the nelou & laura show + week 5 = "up close & personal"

Yes yes i know ... a week late ... but well i've been a little busy! A week in france baby (whoop whoop). Anyways here it is ... better late than never!

nelou . me

& next week (that is this week) ... something a little different ... "same view different eye"!

it's the simple thing's in life that make me happy ...

watching the faces Jacob makes ... 

next has finally made it to the US (gets a whoop whoop happy dance) ...

updating ooh pretty shiny ... & love.laugh.believe ...

you see i see "the book" ... 

3 miles on the elliptical!! 

capturing nature in 2011 ...

a little green & purple ...

Heidelberg

Some images from my recent visit to Heidelberg with the family visiting from the States. My husband's cousins wife's Grandad (wow that was complicated) was stationed here after WWII & so wanted to check out the city. Here are some of my images including some portraits i shot of the family whilst we were there. The weather wasn't wonderful, a little misty but the sun was out & we had a great day (although way too many stairs for my liking).

Inside of Heidelberg Castle.

& the outside of Heidelberg Castle.

Daniel & Leah ...

& Lucas & the future Mrs Evans.

Bad Durkheim Wine Festival

This past Saturday i went to Bad Durkheim wine festival, the largest wine festival in the world. Basically it's an excuse for anyone to get really really drunk on wine, unless you're me the DD who plans on taking a whole bunch of photos. & that's pretty much exactly what i did ... took lots & lots of photos of anything & everything & got somewhat creative & had some fun during the editing process as well.

Let me know what you think ... happy looking!! xx

the story of a photo about love & marriage

Once upon a time in a far off land there lived a beautiful (well this is my fairy tale) photographer princess who liked to take photos of the things she'd see on her travels, random & unique, her images were bright & bold & colourful. But they were always "created" by someone else, mother nature, a shop keeper or home owner, she didn't explore or even understand conceptual photography ...

OK enough of the fairy tale ... my plan was originally to post this image with words from a poem or song but i decided the story behind me taking it was way more interesting. It just shows the weird & wonderful places we find our inspiration.

So there we were sitting in the beer tent at Bad Durkheim, the largest wine festival in the world (& yes were were in the beer tent ... go figure), & for some reason these moments are when i seem to end up messing around with my beloved macro lens. So anyways everyone's drinking except for yours truly the DD, & the token they had given me for my cola bottle (to get a euro back ... for those of your who don't know they're really big on recycling here in germ any) was a little wooden red heart. So I'm taking photos of that & then because i really wasn't paying attention to what they were saying wedding rings were coming off & well then the idea formed. Somewhere deep in the depths of my tiny little mind i built this photo (& another similar using my friends wedding rings) on a table in a beer tent.

I think photography like art doesn't have to be exactly as you see it, & this is what I'm learning about at the moment. Whilst i still go out & photograph things in their own environment so to speak, as someone else placed them I'm also learning to build images around an idea to create something equally as beautiful but in a different way. Call it artists interpretation if you like but we don't criticize painters or sculptors for doing it so then it's alright for me too.

The "Citrus Fruit Collection"

some yellow, green & orange ... otherwise known (& this is me being all sophisticated & everything) ... the "Citrus Fruit Collection"! Image will be printed on both recycled notecards & as original fine art prints.

the lone blue cupcake ...

yes i know more cupcakes but he's all alone!

flower porn

Mr. Stuart:

The parts of a flower are so constructive that very, very often the wind will cause pollination.

If not, then a bee or any other nectar gathering creature can create the same situation.

Yes, anything that gets the pollen to the pistils, write it on the list.

I'll try to make it crystal-clear:

The flower's insatiable passion turns its life into a circus of debauchery!

Mr. Stuart: Now you see just how the stamen gets its lusty dust onto the stigma.

And why this frenzied chlorophyllous orgy starts in spring is no enigma!

We call this quest for satisfaction a what, class?

Sorority girls: A photo-periodic reaction!

Mr. Stuart: Oh, that's good, that's very good.

Hey, I'm lost where are we? Chapter 2, page 5...

Reproduction, reproduction!

Put your pollen tube to work.

Reproduction, reproduction!

Make my stamen go berserk.

Reproduction!

I don't think they even know what a pistil is!

I got your pistil right here...

Where does the pollen go?

Mr. Stuart: Next chapter, In an abstract way, the same thing applies

To the reproductive organs of the more complex life forms.

But now we are dealing with sexual response.

Are there any questions before we begin reading?

Is it possible the female member of some sex on a couch

Could like get this guy all hot and she never even knew it?

When a warm-blooded mammal in a tight little sweater

Starts pullin' that stuff, is she sayin' that she wants to do it?

Johnny: Can't prove it by me, cause they change their tune

When you got 'em in the back seat.

With his heart beatin' fast! Sorority girls: They make it sound like a track meet, gross!

Yeah, then all they can do is say "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Reproduction, reproduction!

Baby, give it to me now.

Reproduction, reproduction!

Is that all you think about?

Reproduction!

Come on baby show me that you really love me so!

Ohhh, I think I'm gonna throw up!

Where does the pollen go?

Mr. Stuart:

The human is the only being capable of consciously controlling its number of offspring.

Any comments on this?

Paulette: Mr. Stuart, is it true that guys like you, you know, mature and all,

Carry some protection with them for sexual occasions?

Johnny: What's the big deal? Can't a girl just do that thing in a book

Where she adds up the days of her, uh, what do you call it, mentalstration?

Oh, that's really neat! Yeah, and what'll the guy say when the numbers don't add up right, huh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Reproduction, reproduction!

Hope he's proud of what he's done.

Reproduction, reproduction!

He was only bookin fun.

Reproduction!

See what happens when a boy and girl

Don't know how to play it safe?

Reproduction, reproduction!

Reproduction, reproduction!

Reproduction, reproduction!

Reproduction!

Where does the pollen go?

more macro lens ... i really can't get enough of it!

Ok so here's a few more macro shots ... this is way too much fun!!

This cricket(?) was chillin by my front door ... check out those eyes!

A few images of the various cameras in my collection.

Finally a photo of "Damn-it" my other cat, she hates the camera!

... but we all know how much cujo loves the camera!

Mmmmmmmmm golden oreo!

Some images of a vintage toy airplane we bought in Bayeux.

my new lens arrived ... i think i'm in love!

my new ... oh so pretty ... macro lens arrived today. So here is the beginning of my learning curve into the stunning world of macro photography. Trust me when i say there is much much more to come.