Downtown Roanoke at Night in Black and White!

So, I bought myself a new camera for Christmas! Woo hoo!! I worked and saved for a long time to buy this camera and even though it is freezing cold at night this time of year, I LOVE night photography and wanted to take my new camera for a spin to see what she could do.  Downtown Roanoke is small but at night it's beautiful and I thought that would be a great place to start for some night photography.  I put a few of the photos up I took last night here for you to enjoy!  Sorry for the rhyming blog title... ;)

The Annual 24 Block Yard Sale Affair

Every year at the start of spring, the Hollins/Williamson Road side of Roanoke puts on a huge yard sale.  24 blocks huge to be exact.  And every year since I have lived on this side of town I forget about it... Until I stumble out of my house to let the dogs out all bleary eyed early in the morning with my PJ's on, no bra and no shoes.  Despite the many yard sale signs posted weeks in advance, every single year I get a rude awakening when I realize there are 200 people on our street and they are everywhere. Staring.  Of course, then my dogs go ballistic and I have to subdue them and rush back into the safety of my house where no one gives me the stank-eye for being in my PJ's and not wearing shoes.  Last year, I frightfully hid inside the house until everyone finally left around 3 pm, but this year I decided to make the best of it.  So, after my unexpected start to the morning, I got dressed, combed my hair and brushed my teeth.  Armed with a few business cards and my 2 cameras, I set out around the neighborhood to see what cool and weird things I could find.  And boy did I ever, along with some pretty cute ones too :)

My street ususally has only about 10 cars parked on it at any given time.  We live on a fairly quiet road, but you can see the craziness that ensues on yard sale day.

I figured I could start with the cute stuff I found! These part Siamese kittens were soooo cute. It's pretty rare to find black kittens with such beautiful, bright blue eyes.  It took EVERY ounce of self restraint to refrain from taking one of these absolutely adorable kittens home with me right then.  They were free and I lived right around the corner...  I could just take one home and... Ok... Self control engage...  Hopefully they found great homes!  And if you know me, you know I can't resist a cute Pit Bull, especially a blue one!   He seemed very happy about helping his owners go shopping- just look at that big smile! 

And now for the wierdest stuff I found.  Hmm... do uncles actually make good friends?  Yes, some uncles can be very cool.  But, from my experience and from talking to others I have to say I think most uncles do not make good friends and sometimes can be quite creepy. 

I think that cup is one of those when you put a hot beverage in it, her clothes magically dissapear.  I think.  I didn't buy it to find out. 

Also in the wierd category, a ceramic cowboy boot with fabric roses.  I kind of have to admire the talent it took to make those roses.  All of it could have been yours for a mere 50 cents!

And tied with the creepy uncle sign for wierdest yard sale find, a container of mixed nuts in a used turkey lunch meat container.   I thought $1 was a rip off personally.  And oddly enough, about 1 hour later when I came back around, someone had purchased them.  Food poisoning anyone?

 

Two of the coolest things I found was this old spinning wheel and some pottery.  I just thought the spinning wheel was cool.

I am also a huge pottery lover.  This awesome piece was from a Gatlinburg, TN potter (studio info was engraved on the bottom).  I thought it was beautiful, but the previous owners had drilled a hole straight through the bottom of the pot.  Such a bummer to ruin a nice piece of pottery like that!

I definately found some items that brought back quite a few feelings of nostalgia.  Both mine and my husband's family used to have an old blender like the one seen below on the left. I was also a huge Berenstein Bears fan, having read many of their books as a kid.

And MIB.  What can I say- kind of a classic.  Sing it with me- Here come the Men in Black!  Galaxy defenders!  Here come the Men in Black! They won't let you remember! 

The last photo reminded me of the dresses my Nanny (aka grandma) used to make me every year for Easter when I was a kid.  I hated wearing those dresses back then, but they were made with love by my Nanny's hands, which makes them so beautiful to me now. 

Christmas decorations were another thing I saw at almost every yard sale.  People apparently have a lot of extra Christmas decorations.

And I saw more than several friends which was great!   

Overall, I am so glad that I ventured out this morning.  I got to meet many of my neighbors that I haven't gotten the chance to speak to yet.  I met a lot of interesting people.  And I had fun too.  Not a bad start to my Saturday at all!  I can't wait until next year??

Brittany Senior Portraits, Hotel Roanoke (Schaffer Photography)

Brittany was an absolute joy to work with!  After family portraits at Hotel Roanoke, we headed downtown to have some fun taking senior photos!  Brittany was so fun and bubbly, it made for such a relaxed portrait session.  Her senior portraits turned out beautifully.  I don't think I could have taken a bad picture of her if I tried :) 

Brittany, it was great meeting you!  I hope you have a fantastic graduation and good luck in college!  And now we know where the infamous grafitti wall is... even if it was just around the corner! 

As always, a few of my favorites-

Going Yoga-ling

One of my coworkers and friends wanted to enter a contest from a local yoga studio, Uttara Yoga Studios, to win some free yoga lessons and workout gear.  One photo could be entered per person into the contest and it had to be Roanoke themed.  My friend asked me to take her photos in exchange for a girl's night out at Wonju Korean (which has amazing food if you haven't tried it!), so I agreed because I am a sucker for free food.  Especially really good free food!

 
My friend was such a good sport- we took these photos last weekend after a hard days work shoveling gravel and dirt as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.  I think saying that both of us were tired and muddy would be a bit of an understatement.  And it was quite chilly outside last weekend.  My friend was super tough and a great model because you would never know in any of her photos that it was cold and windy outside.

I loaned her my winter jacket which she would wear while I set up and got my photo framed and camera ready.  When we were ready to shoot she would throw the jacket off and pose like a pro!  After I got the photos I needed, I threw my jacket back to her and she would quickly zip it closed.  These photos turned out beautifully-  I couldn't have asked for any better!  Now the only question left is which photo should she enter into the contest!?