memory keeping

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one little word | january 2018

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The One Little Word project is from Ali Edwards and more information can be found on her blog here. There are many other people who follow a similar idea in choosing a guiding word for you for the year, rather than a resolution. I love this project and each year I choose a word. Some years I carry that word with me throughout the year and others it simply fades in and out. This year I have chosen a word and am following along in Ali's workshop with her designed prompts. I am looking forward to sharing my progress here on the blog in the year to come.

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how does the word [home] translate for me?

For me, home doesn't just mean my house, where I live. It means more than that to me and there are many ways in which I will use this word in 2018 to drive my goals and intentions.

home | a place where one flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.

PHYSICAL | house
PERSONAL | body
WORK | businesses
SPIRITUAL | wellness
EMOTIONAL | family

Within each of those categories and areas above, there are many facets that I want to explore and am excited to get moving with. 

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I love that quote above and need to keep reminding myself of that daily. Give myself grace as I work towards my goal and understand that progress (any progress) is good...and keeps me motivated to continue on.

My One Little Word album progress for January

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I'm loving this process so far and working towards my goals with intention. I've already started working though my February prompts and I'm excited to get that one finished as well. 

xo,
c

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instagram recap | january 2018

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I've always been a huge fan of documenting our daily lives. As the kids have gotten older, the photos tend to get fewer and farther in between...but the moments are still happening. I think that it is so important to keep taking those photos - even if they are mostly of the same things each day - and to really work on stretching myself to see these daily little pieces of our lives for the truly amazing moments that they are.

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There is a lot of basketball in those photos - and swimming. This month I really want to work on getting images that tell a different story about those events. Getting out of my comfort zone. What angles do I need to take, how close up should I get - what little details can I capture? What will best show our lives as they are at this moment.

The thing that I'm most excited about these photos..is that they're printed (along with others) and going into my Project Life album for 2018. Not only is it important to take the images, but it's so important that they live outside of my phone and instagram.

Happy photo taking + life documenting - get out there and see how you can tell the story of your family today!

xo,
c

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why I love the one second every day app

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Have you heard of this app? It's really and truly wonderful. I remember seeing a friend of mine using it a couple of years ago and I thought how cool it was...but I was sure I could never keep up. I later saw another friend's finished video from her 2015 year and it was simply amazing. I knew that it was something that I had to try for 2016.

Watch my 2016 video below...with sound and you'll even hear snipits of voices and laughter.

There are a lot of days that seem the same in our home...kids to school, kids to practice, mealtime and homework. There are many days that we're up and out of the house when it's still dark and home from practice after dark...there are many days where I do wonder if we're really capturing anything with the silly little one second. And then I sit back and watch the video above and I'm so grateful that I make the effort. And when I hear that my daughter logs into Facebook just to watch it...that makes me happy too.

If you get a moment, check out the website, download the app to your preferred device (your phone...although I do have it on my tablet also as my devices are linked) and give it a try. There's a great support and idea group on Facebook and so many great things that you can do with this project.

TIPS + TRICKS

  • Use the inspiration that you see on the site and other videos that you see online, but don't get too caught up in being perfect...the whole idea here is to start.

  • Just start. Don't feel bad that you didn't start on January 1st...don't think you need to wait until the 1st of the next month. Just download the app and start today.

  • Stay consistent with your video orientation...I always shoot in landscape mode.

  • You can choose 1.5 seconds or 1 second per day

  • You can add titles and music over your finished product, mine is pretty raw (I'd love to take the time to add a title) but I love the little voices that I hear throughout the video, so for me for now, no music.

  • You can use the app to create custom "freestyle" videos - think about a video of snitpits of your vacation, or a sports season or any other great event in your life. You can have several timelines going at once and create some really awesome projects.

  • Get your kids and family involved. My kids know when I pull out my phone (especially in landscape mode) that I'm taking a video. Sometimes I get the hand in front of the face and other times I get great cooperation. Both are good - that's where we are in life right now. I also have kids asking at times - "what will you do today for your 1 second?" It's great to get them to buy in.

I would love to see what you come up with for your video or if you have any fun ideas for this favorite app of mine.

xo, c

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friday faves | february edition

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With the start of the new year and getting back into Project Life and One Little Word I thought it would be great to showcase five of my very favorite memory keeping supplies...

february faves | memory keeping

1| hermafix tabs dispenser
2| ali edwards letter stickers
3| studio calico wood veneer shapes
4| ali edwards chipboard shapes
5| tim holtz tiny attacher

What are your favorite supplies when you sit down to create? I'm excited to put these favorites to work in my pages, happy crafting.

xo, c

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olw | january

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WHAT IS OLW?

One Little Word is a concept made very popular by the talented Ali Edwards. She has incredible content on her blog explaining her process and shows examples over the years. She also teaches a year long class based on this idea of living with a word for the year. Head on over to her blog to get more details about One Little Word.

WHY OLW?

Resolutions are great - and I do still do a lot of goal setting and planning for the year. I typically find that over the course of a year I tend to struggle in one particular area or another...sometimes is needing to lean on my inner strength more, sometimes it's needing to focus on the task at hand more, sometimes it's needing to work smarter...and this year I just want to remind myself to begin.

MY OLW

Instead of focusing on the things that I wanted to stop doing or the things that I might want to change in my life, I decided that the best thing for me going forward in 2017 was to begin. To begin to do the things that brought me more joy. To begin to do the things that I need to do in order to have a happier home. To stop waiting for the right time and just begin.

“it has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. they went out and happened to things.”
— leonardo da vinci

I'm looking forward to this year, to the new possibilities, to achieving the goals that I set out for myself...I know the only way to get there is to just begin.

good work | my scrapbooking desk

As I've been working on getting my Week In The Life album set up my desk tends to get a little...cluttered.

But it's the good clutter. Creative clutter. I'm a big fan of that.

Anyone else getting excited about the week in the life project by Ali Edwards that starts next week? I've got my album almost all set up, I've looked through my schedule for next week (school starts!!) and have printed out my daily sheets. I'm ready. Who's with me??

As for my desks in my office, I'm pretty lucky to have two desks. One for photography work and one for scrapbooking and other paper stuff. I love having my office right off of the kitchen so when I need to be cooking or cleaning I can quickly slip into my office to get some things done at the same time. Yay for multitasking mommas.

xo, c

ps...if you want to see a tour of my office, check out this post about the tour of my home office on the Carrie Owens Photography blog.

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instagram recap | july edition

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July wasn't too heavy in the instagram department and I think that is directly related to my inability to stick to #thebethadillychallenge. Also, it was a busy month with a trip to Lake Powell - yay! - and the Utah State Swim Meet for my kids. I had been doing great with this project for months and I love it...but for some reason I've really slowed down and have become entirely too inconsistent.

Here's the collage of my favorite photos from July:

Now that we're a couple weeks into August I can say that I'm somewhat back on track. But come September, I'm challenging myself to really focus! I love the challenge that Beth has put together and I find that it really does push me creatively on my photography. Who's going to join me? It's not too late to pick up and start any time. Make sure that when you post you use the hashtag #thebethadillychallenge on instagram when you post your image - and if you've got some time, scroll through the feed to find some great inspiration!!

Happy Instagramming!

xo, c

ps...are you already following me on instagram? If not - I am cophotography on Instagram
 

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photo tips + ideas for vacations

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Summer is in full force and that means vacations and staycations are as well. For my family that means our annual trip to Lake Powell in southern Utah, one of my favorite locations to photograph.

My husband's family has been going to Lake Powell nearly every year since the lake opened in 1963 (it's a man-made lake) and he has been going most of his life as well. We also spent some of our honeymoon there and a week nearly every summer since we have lived in Utah (I think we missed the summer our daughter was born, but I remember bringing my boys there when they were each just six months old).

If you want to see one of our past trips click on the photos below for last year or check out this post: 2013 lake powell family trip

my top three vacation photo tips

  • The most important thing to remember is to bring a camera...but don't get too caught up in making sure you have the best of the best. The best camera you have (as I always say) is the one that you have with you. I usually will bring a "big" camera (I shoot with a Canon 5d Mark ii) and will take a lot of photos with that, but I always make sure to shoot with my phone as well. This year I'll be bringing a GoPro as well...what about video?
  • Think about the story you are trying to tell. You want to get images of the people that you're with on your vacation as well as the little details - don't forget the details!!
  • Look at the overall scene...environmental shots are so important as the landscapes (urban and otherwise) change so much over time.

vacation photo ideas

Struggling with what to photograph? Here are some must get shots while on vacation and don't forget - get a variety of images, close ups and overall environmental images:

  • planning materials
  • packing all the stuff
  • how are you getting there? Road trip?? Get photos along the way
  • what happens when you get there?
  • what are your accommodations?
  • what about the food?
  • where do you go? excursions?
  • where and how do you sleep?
  • the people that you're with
  • how people entertain themselves
  • the big sights that you're there to see
  • the local people and culture - make sure to get as much of this as you can!
  • with the days of digital you can err on the side of too many photos, that's ok...delete when you get home
  • details, details, details!! textures, close ups, signage and anything else that might help tell your story...it's all important

some of my vacation + travel photos

Looking back over these posts above it makes me so happy that I've been able to travel to these places. There are many other trips that I've been on where I've only taken my phone to capture the events and I'm just as happy with those images. For me, the most important thing about vacation photos is telling the story of the ones that I love. And someday soon there will be Norway photos to share :) I can't wait to get through those!

xo, c

    all about memory keeping

    I've written posts before on the Carrie Owens Photography blog about Project Life and scrapbooking and I'm excited to start bringing those posts here to this blog and continuing to share my memory keeping thoughts and ideas and where I find my inspiration. Don't know what Project Life is? Go check out Becky Higgins and her blog for more info!

    I've been an on again off again scrapbooker for over 15 years and whenever I'm away from it, I really do miss it. I remember hearing from other people when I was very involved with memory keeping about how great it was for me that I had so much time to devote to scrapbooking. I remember thinking then that I don't have any more time than other people, it's just something that I love so I carve out time to make it happen. As my kids have grown and we've gotten busier and busier I've found myself looking at my friend's scrapbooking projects online and thinking "man, I wish I still had the time for that". Guess what? I do. I just stopped making the time. And sometimes I'm ok with that and other times I know that I need to focus and get back to telling the stories of my family.

    why is memory keeping important?

    Well, first of all...maybe it isn't to you. And that's ok...kind of. Maybe you aren't the type who wants pages and pages of albums of the past. Maybe you don't see the point in all of it, maybe you don't think you're creative enough for that cut and paste nonsense. I'm not sure what your reason is, but I do feel that some type of memory keeping/storytelling is important. Even if it's only with photographs...if you print them. I think for me, that's my big reason right now. I know that in 20 years my kids aren't going to want to look through old external hard drives and other media storage to share the memories of their pasts with their loved ones. I think they'll be thrilled to share the Blurb books that my mother makes as well as the albums that I have made.

    Above are some images that I've posted in the past of my Project Life pages and I'll be photographing and posting more of those pages in the months to come. If you're looking for some inspiration about scrapbooking and Project Life, I have a few Pinterest boards set up with some great inspiration:

    If you're a scrapbooker where do you look for your inspiration? Pinterest is my favorite resource but there are also a lot of great bloggers out there with some beautiful work and the Project Life Creative Team  and Designers is a great place to start.

    xo, c