EmilyO Photography Blog

What’s Inspiring me….

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 01:47:00 +0000

P H O T O G R A P H Y:

These are just a few of my Flickr favorites… obviously, I’m a sucker for anything whimsical, slightly vintage and romantic…. and as always, I’m having a love-affair with lens flare and sunshine… (click HERE for credits/full list of all my flickr favorites.)

(Sometimes the amount of talent and creativity in the world overwhelms me and I feel like crawling under a rock and never attempting art again.

Seriously, some of these people are so incredibly talented and make me feel like a total dweeb, play-acting at being artistic.)

M U S I C:

John Mark McMillan ‘Carbon Ribs’

Radical Face ‘Welcome Home’

The Arcade Fire ‘Suburban War’

all three of those songs are ones I can listen to over and over … and over again.

Music

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:10:35 +0000

Last night a few of us headed down to Southgate House to see The Civil Wars play. After some Starbuck’s and a walk down by the river,

we headed in and were able to catch Madi Diaz before The Civil Wars came on. I actually brought my “real” camera this time, with only my 50mm 1.4 lens, but I realized during The Civil Wars that my lovely friend Emma shoots Canon too, and… she happened to be there, so she let me play with a couple of her lenses (Thanks Emma!) But there’s a fine line between having my face stuck to a camera all night, and allowing myself to enjoy the music- and I’m there to listen to the music… so I only shot, maybe 100 or so photos… (don’t judge, that’s not very many for me)

Madi Diaz:

The Civil Wars:

Second time seeing The Civil Wars- this venue was definitely a better fit than Cedarville University (smaller and more chill)… their harmonies are so spot on…. and they played ‘Poison & Wine’…. which is amazing live. Check out the video Jonathan took: The Civil Wars: Poison & Wine

Look How Far We’ve Come….

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:35:40 +0000

I took back roads home tonight. A beautiful night, the sky deep and dark, the air cool and still… music playing. Gungor’s ‘Beautiful Things’ came on… the windows were down… and I have this habit of singing really, kind of, sort of… loud. ‘You make beautiful things, You make beautiful out of us…” and my mind went to how far God has brought me in the last year.

There’s so much… maybe not much compared to some things, but He has accomplished so many small (and large) things in my life… He is always faithful. Answering prayers that never really got prayed for, and, in some cases, NOT answering some of the prayers that were prayed (or, choosing to answer me in a different way than I saw fit)

I could list so many little victories in my life, my heart… growth spiritually and mentally, ways He’s stretched me and blessed me, but one of the true realizations came to me when I met with an amazing couple the other night to discuss their upcoming wedding. (Shout out to Kelly & Jameson!! I’m so excited to for your wedding!) They said some really sweet and encouraging things, things I truly was blessed to hear… and it just plain encouraged me.

Don’t get me wrong. Seeing all this growth is making it painfully obvious how far I still have to go. God has been revealing so much to me, the state of my heart, the reasoning behind my prayers (does anyone else ever try ‘reverse physcology’ on God?! Because I’ve had to check my words sometimes… EMILY!!! SERIOUSLY?! Did you just try and trick the Creator of the Universe with your silly mind games?!!?!) There are some aspects that come easier. I’ve always had a heart for the musical side of worship… but I’ve always struggled with prayer. I’ve definitely noticed my prayer life has grown- but I also realize how little I truly comprehend on the true heart of prayer, and praying for others.

And I stink at reading my Bible on a regular basis. Lets just put that out there. I’ve shared before how, for a little while, it’ll be amazing, I’ll be reading regularly, getting so much out of it, my attitude will be better, my thoughts and prayers more aligned with how I believe Christ would want them… but then, I’ll just hit a brick wall.. its so incredibly frustrating. I’ve come to realize I’m a small dose studier. (For now at least- God can work miracles, so, He’s free to make me a major Bible scholar anytime He chooses…) I’ve taken to writing verses on cards and scraps of paper… my bathroom is plastered with them, they’re in my car, by my sink, on my microwave. I jot down verses that speak to my heart in the front of my journal…

I’m starting out small and seeing where God takes me… as with most things in life… but I just wanted Him, (and you all) to know how incredibly thankful I am. I know I don’t have to write it here for Him to know, but it feels like something I should shout from the rooftops all day long… I’m not really one for shouting, so, I’ll do it in my own quiet way…

EmilyOh! Headband Giveaway!

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:28:13 +0000

My beautiful and lovely friend Emma K is hosting a giveaway for an EmilyOh! Headband over at her blog… visit and give us some love for a chance to win!

Give away @ Emmy Lou Blog!

This is the headband that’s up for grabs:

Heads Up

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:39:49 +0000

Hey Ya’ll-

I’m currently in the midst of trying to clean out/get rid of/pare down things in my life. Partly, because I’m moving and I don’t want to cart all my junk with me yet again (I’m going three for three. Three years, three moves. Argh.) and partly because I am so very aware lately of the abundance and sometimes extravagance I live in in contrast to most of the world. It saddens me, and I don’t want my attachments to be entwined with material things. I’ve cleaned out my closet and have four garbage bags full of things to give away- I trashed three bags full of magazines… and it feels wonderful. I still have more to go…. but this is a good start.

In the spirit of this, I’m also about to clean out… Facebook. I have hereby decided that if I do not personally KNOW you, or have not personally MET you (and feel like we’re pals) I will be deleting you as a friend.

This is not to be mean. I went through a phase where I just started accepting whoever, rationalizing

‘They probably want to see my photos’

and, yes, I know this may be true, and I truly appreciate it- but I have a facebook page for that. ‘Like’ my Emily O. Photography Facebook page. Become a friend and frequenter of that. My personal Facebook shall hereby be regulated to friends and family. I post family photos, personal (ish) statuses, and I’m not into my life being an open book. If you want to keep up with my photography, visit the blog, website or official Facebook page.

Again, please don’t be offended. Please redirect yourself HERE: Emily O Photography on Facebook or my website: www.emilyophoto.com

Thanks!

Pretty Brunch Photos

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:34:29 +0000

Just a few pretty photos I took on the point and shoot from an impromptu brunch this past weekend…

Eat.Drink&Be Merry: Part III, The Details

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:40:46 +0000

So, the whole idea of the this party started on the fact that me and Hannah:

(Photo by the amazing Kate McKallagat)

…well, we kind of love doing creative things together. Hannah is like the younger, hipper and more gorgeous Martha Stewart, and I adore all things photography, styling and creative…

I’ve always wanted to attend AND photograph a gorgeous dinner party, with beautiful details, amazing food and good friends… but you don’t get a whole of those here in Ohio… so, we decided to make it for ourselves.

I think we started seriously planning in early June, and set our date for August 20th. Hannah’s parents have the most gorgeous house and they graciously allowed us to host our party there. There were so many stages to the planning, but first and foremost, we needed to get the invites out to our guests!

We kept the party size fairly small, which allowed us to put hand-done elements into the invites. I designed the invitations in PS, printed them on vellum, and used one of my photographs as the back layer. We then stitched them with gold thread and hot glued on silk rose leaves. We purchased the vertical envelopes at a small stationary store, hand-wrote little disclaimers to take the formality down a notch. We then finished them with more gold thread and silk rose leaves.

Part one down.

There were lots of little things, menu planning, ideas, decor brainstorming that went on in between… but most of the work happened last Wednesday (sorting glassware and place settings, serving dishes, arranging chairs and figuring out places at the table)

Cue Friday. Grocery shopping, cooking and set-up:

Hannah made the most delicious bread. We had to smell it baking and rising all day…. so tempting…

We spent the next chunk of time working in a chocolate covered pretzel factory… or something like that… we then wrapped them in wax paper, ribbon and ‘Eat Me’ tags… (the final product I forgot to photograph! Too much to remember…) and… proceeded to neglect to hand them out to most of our guests… good intentions are what matter, right? They looked pretty though…. and Ben and Jonathan stuck around long enough to get theirs. Sorry to everyone else who left early!

Some of our decor choices and inspirations were gleaned from this site. We had originally planned on using pears as our place cards since Hannah’s parents had a pear tree… but a sneaky raccoon decided to foil our plans… so we purchased green apples.

Our glassware and place settings were a combination of vintage, thrifted and our combined family collections… Hannah’s mom has an amazing collection of dishes and glassware…

We stuck with a general theme of green and white, a light summer feel. Tissue paper rosettes, chandelier crystals, white twinkle lights, clear cut glass…

we used garden greenery (Rub barb, Hasta leaves, Mint, Lemon Grass, Ivy, Morning glory vines…)

We had drinks in the dining room, with my collection of vintage glasses, wines, Pink lemonade, Sweet tea with frozen peaches, Berry Green Tea icee, and ice cubes with mint leaves…

Appetizers consisted of cheese, crackers and red and green grapes. We used my vintage/handmade cake plates, grape leaves and Hannah’s new cheese labels to accent.

Dessert was homemade peach sorbet that Hannah’s mom had prepared for us ahead of time, garnished with a little cookie, frozen peach slice and mint leaves. (the photo was before the mint leaves)

Dessert was followed by garlic popcorn, brown-bag caramel corn and Mexican cokes while we watch our movie in the theater…. by that time, I was too tired to photograph anything else… which was fine with me, it gave me time to enjoy the evening.

Eat.Drink&Be Merry: Part II, The Party

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:54:59 +0000

Dinner was in the garden room….

and can I just say how AMAZING everyone looked? I was seriously impressed- although, not surprised. We’re a classy bunch of people….

We had appetizers and drinks in the living room….

Dessert on the patio… followed by ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ in the theater. An amazing night- thank you so much to everyone who came!

Eat. Drink&Be Merry: Part I, The Portraits

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:39:39 +0000

Good friends, good food, good times… a picture is worth a thousand words, no? (please note that I am barefoot in half of these photos, using the self-timer + running in heels=hazardous to Emily’s safety)

Props… and possibly one of my favorite photos of the entire evening…

Sopranos/Mafia style…

Candidly…posed? Not sure what happened here…

Awkward Family photo! (and it came so naturally)

Yay- a nice one!

The Couples:

Andres&Allison…. awkward, awkward- lovely!

Hannah&Ethan- seriously folks…

Rachel&Nate

The Non-couples:

Jonathan & Ben- I should probably hire these guys to do some modeling work for me… if guns or ‘cheese’ is ever required…

Val& myself (I feel so awkward in front of the camera- times that times like, 50, when people are watching!)

What I’m Listening to…

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:39:13 +0000

These posts are few and far between nowadays… never fear though… I am still listening to music. Promise. And no worries, there will be no Taylor Swift on this post…

Obviously, The Arcade Fire ‘Suburbs’…

My favorite track is definitely ‘Suburban War’

Future of Forestry Travel II & Travel III EPs:

I had a chance to see them live in July… and I would do it again.

John Mark McMillan ‘The Medicine’

On the recommendation of many friends and the fact that it was $5 on Amazon.com (plus I had a $5 credit there…) I made this purchase (and I’m definitely a fan of the song ‘How He Loves’) and I am quite pleased with it… it has a raw feel and sound like a lot of people said, and I’m really appreciating it. ‘Carbon Ribs’ is the song is sticking out to me on a few listens…

…and just to diversify a little, the soundtrack to ‘Amelie’ by Yann Tiersen…(you probably wouldn’t put it on the same mix with most the above mentioned songs… unless… you were slightly ambitious and a touch crazy like myself… because I might just do that.)

Yann Tiersen is amazing. This one is completely quirky… but if you like gorgeous piano music I would recommend the score to ‘Good Bye Lenin’ or a Yann Tiersen Pandora station….