Thunderclouds, any clouds

We have been having some bizarrely stormy weather lately. It doesn't usually rain at this time of year. That also means we've been having some amazing cloud cover, and - occasionally - spectacular sunsets. Here are some cloud pics I took over the last week.

Note: I didn't change the colour on any of these, except one where I added a smidge of a pink filter. I've boosted and upped contrast and all that sneaky stuff, of course, but the colours are really that gorgeous in real life. I was in cloud heaven.


This is from my bedroom window. See that white dot in the low cloud above the tree? That's the moon. Seriously. I took this at about 5:40pm.


It got darker right before my eyes. Before I knew it, the pink was all gone.


This was a different day, different sunset. The gold on this cloud made me want to marry it.


This one looks really fake, right? It's not. A storm blew up over a bright blue sky, and before you could say "faked in photoshop" there was this massive black swirling mass of evil over a powder-blue, My Little Pony sky. I swear, this cloud could BE a My Little Pony bad guy, come to ruin their Pony fun and rainbow happiness.


On another day, Mr Ruby Slippers and I jumped in the car and drove down to a nearby school, where we took pictures from their playing field. Unfortunately we missed the actual sunset (this was PINK when we got in the car five minutes before!) But I think it's gorgeous like this too:


This is the one I added the pink cast to. It just made it less blue-grey and more sunsetty. You can barely see the pink, right? That's cos it was so overpoweringly blue before.


This is right before we left the house to take the two above. See? It was pink!


And purple and grey and white and lilac and mauve and GORGEOUS. Swoon. I want to marry this one too.

It must be so sad not to appreciate the beauty in nature.

Photographer Friday: Joy Marie

Today's gorgeousness overload comes from the ultra-talented Joy Marie...

Random photo I took and liked

This could be the beginning of another Photo of the Day Series, but this time MINE. We'll see. I don't know if I take enough photos for that :P

So the other night this moth came and landed on the books on my bedside table. He picked a great one because the metallic red cover reflected onto him beautifully. I leaned over and picked up my camera out of its bag by my bed, and got this:

Pretty.

A Flashing Sign

Ever since I went mad and quit my job to do photography (yes, that is to be said with an ironic twisted smile) I've always had this idea that if I got into dire financial straights, I could return to my previous-previous job (that is, two jobs ag0) at a big chain bookstore. Maybe just parttime, but I know they're always looking for people, and they'd be happy to have me back because I was totally good at my job. Book knowledge coming out of my ears (not, I hasten to add, because I've READ that many books, but I'm really good at recalling details).

So tonight my friend Simone and I went out for a chick flick. In this case, Confessions of a Shopaholic.* And afterwards we stopped in at our old bookstore (we both used to work there, but she got out before I did) to say hello to some of the nightstaff we used to know. And while we were there this bizarrely rude man came up to us (we were standing at the counter talking to the night manager) and started asking odd questions, and then getting angry when no one could understand what he wanted. He stormed out and then stormed back in again, pointed at random customers and asked "Who's that? Who's that?" and then stormed off towards the back of the shop when one of the staff answered, "They're customers...?"

A few minutes later he came back and said rudely at all of us, "I'm going now. Thanks for all your help!" I didn't see why Simone and I, who were standing on the outside of the counter and clearly not staff, should be included in this, so I said - politely, honestly - "Actually, she and I aren't staff; we were just talking to them." And he came back right up to us and said, "Why did you lead me to believe you were staff, then?" (???????) And Simone said, "Well, some of the people standing here are staff, but we aren't." And he gets right in her face and goes, "I suppose you think it's fun to belittle people like that, huh? Does it make you feel better?"

Seriously, What The Fuck.

Funnily enough, Simone was one of the more polite people we ever had on staff, so this was pretty weird and uncalled for. But this man was clearly off his rocker. A few clowns short of a circus. A couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. A few grapes shy of a bunch. Lift not going anywhere near the top storey. Oxen most of the way out the kraal. Etc.

And what did this say to me? In a giant, flashy, neon sign:

I AM NEVER WORKING RETAIL AGAIN, AS LONG AS I LIVE.

So there goes that back-up job. Oh well. I would have had to have been pretty desperate, anyway.

*This reminds me, I was supposed to be listing the movies I watched in every post, and I forgot. Go away now if you don't care. :-)

Everything I watched since the last time I did this:

Neverwhere - Actually a miniseries which I gave Mr Ruby Slippers for his birthday. I love the idea (I'd read the Neil Gaiman novel ages ago) but the effects were pretty, well, budget-friendly.
French Lieutenant's Woman, The - Nice Enough, but ultimately unmemorable. Meryl is fab, though (when isn't she?)
Eulogy - This was supposed to be as good as Death at a Funeral. It wasn't.
Hoodwinked - Always fun! If you haven't seen this, go rent it! It's so cute.
Calendar Girls - Hilarious Brit-com. Love it.
Shaun of the Dead - See above. Even funnier.
What's Up, Doc? - One of my favourite movies of all time. I watched this to perk up the night before I shot my first wedding.
Easter Parade - Guess when I watched this. It's Judy Garland, and is therefore a treat.
Minority Report - I really enjoy this movie. Great futuristic sci-fi action.
Little Mermaid, The - Twenty years since I first saw it, and I still love it.
Presenting Lily Mars - It's Judy Garland, and is therefore a treat.
Mermaidia - No funny looks. I borrowed this from Tanja's daughter. It has a very My Little Pony sweet simplicity, and I lurve under-the-sea stuff.
Honey I Shrunk the Kids- Fun family comedy classic.
For Your Consideration - As offbeat as Christopher Guest's comedies usually are.
Lost in Austen - BRILLIANT. It's actually also a miniseries, but it feels like a 3-hour movie. I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed this. If you like Pride & Prejudice, rent this!
Wild Child - What can I say, I like school movies. It was fun but average.
Twilight - Better than I expected, but not as good as the book.
Mame - RIP Bea Arthur. You were the best thing in this tired-feeling movie. If you don't watch it very often it's okay, though.
Wolverine - Hugh Jackman runs around naked. SOLD. (Actually it's fun but not great).
Last Chance Harvey - Meh. It should have been funnier, but ultimately it's a lacklustre drama. I just love Emma Thompson, though.
Confessions of a Shopoholic - Light and frothy, and barely sticking to the books, it's sweet but forgettable.

THE END

Logo-ing my business

As you guys know (and if you don't, tsk! Pay attention!) I'm in the early stages of attempting to start a photography business. Right after I figure out the ins and outs of what's required, that is. In the meantime, I've started thinking about branding and logo design. I've got Mr Ruby Slippers working on a logo right now, which I think is going to be frikkin AWESOME, but I thought I'd ask for input from my readers on what you like to see in a photographer's logo, what makes it memorable for you (and, indeed, which ones ARE memorable), and anything else you can think of that works or doesn't work for you when it comes to a photographer's layout/design, categories, etc. I'll be starting a new, dedicated photography blog for my business, and probably keeping this one as my personal blog (until I run out of things to say, or it all ends up being on the other blog anyway!), so feel free to tell me what you'd like to see or not.

I've decided on the logo itself (which is what Mr Ruby Slippers is designing) but I still need a font to use for my name, because the logo is just a picture which will be either above my name or between the words, depending on which looks better. Once I have said logo I'll share it with you. In the meanwhile, here are some of my favourite photographer logos/branding:

I love the sweet little curly logo that Photos for Life uses, and I really love their font, too!


Chelsea Nicole has a great logo because it's just her name, but the colours and font really stand out and make it memorable.


I think this one for Studio Julie's Pink Light District Line is really fun! I love the vintagey lamp. I think it might be a bit big for some purposes, though.


This is my absolute favourite logo, from theorie. The cute, bouncy font, with that sweet butterfly hanging off it (I adore butterflies. Seriously, you should see how many butterfly necklaces I have) is just swoonworthy. I love the way the name and the logo are part of each other. Le sigh.

Don't worry, theorie, I'm not stealing your butterfly!

I always liked photo logos and names that lie beneath the photo, so that no part of the photo is obstructed, but I've just shown four that are ON the photo, and they all look lovely. I think it's better from the point of view of people not being able to crop your name off your photo as easily. What do you guys think?

For ones below the photo, these are some more I like:


The famous (infamous?) Jessica Claire's logo. (PS I heart this photo!)


I love the way Jonilyn's flower cuts through her name.
How about part on, part off, like Jessica Johnston?

Anybody have any other favourites, or reasons to like or not like those I've posted? Bring it on!

Baby K

I did a shoot with sweet little 10-week-old baby K last week. He's so adorable, it almost makes me want one of my own. Luckily he vomited and I got over it :-)

He's still adorable, though.


Look at that furrowed brow! I could die.


Babies have the CUTEST facial expressions! "You did what with a WHAT?"


Tiny feetsies! They make my heart go pitterpat.




I love how he's trying to look at the dangling mobile with his eyes AND lips!



Thank Heaven for Little Boys...


I'm in love with this one:




If this had a caption, it would be, "Sup, ladies?"

But all that shmoozing is tiring...



Thanks to K's parents for letting me haul their precious bundle around. Such a sweetie!

Facebook funny...well, i think it is.

Now you guys know I was - and am - distraught about the death of Bea Arthur. I even watched Mame the other day as a tribute (she's the best thing in it). But I still found this pretty funny.

I am (was) friends with Ms Arthur on Facebook. At least, it might have been her. I had a constant argument with a friend of mine, who insisted that it was the real Bea Arthur, and that he "could just tell" when Facebook celebrity profiles are fake or not. Um, ok. So I added the possible-Bea to my friend requests, and around two months later I was accepted. Apparently this was proof that my friend was correct, "because", he said, "no 86 year old woman is going to be on Facebook everyday." I still don't know. However, the fact remains that I was accepted as possible-Bea Arthur's friend, around ten days before she died. Wow, that's sad.

What happens to one's Facebook profile when one dies? If no one else knows your password, I assume it just sits there forever (unless the FB bigwigs have a time limit and delete inactive profiles accordingly). So I went over to Bea Arthur's profile to see if anything was happening there. And this is what I saw:

I hope you can see it (if not, try clicking on the image to see if it comes larger) but the first comment is, "I am sorry you're dead :-(".

Maybe this is the dark humour in me, but I found that absolutely hysterical. I nearly cried with laughter. All the other comments were "RIP, you will be sadly missed" and so on, but "I'm sorry you're dead" just slayed me! Mwahaha. It's so....bizarre to write that on someone's FB page! Someone tell me it's not just me. Please.