Margin. And some pretty autumn photos.

Here in the San Francisco bay area, winter comes late...so although a pretty little Christmas tree is currently gracing my living room, it still feels perfectly natural to have pumpkins around and an orange-berried wreath on the front door!  (Uh-oh, decorating faux pas!)

The last month has been more full than any other month I can remember in years.  Mostly a good full.  I do love my work!  But creativity suffers when the schedule is crammed...can't be creative when my brain gets tired.

Much of this activity has been unavoidable.  Moving is a big undertaking (especially when you work out of your home), and work must go on, along with a lot of other commitments.  But it's only for a time.

As things have calmed down a little, I've been working on creating a little bit of "margin" in my life.  I can't work well if I'm frazzled and worn out.  Jesus promised he would give us rest if we come to him and "take his yoke" -- not being lazy or wasting time, but receiving real REST for our souls -- refreshment, talking with him, enjoying being with him, taking delight in the good things he's put in our lives, and yes, taking care of our physical needs like sleep and exercise.  He doesn't intend for us to take on more than we can handle. He's the one with the supernatural powers, not us!  :)

So on Thanksgiving weekend I wandered around outside for a while with my camera, taking in the pretty late-fall setting, letting my landscape-photog instincts come out and play.  I find it both relaxing and stimulating to wander like this...there's always beauty to discover, and this time of year it shows up especially in the little things.

Love the wavy edges of this calla lily leaf...

 

Fall = pomegranates!

Baby stock plants...they'll have beautiful, fragrant blooms next spring...

 

Chinese Forget-me-nots

 

Still a few little basil plants in my mom's greenhouse...

 

Purple asters spilling out of this big blue pot...so carefree...

Here's to enough "margin" in your life and mine...especially with the busy-but-wonderful Christmas season upon us!  :)

- Kelsey
Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
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A celebration of sharp focus!

My faithful old 24-70mm f/2.8L lens had to go to Canon for repair last month.  It wasn't focusing consistently, which can be a disaster when you are trying to capture brides walking down aisles and emotions flickering through a mother's face and cute flower girls with twirly skirts and...well, you know, all those kinds of things.  Things that make me excited to do what I do!

So, it went to Canon for professional repair, and meanwhile I shot a wedding and an engagement shoot and portraits and events and backpacking...with four or five other lenses.  It was good to have my technique and creativity stretched a little, and not have my "old standby" lens to fall back on.  But it's awesome to have it back!

I took it out yesterday for a quick garden tour to check out the focus...and it's sharp as a tack!  Check out this sunflower bud:

Of course, then the sunflower next to this asked to be photographed:

And there was a Flowering Maple nearby...

And a gorgeously intricate Passion Flower climbing up the arch...

And a gloriously ostentatious, dinnerplate-sized Oriental Lily, the glory of an August flower garden...

...and a very busy bee, working busily on harvesting all the nectar from this Pincushion Flower.

I'm working on engagement photos this evening...more of Dan and Julie soon!

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Bokeh heaven with an 85mm 1.2

A good friend loaned me her 85mm 1.2 lens recently, so in between editing wedding photos, I ran out to the garden to have some fun with it. I didn't have time for anything too grand, but even just shooting flowers has sent me to bokeh heaven, for sure! So here's a smattering of what I found...

Hydrangeas are some of my favorite flowers.  I just love them.  I dream of huge bushes with enormous masses of huge flowers...but I guess I'll have to wait for that till I move to the coast someday...they only grow like that in very temperate areas.

Just look at the beautiful creamy background!

This funny little flower is commonly known as "Pincushion Flower".

I just love what the lens is doing to this big mop of lobelia flowers.  :)  It makes me smile.

That's all for now.  Hope you enjoyed the "pretty things".  :)

- Kelsey Schweickert

Discovering beauty...

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Some Texas "lilies of the field"

Hey there faithful blog readers...I have a TON more Peter and Mandy photos coming...I promise!  I'm just trying to crawl out from under the deluge of stuff demanding my attention right now.  Can't be everywhere at once, unfortunately.

So in the meantime here's something pretty to make you happy.  I found these on the way to the airport after Peter and Mandy's wedding.  Chris won the Kind Brother of Photographer Award for the day and stopped the car so I could grab some photos!

With our friend Rob Bennett, who came to Bonham for Peter and Mandy's wedding too.

He's a fellow photographer, and a Nikon shooter, but I don't hold that against him.  :D

Hehe.

And with that...I'm off to bed.  Wish I could sleep for a week, I'm so tired.  Have a great Friday night, folks!  I'll be back in the blogging business very soon with more images of Peter and Mandy's lovely day!

- Kelsey


Discovering beauty...

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More pretty blue stuff.

You know that blue teapot photo I posted a few days ago? Well, it has a cousin on the patio: a blue-glazed terra cotta pot. And it's full of—you guessed it—PANSIES!

If you know my mom, you know she has a thing for pansies. I kinda do too. Who wouldn't love a flower that comes in every color of the rainbow, and looks like a bunch of smiling little faces looking up at you?

And here's a pretty green thing for you too.  :)  This is the vase she keeps hanging by the front door...always filled with something from the garden.  Today it's elegant calla lilies.

Tomorrow's post is something I've been mulling since God popped it into my head a week ago.  Short but very sweet.  And I think you'll agree it pretty much guarantees happiness in whatever situation you find yourself.
 
Till tomorrow, friends...
 
- Kelsey Schweickert
 
 
Discovering beauty...


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poppy portrait

Very red.  Very, very red.  And very pretty.

Heavenly photos tomorrow!  ;)

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Now for some "other" photos.

Yesterday I posted photos from a portrait session last week in Chicago's Millennium Park.  But of course if you know me you know I can't pass up a pretty flower...or a sun star...or funny things.  :)  So here are some of the "other" photos that I took alongside the portraits.

The Bean...one of those much-photographed icons that we still keep photographing anyways...

I love tulips!  And they're blooming all over Millennium Park right now -- I was in heaven!

 

Oh yeah, gotta do a self-portrait too!

Hey, even better -- I found a mirror!

Can't get enough of these...

I never pass up the opportunity for a sun star.  ;)

And now it's time for this sleepy photog-girl to head to bed.  I'm working on a photo book project and my eyes and brain are pretty well fried.  Have a great night everybody!

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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More about that "new best friend"!

I have a few more Yushu photos to put here, but I'm still in love with that 50mm lens, and some recent photos are begging to be posted!  :)  I went jogging one late afternoon this week, and the light was so pretty, I just had to come back for my camera.

In case you wanted to know, the above image was taken at f/1.4.

Here's a photo from the same spot with a different aperture, f/5.6.

It's easy to see the difference in depth of field:

This last one wasn't taken with the 50...but it's too pretty not to share.  :)  I love these little violets.

(FYI, there was a foot photo that almost made this post, but I thought better of it...haha...aren't you a little sick of seeing my silly feet??)  :D

More photos later -- Yushu, portrait session, a wedding, skiing, and some photos of the unbelievably gorgeous things happening in my mom's garden right now.  The weather has cooperated unusually well this spring and everything is just bursting with beauty!

Later...

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

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Happy St. Patrick's day!

So, in the spirit of St. Patrick's day, and my Irish great-grandma Callaghan, here's some GREEN for you!  And some not-so-green pretty things that I found along the way.

St. Patrick's Day, meet St. Valentine's Day.  ;)

Cherry blossoms

Green window box with green things in it on a green shed.  :)  Score!

My mom's picture-book lettuce.  (Don't tell Peter Rabbit where she lives.)

Rose leaf.  (A pinnately compound leaf, for my botanically-inclined friends.)

Anybody know what flower comes from this?  It's rather poetically titled.

(I'll treat you at Starbucks if you can tell me the answer.  But I doubt anybody can guess.)

Cerinthe

I love this one.  :)

Johnny-Jump-Ups...wee itty members of the pansy family

Found on a golf course lawn.  Hehe.  That makes me chuckle.

Forget-me-nots

Proof that spring is in the air...the maple trees are budding out!

And umm, yeah, another proof that spring is here.  ;)

(Well, you know me, I can't go for long without a silly foot photo!)

Hope you enjoyed the spring and the green.  Frankly, I was having so much fun making images of green things, I couldn't choose which photos to use...so I just posted a whole bunch.  :)  Green is such a restful color.  I love it.

Parting shot...

- Kelsey Schweickert

Discovering beauty...

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