Samara

I ♥ the Internet.  I ♥ blogging.

Internet + Blogging = Samara

I've known Samara for a few years now.  We've chatted through our blogs, email and Facebook for a very long time.  At one point, I'm quite sure besides my mom, that Sam was the ONLY person reading this blog.


I only met Sam face-to-face a few weeks ago.  What a surreal experience...to feel like you know someone, but you've never physically met?  Well, it was fabulous.  We had a little photo shoot, and below is the beauty of Samara.


She helped me see that photography truly is a passion of mine.   One that I'm going to pursue again (see my photography tab at the top of the blog), the way I like, on my own terms, no looking back or second guessing.


Thank you Samara for everything ♥

♥ ♥ ♥
Olivia

Christmas Presents

Now that Christmas is done and over, I can share the pictures I took for my in laws for Christmas of all the grand kids.  I loved how they all turned out. 

Enjoy!

 ♥ ♥ ♥



My Father-in-Law calls them The Untouchables.
My nephew Isaac "Ikey"(5), My Niece Bianca (8), Jr. Mint (2), Penelope (5)



Junior Mint rules this little roost. 
Bianca is the the Mother Hen.
Penelope & Ike are Double Trouble. 
I refer to them as The Twins as they are only 4 months apart.



Best Friends.
Junior Mint is looking for his escape.



Cousins...but more like Sisters.





Fast Forward to when they are 18 & 15.
Locking them up.



♥ ♥ ♥
Love, love, love this sequence. 
Not planned.
Just them.
Cousins...more like brother & sister.



My girls.



My boys.



Inseparable.



So close.  So sweet.  So them.



 ♥ ♥ ♥

♥

Olivia

One Word Wednesday

Trusting My Gut & Following My Heart

Let me start this post off by sharing my most favorite quote of all time:

Your time is limited; don't waste it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.  Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.

-Steve Jobs

That quote just hits it home for me.  I have it printed out and hung up in my cube.  It inspires me every time I read it. 

I'm working towards something.  Something that my heart truly desires and all the parts are falling into place.  It leads me to believe I am finally on my way to following the destiny that has been set for me, but that I've been too stubborn or too scared to surrender to.  What I'm working on feels right, I don't feel like I'm trying to stuff myself into some mold that just does not fit me.  I promise once I'm closer I'll share the details. 

For the last 8 years I have thought I wanted to be a photographer.  I started out with a film SLR, taught myself everything I know about photography, including shooting manual.  Which is the only way I shoot...it's the only way that makes sense to me.  Taught myself photoshop, networked with professional photographers and procured mentoring sessions with some, invested heavily into gear and business stuff to get myself going.  To be a professional photographer. Invested a lot of time and energy.  But something was always missing.  I loved taking photos, and I really like editing them, but actually going out and getting the work always stalled me.  Even when people would approach me to take their pictures after seeing my work someplace else, I would almost panic.  Dread would set in.  But, I just chalked it up to nerves.  Chalked it up to insecurity, chalked it up to my own issues.  In retrospect, it wasn't any of these things.  I always knew in the pit of my stomach...in the deepest crevices of my heart what it was.  I was just too scared to verbalize it.  I had invested a lot of money, and I was afraid I would disappoint my husband.  He had all the faith in me, but I would always find a reason to not take the leap.

In this last year I came clean with myself and with my husband:  I don't like taking pictures of people(that I don't share DNA with).  No kids, no families, no head shots, no weddings, no birthday parties, no engagements, nothing. It's not for me, but it took me a long time to accept that.  I guess I felt like a failure.  But taking people photographs makes me never want to pick up my camera.  My favorite photography subjects are storm drains on a street, hidden messages among the urban grit, complete randomness. Marveling in the ordinary.  So, that chapter in my photographic story has ended.  No people photography.  Which in turn means no business.  But, I'm okay with that.  I just want to love my camera again.  Which I do.  She's a beauty.  She's old and beat up, but I love her.  I love taking a picture of something most people don't get.  But, if just one person "gets" it, my heart wants to leap out of my chest.  And that is more important to me than anything. 

So, here's to Friday, and here's to trusting your gut and following your dreams.

Friday Focus

So, I thought it might be fun to do a weekly “focus” on something that I find interesting, completely love, maybe even hate, and share it on here. I’ve learned SO MUCH this way…stalking other blogs, etc. and a lot of people do this, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon.

For the inaugural Friday Focus, I’d thought I would do a photography related post. Surprise, surprise.

My favorite kind of photography is what I like to call Urban Grit. It’s completely random, completely ordinary, but completely spectacular all at the same time. Some people might not even realize the marvel of it, or “get it” and I’m completely okay with that. After all, the old adage goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” And for me, that is the pinnacle of truth when it comes to street photography. This type of photography can actually make me hyperventilate. I’m not kidding. If I see something and I can’t stop right there, I make a mental note and go back to capture it later.

When it comes to street photography, my mind literally works like a shutter. I might just be driving, and look at something that I want to photograph, and it’s like my mind actually clicks and I can see what a picture would look like.

Street photography…random snapshots of a continually changing world is the reason I fell in love with photography many years ago.

The following commentary is just opinion. Just what I see and what I think of when I look at these pictures.

The following 3 are from Henri Cartier-Bresson…the Godfather of Photojournalism and one of the most influential photographers of our time.

Love the simplicity of the man and a cat. Is the man homeless? Is the cat his or just wandering? I love how it seems so desolate…the compression from the tall buildings. You can tell from Henri’s perspective he just happened upon this picture.

I think of the promise of new beginnings when I look at this picture. The gorgeous city and all the wonder and opportunity it holds if you can just get to the other side.

My favorite kind of photo op…looks like nothing but fields but then you happen upon this grove of trees. Love the leading lines in the picture.

These are from Hula Seventy’s site...her etsy shop is here.

Love the color and composition on these...love the throwback processing too.  So much fun!

These are mine…just randomness on the streets.

My absolute favorite.  Just in an alley off a side street.  Who was it meant for?  Do they even know this exists? 

Love this.

Another favorite.  This was etched into the sidewalk.  I just happened to look down.

To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.

~Henri Cartier-Bresson

Boxer For Sale

I swear.

If I didn't love this face so much...

And, if this face wouldn't be so lost without him...

I would have put a "Needs A Good Home" sign around Otis' neck and sent him on his merry way.

Why you ask?

Lets see. I had just finished my morning blog reading and was heading out to the kitchen to pick up some stuff when I spotted it.

Is that mud? Right there...and there...and over there...and there...and some more there? Surely it can't be shit. I mean I just picked it up, there might be 5 freshies in their big vast backyard. Surely Otis could not have found one of those piles and dragged it in. It has to be mud.

Good God, please be mud.

Nope not mud. Yep, it was shit. In about 5 different spots. I'm just glad I have tile. So after banishing both mutts outside while I bleached the hell out of the entire floor and then some...I'm still not ready to let them back in for fear of what other surprises they might bring me.

I need a drink.

My Favorite Place...

To kiss her. Is right there...that little hollow place on the back of her neck.