Capturing Christmas

Upstairs two little girls are bouncing off the walls.... They are giggling, acting silly, and are just too excited to sleep. As I shopped today, the market was bustling with people filling their carriages with the makings of a Christmas feast. And looking down my street, I see twinkling lights, fresh green wreaths and bright red bows.

Christmas is all around us and is now just days away. Some see a holiday that has been overtaken in many ways by commercialism, but you don't have try hard to feel the real spirit of this holiday come through as kindness and generosity and appreciation of family and friends. The sparkle and the decorations signify the joy we feel in this season and I've chosen a few photos that I hope capture that just a little bit.

Merry Christmas to all of you and all the best in 2011.

One Week in "Business"...

I've had my website/blog/etsy shop up and running for a week and really appreciate the encouragement and positive feedback so many people have given me. This morning, I made my first sale on Etsy for a dozen notecards with my duck photo on it. At the girls' school "Snowflake Shop" last week, I sold cards, a lot of bookmarks, and someone bought one of my prints to hang in her beach house -- that totally made my day.

While I still haven't quite broken even on the supplies to put everything together (sorry Jeff) it is a great feeling to know that there are people who enjoy my photos enough to want to send them as cards or yes, even put on a wall in their house. For me, this endeavor is not so much about money (sorry again, Jeff), but about having something of my own to focus on and doing something I love.

For the last eight years I've been lucky enough to be home full-time with my two girls, after leaving my work in Advertising. Though there are times when I miss that world, I have pretty much come to realize that those days are behind me and I have no desire to return. (Plus, not having a "real" job has its advantages -- like being able to sneak off for a day of skiing with friends.)

But there is more to me than a person who shuttles kids around to activities or plans classroom parties, and I learned early on in being a stay at home mom that you can't shut out the person you were before the kids showed up. So, I'll continue to take pictures and enjoy sharing them with someone other than my trusty iMac and my Facebook friends (who are probably sick of seeing them)...and maybe, if I'm lucky, earn a few bucks in the process. Perhaps to fund those ski trips.

My Official Debut

Welcome to my photography website. What this will become, I don't know. But after years and years of taking photographs of everyone and everything I could, and plenty of encouragement from friends and family, and most recently, the nice man at Ritz Camera in Salem, NH, I'm finally giving it a go in offering some of my work up as "art" for anyone who likes my photographs enough to hang them on their wall or send them as a card.

As a kid, I remember using my parents' Polaroid or crappy Vivitar cameras to snap pictures. Then when I was in high school I asked for my own camera for my birthday. My dad took me to the camera store in Northampton and bought me a Pentax which I thought was pretty fancy. I have albums upon albums documenting high school, college, and life in my twenties -- friends, family, parties, pets, kids I babysat for, vacations. You name it, I photographed it.

Then of course, came my two girls, who may be two of the most photographed children on the planet. At this point they cringe when they see the camera pointed at them, but occasionally, and usually with a bribe, they'll sit still and smile for me.

But beyond that, I have grown to love documenting the world around me with photographs. The more I take pictures, the more my eyes open to the little things that often go unnoticed. Like how pretty salt and pepper look when sprinkled on fresh brussels sprouts. Or the shine on an ordinary kitchen whisk when the sunlight is bouncing off of it. Or just how cool bumblebees are when you get up super close to them (and, really, they're too busy collecting nectar to bother with stinging...)

And THAT is the photography I love, and that I am happy to share with whomever would like to enjoy it. 

If you're interested in purchasing any prints, please check out my Picasa Gallery and email me at cristen@cristenfarrell.com to let me know which photos you're interested in (photo #/title is listed under each image). I can take checks or credit cards through Paypal. Prices are listed on the right side of this page. In the near future, I hope to have a more streamlined ordering process, but this will work for now!