Sunday, December 29, 2013

Photography Concept and Styling - PEOPLE


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com

People love stories, don't they? I think it would be great to be a super super great storyteller. I'm a photographer and my work is about telling stories and we all have one. I'm sure you've heard the phrase the truth is stranger than fiction

people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com

What kind of people the stories are about? How the stories are born?

people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com


people photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengrethen.com

People want to be remembered and not forgotten. People want that their life story is valuable and worth telling and we all want to hear other people's stories. We can be inspired by people and their stories. We can find stories comforting and supporting or they just make us happy. We can relate to people in stories. We can also be so scared of stories and get too excited and feel uncomfortable. 

People who make stories for their occupation have a huge assigment. Yes, it is a passion and there's never enough time to tell every story. So we have to choose. But if we choose carefully - we can tell story of so many people with only one pic or story. 

I made this photo essay of the word people. What kind of story/stories these photos tell you?


This is the last post of the year 2013. This post is also one of my Photography Concept and Styling post series. You can find them all here. I've got so many great words from you. I want to thank you! I always welcome new words - if you have one in your mind. I started this series in March 2013 and the words I've used this year are triangle, process, connections, recollection, the song La Melodie du Bonheur, sunshine, circus, hidden, mundane and people.

I wish you wonderful New Year 2014! Make a wish!

xoxo
Kreetta

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Best Christmas Recipe Ever

Enjoy and relax.

Dried herbs photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengretchen.com

I wish you a very merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy with your family and have beautiful moments. I also want to remember people who now stays with us in our hearts and memories. Let's light a candle for them too.

Dried herbs photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengretchen.com


Dried herbs photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengretchen.com


Dried herbs photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog:www.gretchengretchen.com


I also want to thank You very much for coming over and for reading my blog. I sure have been very happy when you have left a comment for me or liked my blog in fb or followed me in Pinterest

The year 2014 is just behind the corner. What shall I do - what plans I have? Some I say. New things. New ideas. Do you have wishes for me? I hope I can offer even more enjoyable moments for you in the year 2014!

Merry Christmas and Beautiful New Year 2014! 


xoxo
Kreetta

ps. I photographed dried sage - grown in our own garden.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Easy DIY - Last Minute Christmas Decoration


DIY by www.gretchengretchen.com

On one late evening during this week I got a crazy crafting bug, if you know what I mean. I realized that I want to make some Christmas decoration - different than last year and years before. 

Usually I use vintage decoration what I've collected during the years. But not this year. No to X-mas tree even though I love it. Yes to paper flowers and real flowers - love them too. One vintage item I will have and have it already - orange star in the window. It's the same kind as the one we had at our home when I was a child. So it has a special meaning. With orange goes well brussian blue. Love also vintage, so the paper I used for these flowers is vintage gift wrapper. 

DIY by www.gretchengretchen.com

You can use any size of paper you want. My paper was retangle shaped and a little bit smaller than A3 (297mm×420mm). Don't use too thin paper. Fold the paper in same sized folds flipping over each time. Cut the last bit away if it's too small or if it's too big, cut the extra piece away.

DIY by www.gretchengretchen.com

Fold in half. Then tie the metal wire or thread where the fold is. I used metal wire.

DIY by www.gretchengretchen.com

Cut both ends same time to the shape you like. You can always make different kind of flowers.

DIY by www.gretchengretchen.com

Unfold it. You can use tape like I did - double sided of course or glue. Join sides carefully together. Use a needle to put a thread through for hanging.

Then you have a last step to go - where to put them? I will decorate one wall with these flowers.

Merry X-mas to You!

xo
Kreetta

Monday, December 16, 2013

Is It Vintage - Happy Families Playing Cards


Vintage Playing Cards "Happy Families" photo by www.gretchengretchen.com

Do you remember the game? I do but I didn't play with these cards, we had more common cards - I remember. These ones I found from Imatra, Eastern Finland. We visited flea markets and one place was full of funny things like these playing cards. I think these can be from 1920-50's. What do you think?

Vintage Playing Cards "Happy Families" photo by www.gretchengretchen.com

I found my family or I found my occupation, haha...there's no woman photographer - it's a man's world in these cards. Wife is only making her daily make up but...well, things change don't they? We make changes by doing things differently.

Vintage Playing Cards "Happy Families" photo by www.gretchengretchen.com


Is It Vintage is one of my blog's series. I post it once in the month. If you want to see more of these go here. 

I love old and frayed. I love things with stories and history. I wonder who has played funny games with these pretty cards? I hope they have brought a lot of joy to their owner or owners. Maybe we can play Happy Families with these cards on Christmas Eve. What are you going to do when you are waiting for Santa Claus?

xo
Kreetta


Sunday, December 8, 2013

DIY - X-mas Calender Cube


diy x-mas calender cube by www.gretchengretchen.com

I get bored easily. I like to find new ways to do things like traditional X-mas calender. December had already started and I didn't have a good idea for it. I was thinking that it would be great not to buy anything but still have surprising X-mas calender. I couldn't totally avoid buying new things. Actually my idea came after I had bought Dymo. But remember you don't have to buy it for this DIY X-mas calender - you can write the words even with basic pencil or what ever you have at your home.

diy x-mas calender cube by www.gretchengretchen.com

We have these wooden cubes because I have another DIY on process. Or being truthful - I haven't even started yet, haha. The cube doesn't have to be clean and wooden, it can be what ever cube you find from your home or you can make it from cardboard box or from paper in origami style. The most important thing is what you write on it. 

So this is how it goes. I decided that because we have been together about 10 years it's nice to go back a bit and remember the times we met and life together. I chose the words kiss, hug, memory, poem, dinner and my husband chose a word purple. The cube has 6 sides so only thing I had to do was to print with Dymo the words and glue them to the cube. Ready. And the rest is about your imagination and memories and acts. We have only one cube so every other day is his or my turn. These things goes to both directions so I think it works better with shared cube.

diy x-mas calender cube by www.gretchengretchen.com

If you have kids and you are making DIY X-mas calender cubes for them you can choose things that you think are exciting and great with your children. Baking together, reading a fairy tale, going out and have ice cream - what ever you have in your mind and what works best in your family. 

So the most important thing with this DIY is what happens when you use it. A good time with your beloved ones. I hope you find this worth to try! Now I'm a little bit late with this, I know - but maybe next year! And today I got the word dinner...so I guess, I know what I'm doing today, haha. 

Have a lovely Sunday!

xo
Kreetta
 

Friday, December 6, 2013

X-mas Calender Day 6


X-mas Calender photo by www.gretchengretchen.com

I'm sure you remember how exciting it was to open X-mas calender for 24 days. This year I made my X-mas calender on my blog's Facebook page. I will reveal one piece of the pic every day. Some might think it is childish but I think it's good to have a little bit funny habits - we can have fun as adults also, don't we?  I've made one DIY X-mas calender two days ago but you will hear about it later this month after I've photographed it. 

I hope this year you and your family have lovely X-mas time together and I hope no one have to stay in the kitchen too long time and feel tired of cooking. Or spend too much time with X-mas shopping. 

Less is more.

Today we are also celebrating our independence day in Finland. My husband and I are going to have a lovely gathering with our old friends. It's great to see them. We should see more often. And finally I want to have a silent moment for one person who has changed the world. Nelson Mandela. Rest in peace.

xo
Kreetta

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Photography Concept and Styling - MUNDANE


Today is the day, it's the last day of November. I think I'm going to trust your intuition this time. It's a little bit difficult to open my thoughts about the word mundane even though it might feel quite obvious when you think about it but it's not. I have so many thoughts that I don't know where to begin. I hope this photo essay brings you many thoughts worth to think.


photo of the word mundane by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com


photo of the word mundane by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com


photo of the word mundane by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com


photo of the word mundane by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com


Any thoughts? Of course I like to hear!

This post is part of my Photography Concept and Styling post series where I make a photo essay of one word, thought, song, idea. If you have word in your mind, you can leave a comment or write me e-mail or send a fb message. I won't tell them before I do the essay of it and I'm not sure when I do it or will I do it. 

But one thing is sure. Tomorrow is December. Oh my, time flies so fast - I just got back to work and suddenly we are almost welcoming X-mas. 

I hope you have a great weekend going on!

xo
Kreetta

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Slow living - A snail mail card to your friend or family?


season card photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

Nowadays we hear things about our friends and family through different kind of social media. You also know a lot of things about people you hardly know through social media or you meet new great people with same interests through social media and that can be also a beginning to great friendship. 

But somehow I miss so much old-fashioned letters and cards. Do you?  They are more intimate.

I've been thinking that I could make a series of cards from my pics in my blog. What do you think? Which pic would work for you and when you would send it? Could it also work as a small art piece somewhere at your workspace? It would be great to hear if you have time go through my blog and choose one or two and leave a comment here or in fb. 

Tip about my blog posts - you can find vintage related here, art related here or inspiration related here. But you can also just scroll through quite easily. Have fun and very beautiful Sunday!

xo
Kreetta


season card photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

Thursday, November 21, 2013

It's the color


broad beans photo by Kreetta Järvenpää www.gretchengretchen.com

How could you ever imagine that inside the rotten and wrinkled, you can find such a beautiful colored beans. Nature is just amazing.

Thursday has been full of things - almost too much for me. There are days when in the evening you are not sure what should you think about that day. Like today...today the best thing was to see the work of Nanna Susi. She is one of Finnish contemporary artists.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Is It Vintage - Vineta


Vineta jug photo by  www.gretchengretchen.com

It's time to tell you a vintage story. This is a jug by Rörstrand. Design is called Vineta. I totally love it's decoration. I photographed it in August that now I can give you some summer feelings in the middle of November. We all need it, don't we. You know, at the moment the wind is blowing heavily and you can hear how it whistles in the corners of the house. Sounds familiar?

Vineta jug photo by  www.gretchengretchen.com


I found this jug from one big antik shop/ flea market in Sweden few years ago. We made a trip by car here and there in Swedish countryside. There were so many beautiful landscapes. The antik shop was huge and full of vintage treasures. Because the jug is a little bit broken I got it very cheap.

Vineta jug photo by www.gretchengretchen.com

Vineta was produced between 1887-1925 by Rörstrand. I tried to find it's designer but I couldn't. Do you know the designer of Vineta? It would be great to hear.

Vineta jug photo by www.gretchengretchen.com

I think Vineta is very romantic and sophisticated. It is like a jewellery on the table with bunch of flowers. 

I collect vintage treasures and this post is part of my Is It Vintage post series. You can find all of them here. I'm a photographer and I always need beautiful props and things in my work.

Have a lovely Sunday and I hope the week will begin with great energy and inspiration!

xo
Kreetta

Sunday, November 10, 2013

DIY Dry Herbs with Photography Tip


sage
 
You can dry your home garden herbs. It's easy. All you need is good ventilation, string and herbs. I tied my stems and lifted them hanging above our living room table. I took all the bad leaves away and washed all the herbs before that. It takes few days to dry. 

sage

I also continued my Lupo LED light testing. You can read my previous test here. I bounced the light from the white wall and ceiling. It filled quite nicely the shadow. I didn't want to lose the whole shadow - just make it a little bit lighter. You can try what kind of light you want to do. You can also use reflectors to less shadows. That's another way to make the light lovely. But I think I like this light source. I can use this kind of light source also as a main light and fill the shadows with reflectors.

thyme

Thyme is one of my favorite herbs and I like things look like very natural. I like to shoot food and everything with natural light and if I use artificial light I always try to "hide" it if it is possible. Of course there are situations that you want to go crazy with flash lights. Anyway if you want to see more beautiful natural light food photography you have to go and see Aran Goyoaga's photography. I took her food photography workshop in June. It was totally fab.

tarragon

We have less light this time of the year so I want to find nice ways to light my photos. It's all about light - photography. I'm always thinking how the light was made when I see the beautiful photo.

string

You need a string to hang your herbs. It's nice to pick up a nice looking one and use it - expecially if it's in your living room.

herb sage and tarragon

I have to admit that it is a little bit late to dry herbs - not the best time of the year but sometimes you are late, sometimes too early... Herbs had quite good aroma still so I thought it is just fine to dry them. It would be sad if the snow covered them away and I would have to live without having my herbs as dried during the winter. 


xo
Kreetta


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Photography Tip - Hard light vs soft light

I got a chance to test Lupo light LED light panel. I made one test yesterday evening with our dinner. You can adjust your light temperature quite easily. I just wanted to test does this light work for me in my photography. 

photography test - led light
left: straight and hard light                   right: diffused and soft

This test has done without ambient light. Just the light panel. We don't have so much light here so I wanted to find out how the food looks like with artifial light. I photographed two different light. Straight light from the light panel and diffused light with the help of Lastolite diffuser from the light panel. Can you see the difference? Take a look at the reflections of light. With diffused the reflections are softer. I think it looks a lot nicer than the hard ones. 

photography test - led light
hard light

photography test - led light
soft light

I'm going to test this light with ambient light tomorrow. I hope you find this tip of hard and soft light helpful with your photography. So many things you just have to learn by doing. I didn't work so much with styling this time. I just wanted to have black and white and different kind of surfaces in photo because I wanted to see how the light works with different kind of textures.


Was this tip useful?

xo
Kreetta

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Lucky Lazy Gardener



That's me. I should be working in the garden but I have to admit that I like staying on our cosy sofa...totally slow living at the moment. Lazy woman. Few weeks ago I brought our chili in. Actually I think they aren't chili at all if we are talking about the taste. It's more bell pepperish. 


Even you don't do anything you still have to eat, don't you? We decided to make filled bell peppers. We cooked lentils and made hummus and filled peppers with this combination. They were about 10-15 minutes in oven and ready to eat with fresh salad. Easy lunch or dinner and I just love hummus and there are so many ways to make it.

Does it sound good?

xo
Kreetta

Monday, November 4, 2013

Slow living - Vintage letter


vintage paper goods


vintage paper goods


vintage paper goods

Have you sent snail mail lately? I did this autumn. I sent it to Céline - the blogger of BohèmeCircus. But before that I got so gorgeous snail mail from her as you can see below. Thank you Céline! If you haven't sent snail mail lately - I recommend! It's a great way to make someone happy!

letter by BohemeCircus

I have to admit that I love to buy old paper goods like today I found some gorgeous old paper napkins again. Can't wait to show them to you! But because it's very very late on Sunday evening and tomorrow we all have to be early at work...I keep it short. I hope you enjoyed a minute or two with my photos of my vintage treasures that I sent to Céline.

I wish you a very lovely and inspiring week!

xo
Kreetta
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