handmade holiday gift guide // for the photographer

ne thing that I get super excited about it is getting new photography gear.   Whether it's a new lens, new editing presets, or bags and support gear, shopping for camera stuff turns me into a kid in a candy store.  This gift guide has a lot of things on it that I already have and love, so I wanted to share them with you guys because I'm sure you'll love them as well!
My big personal wishlist item this year is the Holdfast MoneyMaker camera harness.  I first saw it when I was in the audience at Creative Live earlier this year at Jen Rozenbaum's session and she was using one and I was like  O_____O   "I NEED THIS."  I don't like traditional camera straps and haven't used one in years, but hadn't found an alternative that really seemed to fit my needs.  While my lenses aren't giant, by the end of a wedding day my wrist would be killing me after holding my camera for 8-10 hours straight.  When I saw Jen using her MoneyMaker I knew it was the exact thing I'd been looking for!
I spent years editing photos in Photoshop and then a couple years ago I really wanted to try out VSCO's film packs because I really loved how they emulated a real film look.  I ended up getting Lightroom so I could use their Lightroom presets and it's made my editing workflow so much faster.  I still use photoshop occasionally for certain things and retouching here and there, but for the most part I only edit in Lightroom now and exclusively using VSCO's 1 + 2 Film Presets.
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Before I stopped using a normal camera strap, I had an IMO strap which I loved.  It was so cute and such an improvement over the boring, stock Canon strap that the camera comes with.  It's such an easy way to make your camera unique and stylish and if you're not shooting for hours on end or need everything that the MoneyMaker strap offers, IMO straps are a great option.  I have their rainbow zig zag strap but I love this one's Pacific Northwest vibe!
I didn't do much in the way of Black Friday shopping, but I was on the hunt for some photography deals that day and one big ticket item I snagged was this gold sequined backdrop!  I fell hard for it a while ago and it was a little present to myself for my business and I'm so excited to shoot with it.  It's on backorder so I won't get it until January, but they've got a bunch of other colors in their sequin collection and a lot of them are half off right now!
One of my best Christmas gifts from a couple years ago was an Ona bag that I use constantly.  It holds my laptop, lenses, camera body and more, so it's my go-to carry-on when I fly.  Unfortunately it's too big to be my day-of shoot back with my extra lenses and such, so I've been using a camera bag insert inside a smaller purse that works so perfectly.  But, I've had my eye on this Ona bag for some time.  It's the same size as the makeshift bag I use now and it's in the prettiest cognac leather.  Swoon!

top photo via benj haisch

handmade holiday gift guide // leather, canvas, and stone

here are so many amazing makers out there killing it in their small, handmade businesses, so I wanted to feature a few of my favorite things from some of those makers.  I've been really loving the natural textures of leather, stone, and canvas lately and I'm constantly impressed with how many incredible products are being made by independent artisans.   I've got quite a few small business owners and makers in my instagram feed and it's been fun to see how busy they are this time of year.  I know that this season can really be make or break for small businesses so giving them my business is important to me.  Quite a few of the artists featured in this gift guide are also local to Tacoma or the PNW, which is another thing I love.  Putting my money right back into my community is a great way to support my local art scene, small businesses, and economy.

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Natural stone jewelry is fast becoming my favorite thing to adorn myself with.   I was never much of  a jewelry girl, but now that I've discovered what kind of jewelry I love, I'm definitely becoming more of a jewelry hoarder.  Growing up I was always fascinated with turquoise jewelry and I remember road trips through the southwest spent ogling all the amazing jewelry made by native artists at roadside markets.  

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Can we talk for a sec about how amazing that tablet sleeve is?  Holy cow. One photo can't really show how awesome it is, so make sure to click through on that one to get a better look.  In the past I used to get faux leather products because they were cheaper, but I always found that they fell apart pretty quickly.  I've made a shift to investing in higher quality leather goods because they're built to last and the craftsmanship is so much higher, especially when you're buying from makers who are devoted to crafting an incredible product.  

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I've got tons of little canvas totes that I use for picking up our CSA from the farmer's market, but none of them are nice enough to carry around as a daily bag.  All of these bags meld form and function perfectly and I love how you can tell they were crafted by artists.  From the hand printed textiles, to the design, the attention to detail is apparent.  I've been coveting a Year Round Co. bag for probably two years now (2 + 3), and they just keep getting better!  They are located here in Tacoma and it feels like such a treat to have such an amazing company located right here in my town!

(top photo via black anchor workshop)

postcards from paradise pt 1.

t's drizzly and grey outside as I write this, so looking at these photos is like peering through a little window to a magical place.  Sometimes it's bizarre that such a place even exists!  I was excited to bring my camera to Hawai'i and photograph everything.  The colors and textures and light is all so different than the PNW, so it was fun to play around with my camera while we were there.  Everything is so beautiful so of course I took tons of photos.  And way too many sunset photos.  Sometimes I think a sunset is just meant to be experienced in real life, not through photos.  Dan and I got a kickstart of serious wanderlust while we were there.  It's easy to know that exploring new places is just a plane ride away (which still kind of blows my mind), but it doesn't really sink in until you step off a plane and you're in a whole new place, just like that.  
When I was a kid we had a huge family trip to Europe planned and the day before we were going to leave my grandma got in a car accent and was medivaced up to Anchorage to the ICU and we all canceled our trip because we were expecting her to die.  Of course now, like 15 years later she's going on 94, but I still haven't gone overseas and I know it's only a plane flight away.  Dan went on a trip in high school to the UK and a bit of France, but he's been wanting to go back and see more too, so now it's just a matter of making it happen.  We're calling Hawai'i our 3rd anniversary trip, so maybe it'll be Paris for our 4th.

 

 

 

 

kickstart your heart

o, when I was packing for Hawai'i almost all the dresses I brought were white.  Which sounds like a great idea until you have wet dyed hair that will dye anything it touches teal.  Thankfully we had teal beach towels which were perfect for drying my hair without ruining white towels and I was pretty careful so I didn't get green dye on any clothes.  Still, I think next time I go on vacation I'll have a hair color that doesn't want to dye everything in its path.    It was fun to feel like a mermaid on the beach with my colorful hair, though!
I've been to Hawai'i a few times before.  Growing up in Alaska it was where nearly everyone would escape to when they wanted to get away from the frigid winters since it was a short 5 hour flight away and anything else was about the same distance anyway (and not as warm).  This time felt different though.  It was the first time being there as a "real" adult and it was the first big vacation we've gone on since getting married.  We've been on some smaller local trips, or trips back home to Alaska for the holidays, but nothing like a whole week of purely relaxation in a hot, tropical location.  I think both of us were surprised how deeply refreshing and needed it was.  It was like my brain had so much extra space to work on reevaluating life, brainstorming goals, and just having space to feel inspired without needing to manage all the clutter of daily life.  I think as a creative business owner, you're never not working.  Your brain is always tuned into your creative life, but it was great to devote time to being introspective about goals and desires.  To write down ideas, sketch out mind maps, and read books that are motivating.  

 

dress/lulu's :: top/ruche :: necklaces/handmade + courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis bag/courtesy of handbag heaven :: photos of me by Dan
I also feel like it was super refreshing for our marriage, to just escape to somewhere totally different.  All of our trips in the past three years have been to northwest places or Alaska, nowhere that was totally new and different for us.  I hadn't been feeling super stale in our marriage or anything, but it was amazing how romantic it was to be together on a tropical island, feeling fun and sexy and carefree.  I'm the kind of person who feels guilty indulging in self-care, so I tend to put my head down and just keep swimming, but I'm realizing the importance of coming up for air now and then.  I think that keeping my head down, while it might make me feel like I'm working hard, can end up making me run myself into the ground.  I have to remember that pausing, taking a breath, and bringing my head up to look around lets me re-focus on where I want to go and see where the hell I've been going while my head was down.  
 

handmade holiday gift guide // moorea seal

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ypical me, I'm behind on all things holiday related.  Honestly I don't even know if we'll get a Christmas tree this year.  I feel like we're too busy and it's just not worth it to put up a tree and rearrange my living room.  We're probably not going to do too much in the way of gift exchanging so it wouldn't have presents under it anyway.  Though, I will say that after a few years of jonesin' for a faux white tree I might finally go for it.  But anyway: Christmas!  While the whole crazed materialistic buy-buy-buy thing that happens this time of year kind of freaks me out more and more as I get older, I love that this time of year is a prime opportunity to really support local and handmade small businesses.  I'd much rather give my money to people who are living their dreams out and hustling to make their creative small businesses thrive.  One of my favorite lady-hustlers is Moorea Seal who is a fellow PNW creative gal and someone I'm honored to call a friend and mentor.  I met her years ago when we were both doing blog design for Freckled Nest and it's been such a pleasure to watch her creative aspirations flourish and business goals become realized over the years.

My favorite thing about Moorea is that not only is she a creator herself (as we speak I'm wearing one of her necklaces), but her shop is stocked full of handmade designs by other creators, so when I shop at her store not only am I supporting her, but also all the creatives whose products she sells too.  This little list is just a small sampling of a few of my absolute favorite items from her shop.  I actually have three of the things on this list already!