personal opinion

In my own personal opinion (not to offend anyone's work or anything like that)...
I think adding excessive amounts of photoshopped dust onto a photo to make it look like film is kind of ridiculous... especially when it's the same dust in every photo and you can tell just by looking at the dust pattern.
I could maybe understand a little dust.... but this much? And all over? And so clearly digital?
I don't get it.
Again, just a personal opinion :)

thoughts

#1- My car has reached a whole new level of low.
I drove home from family dinner last night, parked my car in my carport and went to lock my door only to find that the lock was gone.... there is now a hole in my car door and I can only unlock from my passenger side, ha!
Congratulations Angelina, you are really earning the title of toy car.

#2- There have been many times in my life when I've been grateful that I can hold my tongue. Other times, I'm not so grateful because it would be great if I could say something witty and clever. But I think I'd rather be silent than say something that I'd later regret.

#3- Sometimes I feel like a barnacle when it comes to relationships. It's really quite the nuisance. I would love to be independent and unaffected by being single and alone... but I'm not. I'm currently rolling my eyes at myself and my inner 15 year old girl.

#4- I love nice people. People who are genuinely concerned about your well being and try to make sure that they are loving and kind to you. I try to be that person, I'm usually unsuccessful but at least I try.

#5- Lastly, I'm in the middle of finals right now. Yee-haw. Here are some photos from my final for my sports photography class... Alexia is an incredibly talented dancer, she blows my mind.

Happy Monday everyone :)

blessed

I am incredibly blessed to have such amazing parents. Words can't describe how much they mean to me.

living

I have a very long bucket list. And everyday I get older, I realize more and more that there aren't enough hours in the day or a lifetime to do everything that I want to do... it depresses me at times. I want to do it all and it's sad knowing that it's not possible.
Want to know a portion of my bucket list?

- I want to learn to sing.
- I want to learn to dance.
- I want to learn to...
          play the cello.
          play the piano.
          play the guitar.
- I want to be brilliant at graphic design.
- I want to be a moving writer.
- I want to...
          travel the world with film cameras and meet people from different cultures.
          be an incredible rock climber and climb amazing mountains.
          learn to swim.
          compete in an Iron Man contest and perform well.
          be an incredible fine art photographer that exhibits in well known galleries.
          master every historic process in photography.
          get my MFA in photography and teach at a university.
          learn how to weave.
          learn how to make lace.
          learn how to beatbox.
- I want to read every classic book and every book that has ever interested me.
- I want to learn calligraphy and letterpress and do both well.
- I want to make enough money that I can...
          own a home that is used as a safe haven to let battered women to take shelter.
          aid an organization in educating the public on the importance of spay and neutering their animals                   and provide those services for free.
          leave $100 tips for waiters/waitresses that are especially sweet to me or look like they need it.
          leave money in vending machines for people to stumble upon.
          give anonymous equipment donations to photography students in need.

- I want to raise a family....

If I had to pick one thing, I would obviously choose the last one.
Have you ever heard the joke that when a couple gets married, the "baby switch" turns on for the wife? It was very much true for me. Except I got divorced and that switch never turned off. I would love for a family more than anything but I have no opportunity for that anymore (or at least hopefully just right now). I guess I'll just have to wait and see where my life goes. Patience you say? Psh. Ya right. There's no time for patience ;)

“It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly…. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” -Teddy Roosevelt


“Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.” — Henry David Thoreau

tintype

This is a tintype of me. Awesomely cool? Why of course!

nature

Trees, mountains, rivers....
It's all sacred to me.

"Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere."
             -Ralph Waldo Emerson

dead

I've been thinking a lot about death lately.
Especially people in the news who have died from unfortunate accidents, horrific crimes or sad acts of suicide.
I feel that the majority of the time the person who died was "beloved", "adored", "nice and liked by everyone", "always happy" and "their smile would brighten anyones day". I've noticed that when people in my life have died, all of sudden they were everyone's best friend. They were the "nicest person in school" and "made everyone feel like they had a friend".
Now, please don't misinterpret what I'm trying to say. I'm not doubting that these claims are true. What I'm trying to say is... if that's how people really felt about the individual who passed, did they actually express it while the person was alive? If you were to talk to the deceased person, would they agree with everything that was said about them? Especially when it came to close friendships?
I remember when Michael Whittle died my senior year. It was horrible and heartbreaking that it had happened. But what bothered me was when I heard people claiming to be such good friends... even best friends... with him when I had never before seen them with Michael. I'd never seen them hang out with him in school, talk to him in the hallways, mention him in class. Nothing. And yet here they were, claiming to be his best friend.

I'm not trying to call out hypocrisy (even though the insincere who use the passing of another as means to gain attention is on the top of my list of how to be a horrible human being), all that I'm saying is that if you love someone, if you care for someone... make sure they know it. Don't let it be publicly declared when that person, who you love dearly, can no longer hear your words.