Five Minute Friday: Friend

Your friendship elevates me, encourages me, speaks to me uniquely to be heard and not wasted. You remind me of backbone. I am stood up for, understood, and even put up with at times. I can't stand the idea of someone hurting you. I will stand up for you too.

You anger me. Your words speak to the weak parts of me, that haven't been conformed, haven't been touched. But, you say it, regardless. You anger me, the weak parts of you, the parts of your heart you won't let Him touch and the parts you try to hide too.

You change me.

But you do none of these things. You can't change me, make me something that I'm not, and you can't make me good. But, there is something deeper; a spirit. That part of you, it's changing, and I'm watching. And learning. And you watch me too.

Friend, we are becoming who we are meant to be, with each other's help and reminding.

christmas pictures...

It's been such a long time since I have written for this blog. A lot of the time it's because I am not interested in posting my thoughts. Altho, recently I added a twitter account to my social media, so if im posting stuff there, im sure i can post here. if you are interested visit here.

Anyways, i wanted talk about my recent endeavor of purchasing a new camera. Right now, i got my sights set on D7000 and am looking more into D90 that a couple of friends have. I am more interested in the d7000, but who knows. So how am i raising money to support the upgrade of the next level (or 2) up from my existing camera? Why of course! I am offering Christmas pictures to friends and family. Fun stuff. I think the most challenging part right now, is knowing that I am not close to being able to pay for this expensive camera... But, one step at a time, right? My goal is to have my new camera, and a 50mm 1.4 (or 1.8) lens for it by March. Why? because, i want to be able to shoot as second for bud of mine, should he call. 

Keith, (this bud of mine) has been teaching me about photography since March, and actually lets me shoot weddings with him. Crazy idea, right? So, a year from that date, i would like to start actually being an asset to him in that arena. And, in doing so, being an asset for my own money making, for my family, so me and jeremy can continue to pay off debt to get to THE MISSION FIELD. where ever God may call us to.

so, all this rambling, and i just want to leave you with my new picture site. Let me know what you think! one of the ways that i have continued to grow, is by having people critique me. (it sucks but is sooo necessary).  And, should you be interested, don't hesitate to contact me if you want affordable pictures of your family or friends, or whatever :)

love

leanna

ps, here are some random pics from thanksgiving while we were at some stables. Jeremy's sister has a bunch of horses and gives lessons. she is also a equine therapy trainer, taking girls that have been abused and giving them a way to process through some of those painful experience while riding horses, grooming them, training. 

Understanding photography-Keith Montgomery

My friend keith, from keithmontmedia.com has recently taught his first class at the University!

Wow, i do get taught by one of the best!

I wanted to put his slideshow up, because it's really helpful for how to take good ol' pictures... There are also good quotes and examples on there of awesome photography. Even though I wasn't able to enjoy the lesson in person, the slideshow is awesome.

Enjoy here...this might be my favorite slide. Makes a good point, right?



what was your favorite slide?




-leanna

Pictures* and friends...

Last blog was about going out to the district and taking pics while going over basic functions of our cameras. It was a fun time, I think i will be up for another with a smaller group next time! We spent two hours talking and walking and clicking..

Here are some of the places we went!

We ran into "Redball" who specializes in Parcore

He did some flips for us, very fun to watch

love the columns of color here!

recycle bins

beam of light

Even though it's cliche, we took pics of our lovely campus columns

I had a great time with the ladies. They were all very photogenic subjects for me to practice on! :) hopefully, we will get to do it again soon!

cameras and friends

I have the fun opportunity to go down to the District tomorrow with a few friends from Karis. We will be talking about our DSLR cameras, and try to bring basic knowledge to the complexity of those mysterious things ;)

It's been really fun the last year to get acquainted with Jeremy's old camera. I took it to Rio on our trip with our church, and got to capture amazing sites and people. It was another pivotal experience in my life, for sure. You can see those pics here or read a little about it here. All that to say, after i got back, I wanted to find out more about my camera and how to use it. My buddy Keith  became my photography sensei, and i have since photographed a few weddings, seen some awesome couples makeout in front of the camera, taken crazy kids pictures and overall have had a good time bending my mind backwards trying to learn. It's been good stuff. So, tomorrow, i get to share what knowledge i have acquired with a couple of ladies just starting out! I also have invited a couple of friends that also have been taking pictures for a longer time than me, it will be good to have the ol' pros offer some artistic insight, they are pretty awesome. holler margo and rachel!

Some basic things we will go over:

ISO, wtf, right? it's 'like' this, but not quite... i have heard people try to explain this like they explain the Trinity.
Aperature
Depth of Field
Shutterspeed
Focus
Exposure


specifically, we will go over how to find these things on your camera, (we will have an array of different models present) and what they 'basically' do.

I suppose their are some other things we will talk about like; composition, how to hold your camera (like a sniper rifle,... basically), how to have your family dress for a picture, good places for creative photos (holla for keith), and of course we will be drinking coffee while doing all this ;)

I am really excited to meet up with some awesome chicas and do one of my favorites hobbies!

Rio de Janeiro

It's been so long since I have written! Going to Brazil was amazing, and I look forward to going back with my church. The people there are beautiful and vibrant. This is my friend Ellen.

I got the wonderful job of taking photos while we were in the favelas or slums. Although they don't have much by our standards, the people are full of life. It has nothing to do with how much money they have, but it is about relationships and experience. No culture is perfect, but Jeremy and I can see ourselves going back and connecting at least short term with Restore Brazil. We would love get training and experience for long term missions there.

It was such a good and growing experience to be around my brothers and sisters in Rio de Janeiro. They taught me a lot about serving and loving fully, with no reserves.

gifts: Scarves

 Fridays are generally my day off; I completely segregate this day to sew and sing, simultaneously. Today, I got to enjoy my craft with a good friend, affectionately known as Bizzie. We didn't sing together... but we talked about it :)

This week i have been commissioned to make two gifts: both scarves. I am really excited, because I think they turned out cute. What is best about gifts, is that while sewing, i get the chance to make something completely unique. You can see that they are completely different. I'm especially fond of the blue one with the puppy on the front. This one has a special story, which I will save for after it is "gifted". I added little "wind" swirls to the entire scarf. it gives it more texture and theme. Sorry, I don't think you can see it in this photo.

The lambskin one to the left, was a bit more difficult to make. A) it was shedding everywhere. I solved this by zigzag stitching around the entire perimeter of the scarf... i did tiny stitch, and it's a big scarf, so i think it took me 20 minutes to go around it!! Maybe I am exaggerating..B) because I didn't know the person I was making this one for..which is crucial in adding details for personal touch.

The appliques were fun to make, i took the flowers from a picture upholstery fabric, and arranged the flowers into the corner (with artistic help from Bizzie), to sort of tag the scarf.  It's a cute scarf and extremely warm.

Alright, that's it for now! God is good.