Some homemade Christmas gifts

Some photos of some of the gifts I made for people this Christmas. The wine rack was a Pinterest find made from old pallets, home made sugar scrubs and bath salts (another Pinterest find and SOOOO easy), some photo collage work for two friends who are sisters and then finally a bracelet I did for someone who it suits perfectly. All have been given and enjoyed which always makes me feel really good about the season.
Happy New Year All!
Sandiana

Gubser Family Photoshoot

No crafting lately (well none that I can post at the moment), just some photos from a recent photo shoot that I did for some friends of mine a couple of weekends ago. We had a lot of fun once we let Riley do her own thing. This has consumed me lately but at least I'm getting to know my camera. Still have a lot to learn but it's been fun. I will probably retire this blog at the first of the year. It's not that fun for me anymore and most everyone who has read it in the past now follows me on FB which has been a great advertising avenue for me. My big sis is coming out in January to help me make a photography website so I'll probably spend my time there... then again I may change my mind like I so often do....we'll see what the new year brings!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Sandiana

Autumn Reflections

A couple of weeks ago I had a bad weekend. Everything hit me at once, all that has gone on. So much loss, so much to come. I was alone that day sitting at the house unable to escape my own head. So I grabbed my camera, hopped in the car and drove to the desert. One of my favorite destinations close to home, and I hiked on what was one of the most beautiful fall afternoons. At the end of the day I was leaving the waterfall and carefully stepping across stones in order to reach dry ground when a brightness caught my eye. I turned and looked at the water. At that particular time of day the light was hitting the orange and gold leaves of the trees in such a way that they cast the most beautiful reflection on the water. I couldn't believe it, and so I sat there for another 45 min taking photos of the golden reflections in the water as the light changed and eventually faded. In the process I met a really nice couple that asked me what I was taking photos of and then chatted with me for some time while I pet their dogs. It started out a bad day but ended well. This last photo is one I caught at the end of the day and a constant reminder to me that the only true calm and beauty I find in all the chaos at times is when I'm alone in the natural world.

Trying to rise above the bad

I'm back but for how long I don't know. It has been a bad year thus far for my husband and I and I'm contemplating giving up this blog or reinventing it. I'm not sure what to do. Part of me lately is concentrating on living and making the most of each day instead of spending so much time online. You see, this spring Brett and I lost his mom to breast cancer. She had been in remission for 4 years and it showed up in her liver undetected for several months before she lost the fight. I can't begin to tell everyone what an amazing lady she was and how her passing has created a hole so deep in both of us that I'm not sure it can ever be filled. It was sudden and unexpected and now I've lost my cooking hot line, a fellow adventurer and dear friend. She was the best mother in law a girl could ask for and an even better mother and wife to Brett and his dad and she is missed every day.
After that a series of other things happened that I won't go into but have left us exhausted by life. We've lost some friends this year, but gained new ones, lost family but created new in the community we call home. And thus the roller coaster of life continues; for every down there is an up, but the up is often a slow climb.
We have done our best this summer to try and focus on the good things, and to create some new memories for the positive. Slowly we are making our way to the surface but realizing that each day is precious and should be made the most of with the people that matter the most.
So......some positive from this summer. I conquered another item on my life list and went Zip lining which was a blast (high above the tree tops of Cascade, ID), we took a lot of camping adventures with new friends because nature always heals the soul. And I started earning money by doing photography which all started when I took home best of show, 3 first place, 2 second place, and 1 third place with my photos in the county fair. From there I ended up with a few jobs and some sold nature prints. All of which is making me very happy.
Work continues to be busy, but I'm starting to breathe again and I'm enjoying this harvest season. Plus as an added bonus 2 of our dear friends moved back to Ontario which is always good, and I have new exercise buddies so I've lost 20lbs!

And so, some photos from the positive side of this summer (some of my jobs I've done and some of my adventures- more critter photos to come soon. I'll be back when I've decided the fate of this space...
Until then, Sandiana



























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Can't believe I got this on Film

Well I'm in the field most days right now and so I don't have a whole lot of crafting going on. There's just no time for it even though I want there to be. Instead I've been working with my camera and I had one of THE most amazing days out in the field last Thursday when I was SOOOOO lucky to be able to capture this beautiful Black Bear yearling on my camera. I watched him for nearly 2 hours before I finally found an open area where I could get a shot of him without getting too close. He heard the first few clicks of my camera and didn't care. He just kept eating and then something on the reservoir behind me got his attention and that's when he looked up at me with a mouth full of spring greens and I just kept shooting. I quickly looked at my camera to make sure that I had gotten something and then disappeared and left him to his meal. He was so beautiful and I have never been so excited in my life. I couldn't wait to call B and tell him what I had captured on my camera. He was in awe when he saw the actual photo on the computer. It is now at the printer and I have purchased a frame for it and it's definitely going on the bragging wall. Not too shabby for this beginner photographer! It reminds me when I'm so stressed out about how lucky I am to call the outdoors my office most of the year, and how each time I'm out there I never know what I'll come across.
You have to take your blessings where you can find them.
Enjoy the spring weather everyone, I'll be back when I can with more photos and hopefully some FO's!
Cheers!
Sandiana

No excuses, Just busy

It's that time of year when all I want to do is be outside and all I'm doing for work is being outside. So that's where I've been and not inside writing on my blog which I'm thinking of deleting and starting over. I need to reinvent it but trying to figure out how I want to do that. In the mean time yes I have been crafting some, but mostly I've been developing a relationship with my camera which I hope will last a lifetime. I am guilty for sure of being on eternal auto mode. So I took the bull by the horns and decided to take some classes at the local community college. So Although I have been crafting, I still need to download those photos and post, and so all you get for now are photos from my class homework. I LOVE this class, I LOVE this teacher, and I love that I finally understand my camera. Since the learning curve is high, I'm still getting frustrated from time to time and still struggling with certain aspects, but one of the biggest things I wanted to manipulate was shutter speed. So I took photos in 30 degree weather at night and I took photos of waterfalls, and this weekend I'm headed out to shoot another waterfall that I discovered close to home as well as a friend who ropes. I find myself wanting to practice all the time. So here are some beginning shots after my first few classes.
I'm pretty proud of them though I have much more work to do. Finally I'm excited about taking photos again. The giant water spewing hole is called "the glory hole" It's part of the Owyhee reservoir dam system and I am lucky that we have had the snowfall, rain and runoff that we've had because the glory hole hasn't spilled since 2006 when I moved here. Typically in dry years it just looks like a cement tube in the water. As you can see the tube has disappeared and the water is pouring into it. We were fortunate enough that during my photography workshop we knew someone that would let us in the gate to get overhead shots down into the hole and thus play around with shutter speed. It was much too bright however to slow the shutter speed so these were taken at about 1/1000 sec.
Anyway, for now I'm enjoying the weather, enjoying my camera, and I've just sold 2 photos so life is good. I'll be back this weekend with photos of a gourd I sold as well as the much anticipated green shawl which I love.
Hope the weather is pleasant where you call home!
Sandiana