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Freelance Photography by Laura Shmania-- Chapel Hill, NC

Thanks for stopping by! Please check back regularly, as I add new photos every day!
For more info on my photography style and shows, see "Bio" click here

"May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life."
-- Apache blessing

Please do not use these images without my written permission. Email me
Photos ©2005-2008 Laura Shmania - all rights reserved.

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Featured Galleries

Picture a Day- January-May, 2008 : daily eye catchers

Picture a Day- January-May, 2008

daily eye catchers

Updated: May 11, 2008 1:28pm PST

UNC-CH campus : University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
website: www.unc.edu/

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill website: www.unc.edu/

Updated: May 07, 2008 4:39pm PST

Carrboro Day - May 2008 :

Carrboro Day - May 2008

Updated: May 08, 2008 6:17am PST

Polk Days-- Chapel Hill Preservation Society :

Polk Days-- Chapel Hill Preservation Society

Updated: May 11, 2008 12:26pm PST

Gallery Categories

5 galleries with 782 photos

Updated: May 11, 2008 1:28pm PST

3 galleries with 58 photos

Updated: May 11, 2008 12:26pm PST

12 galleries with 587 photos

Updated: May 08, 2008 6:17am PST

Southern Part of Heaven

6 galleries with 719 photos

Updated: May 07, 2008 4:39pm PST

Street Photography

1 gallery with 14 photos

Updated: May 01, 2008 3:46pm PST

Miscellaneousness

1 gallery with 340 photos

Updated: Apr 30, 2008 8:31pm PST

2 galleries with 448 photos

Updated: Apr 27, 2008 5:29pm PST

1 gallery with 3 photos

Updated: Apr 21, 2008 8:27pm PST

5 galleries with 74 photos

Updated: Mar 29, 2008 6:38am PST

Birds, Butterflies, Beaches, Bailey

4 galleries with 415 photos

Updated: Mar 28, 2008 11:17am PST

Barns, Farms, Cabins, Old Stuff

2 galleries with 165 photos

Updated: Mar 28, 2008 7:30am PST

Autumn in the Smokies

1 gallery with 82 photos

Updated: Mar 26, 2008 5:43am PST

1 gallery with 16 photos

Updated: Feb 05, 2008 7:48pm PST

1 gallery with 22 photos

Updated: Jan 19, 2008 7:52pm PST

Williamsburg, Virginia

3 galleries with 122 photos

Updated: Jan 01, 2008 8:12pm PST

3 galleries with 180 photos

Updated: Nov 28, 2007 7:05pm PST

1 gallery with 151 photos

Updated: Nov 28, 2007 7:02pm PST

Arts and Crafts

2 galleries with 49 photos

Updated: Nov 10, 2007 9:53pm PST

Doors, Porches, Fences, Gates

1 gallery with 73 photos

Updated: Jul 24, 2007 8:22pm PST

1 gallery with 54 photos

Updated: Feb 27, 2007 7:57pm PST

1 gallery with 42 photos

Updated: Oct 23, 2006 6:51pm PST

1 gallery with 58 photos

Updated: Oct 02, 2006 10:33am PST

Hay Bales, Fields

1 gallery with 42 photos

Updated: Sep 27, 2006 8:08pm PST

1 gallery with 28 photos

Updated: Apr 10, 2006 7:00pm PST

Most Popular Photos

11-29-06-- Wednesday
heavy fog this morning. afternoon sun warmed us to the 70's

"the art of art,
the glory of expression
and the sunshine of the light of letters,
is simplicity."

-- walt whitman

3-10-08-- monday

"we only have this moment,
sparkling like a star in our hand...
and melting like a snowflake.
let us use it before it is too late."

-- marie beynon ray

3-16-08-- sunday
blooming blossoms on flowering tree

"do you not see
that you and I
are as the branches of one tree?
with your rejoicing
comes my laughter;
with your sadness
start my tears
love,
could life be otherwise
with you and me?"

-- tsu yeh, 265-316 AD

1-1-07-- Monday
new beginnings

"from the end spring new beginnings."

-- pliny the elder, roman scholar & scientist (23 AD - 79 AD)

6-23-07-- Saturday

"color is the language
of the soul of the universe."

-- rudolf steiner

4-4-08-- friday

"the last, if not the greatest, of the human freedoms: to choose their own attitude in any given circumstance."

-- bruno bettelheim

3-21-08-- friday
a lovely day to be outside!

"friends are the sunshine of life."

-- john hay

8-2-06-- Wednesday

"every moment of one's existence one is growing into more
or retreating into less."

-- norman mailer

4-20-08-- sunday
dogwood blossom after a spring rain

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."

-- claude monet

1-28-07-- Sunday

"look under your feet.
the great opportunity is where you are.
every place is under the stars.
every place is the center of the universe."

-- john burroughs

10-18-07-- Thursday

"one misty moisty morning
when cloudy was the weather..."

-- mother goose rhyme

3-17-08-- monday
blossoms on unc campus

"... steady and strong
as the stars in the sky..."

-- lyrics by malcolm holcombe

9-9-07-- Sunday
I have wanted to try this for while-- photographing a ferris wheel at night!

4-21-08-- monday
cat peers through bookshop window

"I cannot live without books."

-- thomas jefferson

2-11-07-- Sunday

"the future belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams."

-- eleanor roosevelt

4-29-08-- tuesday
street photography- with a 15mm lense- and close up! I was about 5 feet away from these folks! it's a totally different kind of photography - pushing into it with an on-line photography class!

"you don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way."

-- marvin minsky

2-23-08-- saturday

"there are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. there are seven million."

-- walt streightiff

10-21-06-- Saturday

"we are nature.
we are nature seeing nature.
the red-winged blackbird flies in us."

-- susan griffin

4-2-08-- wednesday
experimenting with night photography- this by the light of a street lamp and reflected sky.

"ever felt an angel's breath in the gentle breeze? a teardrop in the falling rain? hear a whisper amongst the rustle of leaves? or been kissed by a lone snowflake? nature is an angel's favorite hiding place."

-- carrie latet

2-14-08-- thursday
happy valentines day! (not your normal bouquet shot) set the vase on the floor to photograph and ... oops! .... there comes the dog!

"a bit of fragrance
clings to the hand
that gives flowers."

-- chinese proverb

1-6-07-- Saturday
first week in january-- blossoms and bees and carolina-blue sky!! this is unseasonably warm weather for us! where's winter?

"to everything (turn, turn, turn)
there is a season (turn, turn, turn)
and a time for every purpose, under heaven..."

-- the byrds
words- adapted from the bible, book of ecclesiastes
music- pete seeger

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/byrds/turn+turn+turn_20026419.html

9-14-07-- Friday

"there are only two ways to live your life.
one is as though nothing is a miracle.
the other is as though everything is a miracle."

-- albert einstein

3-23-08-- Sunday
Easter morning sunrise on the beach

"God bless all those that I love;
God bless all those that love me;
God bless all those that love those that I love,
and all those that love those that love me."

-- New England Sampler

12-31-07-- Monday

"squirrels stash nuts in hollow trees and under fallen leaves... naturalists have seen squirrels dig through a foot of snow to find a cache of nuts. of course, the squirrels miss some nuts, and in this way they help plant the next forest..."

shadow tails -- 1994 by janice welsh

3-18-08-- tuesday

"it is of course possible to dance a prayer."

-- glade byron addams

8-17-07-- Friday

"butterflies are self-propelled flowers."

-- r.h. heinlein

5-9-07-- Wednesday
downpour!

"I wish you sunshine on your path and storms to season your journey. I wish you peace in the world in which you live... more I cannot wish you, except perhaps love, to make all the rest worthwhile."

-- robert a. ward

3-8-08-- saturday

"let us keep this truth before us.
you say you have no faith?
love - and faith will come.
you say you are sad?
love - and joy will come.
you say you are alone?
love - and you will break out of your solitude."

-- carlo carretto from "in search of the beyond"

in memory of eve.
may she rest in peace.

3-13-08-- thursday

"we can do no great things-
only small things with great love."

-- mother teresa

7-12-07-- Thursday

"take time to enjoy things-
the beauties of God's creation,
the many blessings of life."

-- paramahansa yogananda

2-1-08-- friday
nearly an inch of rain fell today, bringing us some moisture in the middle of a major drought. here a residence hall is reflected in a puddle on campus.

"did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real,
and you're just a reflection of him?"

-- calvin and hobbes

3-24-08-- monday
local llama

"life's objective is life itself."

-- goethe

2-22-08-- friday
the local bead shop

"all life is an experiment. the more experiments you make the better."

-- ralph waldo emerson

5-6-08-- tuesday

"gratitude is the fairest blossom
which springs from the soul."

-- henry ward beecher

1-24-07-- Wednesday

"the clearest way into the universe
is through a forest wilderness."

-- john muir

11-20-06-- Monday
my daughter makes her lunch to take to school every morning. this is her sandwich for today along with clementines, and "bumps on a log"- raisins on peanut butter coated celery sticks- and (not shown) fresh strawberries and cream cheese... hungry yet?!

"live in the sunshine,
swim the sea,
drink the wild air..."

-- ralph waldo emerson

1-20-07-- Saturday

"... and everything in life
responds to the song of the heart."

-- ernest holmes

11-3-06-- Friday
reflections of autumn colors in glass wall of downtown building

"live in the moment and make it so beautiful
that it will be worth remembering!"

-- crosby

2-2-08-- saturday
under the morehead-patterson bell tower -- carolina blue!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-- by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

-- Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

2-11-08-- monday

-- "no matter where you go...
there you are."

-- mary engelbreit card

3-31-08-- sunday
I am working with the preservation society of chapel hill to help bring awareness of the campaign to preserve murals by artist michael brown. this is a portrait of michael I shot today- to include in a photo book I am making- a percentage of profits to go to restoration of the murals.

click here to see the gallery of murals around town.

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