TUM (or is it really TUF?) - Sugar

Well, the die has been cast and we have the themes in place for 2013.  I don't want to start 2013 with all sorts of promises - but I have been feeling for a while that I need to put more effort into my photographs and stop relying on my iPhone so much.  I was doing splendidly with this hobby a few years back, but the more I read, and the more I learned, and the more photography magazines I poured over the more frustrated I got.  I started getting gear-envy.  This remote clicker, that lovely flash, diffusers, lens ring lights, fancy tripods, beautiful lenses and then . . . sigh . . . camera bodies.  My camera body is probably about 7 years old now, which is old for digital camera technology, and I started to outgrow the functionality it offered.

In addition, I haven't had access to my own computer for years and once the photos are in the camera, I didn't have anywhere to put them, and I didn't have decent enough software to play with them either.  And I didn't have time.  Eventually, about two years ago I put my camera away in the back of a dark, dark cupboard.  

It is only recently when I took on an assignment for a friend and dusted my old trusty off that I realized how much I have missed it.  And how much I do enjoy taking photographs.  So I have brought my old friend out of exile, and have decided that I should just enjoy the process, and play with composition and light and subject matter - which is where the art really comes from anyway, and just enjoy it.  That being said, in a promise to myself to try and spend more time playing with the hobby, here is my shot this week:

It's a start.  It was taken in my kitchen amidst the coffee rings on the un-wiped counter and breadcrumbs while I waited for the kettle to boil.  I took this one too, although it didn't speak to me as much:

We do these sugar crusted cranberries here, I wanted to make some and photograph them because they are so pretty, but these fake plastic berries - definitely not cranberries - on a $2 Christmas wreath is as close as I got. 

And finally, I had to reboil the kettle twice more because I got carried away:

And this one . . .

My husband eventually did get his tea, and I think I may have some Christmas card prospects for next year!  

Back to our theme, Mariette also found herself in post-Christmas mode I guess, her photo is just gorgeous!!!  Mariette, if you have a lot of these left, put them in a ziploc bag, smash them up and bake the crumbs into sugar cookies, you won't be sorry:

And Claire, so very nice to have you back.  Here's wishing you peace and love in 2013:

Next week won't be as sweet, or as colorful, but it presents a delightful challenge!  No more books or magazines for me.  I have decided my camera and I are going to voluntarily excommunicate ourselves, I am not going to read a darn thing and I am ignoring the experts.  I am going to let the subject matter speak to me, and the light, and I am going to just enjoy taking pretty pictures and getting reacquainted with my old friend.