“Art is everywhere. It finds its origin in everything and ultimately reflects the beauty of the Creator.” – Chris Wilcox, Chris Paul Design, LLC When I picked my husband Chris up from the airport yesterday, he surprised me with a lovely gift – an all-white Fuji Instax Mini instant camera.

The Renegade Craft Fair is held annually in Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Chicago event was last weekend, and I’m bummed that I was in the area and still missed it. Unfortunately, I was traveling with a band of boys who wouldn’t have been the slightest bit interested. Luckily, the Flickr crew was kind enough to post some lovely photos for those of us who were unable to attend.

Chris and I are heading out early this morning for a jam-packed road trip with is brothers. Today we head to Nashville to pick up Matt, then on to Indiana to stay with the cousins. David will meet us in South Bend. Then tomorrow, five or six of us are piling into our vehicles and heading out to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to tailgate and cheer on the Fighting Irish. It will be my first ND game actually in the stadium, so I am really excited! And scared – because Michigan and Notre Dame are arch rivals. Ah, well, that’s football …

Miss Elsie over at A Beautiful Mess posted about the pumpkin spice lattes she and her boy shared this morning to commemorate the beginning of fall. I’d like to join in the celebration of cool evenings and pumpkin joy on this overcast Friday. It’s time for scarves, sweaters, boots, and – oh, yes – pumpkin spice lattes. (Don’t forget to click on the images to get check out these photographers on Flickr!) Mmm, can you smell the pumpkin chai-ness? I can.

Several of my favorite photobloggers post pictures for “Bokeh Wednesday” each week, and although the pictures are lovely, not being a professional photographer myself, I never quite understood the term. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say: Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blur” or “haze”) is a photographic term referring to the æsthetic quality of point-of-light sources in an out-of-focus area of an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Essentially, bokeh is a qualitative measure of light distortion in the out-of-focus areas of an image, and is primarily caused by lens aberrations and aperture shape. Many members …

It’s back to school time here in the US, and I am preparing myself for my neighborhood’s change in schedule (lots of kids around here!) and adjusting to the traffic jams that inevitably occur between 7:15 am and 8:00 am and again between 3:00 pm and 5:45 pm. But I love seeing yellow school buses. I love the contrast of this wide-angle shot, and the vignette as well. This is another photograph with great contrast, but I love the composition of the shot even more. I always wondered what it was from the bus driver’s seat, and those goofy-looking rear …

I am so, so hoping for a Diana Instant Back for my birthday next month. In honor of that desire, this week’s Flickr Fridays is dedicated to the work of photographers who are venturing out into the world of instant photography with the beloved Diana camera. As always, click on the image to go back to the photographer’s Flickr page. I’ve also favorite’d some other great Diana Instant Back pictures for your viewing pleasure. Hope you enjoy browsing these fantastic images!

Every Monday is Tip Day! Grab a cup of coffee and get over the Monday morning bump with tips, tools, and inspiration from Perch. This Week: Go Picture Hunting I’m on vacation these week in Madeira Beach, FL, and I have to admit: I am about as creatively sapped as the least creative person out there. I am completely fried; my last bit of inspiration has crisped up and crumbled like burnt toast. And worst of all, I feel like the least qualified person to offer today’s creative inspiration. So, I’ve been going through my arsenal of creativity pick-me-ups to see …

We’re just midway through the Tour de France, and the competition is heating up! Check out these impressive photo captures  of the race by members of the Flickr community. Both of these photos are by the same photographer. Truly beautiful images, capturing so much detail. This shot of the cyclist in focus and the crowd blurred really emphasizes the sense of movement. Of all of the images of the race posted of Flickr so far, this one is the most like art to me. I look at it and feel the energy. Really great capture. Eight stages to go, and …

Don’t you love fireworks? And the photographers that are able to catch them in their beauty are truly talented. I love these images I found this morning on Flickr. Happy Independence Day, everyone!