Crap Shoot

There once lived a little series on Maile's blog (Daily Relish) called Crap Shoot.  It's been in hibernation for a few years but it's so fun we decided to bring it back to life over here in Have an Epiphanie.

So here's how it goes:

What is it? It's the photo you almost deleted because everything was technically "wrong"; but for some reason you love it. And it can't be crappy for crap's sake. It has to make your heart happy.

When is it? Here, Wednesdays.

Why is it? Because life happens in bad lighting, with the wrong lenses. And once in a while, we all need to STEP AWAY FROM THE PHOTOSHOP and let imperfections BE.

As an example, here is one of Maile's "crap" shots:

And here's what she had to say about it - "Underexposed. I was just testing the light, and would have deleted it. Except that what I see here isn't an out-take. It's a man who, even at the end of a horribly stressful day at work, is sweet enough to load a loveseat and 3 kids into our car, and drive an hour and a half round trip so I can finally get this promo done. Never complaining once. thanks j."

View more of Maile's crap shoot entries here and here.

We know you want to play! Send your crappy, but make your heart smile shots to us at media@epiphaniebags.com. Don't forget to include a little back story and a brief bio about yourself. Lastly, please note "Crap Shoot" in the subject line.

Where Did You Have Your Epiphanie? // Rocky Mountains

Our travel series brings us back the States today as Leslie shares her Rocky Mountain adventure.

And an adventure it was. You see, Leslie's dear husband gave her a "photo safari" in the Rocky Mountains for her mother's day gift. You know, just a sweet and innocent short hike to photograph the sunrise and a waterfall.

Leslie is pictured below with her future brother-in-law, Nick.

Well this harmless little excursion turned into an unplanned, six mile hike up and down a mountain. And there was some snow. And she wasn't wearing proper hiking shoes! Leslie says, "Two miles of the hike was in the snow, deep snow! The trail itself was packed pretty solid, but very slippery. If you stepped off the trail, you risked sinking in the snow above your knees."

Can you imagine?

Luckily, her travel guide, Jared was kind enough to carry her Clover when the hike became the obstacle course of Leslie's life.

Jared, we don't even know you, but you are indeed a true gentleman!

Despite the elements, Leslie still came away with these five favorites for the Rocky Mountains/Estes Park, Colorado:

1) Hire a guide for a day trip. We used Yellow Wood Guiding (ywguiding.com) and learned a lot about the area and photography from Jared.

2) Have lunch at DeLeo's Park Theatre Cafe & Deli (www.deleosdeli.com) in Estes Park.

3) Hike the Wild Basin to Calypso Cascades and enjoy several other waterfalls on the way.

4) Drive Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitors Center. (http://www.nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/visitor_centers.htm)

5) See the sights or hike the trails at Bear and Sprague Lakes. Although less than 4 miles apart, Bear Lake was frozen and under several feet of snow while there was almost no snow to be seen around Sprague Lake during our trip there in late May.

Wow, thanks for sharing Leslie! Such a great adventure!

Attention all those who own Epiphanie bags! We know you've been to some fabulous places. Or live in some incredible, travel-worthy cities for that matter. We want to hear from you! Send a few shots and your list of 5 favorite things to do in that location to media@epiphaniebags.com.  Include a short bio about yourself and note "Where Did You Have Your Epiphanie?" in the subject line. Thanks!

Mixed Bag: A Mod Epiphanie

Happy mod Monday from Epiphanie!

Alex with AVE Styles helps us achieve mod girl fashion with:

Epiphanie Black Ginger
Dress - J.Crew
Scarf - Matthew Williamson
Straw Hat - ASOS
Belt - DKNY
Flats - Marais
Lipstick - MAC
Glasses - Ray Ban

Alexandra Evjen is a fashion stylist and founder of AVE Styles. You will find her regularly styling photo shoots, digging through closets, reading every fashion magazine she can get her hands on, frequenting coffee shops and enjoying the company of friends and family.

Lens Candy // Sarah Cornish

Welcome to Lens Candy! Here we'll feature a photographer, their favorite photo(s) and a brief back story behind the shoot.

Today's Lens Candy featured photographer is Sarah Cornish of My Four Hens Photography. In addition to being the amazing photographer that she is, Sarah is also quite the talented actions designer.

Here are a couple of Sarah's favorite shots:

"The first photo is from a client session. I took it with my Canon 90mm TS lens and was literally standing knee deep in the ocean trying to get the sun perfectly. This sweet little girl was so quiet and shy and reserved so I am positive she thought I was insane lol! Her mother is also a photographer and they had come to me from New York and spent five hours in the car to get to me and I can't tell you how amazing and wonderful they were to work with. As I was pressing the shutter button I was thinking I can NOT wait to get this photo home on the computer! I knew it was going to be a favorite of mine for a long time. I am a huge sun flair junky! I also used my Canon 5d Classic. (I shoot with two cameras.)"

"The second photo is from the same session. I actually took it after the session was over. We were heading back off the beach to the parking lot to find that the way we came in was completely covered in water. I had initially thought that we took too long since it was almost dark and high tide has just come in but when we got to the parking lot it was completely underwater. It was insane. I was chatting with mom about it because she isn't from the area and I had never seen anything like that before when I noticed her youngest daughter out of the corner of my eye wading over to her siblings. I adjusted my settings and snapped as quickly as possible. I love emotive photos and this one resonates with me for some reason more then anything else I have taken in a while. She just looks so thoughtful. I used a Canon 35L for this shot with my Canon 5d Mark II."

Thanks for sharing your favorite photos with Have An Epiphanie, Sarah! Your work is truly inspiring and we were so happy to have you as our first featured photographer in Lens Candy.

AND, we can't forget to mention that My Four Hens Photography is currently hosting a Grey Belle giveaway. If you haven't already entered, hurry because the contest ends tonight at 10:00pm CST!

Show Me Yours // Turquoise Belle

Alea from Alea Moore Photography is giving us a peek at her trusty Turquoise Belle today. She had this to say about her bag:

"Firstly, I must share how much I absolutely LOVE my epiphanie bag!!! I am baffled how I managed without it for so long, and now that I have it ( for little over a year now) it is just as important as any single piece of my camera equipment. Not to forget to mention, it’s SOO pretty!!!"

Thank you for the sweet compliments, Alea and thank you for supporting Epiphanie!

Now meet her Turquoise Belle + contents: 

Camera body
80-200mm
18-200mm
18-75mm
50mm
35mm
2 speedlites
Memory card holder/memory cards
Flash battery holder/2 sets of 4 AA batteries
Flash battery charger
Extra AA packs
Matches (cause you never know when you’ll need to light something on fire)
Tic tacs (so fresh and so clean)
Business postcards
Fav vendor business cards
Lens cleaners
Ibprophen (cause the body hurts after an 8 hour day on my feet)
Hair things
Bobby pins
Extra pair of earrings
Lip gloss
Chap stick
Pen
Phone
Instant coffee packs (a must have)
Stamps from italy
A few metro tickets from venice and paris
Notepad for notes, ideas, messages
Photo of my 3 girls
Sweet notes from my hubs reminding me how much he loves me!

And Alea's bag filled with the goods:

Thanks again for sharing, Alea!

If you want to show us yours, well go right on ahead! Send your photos + list of bag contents to media@epiphaniebags.com. Note "Show Me Yours" in the subject line. More information about this series can be found here.