Photography Archives - home is where my story begins...

Favorite Hobbies

February 3, 2018 By Becca Leave a Comment

There was a time, when my kids were very young, when I put aside absolutely everything I enjoyed doing in my free time. “Free time” was the craziest phrase I could imagine. There weren’t enough hours in the day to work full time, feed my family, keep a fairly clean house, bake cookies, and still have enough time to do something for myself.

Now that my kids are older (my son turns 17 tomorrow and my daughter is 13), I’ve taken back a little time for myself. They are off doing their own things, spending LOTS of time at sports practices, plenty of time chilling in their rooms, and a good chunk of time doing homework. Sadly, when they have spare time they don’t usually say, “Hey, mom, do you want to play a board game?” Nope, those days are gone.

So, how do I spend my time? I really love to cook. I enjoy looking through cookbooks, Pinterest, and blogs to find new recipes. If I can cook with ingredients grown in my own garden, this makes me even happier. As much as I love to cook, I must confess something. There are days when I ask myself, “WHY, oh why, do my children want to eat 3 times a day EVERY single day?” I try not to use too much processed food as I’m cooking, so that makes things a bit time consuming, but I have a hard time keeping every meal on the healthy side. I really love cheese, and cooking with butter and cream just makes things taste better. It’s a work in progress to find healthy meal options, but I’m trying. (If I don’t try hard enough, my naturopath gently reminds me at every appointment.)

I’ve always loved to bake. Cookies and bread tend to be my favorites. Lately, I’ve tried to change things up and try whole wheat breads or flourless cookies. When my kids were younger, we’d have Cookie Friday. Our district dismisses early each Friday and I’d always have cookies ready for the kids when they got home from school. There would usually be a handful of friends and neighbors and sometimes a cousin or two. Those were the good old days. Now the kids just hurry home so they can take naps. Ah, teenagers.

Sometimes (most times) I really wish I lived in a sunnier location so I could happily enjoy my garden day in and day out. To say that I love to be outside is an understatement.

Most of my edible garden space consists of herbs and veggies that don’t require full sun. My neighbor’s trees have grown so tall that they shade my veggie garden. I’m barely able to produce tomatoes any more, so I’ve just given up on things that needs tons of sun.

My basil and mini tomatoes have been moved to a plant stand on the deck. The deck gets a good amount of afternoon sunshine and the heat reflects from the house onto the plants. Basil is probably my favorite thing to grow and we eat a lot of pesto in the summer time.

I have my fair share of perennials in the center of my yard. I love that I don’t have to replant them every year. Every few years, I get to divide them. Score! Free plants!

The best part about gardening is the end of the day. I love the “golden hour” in my yard. After spending the day getting my hands dirty, I absolutely love putting my feet up and enjoying the view. I do miss the days of the kids playing on the swingset or jumping on the trampoline, but there is also something incredibly relaxing about the quiet of the backyard.

Sewing and quilting are my winter hobbies. When I can’t spend time outside because of the relentless rain, my sewing room is my happy place.

My mom taught me to sew when I was about 7 years old and I insisted that both of my kids learn to sew. I make all of my own home decor items. I love making curtains, valances, pillows, and quilts. I love the personal touch handmade items have on a home. I’ve even been designing my own quilt patterns with a quilting program for the computer.

I’ve had to start changing pillows and quilts out seasonally because I’m running out of space. I’ve started putting zippers into my pillow covers so they are each to wash and change out frequently.

This was one of my favorite projects. When my daughter was younger she picked out a fabric line that she thought was pretty. I bought the fabrics and she chose a pattern that she liked. We painted her room a color that coordinated and her new room was born.

I love looking through blogs and seeing cohesive quilts that all have the same feel, but I can’t seem to stick with one theme. I love vintage/scrappy, French General, warm and cozy, and also whatever is new and trendy. As much as I like the cohesion, I also like to try new things when it comes to quilting.

I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to photography. I love trying new things with my camera. My favorite subjects are my own kids and my YoungLife kids. My YL kids are Juniors in high school and I feel so lucky that they’ve allowed me to follow them around with a camera on my neck, capturing memories of Summer camp and school dances.

Of course, these two have my whole heart and they know to always pack “picture clothes” every time we go to the farm or the beach.

How about you, friends? What’s your hobby?

I’m sharing a few of my favorite photography items that are sold through Amazon. I’m part of the Amazon Affiliates program and if you choose to purchase through Amazon, I get a teensy-tiny portion of the sale.

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Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

November 11, 2015 By Becca 5 Comments

One of the moms, at the school I teach at, recently asked me for the frosting recipe and directions for the gingerbread houses we make in the classroom. I love hosting a Gingerbread Party for my students and siblings, and I also host a party for my kids and their friends too.

For the past 10 years, we’ve hosted friends and family and created the most adorable graham cracker houses. Lining the table with butcher paper or wrapping paper is a MUST! It makes clean up super easy. You just fold all of the garbage right into to paper that is on the table and clean up is done!

The kids have gotten better and better every year and patiently working on their houses.

I had a lot of fun with my bokeh pictures too. (Bokeh is the blurry background that produces the pretty lights from the tree.)

I ask every family to bring a candy item to share. My favorite candies for gingerbread house decorating are Lifesavers, Neccos, small candy canes, red hots, red and green M&M’s, Twizzlers Pull Apart licorice, gumdrops, and pretzel twists. (Pretzel twists make great fences.)

When the kids were little, I prepared the house bases ahead of time, so all they had to do was add the roof and candy. I still prepare the houses ahead of time for Kindergarten. (Actually, my parent volunteers prepare them.) Since my kids at home are bigger, we just build and create! Sometimes the candy houses turn into candy fortresses.

Here’s how I build the bases when young kids (first grade and under) are decorating with us. The only reason I do the base for the kids is that it is very frustrating when you are 4 years old and your house falls apart every time you try to add candy. Royal icing needs time to dry and harden. Patience is hard when you’re 4. Building the house bases is really easy. I start with foil covered cardboard. They make simple platforms for the kids to create their “yard”. I cut the graham crackers with a bread knife and assemble the house base with royal icing. I always use the royal icing to “glue” the house base to the platform. This is what an assembled house base looks like when it is ready for the party to start.. I make one for each child and a few extras in case we have an accident.

I let the kids add the two pieces for the roof and all of the decorations. Royal icing is best for assembling houses and decorating. I usually make several batches of Royal icing and put it into individual quart sized freezer bags. (Don’t use sandwich bags because they pop.) When it’s time for decorating, I just snip off a small corner of the bag.

The recipe for Royal Icing is included in the package of Wilton Meringue Powder. I buy my meringue powder at Michael’s. If you can’t find meringue powder, I’m sure you can google a recipe for a similar icing that calls for egg whites. I’ve always used the meringue powder recipe because raw eggs freak me out. (Unless, of course, I’m eating cookie dough.)

3 Tbsp Wilton Meringue Powder
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
5 or 6 Tbsp warm water

Beat all ingredients, with heavy duty mixer, until icing forms peaks. (7-10 minutes)

Here are a few examples from our gingerbread party last year.

This one was Rudolph’s barn.

This is a gingerbread manger.

If you’ve never done this before, this is the year to give it a try. My kids always look forward to this day. I’ll admit, I’ve toned it down over the years. The first few years we invited about 30 kids and their parents, served lunch, and hosted all-out party. Now, we just have family. There are 10 kids and one crazy mom who just loves being the Gingerbread Queen.

Happy Decorating!

Happy Holidays!

Instagram Love

September 24, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Sometimes I feel like I post more on Instagram than my blog. I’ve noticed a trend in blogging lately, and I’m seeing more and more bloggers going JUST to Instragram and leaving their blogs completely. I’m not ready for that yet. I enjoy the writing process almost as much as photography. I do, however, love the fact that I can post pictures and do a tiny bit of writing all from my phone. I also love the hashtags that I can add, to help find other people with similar interests.

The picture, above, is one of those “small world” kind of things. My sister and I were driving through Snohomish and saw this beautiful sight. She pulled over to the side of the road so I could take a picture. Little did I know, that two of those balloons were filled with families that we know! So cool!

On International Dot Day (that’s a special day created by author Peter Reynolds) we posted some of our creations.

Since it’s apple season, we made applesauce in Kindergarten. I made a quick collage to show what we had been up to that day.

I couldn’t resist this photo. I had gotten to work early and snapped a picture with my new boots and my cool mug. I never have time to relax with my feet up, but it was still very early and I just had to share with my Instagram friends.

As you can see, many of my posts are school related. Here is a recent picture showing our sunflowers drying and ready for observation. I have found lots of great hashtags that other teachers and Reggio Emilia enthusiasts use.

I’d love to find more friends on Instagram. Are you on it? Who do you follow? My username is homeiswheremystorybegins. I hope you’ll come find me!

Happy photo taking!

Using Light in Photography

April 28, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

I’ve always been a bit afraid of using direct sunlight in photography. Everything I read about light says that direct light is a no-no. It washes out the subject and creates hard shadows. Well, I’m finding that sometimes rules are meant to be broken, when you understand why you are breaking the rules. For example, the other day when I walked into my classroom, I noticed that the light was perfectly hitting my rocks and water bowl. I have a tiny little window on my classroom door and the sunlight was coming in through that one little spot. The rest of the room was still dark and I thought it made the water and rocks really stand out. I snapped this picture and I love the combination of light and dark.

On a different day, when the water jars were set up, I noticed how the light really reflected in our water jars. Again, direct sunlight was not supposed to be ideal, but in this situation I really love it. I also love the transparency of water and glass. In Reggio Emilia (a place in Italy that has inspired teaching in a different way of teaching from our traditional American approach) transparency is one of the key pillars. The idea of transparency in education is inspiring in SO many different ways.

I’ve been playing around with collage in my light-filled photos as well. I think collage is a great way to tell a story. On the computer I use the collage feature in Picasa, which is a free photo editing program. On my phone I use Pic Stitch or PhotoGrid. Both apps have been fun to play around with.

I’m kind of loving these light-filled photos, even though they break all of the rules. I’m such a rebel!

Happy light-filled photo taking!

Toy Photography – Day 1

January 28, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

A few days ago I read a great blog post on Clickin’ Moms about a photographer who spared her children the agony of posing for pictures, for a while, and snapped photos of their toys instead. I loved this idea because I’ve always been a bit sad about favorite toys that were left in the dust. I knew my first toy photo had to be “The Guys” that my little boy loved so much.

The Guys are Baby and Bubba. Bubba is the doggy on the left. My son was given to him by one of my husband’s co-workers when he was born. He couldn’t say puppy, when he was learning to talk, and it came out as Bubba. Bubba was his absolute favorite toy and I was always afraid he would forget Bubba at daycare and we’d be in a world of hurt at bedtime. I thought that we might be able to find a second Bubba to keep on-hand, but the closest thing I could find was a little bear with the same color of fur. The animal I thought would become a replacement in case of emergency, became the other half of a bonded pair. The bear was named Baby and he became one of The Guys.

My son left The Guys behind many years ago, but I’ve always saved them. He carried them everywhere for years and I still get a little choked up remembering my little boy.

On a photography note, I thought it would be fun to get my son in the shot too. I knew he wouldn’t pose with The Guys, so I just set them on the porch when he was out shooting hoops. It kind of shows what he left them behind for. Life for my son is now about sports and not stuffies. sniff, sniff

Now, I’d like you to meet Bubby. When my daughter was born, her big brother wanted to bring her a Bubba at the hospital. We searched and searched… with no luck. The Ty company had discontinued this type of stuffed animal. Luckily, they had this great online marketplace called Ebay, and we found it online. Big Brother brought Bubba to the hospital and gave it to his sister. Lamby became her Bubba’s mate for life, and somehow it was just easier to call them Lamby and Bubby.

(Side story: My daughter took Lamby and Bubby everywhere she went and slept with them every night. There were a few nights when she had hidden Lamby and Bubby or put them in a special place and so she had to sleep with something else. So, we figured Lamby and Bubby were just hiding somewhere when we could find them for a few days. Well, days became weeks and she was getting distraught. We tore the house apart looking for those guys, with no luck. They were missing for about a year, when I was tucking her into bed at her cousin’s house, on the other side of the state from our house. I peeked over at the stuffed animal pile and thought I saw a familiar tail sticking out. I honestly think I screamed. I couldn’t believe we found them after a full year of being missing! At least they were in good hands at her cousin’s house for a year. )

My photography note on Bubby’s picture is that I wanted capture where Bubby lives now. My daughter is 10 now and doesn’t always sleep with stuffed animals. Most of the time, Bubby stays tucked under a blanket by her bed (another gift from one of my husband’s co-workers). I always think it’s sweet when she takes Bubby to sleepover though.

Finally, for my last toy shot, I couldn’t resist the Seahawks Build-A-Bear. I found him shoved in a drawer and it seems like a perfect time to bring him out. Now I am officially the only one in the house without a Seahawks jersey. Even the stuffed bear has a jersey! (If I buy one, I’m buying a Gilliam jersey. He’s the guy who caught the first touchdown of the playoff game two weeks ago. He didn’t get enough credit for that, so I’d buy his jersey. Go Gilliam!!)

I really did enjoy taking pictures of the kids’ old toys. I tried to set them up like real photoshoots, making sure I liked the lighting. It was a really cloudy day, but the tripod helped.

Happy toy photography!

Documenting Life Through Pictures of Toys

January 21, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

I read the greatest blog post yesterday. It was on the Clickin Moms site. Click here to take you to the post. In the post, the author shares several photos of her kids’ toys. I loved this idea! It’s just what I needed as a little inspiration. Everything outside is a dreary shade of brown or gray right now and, to be honest, my kids are really sick of posing for pictures. Taking pictures of their toys is the perfect way to document where my kids are in their stages of life, without eye rolling and foot stomping. I can’t wait to get started.

Be prepared to see lots of pictures of stuffed animals. I think my daughter may be a hoarder.

Three Best Photos – 8th Grade Photography Continued

November 4, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

My son is wrapping up his 8th grade photography class and one of his assignments was to choose his 3 favorites from the quarter-long class. It was really interesting to watch as he scrolled through the photos he has taken in the past few weeks. He talked about why liked certain photos and how it was hard to pick “favorites”. In the end, these are the 3 he picked.

This one was from the gym at his middle school,.

Here’s one from our yard on a rainy fall morning. He’s been really having fun with perspective photos.

Finally, here is one from the football field at his school This was one of the first pictures he took and it’s been a long standing favorite.

It’s been really fun for me to have him taking this class. He’s been totally interested in learning more about photography and constantly looking up new information online or watching YouTube videos about different techniques and equipment. Unfortunately, he thinks he needs a fancy-pants camera now.

8th Grade Photography Class

September 24, 2014 By Becca 3 Comments

My son is taking 8th Grade Photography as his elective this quarter, and his mommy couldn’t be more thrilled! I live my life with a camera around my neck and the kids often complain that I take too many pictures. My son signs up for photography and, all of a sudden, he can’t get enough of it!!

I’ve been finding pictures on my camera card every time I pull them up. I have to say, they are pretty good! Take a look.

Let me tell you, friends, that he’s shooting in manual and doesn’t even need a tutorial before he goes out. He sets white balance, ISO, and plays with shutter speed and exposure. Ummm, I think I had to take several photography courses before I was confident enough to do this!

By the way, those are root beer bottles for the cowgirl birthday party. We didn’t serve them beer.

One last funny story:

In response to a conversation about The Golden Hour, my son told his teacher that this hour is also known as, “The time my mom yells at us to hurry up and change our clothes and get ready because she’s losing her lighting.”

Yep, I’m creating fabulous memories for my kids!

Happy picture taking!

One More Foody Post

July 29, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

I just had to share one more foody post, since I’ve been having so much fun with food photography lately. I took these on opening night of our friends’ new restaurant in Snohomish.

I’m kind of a clam connoisseur, and these were absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to go back for more.

Check it out if you are down in Snohomish. It’s called Roger’s Riverview Bistro. They love it when people bring in bags and bags of camera equipment and set up tripods in their walkway. It’s not disruptive at all.

Happy picture taking and clam eating!

Farm to Table Photography

July 15, 2014 By Becca 1 Comment

Last week I got to put my learning from my food photography classes to work. A couple of friends are opening a restaurant in Downtown Snohomish in a few days. It’s called Roger’s River View Bistro and it has a local, farm to table, theme. They are using local farms and shops to buy their meat, flowers, and produce. It’s just such a “down home” type feel and I can’t wait to eat there.

We headed to four different farms and took a few pictures for the website that is being put together. It was so much fun to meet the farmers and hear about their products. I’ve decided that farm photography is my favorite. I absolutely LOVE taking pictures on our Farm-cation every year, and this was like taking a mini-farm-cation while taking pictures of the farmers in action.

If you love farm to table photography as much as I do, feel free to scroll on through. If you’re not into the photos, just visit my friends Roger and Shannon down in Snohomish at the end of July. I can’t wait to have dinner on the deck!

Happy farm-photography!

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