Welcome!

Welcome to the world of cosmic debris!

The title of this site means something more than just two random words put together: I love writing and I love photography, and my goal is to blend those two things together here at Blended Paths. It is also a description of my own spirituality - a random (yet not so random) mix of ideas and beliefs from religions, philosophies, and even sciences - which is always in some way, as it is part of who I am, expressed in my "art." Photoblogs, photography, writings about photography and other things...well, it's just a great big blend of cosmic debris that I try to capture throughout my journey. Enjoy!!

Most Recent Site Updates...

07-15-10: 365 Project gallery updated; front page updated.

07-14-10: Revamping and adding new sections concerning mobile phone photography (in progress).

07-14-10: General site update/maintenance (in progress).

12-30-09: New videos added to Jesse Líam Mícheál and Welcome pages.

12-15-09: General site update/maintenance.

Featured Work:

All too often in the world of photography, it's all about sharp, clear, precise, and well laid out imagery. Well, this is obviously none of that - a definite "oops" shot. I am pretty sure that it's a hand or arm - probably Jesse's - that's gone into some transient movement as the shutter is releasing. "Ooops" aside, I think it's a really cool picture that is full of color, motion, and wonder.

I wonder what the actual scene is - because I honestly have no idea. I don't remember even taking the picture. I have others that I took this day, but none of them seem to add up to the scene here. Isn't that strange/cool?

So, what's YOUR perception? After all, isn't that what a photo is really about when you look at it (taken by someone else) - what YOU see in an idea or scene through their eyes?

About the Site

In the gallery, you will find mostly floral photography at this time. I am adding more art as I can, and will soon add some outdoor and nature photography that any animal or nature lover will enjoy.

For the time being (and perhaps for a while) a lot of my energy will be focused on (therefore, the site) our new little Jesse, so look for lots of blogs, photos, and videos all about parenthood and baby (forewarning

In the blog, you will find entries with tips and tricks to different genres of photography, general discussion, pregnancy, and more.

The forum is continuously under construction, and there you'll currently find general discussions as well as chats about photography, pregnancy and family, and music. Join the site (become a member) and join the discussion!

About Me

I have an M.A., and until recently was an adjunct instructor teaching college courses. I am now unemployed and LOVING it! My husband (Jeremy) and I welcomed our first baby, Jesse, into our family and home on October 29, 2009. We also share our home with our two dogs and lots of ladybugs (due to the season they just seem to move in with us!).

Aside from photography and the outdoors - my two favorite hobbies, I enjoy computing, video gaming, music, reading, writing, scrapbooking, cooking, eating (well, if you're going to cook the food, you might as well enjoy eating it), and helping people sort out their problems.

Equipment I Use

Pentax K110D SLR camera body

Lenses:
Pentax 18-55 kit lens (Pentax 18-55 SMC DA Lens)
Quantaray 70-300mm Tele-Macro Lens
Professional Digital 0.42xAF Super Wide Angle/Macro Lens
Kenko P/AF 2x Teleplus MC4 Extender
Tamron 28-80mm Aspherical Lens (1:3.5-5.6)
Tamron 70-300 Tele-Macro Lens (1:4-5.6/1:2)

Filters:
Canon 58mm UV/Haze Filter, Teffen 58mm Polarizing Filter (P-L), Quantaray 58mm Cross (6x) Filter, Quantaray & Bower 52mm Stackable Macro Filters (1x, 2x, 4x, 10x), Quantaray 52mm Polarizing Filter (P-L), Quantaray 52mm Circular Polarizing Filter (C-PL), Quantaray 62mm UV Filter, Quantaray 62mm Circular Polarizing Filter (C-PL)

And...
SanDisk Extreme III 30MB/s SDHC Memory Cards (2, 4, and 8GB)
A couple of different tripods, of course, including a mini tripod used with my home made macro studio.