirelessly before, during, and after each sale...I don't really know how they do it!  And even though these shots were taken in 100+ degree heat, and at the end of the first day of their sale, they were still going strong and looking fabulous!  In the photo above they were enjoying a quiet moment before closing up shop on the day I was there.

If the items alone weren't enough to make you swoon, the way they are displayed is a feast for the eyes!  Just take a look at some of the beautiful displays and unusual wares they have for sale at great prices!

This beautiful old turquoise metal bed was calling my name!

And in addition to 2 stories worth of barn to ooh and ahh over, they also have tents set up outside for even more wonderful things to choose from!

And in case your tastes run a little funky, never fear, there is something for everyone at an Ekster Antiques sale!

I had so much fun meeting Caroline and Jon-Paul and wandering around photographing all of the really cool stuff they had for sale that day!  And just before we left, Mr. Tide and I went downstairs to pick out one of the beautiful old glass fishing floats I had spied earlier.

I loved its deep green color and how someone had apparently repaired the old netting which had finally let go over the years, not to mention how large it is!  And when I took it up to the counter to pay for it, Caroline gave it to me as a gift for coming out to do the shoot!!

I was floored by her wonderful generosity and now this beautiful float is happily living in my front flower bed surrounded by yellow and coral colored lantana!  When I get a free moment I plan to clean it up a bit and bring it inside.  I'll find the perfect spot where it can reflect the sunlight and brighten even the darkest winter days, so thank you again Caroline and Jon-Paul!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few photos of this wonderful barn sale and to find out exactly when the next Ekster Antiques Barn Sale will be held (sometime in December), be sure to become of friend of Ekster Antiques on Facebook!  Trust me, you'll want to mark your calendars...I will be heading back to get some ironstone which I'm still kicking myself for not bringing home!

And be sure to check out Romantic Country Magazine to see more pictures I took of the Ekster sale!  They will be in one of the upcoming issues!  I'll be sure to let you know when it will be featured!