Stop! This is the empire of Death

The highlight of our trip to Paris was, without a doubt, The Catacombs. Yes, I am weird and I have an affection for the macabre. But seriously, the catacombs are fascinating. If you ever have the chance, you should experience it for yourself. You go deep underground and walk through endless caverns where you are surrounded by walls of carefully arranged bones. It takes about 30 minutes to walk through (of course, we were down there for about an hour). I had done my research before we went and knew that you are not allowed to use flash. So we brought a flashlight and tripod (hoping they wouldn't say we couldn't use the tripod). Luckily it wasn't very busy when we went and there were periods of time when we were completely alone down there with the bones. Very creepy in an awesome way! Of course I took a ton of pictures, so I'm going to spread them out over this week and next week's posts in honor of Halloween. Enjoy!

Spooky Halloween Branches Tutorial

Remember, I warned you I'd be posting some Halloween projects this month!

I've been seeing these spooky potted lighted tree/branches around. I saw some at Target for $40/each and thought eh, I could make that. Well friends, not only did I make them, I made them for less than 1/2 the price! I ended up spending $20 on two. Super easy and good outside Halloween decor (or "yard crap", as my husband calls it). Here's how i did it:

You'll need the following (which you can get in one place, unless you're like me and drive to a minimum of 3 different stores to find the best deal and save a whopping couple of dollars):

black branches
floral foam
lights (i used two 50-strand boxes per tree)
black zip ties
moss
2 urns (or 4 pots that you can glue together for an urny shape + black spray paint + glue)

Since urns are expensive and I didn't have any, I decided to make my own urn-looking pot. I bought 2 small pots and 2 medium pots, spray painted them black and hot glued the bottom of a medium to the bottom of a small. Viola, urny-shaped pot! Add the floral foam to the top and then you can prepare your branches.

Cut the branches in various sizes (I used a hand pruner to cut mine) and insert into the foam in a decoratively spooky manner.

Next you just run the lights up and down the branches using the zip ties to tighten them up. I started at the bottom of one branch (remember to leave some length on the end so you can plug it in!) and went up one branch, then about 1/4way down before loosely draping it to the top of the next branch. From there, run the lights down, then up on another branch, and so on.  Once the lights are on every branch, make sure the other end of the plug is at the bottom and then cover it and the foam with moss.

They look pretty cool at night. Perfect for entrances or as pathway markers!

 

Tour Eiffel la nuit

The Eiffel tower at night is a beautiful thing. Seeing it during the day is one thing. But let's face it, apart from it being one of the most recognizable structures in the world and the symbol of Paris, it's really just a very industrial-looking steel tower. But at night...at night it's transformed into something magical. It glows yellowish/orangish just after dark and every hour on the hour it starts to sparkle. I'm telling you, magical.

I love shooting at twilight. There's something so real about setting your camera to Bulb, sticking it on a tripod and holding a remote. I love how the camera perceives so many colors that the naked eye can't. There is no color manipulation in the three photos below. It's just what the camera captured at different shutter speeds. There's something about each one that I like, I couldn't choose just one to show. Do you have a favorite?

Nevermore!

This blog is dedicated to photography. I created it so that I could have an outlet and a place to display the gagillions of images I take. BUT, I like other stuff too. I like to make things, especially during this time of the year. And since I don't want to make a whole other blog for that, I'm just going to post those projects here. Besides, I'm taking photos of these projects. So that counts, right?

Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween? As far as I'm concerned, it's the most wonderful time of the year. There is something magical in the air - like a constant feeling of anticipation. My parents are directly responsible for my fascination with this holiday. When I was a child, my mom always made Halloween feel special with homemade costumes and crafts and my dad would make our annual visits to haunted houses a big event. I think it was from their enthusiasm that my current (minor) obsession sprung forth.

So, I'm big into decorating for this holiday. Every year I add more and more to my massive collection of Halloween decor. Very often, I see something I like and think I can make that!

I saw this really cool Poe crow (hee hee! It sounds funnier than Poe raven) in a magazine and wanted to recreate it.

All you need is a birdcage (I found this one at Goodwill), a crow (good raven substitute), a twig (backyards are good for that), some moss (optional), and a little Nevermore! note that you can glue to the beak. I wanted to give credit to the creator that inspired this piece and in looking them up online I found that not only do they have an awesome store, but a cool blog as well. Check out Curious Sofa here.

 

Pere Lachaise Statues

Pere Lachaise Cemetery is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. It's romantic and gothic and peaceful (when you can get away from all the other tourists). There are over 100 acres of tree-lined, cobblestoned paths that weave through nineteenth century tombs. Almost every sculpture and monument seems to be trying to outdo the others around it in ostentation. We wandered around for hours, both humming The Smiths' Cemetery Gates the whole time. For this week's post I'm focusing on some of my favorite statues there.

 A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetery gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
While Wilde is on mine...

 

Header shoot

I thought I'd break up the Paris posts with the shoot I did for my long overdue blog header. These were my top 3 choices. I opted for the first, obviously (even though I really like the way the lens looks on the third). So what do you think, did I make the right choice?

Marche aux fleurs

Just blocks away from Notre Dame in Ile de la Cite is the Flower Market. The last of its kind in Paris. It was like a little oasis in the city when we were there. No tourists, no lines, just beautiful colors and smells surrounding us as we strolled through.