happy halloween

here's an oldie but goodie.

OLE!

tilt-shift

Tilt-shift photographs are so lovely and I thought I would write a bit about them here. In a normal plane of focus only things at one distance from the camera are in focus while things in front and behind that plane are blurred. With a tilt-shift lens the focal plane is tilted so that various distances are in focus at once, and you can achieve a shallow depth of field using a large aperture. This effect can be useful in fixing the optical bend on straight lines etc., but it can also cause unique results.

The coolest effect of tilt-shift is making scenes appear as if they're miniatures (especially if they're aerial shots). For example the train and car-show photos are actual images where everything looks like toys.

Here are 3 ways of doing tilt-shift:

1. real tilt-shift
Use a tilt-shift lens (buy one or make your own).





2. in-camera faux-tilt-shift
Zoom in or out quickly while your shutter is open to fake the look of tilt shift as seen in the photo below (achieved by my magnificent brother Dan out of the train from Oxford).

3. faux-tilt-shift in post
Use photoshop in post to completely fake tilt-shift by dramatically blurring the top and bottom of an aerial photo while keeping one section (usually a strip through the center) in sharp focus. It also helps to brighten the saturation for a further toy-effect. Here is a before and after I made of a photo I took in Paris.

source/source/source

:type travel tuesday: {the royal mile, edinburgh}

John Knox House, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland

"LVFE GOD ABVEE AL AND YI  NYCHTBOVR AS YI SELF"

"LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL AND YE NEIGHBOR AS YE SELF"

______________________________

And here's an old photo of the scene (I don't know what year). 

That's the house ahead on the corner.

(.)

breakfast of the gods

My mom told me about this Greek Gods Honey yogurt and it's just the best ever!

It's now my favorite breakfast with fresh strawberries (and sometimes granola too). The yogurt contains 5 live & active cultures and probiotics. I highly recommend it!

yummmmmmmmmmm.

(source/source)

campus au curant

It's fun living on a campus again. It makes me feel a little old in some ways but I love the action and the energy of it. I also like seeing "what the kids are up to these days." Since living on campus these are the things I've found overwhelmingly CURRENT or just kinda funny.

 1. THESE SHORTS.
Everyone and her sorority sister is wearing these nike tempo shorts around (or some very subtle variation) alllll the time. Why? (and actually when looking for a photo I just found this weirdly-long article about the fashion phenomenon that they are).

2. PORTABLE HAMMOCKS
These are everywhere, and I have to say they're a pretty brilliant idea. Apparently these students in North Carolina got extra creative with the idea.

3. THIS BICYCLE
I saw this bicycle at Walmart for about $100 when we first moved here. Of course I think these cruisers are a.dor.able and wanted to get one. During our first week here, however, I took a stroll around campus and on one of the main drags saw about 10 (no exaggeration) of this exact bike parked within a block.  If I do get one, I think I'll go with another color.

4. MOPEDS
In case you don't want to get any exercise on campus, and want to spend money on gas, you're in luck as mopeds are really in as well. Some of them are adorable vespas, and some aren't. There is a guy at the apartments behind ours who drives one, and even when my blinds are down, I know when he's on the move. Sometimes I think there's a fly in here though.

5. LONGBOARDS
A lot of people are longboarding here (and in Minnesota as well). I saw a guy zoom past my window this morning who was cell-phone-longboarding. It made me chuckle. My brothers longboard, and when asked they admitted to being guilty of the occasional cell-phone-board-sesh themselves.
(source)


My friend/neighbor Liz saw some particularly resourceful chap go by on a motorized beverage cooler last week. That reminded me of the old Pink Panther cartoon where he drives a radiator. I also have a faint memory of seeing someone actually driving a radiator but I need to verify that with the other eye-witnesses as I may have made it up.

Have you seen things like this on your campus? What else is going "at university" these days?

:type travel tuesday: {laundress lane}

No thoroughfare for carriages or horses, Cambridge, England.

wearing vintage

I always see girls wearing awesome vintage fashion and accessories, but I can never find anything that's not a mumu which smells of mummies.

I'm (STILL) working on a photo album from our year in Cambridge and I just stumbled across this photo of Heather and I shopping vintage in England, which makes me hysterical. This proves that vintage doesn't look good on everyone.


Oh yeah, I posted it. sorry b. and sorry h. It's just too funny.

:type travel tuesday: big hat. {waco, texas}

I've never seen an Arby's sign like this before. This would exist in Texas, which is pretty awesome, and "it's funny cuz it's bigger than a normal hat."

heart of texas

When we first moved here we saw the word HOT on a lot of things, which we found humorous and oh-so-appropriate (especially considering we moved here during the hot-t-t-est month). After a while we found out that HOT stands for "heart of texas" and that's where we live....deep in the heart of Texas. Kind of has a cute ring to it.

I'm working on a logo for a new "texas comfort food" restaurant and needed a break so I designed this:

so long sweet summer

It may have moved swiftly into autumn everywhere else, but in Texas it is still summer. This is unfortunately as I'm over summer and I'm dying to load up layers and wear my scarves (my favorite season of apparel). The good thing about summer staying on a bit longer is that I haven't posted some of my summer photos yet, and now I still have a chance!

Here are highlights from the wonderful time we spent in Pella!

Pella biker weekend, haha






Harry Potter Finale!



HOURS at Smokey Row!



Brittany Rempe State Fair-goer extraordinaire



Pottery Painting

  



Sister fun!



Guy time






Rempe family reunion

(the last 3 photos were taken insanely humid/foggy air before a big storm when my lens fogged up!)






Brittany and Andrea's Beautiful-Iowa photog fest!