Updates and Good Reads

Good afternoon friends. I hope that this is finding you all doing well, happy and healthy. It's been a bit since my last post...I am sorry for that. Up until yesterday, I am not afraid to say that I have been struggling a bit. It's been a difficult road for me to put the events of the last month behind me. I just have not been able to find a way to let go of my sadness over my Dads passing, but something clicked yesterday. I am actually not sure what it was, however, I am feeling better. This is not over by a long shot, I know. My Mom reminded me that this is all very fresh and we all grieve in different ways. I have found that to be true in the last few days. I haven't been alright...not by a long shot. Having said that, I really haven't told anyone that except for a small group of people. By small, I mean, 3. So, I am sure that I have looked odd to most in the past few weeks.

I actually shut myself in the house for the past 2 days. I have backed away from friends. It was so bad on Tuesday night, that I actually had to take matters into my own hands. I knew I had to find a way to get past this part in the grieving process. So, I wrote all my feelings out. Everything...out there. It seemed to help. I woke up yesterday and felt lighter. Today, much lighter and I came up with a plan. I have to do something to pull myself up and out. Besides going to work every day which is just basically going through the motions, I have to expand on my art. I have to find new projects, plan new shoots, work on new photos, finish my own edits on my 2nd manuscript. I have to.

So, I am beginning today. I have ordered a new camera and I am going to be offering a special on mini sessions. I will post those details soon. I have plans to work on my edits starting next week and I have started working on photos again. I know that I will never get over this, but then neither will my family or my Mother. I have faith that it will get better though. I am posting some photos below that I have been working on. Let me know what you think. Also, my book was added to Good Reads. This  is a great place to share your love of reading and books. It's a great place to rate, review and recommend books to your friends and others on the site. So, check it out!

I will sign off for now, but keep your comments and emails coming. I would love to hear all about your goings on...how you are enjoying fall. Even if its to tell me how much you love pumpkin spice anything, lol. Life is short my friends. Connecting to our fellow human is what keeps us alive. Enjoying new experiences. I have found that shutting ones self off, starts to kill your soul. So, lets connect! The topic is fall anything :) Go!

Have a wonderful evening!
Anna
Artfully Odd

1 Snap for 30

Welcome to the 1st of September! As promised, today starts my 30 snaps for 30 challenge. Today finds me running errands. I know, boring right? It must be done though as we have family coming into town tomorrow. So I thought this a fitting that this be my first snap for thirty. Now you all know what kind of car I drive, lol. I hope I have had some takers on this challenge. I am going to use the tag 30snaps and 1snapfor30, feel free to use them too.

Have a great day my friends! Let's see where our eye leads us :)

Anna
Artfully Odd

Taking Action

Hello there. I hope that this finds you all doing well. I must say, this winter has been easy on us here in Upstate. That's really nice, because last year? Well, lets just say that Mother Nature did her best to beat us up last winter. So, it has been a somewhat easy couple of months. I will not lie though, I can not wait until warmer temps stop by and say hello. You know, sunshine and some flip flops. Yea, that would be nice right about now. But, I digress...

As the title says, I am taking action and it's pretty exciting! I have some announcements that will be coming soon about some design work with my art and I can't wait to share that with you all. I am on the hunt for a new camera too. My decision is now between a Olympus or a Cannon. I have 2 picked out, just have to make a decision. I am currently researching each one, but I thought I would ask you all. Which do you prefer? I am not a Nikon girl, nor do I think I will ever be. But, if you have u

sed Cannon or Olympus I would love to hear your thoughts on either one. I currently have an Olympus and I LOVE it. We have created some really great photos together, but I need more megapixels...So I have to upgrade. Thank you for your thoughts in advance.

I am also looking to do more portrait session in the coming season and back away from prints for a while. I am currently working on some photo packages, with pricing starting at 150 for a mini session to 350 for a fantasy session. I will have more information on that coming up soon, so be on the lookout. In the mean time, if you are wanting to schedule a session or need some questions answered about a session, feel free to email me.

Hoping that you are all having a wonderful start to your week and are staying warm when you can. Let's have some hot chocolate, shall we? :)

Artfully Odd
Anna

Super Moon

So, I waited patiently last night to snap some photos of the last Super Moon of the year...I got 1, LOL, To my detriment, I did not have my tripod with me because I was on a sloping surface. You almost always need it to shoot something like this, but I really need is a new telephoto lens. I have been looking at new camera and lens packages, and I think I may have settled on the Nikon D3200, 24mp DSLR. If any of you have used this camera before, drop me a line and let me know how you like it. I LOVE my Olympus so I know that this will be a hard switch for me, but I think I need to step it up a bit.

Don't let this detract from the beauty of the Super Moon though! It was an amazing site and I am glad I got to witness it. How about you? Did you get any photos of the moon last night?

Hope you are having a great week out there :) Keep snapping my friends!
Anna