It started over chicken salad sandwiches at The Good Earth. Breanna and I chatted about giving my website a facelift – making it feel more like, well, me. A few months have passed since that fateful lunch, and I’m super giddy and ridiculously excited to finally announce the new face of Athena Pelton Photography. Okay, it’s still my face, but my web home is new. It’s chic. It’s dotted with glitter and floral. It’s a little modern while still feeling warm and inviting. It’s exactly what I was hoping for and I couldn’t be more proud of what Bre was able to design for me. From choosing the font for my logo (thanks to all who voted and helped curtail my indecisiveness!), to deciding on colors, and narrowing down the perfect typeface, the branding process is exhausting and time consuming and not for the indecisive or weak of heart. It takes courage to decide who...
behind all the bullsh*t. | on being who you really are.
The other day, this article on the Huffington Post was circulating around Facebook. It showed up en masse again yesterday. So I clicked. I read. And I threw a John Bender fist pump into the air (sans diamond earring) and shouted (albeit mentally) Hell. Yes. Because, HELL YES. Though the article was amazing in its entirety, the first bullet point really resonated with me. In case you’re not the click-on-the-handy-link-I-just-shared-and-read-the-article-so-as-to-understand-the-premise-of-this-post type, I’ll offer a brief summation. Basically, it’s about not believing all the crap you tell yourself that you can’t do. The stuff you want to do – the stuff that deep down makes you exactly who you are, but you’re too afraid to let it bubble to the surface because people might stare. Or judge. Or both. Well, Kate Bartolotta wants you to high five that voice in the face with a chair. She wants us to “be who...
a mamiya, a campground, and a lesson in film photography.
I’ve been shooting film for about a year now – but not really. My use of film (except instant/polaroid) has been spotty at best. Sparse. Sporadic. I have a Nikon film camera that I’ve used on a few occasions – and I’ve gone through boxes of polaroid film. But I haven’t been shooting it *enough.* A few weeks ago I went to a tent sale at a local camera outfitter in search of a Contax 645 or a Hasselblad, and found instead a vintage Mamiya C330 Pro. I fell almost instantly in love and took her home in the hopes that together we could make a bit of 6″ square magic. That same evening I ventured into the woods of Wisconsin with the wombfruits for a weekend of camping, crafting and mild mom-centric debauchery. I armed myself with mosquito repellent, red wine, and four rolls of film. The following are...
comparison is the thief of joy | on embracing a messy life
One of the greatest things about life is the manner in which it is so beautifully imperfect. It is probably the most impeccably fucked up and dirty and gnarly and punch-you-in-the-gut-when-you’re-not-looking nasty thing we experience, which is funny considering life sort of IS the experience. Social media would have us believe that everything is roses for everyone but us. We watch the highlight reels of so many seemingly perfect lives play out on computer and phone screens day in and day out, and fail to realize that life is gross for most of us at times. We are not alone in our stress, or in our messy living rooms and sticky kitchen floors and piles of (sometimes even clean) laundry. And trust me sweetlings, you are not the only person whose house doesn’t look like a Pinterest Pin. (I promise. You’re not.) But yet that is the standard we try...
