Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I was a free (wo)man in Paris; I felt unfettered and alive!

 (anyone remember Joni Mitchell?)

I never mentioned this trip because so many things could have gone wrong. I didn't really believe it was happening until I was on the plane. No way did it seem real.

We were going to France!

And what did I want to do there? Flea markets! Among other things, of course. But while in Paris I really didn't want to miss my chance.

So we went. The flea market is huge and consists of 5 or so separate markets. We did only one but it was vast!

Here I am, ready to get started.


 The first thing I realized was the market was crazy expensive. I mean beyond reasonable. We were there before tourist season but it didn't seem to make a difference. I'm a seasoned bargain hunter so I know my prices and I found I could find much of what I saw cheaper at home.

But did that spoil the fun? NO! It just made me more determined to find that One Real Bargain!

The huntress getting started.



You never know what could be back there......


Search. Search. Search.

FOUND IT!


I found what we came to call "The Priceless Artifacts." Two oooold ornate metal frames with tin(?) backings, aged to perfection. Okay, so I paid too much for them. I didn't care. I knew I'd never find anything like them again and I had bargained my little heart out getting the best price I could. 

I made up for it by getting this old seltzer bottled for $25. 

Anyone who has followed my blog knows I love antique toy horses. I truly thought I had a chance of finding one in Paris and I did! But holy moly! They were beyond what I could ever afford. I think I was actually stunned speechless at one point.

Our trip slogan became "What the WHAT?"

Yep. Priceless artifacts indeed.

 Okay. I could see where these would be spendy.

 Cute platform horse but really?

 Okay, maybe I'm naive but I thought $1104.00, at a Flea Market, was too much for this. Am I wrong? Anyone feel I missed an opportunity?

All spent.

But not done.

In Provence I found two goodies that I brought home and tons of other stuff I left behind. Here's an iron plug that will get cleaned up a little.

This old chair back was in the street with the trash. I can't wait to fix it up and paint it!

Doors! You would not believe the doors! But they had to be left behind..... sigh.

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The good Inspector 19






Morgan Tougher was a dog stuffed into a cat suit.
He was an original, unique soul and being without him
is going to be hard.

Goodbye Morgan. Tell Blu we miss him.
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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Trying out the mono pod

I have to use a tripod whenever I take pictures because my hands shake so badly. But sometimes tripods get in their own way, so I ordered a mono pod. Finally, today I started playing with it. After trying to screw the foot of the mono pod into the camera because I wasn't paying attention, and thinking 'Geez, this is going to be a pain in the neck,' I got it together and was ready to take pictures.

Garage sale season has opened with a vengeance. It's amazing how the garage sale ads quadrupled in just a week. I, of course, was out there with everyone else, hunting for little treasures. Therefore I had a few new things to take pictures of.


This door is just awesome in person. Truly. Even Mr. Bad Rabbit thinks it's awesome. But then there's my friend next door who just didn't know what to say when she saw it. We simply agreed we don't always share the same taste.

The drawback of the mono pod - it can't rotate the camera for a vertical shot. Well, mine can't. Maybe the more costly ones can. Anyway, for this photo I had the mono pod across my shoulder and kinda held up by one elbow. Nuf said. The little tool to make my life easier? ISN'T.


Iron coffee table? I really liked the look of it and I can easily find or make a couple rusty chairs to go with it. I was angling the mono pod down for this shot and I could see everything jiggling through the view finder. I had to do the one-two-three-exhale technique to still my hands.

Pod-Thing, don't think I like you. But I wanna know for sure.
(If you don't know that song ask your parents.)


Wiggly trellis picture. Here, I tipped the mono pod backwards and well, it just didn't work. I jiggled. It jiggled. We all jiggled.


Lovely rust beautiful rust. So many colors. Someone said I could easily clean this up with a wire brush. He would be horrified to know I'm going to spray a flat protective coating on it instead. Facing straight forward and braced against the back porch, the mono pod did just fine.


Yellow stuff collected from hither and yon. I didn't do it on purpose, I was going for the patina. It just happened that my finds were all yellow.

This shot is a little blurry but much better than my shaky hands could do without the mono pod. There. That's my rousing endorsement of my mono pod: Better than nothing.


Moving indoors now. There were more treasures but some are already in my booth and others just got overlooked. It wasn't until I was setting these things out that I realized there were five mirrors. Five. My mirror obsession is alive and well. Check it out here.

This is where the mono pod worked best because I was able to brace it against and get close to the subject. So the question is - if I'm out photographing barns and there's no convenient cow to brace against, then what? Wiggly barns?

 

So. Where to put 5 new mirrors? Here in Mirror World, where else?


This is my hand mirror bouquet and some other mirrors ...... You know, some time ago I wrote a post about needing a 12-step program for people who can't stop buying boxes. What was I thinking? Mirrors are the
real problem!

Disclaimer. I ditched the mono pod when taking my Mirror World photos. I'm not sure the mono pod is my friend.

UPDATE
I didn't know there was a ball thing that needed to attach to the top of the mono pod. The ball allows rotation. No one mentioned the ball thing to me and I didn't notice anything on Amazon telling me to purchase an attachment. So now I feel silly and need to go to a camera store. Sheesh 

Linking to
http://www.myrepurposedlife.com/ 
http://missmustardseed.com
knick of time interiors
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