When all else fails....

In case you haven't noticed, we love taking pictures. Sometimes we head out with a specific idea in mind of where and what we want to shoot. Other times, the well runs dry and we end up either at the grocery store or the garden center.

Here are a few pretties from the garden center this afternoon:

Where do you find inspiration for your creativity when everything seems to have been done before?

Whisper Softly

Sending out warm thoughts and big thanks to the talented Jessica Rogers for including this image in her Photo of the Week post.

If you haven't seen her blog before, hop on over there. She shares beautiful imagery that makes your soul feel lighter and brings a smile to your face.

yes Virginia, that is a bicycle

RustyNutStudio, originally uploaded by RustyNutStudio.

We picked up a Vashon Island Guide while heading over to the island on the ferry. The first page that I turned to had a picture of this bicycle stuck in the middle of a tree. It only took seconds for us to glance at the article and put a visit to this tree on the top of our list of things to do.

Apparently, in 1953 a boy named William left his bicycle leaned up against a tree. He really didn't care for the bike very much and never returned to pick it up. Over the years, the tree grew and grew around, over and through the enter of the bike.

And now, 57 years later, there is a very tall tree with this bicycle stuck inside the trunk, about 6 or 7 feet up.

We love finding crazy, unexpected surprises like this. What is the craziest thing you've ever photographed?

Free!

Please help spread the word. RustyNut Studio is offering a FREE 8x10 print to our 100th Facebook Fan. Your choice of any 8x10 in our Etsy shop.

Sometimes a flat tire can be a good thing

It is hard to find the positive in getting a flat tire on a Sunday while on vacation on a little island where all of the businesses are closed for the weekend.  But attitude is everything, I guess.  And this time, the nasty flat tire led us to a field behind an auto repair shop.

The field was littered with rusty old cars.   There were blackberry brambles growing through the floor boards and the reflection of the sun was blinding us every time it bounced off the chrome of one of these beauties.  I suppose you could call this a happy accident.

Composition

When people look at our photos, we often get questions about how to take a good photograph. Everyone wants to know the "secret". I don't believe there is any secret at all, but there are a few things that will improve your shots, if you just pay attention to them.

Composition is one of the first and easiest things you can pay attention to which will greatly improve your photographs. Here is a great article from the Digital Photography School that will give you more details.

Enjoy!

i beast you

A big thanks to Becky at i beast you for mentioning Fish Face and our shop on your blog!

Becky's site spotlights "pretty, witty, useful things" and we're proud to be considered one of them. One of my favorite things out of her design studio is this River Otter. Awesome!

Christmas In July Sale on Etsy

For anyone who might be interested,

Etsy is holding a Christmas in July sale.

Rusty Nut is offering

all prints in the shop

at discounted prices

as well as free shipping

on all orders over $25.

www.rustynutstudio.etsy.com

Welcome!

After much delay, Rusty Nut Studio has not only launched their Facebook page and Etsy Shop but now, we've also FINALLY started posting on our photo blog as well!

I don't know exactly what this blog will evolve into but for starters, it will be a space for some of our favorite photographs, quotes, inspirations, and places to shoot. It will also be a place to keep up with where we're going, what we're selling and how we're getting the images that we're getting.

Did you know that we very rarely ever post-edit? That's right, no Photoshop! While that isn't unheard of these days, it is pretty rare. Many photographers spend a lot of time electronically editing their pictures to get a certain look. It is a very technical process and personally, I just don't have the patience to do it. Instead, we spend a lot of time before we take a picture to setup lighting and angles and focus. It takes a lot of time up front and is a very manual process but it helps us get the cleanest image that requires the little to no work after the fact.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully now that my first post is under my belt writing will flow a little more naturally for me.