35mm – Jolene's Life in Focus

Adventures in Self-Publishing with Lilly Maendel

September 2, 2013November 13, 2014Posted in WritingTagged 35mm, adventures in self-publishing, bestofjolene, Nikon, Nikon D7000, self-publishing, writing, young author18 Comments

While many of you are slogging through years of classes in pursuit of your MFAs and sketching outlines of your first novels, my 6-year-old niece Lilly is already one step ahead of you. With only a kindergarten education, she has penned numerous short stories and is well-known in her North St. Paul neighborhood. Lilly travels door to door, selling her work for 50 cents, which everyone knows is minimum wage for authors.

I was honored to receive a first edition copy of her novel, The Missing Pig, while visiting her last week. She wrote, illustrated, and self-published it. The Missing Pig is the first book in her Pig Trilogy. The second one, The Pig Knocking Food Down, was also recently released and gifted to her Grandpa Hanson. Rumor has it, the third and final installment, yet to be named, will be on the shelves around the Christmas holiday.

Keep your eyes open for Lilly Maendel, publishing world!

Lilly3 — Everyone knows that all good novels starts with “Once upon a time…”

Lilly5 — Who needs a major publishing house when you have construction paper, a red pen, and three staples? Keep overhead down and bring your profits up.

Lilly6 — The hardest working self-publisher under the age of ten.

The Rembrandt Tulip

April 17, 2013March 27, 2017Posted in Pacific Northwest, tulipsTagged 35mm, D7000, depth of field, Flowers, Nikon, rembrandt tulip, RoozenGaarde, skagit valley tulip festival, tulip2 Comments

The painterly quality of a shallow depth of field can turn a simple photo into a canvas – appropriate, considering tulips have long been popular with artists, and some varieties have even been named after them.

The Rembrandt Tulip, featured here, was popular in Holland during the tulip frenzy of the 1600’s, even though the Dutch painter is not actually known for painting flowers.

RoozenGaarde

April 12, 2013March 27, 2017Posted in Pacific Northwest, tulipsTagged 35mm, Mount Vernon Washington, Nikon, Nikon D7000, photography, purple tulip, RoozenGaarde, skagit valley tulip festival, tulip fields, tulips9 Comments

The tulips are here! Every spring, for a few short weeks, the Skagit Valley glows with miles and miles of blossoming fields. My friend Sarah and I visited the RoozenGaarde fields last night for some photos. I’m in the middle of sifting through a couple hundred and plan to post more this weekend as well as provide some information on the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

A quick note to photographers who may visit these fields: If you are a professional, or intend to post your photos to a website or display your work in some way, you are required to download and sign a consent form . You will need to take it to the Washington Bulb Company office, which is a short walk from the main RoozenGaarde 3-acre garden.

Look Up

March 30, 2013Posted in BellinghamTagged 35mm, blossoms, Nikon D7000, photography, Spring, Tree2 Comments

Another reason to love the Pacific Northwest in the springtime…

35mm in the Springtime

March 29, 2013Posted in BellinghamTagged 35mm, bokeh, D7000, Flowers, Nikon, photography, Spring15 Comments

I have wanted to upgrade my camera equipment for quite some time, but I’m not what you’d call a “professional”, just an enthusiastic amateur who gets little pleasure from making money off of my photography. I know! Crazytown. So, being that the IRS considers what I do a hobby, I didn’t feel justified spending thousands of dollars on the Nikon D800 I really, really wanted.

So, what is a bleeding heart photographer to do? After much consideration, I bought a D7000 (much more reasonable price point, more mega pixels, and fast shutter speed than my D90) and bought a new 35 mm lens. I wanted the lens because I can get an f-stop of 1.8 and I’ve been dying to play with bokeh (that blur you see in the background of some photos). Here are some of the first shots with the new camera and lens. Now that the weather is nicer, I anticipate many hours outside with friends, hunting for subject matter. I’m thinking I’ll call this The Year of Bokeh.