A Beautiful Mess

It's been a while since I sat down and wrote about my first creative love, photography! Through the years photography has played a major role in all of my creative jobs: from my very first business shooting photos locally to selling my art online to becoming a full time blogger and more recently in photographing much of our own books! I can say with certainty that my very first DSLR was the best investment I ever made in my career. As the years go by, I have become more and more interested in photography. I am sure it will be a lifelong learning process.

Today I want to talk a little bit about my thoughts on photography. I consider myself a lifestyle photography enthusiast. My favorite thing in the world is looking back on memories from years past with the people I love. It's so special. Technical perfection means very little to me. My biggest goal with photography is to capture the things that make life sweet, the things that are here today gone tomorrow. Real moments are my favorite. Not that there is anything wrong with a posed and styled photo, as (if I'm being honest) that is most of what we share here on ABM. Real moments are special, rare and much more difficult to capture. I think that is why they are my favorite. When I get a candid photo that captures a person's beauty, a couple's style or a family relationship, I melt.

It's not easy to be tuned in and ready to capture real moments. It's a learned habit that happens slowly, with practice. I feel like each year I am more able to capture moments as they happen without stopping everything and saying, "Wait! Do that again!" Sometimes detail shots tell the best stories. All of these photos take me back to different days where I can clearly remember what I was feeling and what was happening. The photo of the box takes me back to the first day we moved into our new home, and the ice cream photo will always remind me of a sunny day when Jeremy (who is NOT a sweets person) offered to take me on an ice cream date totally out of the blue. It's easy to glaze over detail shots. I often hear people making fun of others who instagram food or coffee. In my opinion, these little things tell a bigger story and they matter just as much as posed portraits or a whole scene. I LOVE details. I love movement and, yes, even blurry photos! With that said, I've definitely had my fair share of accidentally blurry photos that seriously bummed me out. Over time, I've become more open to embracing blurry photos. Sometimes they are even my favorites. They tell a story. Whether your day is busy, crazy, windy or stressful, there are times that the blur can add to the emotion in a photograph. I mean, life really is a whirlwind sometimes, right? Genuine emotion shows through. I love it when photos capture true emotions. So many times it's easier, quicker, and a force of habit for me to just throw on my photo smile. Plus, so many people feel awkward and shy in front of the camera. I love the photo above where Jeremy is NOT into getting a photo with me. This happened when we were at breakfast last week. I don't blame him and, you know what, I think this is one of my favorite photos we've had together in a while, because he didn't put on a fake smile. Real emotions are funny, special and sometimes unexpected. Capturing real emotion isn't easy. It takes lots of trial and error, but when it happens it's magic! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on lifestyle photography. What helps you get your best photos? What are some challenges that you face? xo. Elsie 

Read more of my photography articles: Tips for Capturing Emotion, 10 Things Not To Do, Tips for Outdoor Photos, Tips for Lifestyle Photography and more.

Over the weekend Elsie and I celebrated with our grandpa. It was his 85 birthday! For family lunches, usually my grandma will call each of a us a week or two ahead and ask us to bring a dish. She asked me if I'd bring green beans. I asked if she wanted my usual green bean casserole, but she said to try something different.

I think she was just looking for a little variety, since we have green bean casserole at lots of family meals for the holidays. I'm not sure if she was expecting something this different, but I know that many of my family members (including my grandparents) enjoy Thai food, so I figured why not? The result was this delicious, flavorful and super healthy side dish that got absolutely devoured at lunch on Sunday. Thai Style Green Beans, makes 5-6 servings (as a side dish). Adapted from here. 

3-4 lbs fresh green beans
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoon oil (I used canola)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
3 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/3 cup cilantro First rinse and chop off the ends of the green beans. This is optional, as it's kind of a preference thing. You can leave the ends on if you like. Just make sure to remove any stems that might still be attached to your fresh green beans.

Blanche the beans in boiling salted water for 4-6 minutes. I like my green beans a little more cooked than the average, so feel free to blanche for only 2-3 minutes if you want to really preserve that green bean crunch. After blanching I strain my beans and allow them to just sit in the colander for few minutes while I prep other things. This will continue the cooking process. If you want to stop the cooking process then plunge your cooked green beans into a bowl of ice water. Next peel and mince the garlic and ginger. In a small bowl or cup stir together the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and peanut butter. Set aside. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the ginger and garlic until very fragrant but not browned, 2 minutes. Add the green beans and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Pour the sauce (the soy, peanut butter mix) over the green beans and toss to coat.  Remove from heat and garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro. Serve warm. Enjoy! xo. Emma

Today, we so excited to bring you another huge giveaway from BESO. We LOVE this site!! It has everything from home to fashion to accessories. Check out my top 10 picks for my home here. Favorites pictured above: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

One lucky winner is going to win a $500 gift card to any of their awesome retailers! To enter, you just have to try out their cool shopping feed tool. All you do is sign up for an account, and you’ll get led through a flow that will help you choose your Style Personas, and Beso will create a feed of recommendations based on your choices. Easy! Then, just post your username and your favorite Style Persona in the comments, and you’re entered! Giveaway is open until March 12, and the winner will be contacted shortly after. Good luck! xoxo. Elsie + Emma

A Beautiful Mess Giveaway Rules

This project is especially nostalgic for me because I learned this technique from my mom in high school art class (yes, my mom was my art teacher for a year!). I may or may not be listening to The Cardigans while typing this post... sigh... the 90s. 

Have you heard of wax-resist or batik-dyeing? If not, you're in for a treat! This was my absolute favorite medium during high school. I made some giant butterfly wall tapestries and a wrap skirt! It's super easy and there are endless possibilities to customize the craft. Here are the basics: You'll need cotton fabric, wax resist sticks (or crayons!) and fabric dye. 

First, draw something on your fabric. You can do color or use un-colored wax sticks like I did. I first learned using colorful crayons. That was cool because I would cover almost the whole fabric with designs and then dye it one color (usually black). For a different effect, melt the tip of your crayon with a candle before drawing with it. If you choose to use the candle just be sure to use newspaper under your fabric. I LOVE playing with fabric dye! Just follow the instructions on the dye bottle. I like liquid Rit dye, because it's easy to save the leftovers for future projects. When you are done, rinse the fabric and hand wash it with soap in the sink. Hang it up to dry. After it is completely dry if your fabric seems to have an excess of wax you can remove it by placing the fabric between two pieces of newspaper and ironing it. Done! If you are curious about the words scarf it's some song lyrics from a movie that Jeremy and I love, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. I had a lot of fun working on this project! I was secretly testing the project for a patterned dip dye curtain idea that I want to try. What about you? Do you have ideas for this technique? xo. Elsie (and Emma too!)