Specs: (camera) Nikon D200, (lens) Sigma 18-50mm at 26mm, (aperature) f/4.0, (shutter) 0.5 sec, ISO 100 Edited with: Photoshop Elements 8 (PSE8) & RadLab plug-in – http://www.TotallyRad.com

Like I mentioned in one of the last posts about this project, I’m not starting out real strong here. I guess that gives me plenty of room for growth, right? Though you may be hopeful, I shake my head because I know I’m capable of much better than this photo may convey. Truth be told I snapped this one with no additional light except that which is already installed in our ceiling. I did move some furniture slightly out of the shot, but no heavy lifting. Total shooting time: about 15 minutes. In my defense, I had had a long day of running around, and this was shot at about 9:30 at night.

Okay, enough photography ramblings. The story behind this piece of furniture is kind of fun. Every year there is a huge festival in Kendallville, Indiana called the Apple Festival. All the vendors prepare their food and crafts in the olde tyme tradition and dress like John Wayne, Annie Oakley, or Tonto. People come from all over to this mad-house and tie up the entire town of Kendallville, mostly for the food. My mom and I went for lunch and somehow found ourselves wondering around a building full of antiques. I have no idea how that happened! Well, to make an extremely long story short, I bought this hall tree. My husband and I managed to get back to the festival to pick it up without killing anyone, which is a major feat considering Matt’s intense hatred of large crowds. I was sternly told to, “Never buy furniture at the Apple Festival again!” I have no problem with this ultimatum whatsoever. As a reward for all the stress I put him through, we went out to eat at one of his favorite authentic Mexican restaurants, El Patron. When we got the hall tree home and set it up, I was thrilled. It fit perfectly in the space, and looks gorgeous in our living room. Matt’s first comment as he inspected the new old piece of furniture, “I wish it had antlers on it instead of these hooks.” I just laughed and said, “We’re not changing them.”