A Spontaneous Adventure

We're terribly sorry we kind of dropped off the face of the earth for a few months here, but we have a bunch of fun 'throwback' posts for you now!  

This was a day last summer when we went to visit Aunt Leigh's house.  Somehow we got times mixed up and arrived about four hours early on accident!

We were just trying to find something to kill large amounts time.  So we got back on the highway and took a random exit, hoping for something to do.  We saw some mini horses, which we photographed of course.  The road was a dead end though, so we turned around and continued our search.  

We came across a little town called Norwalk.  It was super small, one of those charming towns with a little old main street through the middle.  This looked like the perfect place to get lost for a few hours.  We parked, and began walking along looking at the shops, entering any that seemed interesting.  There were cats in almost every shop, including the lawyers office (we went in solely to pet the cat, and got a strange look from the receptionist!).

Then we came to a music store.  We walked around for a bit, looking at the sheet music and various instruments displayed around the tiny shop.  We spotted a piano in the front window, so we asked the guy working there if we could play it.  He gave us the go ahead, and we ended up playing for a little over an hour!  The guy actually ended up stoppnig the music over the speaker system and just listened.  

Next we wandered into a couple old antique shops, aimlessly window shopping.  We stumbled upon a florist shop that looked like it came straight out of a hallmark film.  The whole place was filled with kittens, they seemed to like the front window.

The church tower was stunning against the melancholy gray skies.  

We found an adorable gazebo to hang out under for a while, then we left the little town behind.

On our way back, we found a river so we decided to stop and check it out.  We still had a little over an hour before Aunt Leigh would be home.

The first thing we saw was this little globe ball floating by the riverbank.  So...we kept it.

(It's still in Annie's trunk.)

The whole day we thought it was going to rain but we got lucky and it held off.

The last thing we did before heading to Aunt Lee's was stop at this darling little coffee shop.

We got some yummy pastries and some much needed water, and just chilled for awhile.  Annie had her sketchbook and some pencils so we did a few sketches together.  

On the final stretch of our adventure we were enamored by the sky so Isabel took some pictures.

We finally got to Aunt Leigh's house and had a great time!  It was a fun spontaneous diversion though.  

Music: Tire Swing// Kimya Dawson

French Creek

In the fall, we planned to go out to Cascade again, but the weather wasn't in our favor, so we decided to try somewhere closer to home.  We ended up at French Creek Nature Center.



For this shoot we tried out some classic portrait poses and tested out new techniques.

Not to mention we had fun with all of the leaves.

This time we shot almost completely in manual mode, it was a lot of fun to see how much we've improved our photography skills since the first time we went to Cascade.

The colors of fall were fading by then but some of the trees were still really vibrant.

Annie living dangerously.

I had to climb on the railing to get this shot looking back at Isabel.

We experimented with poses sitting down and laying on the ground as well as shooting from different angles.

All the moving around on the ground ensured that we were covered in leaves by the time we stood up.

We discovered the bridge was our favorite location as there were many pose options.

This shoot was all about trying out new things, learning the settings, and practicing portrait photography.  While it was meant to be a learning experience we managed to have a lot of fun anyway.

Music for this post: Clementine// Sarah Jeffe

Tea Tours

Recently we got our first 'gig' as amateur photographers for our friend Carol's tea business.

She sets up these lovely tours and we were lucky enough to get to be the official photographers for her Facebook page.

Carol always has lots of different teas to see, sample, and smell when you're on the tour.

She also passes around yummy snacks to pair with the different teas you get to try.

The room where the tour is held is full of tea decorations and the table is beautifully set in preparation.

All eyes are on Carol as she shares the history of tea and how it is made.

In addition to teaching about tea, she pours samples of five different teas for you to try throughout the evening.

Many people like to take notes about the tea so they can go home and brew a great cup for themselves.

MONSTER SOCKS!!

At the end of the tour Carol brings out her infamous apple pie for you to enjoy with a whole mug of any tea you'd like to try.

This is Whispering Pine, one of Carol's new winter teas.  It's also one or our favorites!

All in all it was a fun first gig, we were happy to help a friend and it was nice to get the experience of photographing an event.  We had a great time full of laughter, fun, and good tea.  

Music for this post: It's Hard to Get Around the Wind// Alex Turner