Photo Sesh.

, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

My beautiful friend Nora was gracious enough to let me do some pictures of her at the beach, it's November so it wasn't exactly warm out!

november flower?

, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Yep.. I live in Florida and we still have flowers around in November.. Oh and in case you're wondering, it was 75 degrees here today, brrrrr..

Nigel

Nigel, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Nigel is a good photo subject, he likes to hang out in the good light, and do cute things..

Nigel

Nigel, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

My mom's 6 month old kitten, Nigel. I loved the light on this, perfect for black & white.

Gulf Islands National Seashore

, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

I love the eerie feeling I get from this one.. Taken at Gulf Islands National Seashore, I think for locals it reminds us of how hurricanes have affected the area. What were once thriving trees have been choked by salt water.

Bee

Bee, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Stop and take a look at the simple, beautiful things in life.

Seville Quarter

Seville Quarter, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Ahh good ol' downtown Pensacola. Quiet and relaxing mostly, except on the weekends.

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

My birthday cake! Thank you to my mom & stepdad for my delicious chocolate ice cream cake :) It's nice to have one day a year that is just for you, and it shows who really cares about you!

Florida Swans?

, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

We went out on the boat the other day and as we pulled up to the a restaurant at Pensacola Beach, we saw a flock of swans.. not something you normally see in this area! The rumor is they came from the zoo that just got closed down.

Pensacola Beach

Pensacola Beach, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Sometimes when I go out on one of my picture taking adventures, I'm reminded of why I love living near the beach, you just can't beat these sunsets! My therapy: Camera, beach, sunset.

Fort Pickens, FL

Fort Pickens, FL, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

I had a great week. My cousin came to visit me all the way from England. It's amazing the things we have in common considering we have lived in different countries our whole lives. My parents took us on their boat and went over to Fort Pickens, you can read the history of this fort here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Pickens

I loved the old architecture and just the amount of work that had to go into these types of places. There's definitely a lot of areas of the buildings that are just plain spooky. You won't catch me going here at night!!

So I'm attempting to sell things on Etsy again.. so stop by and check it out! Only a few things on there right now, more to come!

Pensacola Beach

Pensacola Beach, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Ahh... the beach.. it doesn't get any better than this.. this day was beautiful, it rained all afternoon and I figured I'd try my chances and head to the beach to take pictures anyway, and the sun came out from behind the clouds just to make a beautiful sunset. Thank you Mother Nature.

Life Lessons Learned

Today I picked up a book that I have had for a couple of years, but had not yet taken the time to read, Zen and the Art of Falling in Love. I read just a couple of paragraphs into the introduction and already found a quote that made me rethink a lot of things, especially after all I've been through this year.

"Contrary to popular opinion, real love never hurts or wounds. Only our confused expectations can undermine our lives and lead us to negative consequences."

That is so true. I can't wait to read more in this book, and I'm sure it will continue to make things more clear for me!

At 26 years old I am constantly learning things about myself and other people. People can be extremely selfish, and this is evidenced by some that I've encountered recently. No, I don't need to have the world revolve around me, but there's little things people can do to show they care about you and your situation. People want to feel loved, there's nothing wrong with that! If you act like you don't care, you're out, plain and simple. That's how I live my life, and that's how I'll continue to live my life. Nobody gets to stay till they can prove themselves. Make sense? Does to me. I want to be loved, I think that's the one thing we all have in common in this big world.

Me

Me, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

Did my best trying to do a self portrait!

Been a while

, originally uploaded by Carina Potts.

It's been a while since I posted.. I made a decision to move to Florida, so here I am! This is a picture I took of the side of one of the fire trucks at my last job in Pennsylvania. Love my 50mm 1.8 and love bokeh!

Wild Dolphin

, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

I'm spending some the week with my mom & stepdad down in Pensacola, Florida. We took the boat out yesterday to go find a pod of dolphins they'd seen frequently in the area. After the pod put on a show for us swimming near the boat and playing, they continued on. As we were about to leave, a lone dolphin came right up to the boat and started swimming in circles, eating fish, sticking his head out right next to the boat. I was beside myself, loved dolphins since I was little, and have never had the opportunity to be this close to a wild one!

1/250
f/6.3
75mm
ISO 100

Beach Path

Beach Path, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

Missing the Outer Banks, NC right now. With as much as I've been working I haven't had an opportunity to get to the beach yet this summer. I frequented this beach path near my house to go wander on the beach anytime the mood hit, good thinking spot.

1/40
f/11
18mm
ISO 100

Hawaii

, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

I haven't had a chance to go out and take any new pictures in the past few days, so I thought I'd reminisce a bit. I visited Hawaii this past winter, stayed for about a month with my aunt & uncle that live out there. It's a long story that I wouldn't post on the internet, but I made decisions that changed my life while I was there, and this is one of the photos that stirs up a lot of emotions for me. It was a beautiful spot on Sunset Beach, Oahu, I loved this palm tree that stood by itself right as we'd walk up to check the surf.

1/50
f/6.3
55mm
ISO 100

Fire Drill

, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

I volunteer on the ambulance side of Radnor Fire Company, on this evening I decided to go to the fire side's drill to snap off a few pictures. It was hard because of all the smoke in the house so I was basically shooting blind for most of it cause my eyes were burning! It was a lot of fun, and definitely a challenge! You can learn more about RFC by going to www.radnorfire.com or www.radnorambulance.com.

1/8
f/4.0
18mm
ISO 1600

Bokeh!

, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

Loving my new 50mm 1.8 lens I purchased! Love the effect it gave the leaves in this photo. Only Photoshopping was overlayed a layer to bring out some color. Buying a new lens is definitely inspiration for pictures! Glad to have that feeling back again.

1/320
50mm
1.8
ISO 100

Kiki

Kiki, originally uploaded by cm_potts.

It's been a while since I posted anything. Lost inspiration for a while, and also rarely had time to myself for the past few months. Kiki is my 10 year old kitty, beautiful & loving. She mostly stays inside but every now and then she likes to go outside and eat some grass.

1/640
205mm
f/5.0
ISO 800

Where's the warm weather?

I try to get myself motivated to go out and take pictures as often as possible, but it's so darn cold! Seems so strange to hear birds chirping, and see flowers blooming, yet it's still cold! I can't wait for warm weather... 

Cherry Blossoms

Exposure: 1/60

Aperture: f5.6

Focal Length: 55mm

ISO speed: 100

More Cherry Blossoms

Exposure: 1/100

Aperture: f5.6

Focal Length: 32mm

ISO Speed: 100

April Showers Bring May Flowers

A few photos from the past couple of days, had one day with tons of rain, and yesterday a sunny warm day. 

Believe it or not I took this on one of the first beautiful, sunny days of spring, it was a reflection I caught in the glass of the deck table.

My favorite flower one from the rain storm we had a couple of days ago.

Another reflection in the puddle outside of the house.

Spring is here..

 

For me Spring is time for new things.  It makes me feel refreshed, new, motivated.  I thought maybe I'd try the blog thing out.  I am not a writer, I love photography and I love it when I can show people how I see the world.