Thanksgiving Weekend, a TV Appearance, and My Favorite Tripod

1st-thanksgiving-rivermont-1_hannah-and-husband

Hello! I hope you have recovered from a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and are ready to jump into December (TOMORROW OMG!). I am happy to report that our first holiday in the new house was a success! We had a relaxing day with family and even managed to set up my favorite tripod and snap a few pictures this year. I’m usually terrible at remembering–Thanks, Haley!

1st Thanksgiving at Rivermont | Hannah & Husband

We captured both of these by hanging my favorite tripod with an iPhone mount from a branch and a curtain rod. Then, we just used the timer on the iPhone. With the holidays coming up, I highly recommend this set-up: JOBY Gorillapod + Jellyfish iPhone tripod mount. The idea of the Gorillapod is that the bendable legs can balance anywhere or wrap around things to suspend your set up.

Hannah's Favorite iPhone Photography Set-Up | Hannah & Husband

I use it all the time! We’ve even set it up during parties to capture time-lapse videos. So rad!

Before I go, I thought I’d also share this video from Thanksgiving morning! Just me and Abby Ham chatting it up about recipes at 8am. Click here to check out all of the recipes from the Stories from the Kitchen series!

TGIF!

TGIF! | Hannah & Husband

I’ve been overloading instagram with floral goodness lately. #sorrynotsorry

Whew! Serious TGIF! this week, y’all–who else desperately needs a weekend? As much as I hate to admit it, life totally took over this week. This means two things:

1. While I have sorely neglected Hannah & Husband posts, I have a backlog of stuff that will be super rad for next week.

2. Today’s links have to be extra fabulous, which they totally are.

As I’ve mentioned, Springtime is in full force here in East Tennessee. I have been spending most of my time on the front porch reading and fawning over the rose bushes while Husband works on the car. Also, I have an unquenchable desire to watch Mel Brooks movies lately.

I just can’t seem to get that song out of my head! Anyway, here are a few fab links from around the interwebs to round out your week. Enjoy!

We have been following photographer Foster Huntington (& his glorious treehouse) on instagram for several months now. However, this week Brain Pickings posted about a previous project of his called The Burning House that I found fascinating. The premise is this: Foster asked people from all walks and backgrounds what objects they would take if their house was burning down. The results are varied and beautiful. Click here to view the tumblr. Click here to buy the book.

I already can’t wait to see this documentary! Then yesterday, Carroll Spinnery did an AMA. Confession: It is the only AMA, I’ve ever had the patience to read because comments on these things make me dizzy.

If you’re new to the concept as well: AMA (or Ask Me Anything) is an interview conducted by the internets on reddit. You can follow the blue line on the left to differentiate question from question.

Ugly Renaissance Babies | TGIF! Hannah & Husband

As a former art school student (& lover of art history), this buzzfeed just made my day exponentially more awesome: A Day in the Life of an Ugly Renaissance Baby. Bonus? There’s also a tumblr.

Day. Made.

Have you seen Kevin Delaney on The Tonight Show? It’s kind of old news, but we just saw this clip last week. He’s kind of amazing. As is his beard. As is science.

Watch this…

Finally, I leave you with this picture of our front porch just because it’s pretty!

Happy weekend!

 

Party Photo Booth DIY

Party Photo Booth DIY | Hannah & Husband Looking for a cool way to document your New Year’s shindig? Let me suggest setting up your own photo booth. We set one up in my office for our Cocktails & Carols party, and it served as a living guest book. We captured some really fun moments, and (BONUS) it was a great alternative to people walking around with their phones all night taking selfies. Plus, it was super easy to set up! Here’s what we did. Party Photo Booth DIY | Hannah & Husband

On one wall of my office, we hung fabric and tinsel with push pins from the top of the window molding so we wouldn’t have to patch any holes in the wall. Then, we put a bench in front of that big enough for 2-3 people.
Opposite the fabric, we set up our camera on the self-timer setting with instructions hanging in front of it.
Party Photo Booth DIY | Hannah & Husband

The party was “black tie or festive,” which gave Cindy an excuse to pull out the family jewels.
Note to self: we should all find more reasons to wear tiaras.

Finally, we added a table full of props. I would say glittery things and mustaches are musts. Bonus points for fab headwear!
Party Photo Booth DIY | Hannah & Husband

Recognize these lovelies? Deanne blogs for Made + Remade, and Liz is an online editor for HGTV!

Party Photo Booth DIY | Hannah & Husband

Kayla is the cutest–always!

So now I’m on the lookout for more ideas.
How do you document your parties? Any fun ideas?

 

“How to be Photographed”

Nancy Mitford, photographed *perfectly* by Cecil Beaton in 1929

A few days ago, I stumbled across the most amazing article written by Nancy Mitford in 1930 for The Lady, England’s longest running magazine for women. She was instructing people, namely women on the art of ‘being photographed.’ You should read the full text on their site, but here are a few highlights…

The desire to be reproduced three-dimensionally is as old as the human race, and comes, no doubt, from an unacknowledged craving to ‘see ourselves as others see us’.

It is noticeable that people about to be photo graphed are always at great pains to explain that their motives for taking this step are both noble and unselŽfish. They never say, ‘I wanted a picture of myself,’ but imply that countless friends and relations are clamouring for one, and that it is for their sakes alone that an unpleasant ordeal is to be faced… The truth, of course, is that all women, and most men, thoroughly enjoy the whole thing.

…the resulting picture will gaze from countless pianos and mantelpieces upon the friends who have so constantly demanded it. (I will not even mention those monsters of unfeelingness who stick the portraits of their acquaintances in an album. Such iconoclasts could never rank as true friends.)

A bad photograph is very much worse than useless. Choose, therefore, what you consider the best photographer… and go to him, regardless of expense. (If you commit a murder, swim the Channel, or gain some similar notoriety, complimentary sittings from grand studios will rain upon you. If you are comparatively unknown, it will be necessary to pay for your sitting.)

A little perspective: Nancy Mitford was used to being photographed by Cecil Beaton. Choose your photographer with care–no pressure though.

You must now decide what clothes you intend to wear, and here I am obliged to say the fewer the better… I need hardly add that it is fatal to wear a hat.

And when, some three weeks later, the proofs arrive at your home, you will be able to indulge in an orgy of enjoyable Narcissism as you pore over them…

Another point to ponder, when the Hon. Nancy Mitford wrote this in 1930, it took three weeks to get proofs back of the photo you’d spent all day taking. 80 years later, we plaster photos of our Saturday morning bloodies in less than a second to instagram. My, how far we’ve come!

 

Words Worth Remembering

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”  ― Voltaire

Normally, I would post a snapshot from our weekend but, quite frankly, I blew up Instagram so I thought we’d do something a little different. After the events of last week, we could all use these wise words.

Black & White

On Monday, one of my friends that is an amazing photographer captured this moment at the Knoxville Zoo. Fast forward a few hours, and I came across these amazing pictures of AnnaSophia (new favorite name) Robb from Teen Vogue.

annasophia robb in teen vogue, feb 2013

Needless to say, I am now caught in a frenzy of black & white. Who said the starkness of January couldn’t be inspiring? Winter whites tend to make me sleepy, but pair them with a bold black and I’m all over it. Here are a few ways to bring this contrasting combo into your own home this week…

This Week: Love Some Black & White | Secrets of a Belle

Misia Vase / Sonia Kashuk / Black Lilies