Great Weekend in Atlanta!

What a great weekend! Ernesto and I had a great idea to visit the Dekalb Farmers Market in our old stomping ground of Decatur. We actually drove by our old house and I got a little teary eyed [although Im not sure why]. Ernesto wanted to stop at a thrift store to get some xmas light work clothes. He was also looking for a tux too for his Halloween costume (post coming up on that soon, I can't wait to show it to you). We stopped at Finders Keepers, a consignment shop on College Ave in Avondale Estates. I can't believe I had never been there before, I would say it was an upscale consignment shop. I saw a lot of name brand clothes and all were in good condition. This beautiful coat to the right is what I found....and had to buy! Im so excited about it. Vintage blue leather, satin lining and real fur trim, in mint condition...all for.....wait for it...$62!!! yeah! Oh and Ernesto found his tux for only $20!!

Sunday morning was great! Smita and I attended our first photography "meet up". I found The Decatur Digital Photography Group at meetup.com. (It's an awesome website to meet people interested in the same things you are. Type in your interest and your zip code and there is probably a group to join near you.) I have been wanting to learn more about my SLR camera I got last year for xmas. I have been using it on the "auto" mode and felt that it was time to learn what f-stop, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO have to do with taking great pictures. Smita just bought hers about a month ago and was ready to learn more about it too.

The meetup was at Sweetwater Creek State Park about 25 miles west of Atlanta. The park, which covers over 2500 acres, has a beautiful lake, hiking trails, hundreds of ducks and geese, and luckily for us, a lot of trees that were starting to turn colors.


It was a bit chilly at 10am when we met, but sunny and pleasant, perfect for taking pictures.


There were about 25 people that showed up and everyone was so friendly and helpful. Smita and I were so glad we went, and ended up meeting some great people and learning a lot about "lighting and portraits" which was the topic of this particular meet up. Some of the professionals in the group brought lighting equipment and were going around answering any questions. We each took turns modeling and everyone shot pictures. Here is Smita modeling: Here is one of my better portraits I shot of her: Keep in mind, we did not make up these poses. Portraits are generally more formal shots and so we did what we were told:) This picture Smita took of me.
Im looking forward to attending many more of these photography meetups and getting really good at using my camera. It's exciting! What did you guys do??