Shades of Spring: Week One

“You don’t take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.” –Unknown

And when I asked, not so quietly, to borrow yours… I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’ve been tickled by your responses. I asked everyone to show me their world through one springy colour at a time [see the “shades of spring” explained here].

In a way, this project was kind of like laundry day, but way more fun; picking single colours apart from eachother, in the end, creating a mosaic of spring hues. Getting to see each of your photography, filtering one shade at a time, has been awesome.

I tried to include all photos from everyone, as I could fit them- thank you all for sharing your photography!

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I can truly say each one of these blogger-photographers is pretty darn talented, and I urge you to check out the rest of their work. I’ve linked their blogs/ shops/ photography sites- enjoy!

Laura of Polaroids and Kisses

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange"

-Vincent van Gogh

Jenni of Story of My Life

Christine of A Quiet Determination and Christine Kastler Photography

"Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make it your mental blue print, and begin to build"

-Robert Collier

Stephanie of Big Mario

Alisha of Alisha & Brandon 12.04.10

Krystal of Village and Sunday Photo

Allie of Sundresses and Smiles

"If the sight of blue skies fills you with joy, a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive"

-Eleanora Duse

Melissa Jo from Lady of the Flowers

Lindee of Beau & Lindee

And because you guys made it look so fun, I wanted to join in...

Lauren of Outside Voice:)

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For anyone who would like to be involved in the next few weeks of “Shades of Spring”, I'd love it. Here is the protocol—next week I’m calling all photos with a white theme [edited to add WHITE and/ or GREEN...simply white is just too tough!], then pink/lavender, and yellow/orange after that!

Email me your work at: lcr-outsidevoice{at}hotmail{dot}com

Thanks so much everyone!

Now go gather your white and/or green photos for next Wednesday;)

Shades of Spring: Introduction

All photos via

For the love of spring, photography, and colour (and maybe a little bit to satiate my elementary school teacher theme-filled heart) I cordially invite you to 4 weeks of Shades of Spring.

I am going to be hosting 4 weeks of Wednesday posts to brighten up our lives a little bit, mid week. Each post will feature a collection of (your?) photography based around a theme spring colour.

I would love it if any of you want to get involved: email me photos reflecting the theme’s colour (listed below), feel free to put your own watermark on it (or not), and at the time of the post I’ll link your blog/ shop/ webpage, as well as show your beautiful photo!

It doesn’t have to be professional; I love me some iphone photos, photos with your point and shoot, or SLR-- all are welcome! Also, the photo doesn’t have to be spring related, it just has to feature the chosen colour.

Email photos to: lcr-outsidevoice{at}hotmail{dot}com

In the end, we will have a collage of spring colours from all ends of the blogiverse, and hopefully we’ll have learned about a few new sweet blogs!

It’ll go a little somthin’ like this:

April 13- blue themed photos

April 20- white

April 27- pink/ lavender

May 4- yellow/ orange

May 11- Final collage

If you’d like to grab my button (on the side bar) to get more of your own blogging community involved in our colour share I’d love that.

Ready? On your mark, get set, snap-and-share!

Blog it Forward, Part II

Welcome back, dudes!

So did ya check out Part One of Blog it Forward? If you want to streamline your blog reading and commenting- check it.

I have a couple more features that I have stumbled upon in my blogging journeys, and you know I love me some good blogging features; things to make us bloggers more efficient, more interesting, and better at what we do!

Today you'll see:

- Tynt: a free feature that allows you to ensure you get credit from people borrowing photos/ words from your blogs.

- My Live Signature: a simple, but oh-so-pretty signature generating program. I'll walk through how to implement it on your own blog.

My end product:

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1. Tynt [to access, click here]

Tynt is a free program that you can apply to your blog. It automatically creates a link when any words or photos are taken from your blog, allowing readers to see the source of the copied information.

For example, when I copied a caption from my post "Dear Winter, Love Lauren" into a document, it looked like this:

See the blue link at the bottom? this link will bring readers back to the original site.

Tynt also reports back once a month by email how many times content has left your site, and how many links were successfully made. Giving you more information about the journey your content takes! Because lets face it, we can be good at sharing, but let's at least get the credit for our hard earned blogging!

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2. This is a fun one-- creating a free signature for your blog!

My Live Signature can be found here.

1. After clicking "click to start here" pick "using the signature creation wizard"

2. Now simply write in your name and choose the font- there are so many cute choices.



3. Follow the prompts and pick a size for your signature and a background/ text colour, set the slope of your writing, and voila! Your own customized signature!

4. Choose "use this signature", on the website below where your creation appears.


5. Generate the HTML code for your signature. It should look something like this:

important: to create this as simply a signature, and not a link-back to mysignature.com, you will erase the coding in blue, and keep the coding in red.

Now to input your signature into your blog!

1. In your dashboard click "settings" and choose "formatting"

2. Scroll down to "post template" at the bottom, paste in the code given to you from My Live Signature, and enjoy! (remember to delete the parts in blue from the html code, as noted above.) Now every post you write will be embellished with your blogger autograph.

Hope you all enjoyed! Now quit blogging and go enjoy your weekend;)

Blog it Forward.

Tips from the new kid on the blog: streamlining your blog reading.

So dudes, I've been blogging for a wee 4 months now... my blog is just a baby compared to the experience some of you have.

But what a cool journey it has been so far. This little space has allowed me to reflect on daily life--stitching together photos, stories, thoughts, and lessons-- giving my mind a virtual manuscript.

do you love blogging *this* much? heh

When I first started I had so many questions:

how do I make this blog grow and create a reader base? How do I foster those connections, How the heck do I read and comment on all these cool blogs and still update mine with meaningful content??

ahhhh!

So after loads of learning, I wanted to 'blog it forward' to this awesome community that has gathered. I will share a two part post about some things that I have found really helpful. I may be the last girl to the party for some of these ideas, but here are a few life-savers that I want to share with my fellow bloggers.

Today's tip is to streamline blog reading, because we all read lots and lots of blogs:

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1. Subscribe to your blogs in google reader

(i know, i know "duhh...") Hang in there, #1 leads to #2- which you will love.

If you're already a google reader pro you may pass go, collect $200 dollars, and skip to #2!

-if you don't have a google reader account, you can sign up for one at www.google.com/reader [Do it, it will save your bloglife.]

-Most of my fellow blogspot-ers will already have an account, and the blogs you follow should be listed there.

-Once you have your account add your favorite blogs to your reader by following the blog, or subscribing to the RSS feed, which looks somthin' like this:

In the RSS feed, you will choose to subscribe via google reader:

Finally, visit www.google.com/reader and enjoy your chronological list of favorite blogs. This list updates as you read the blogs, so you never have to visit the same blog twice, just to see the same ol' post!

The only thing that I don't like is that viewing blogs in google reader is like renting a movie instead of going to the theater; sure you get to enjoy the convenience, but you don't get the feel of the full been-there-done-that experience. That's where the next trick comes in!

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2. Put the "next" button in your browser (you'll fall in love.)

-Sign in to google reader and click here.

-Hit the "goodies" tab.

-Scroll down until you see the "next" bookmark.

-Click on this and drag it up to your toolbar. Now you got the money, baby. Mine looks like this:

Now... sit back and enjoy!

As you browse through your favorite blogs, simply hit the "next" button. It will take you chronologically through unread blog posts that are listed in your google reader (but this way you don't have to look at the drab google reader format, you can see the actual blogs!)

You will see the new posts of the blogs you are subscribed to, so your viewing and commenting are streamlined. And who doesn't like efficiency?

[Ok, class dismissed! That's enough learning for today... come back soon for part 2 of Blog it Forward!]

Are we Human, or are we Dancers?

Monday blues dodged.

a little theme song to hand in hand. play me.

This project "Dancers Among Us" by photographer Jordan Matter stole my heart this morning.

Photography of every day life with a dose of dancers in New York streets? Hello happiness.

all photos lovingly admired and borrowed from here.

Hope all your Monday blues turned a wonderful shade of turquoise.

farms visted and minds opened.

You know how I know it's spring??



Last weekend my boyfriend and I visited a farm that he helps out at sometimes (moving calves- reigning them in from various escapades.) I don't accompany him much, but the spring time is definitely worth the view.



The visit was accentuated by a free-spirited farmer that told us stories of some of the calf births this year: shoelaces tied to the babies, trying to help the birthing process. One of the farm dogs finding a newly born calf that wasn't doing well, and leading the farmer to it, saving it's new little life...

The divergence of the situation from my normal every day life reminded me of why I love this town so much.

Currently I'm living in the town I grew up in, in BC, Canada. One of my favorite things about it- something that drew me back to it after my university degree and travels- is the range of culture the population here embodies.




In high school the diversity was most evident, and can simply be broken down into a terrible term: 'cliques'.

Clique: a stereotypical idea binding the members of the group into a strict boundary of interests, activities, and spirit.

During high school these groups, activities and interests made people pre-judge and scoff at each other. This is one of my biggest regrets of this age. If I, as a future teacher can limit the amount of typecasting, I will have given a gift.

I'm not sure what it is, if it's simply safe to "know" what or who a person is, before you ask the questions or allow them to show you. Or if humans are, in fact, judgmental by nature. But what I do know is that maturity has cultivated a more open-minded view; now I find excitement in meeting someone and finding out what their adventure of life contains whether it be... birthing calves, mining copper, or designing handbags.

My hometown inhabits an impressive range of "types" if I may call them that. People who come across first as 'farmers', 'city folk', 'hipsters', 'rebellious teenagers', 'bureaucratic business owners', and 'hippies'. I could go on more to pigeon hole these people, but as I've learned everyone surprises you and has a range of thoughts and feelings they abide by.

Having these diverse conventions around my town growing up raised me to be a bit of a city-hippy-outdoors woman-girly girl. I know even this definition is constantly changing. As I am impacted by those around me the array of pigeon holes I occupy will grow.

The ability to open my mind to allow people to show me who they are and what experiences they have had, while inhibiting pre-judgment has made me a more well rounded person.

The visit to the farm reminded me of this... and the fact that spring babies are pretty darn cute.





Oh, and boo-yah:




#7 and #5 off my spring list done and DONE.

what was I saying? Oh yes... maturity.