Andy's Idea Factory

This past Tuesday the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council hosted its monthly Talking Green event on "Greening Up Your Holidays," and I spent several days gathering tips in many categories to present on.  I thought I'd post it here as well, enjoy! Halloween Costumes Buy face paints and lipstick without lead, nickel, cobalt, chromium, which can affect brain development cosmeticsdatabase.com Buy safe nail polish from Skin Deep Avoid powder cosmetics which can affect the lungs Skip the hairspray which have toxic chemicals Use non-paraffin (petroleum based) and non-scented candles for cleaner air Create low-impact costumes (used, homemade, etc), or host your own costume swap Food If hosting larger parties, see our Zero Waste Event Guidelines Compost all food waste Use paper bags instead of plastic for baking the turkey Replace canned ingredients with local foods with minimal travel distance for reducing carbon fo...

Earlier this month I was blessed to spend an entire weekend with Canon (camera)'s best of the best in Moab, Utah at the Red Cliffs Lodge photographing Arches National Park and cowboys at the ranch. One of Canon's esteemed " Explorers of Light ," Tyler Stableford instructed the class, and four Canon tech representatives and Tyler's #1 man Draper assisted us with trying out high-dollar Canon bodies, lenses of all angles and lengths during the sessions. We were instructed on Tyler's workflow , programs, and editing techniques as well, and went home with three huge prints of our best work after Sunday's critique. All in all in was one the best experiences of my lifetime in terms of photography; having not been in a classroom setting since college, I was able to pack in as much learning as I could in a short two-day workshop. Needless to say the take-away was indescribable; here are some major points for those of you who want to take your photography to the ...

Photographing a wedding is a fun, magical experience for me; I feel like each wedding is its own unique adventure that is propelled by the personalities of the couple and their families. But it can also be a stressful day if the events are hurried, so I have a thorough checklist that I prepare for myself to make sure every shot request gets taken, my equipment is up for the job, and the day flows smoothly for the bride and groom. Having planned my own wedding, that experience now lends its expertise to my day as well. Before the wedding: I always meet with the bride and groom several weeks or months beforehand to discuss their expectations and their package of choice, but then we meet again the week or day before their day to go over the site and day of events. It's often easiest to meet just before their rehearsal to see the location once again. I take these meetings to double check: List of formal and informal shots the bride has requested Wedding colors Number of guests and...

It's been quite a while since we've had a total McGuyver moment in our house, but last weekend's kitchen maintenance was worth a quick post... At some point last month our freezer started getting warmer, ever so slightly at first, until this month, when it started making water in the ice container. We pulled out the ice tray, cranked the temp knob to max 9, and waited. We turned it on and off, we cranked the fridge temp... nothin'. Then our fears manifested- there was a considerable amount of water in the foot pan. After asking around, it sounded like we were going to need a new unit entirely, but luckily we aren't inclined to give up that easily. So we pulled out the unit (unplugged it and turned off the water for safety) and I took off the back panel to find 10 years of nasty, furry dust, as well as a pan full of water. Neither are easy solutions, apparently. I tried to vacuum the dust out with the hand held and the big vacuum, but that dust wouldn't budg...

Because the market is always changing, early this summer I logged several weeks of research on the subject of Photobooks for a wedding I'm doing later this month. After reviewing dozens of sites, I only came up with about 6 that stood out above the rest. But I had overlooked one that has turned out to be one of my favorites: www.Mixbook.com Mixbook is similar to several other sites in its ease for beginners, offering dozens of templates and programming that's easy to learn. But where Mixbook excels is in some key areas for me. Their tutorials are quick and extremely helpful, from choosing themes to getting ideas to general help, these short videos are an asset to this website for sure. Mixbook offers a huge variety of packages, many different sizes of books and tons of themes, from weddings to baby books to yearbooks, Mixbook definitely makes the design process more fun than its competitors. Within each design set are dozens of page layouts to choose from, from 1 to 20 pi...

I was lucky enough to dine with Steamboat F&B Director Liz (and our husbands) earlier this month to shoot some of the great dishes at Hazie's on-mountain Restaurant. We had a long sunny evening to work with and some interesting photo results that made me realize this would be a great Photo101 post. From Hazies Food 7.31.10 When photographing food there are some key settings that your digital camera can improve your shots with. If you've been reading the other Photography101 posts , you'll already know I vehemently urge you to take the Auto Setting training wheels off and shoot in manual modes to make the most of your camera's technology and artificial intellect, which IS smarter than you (deal with it). In regards to lighting, I prefer natural lighting to flash, and an attached flash to the standard on-camera flash. The on-camera flash will make your photos look unprofessionally blown out or ill-exposed, so my tips below are focused on NOT using that standard fla...

In previous posts in this series I've highlighted finding healthy options for on your body , in your body , and in your environment, but I realize this is barely scratching the surface of Healthy Living and want to offer up some additional ideas from the factory for follow-through to keep you on the healthy path! Firt, your body knows best. It really does, believe it or not. It's just a matter of whether you can hear it or not! Find the best method for you (meditation, prayer, guru) to get in touch with your higher self and do it sooner than later. This will go a long way for both physical and mental health, security of self, intuition, etc. And when your body begins to speak to you, listen wisely to all the nuances you once ignored. What gives you energy? What gives you peace? What makes you happy? What makes you angry? Second, don't just rely on Western Medicine. While this medical philosophy is great for cutting cancerous moles off your skin, fixing broken femurs...