The hottest new fashion accessory

Smoking kills. I wouldn't be caught dead without one.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana--say that 10x fast

I vividly remember looking at a photo of a woman doing Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (king pigeon), a couple of years ago while thumbing through a yoga book. The image stuck with me. It is such a  graceful expression of the human form. While marveling at the beauty and complexity of the posture I recall thinking to myself  'My body will never be able to do that'. Another image of that pose was brought to my attention the other night. My friend had posted a photo of her in king pigeon on facebook. The spirit of the pose, the energetic brilliance of it just exudes beams of love shooting out of your heart center. So obviously I immediately wanted to test the limits of my body and hop right into that pose. Now that I have a strong yoga practice I assumed it was a done deal. I grabbed my nearest yoga mat, rolled it out on my kitchen floor and tried to shimmy my way into it. Right leg, left leg, nothing. Utter failure. I took a deep sigh and went back to my computer.  The next morning I went to class, chipper as always, not thinking anything of trying to revisit the pose anytime soon. My teacher happened to be the same friend that posted the photo on facebook. Without even requesting or asking her to work our way into the pose that day, she did. Without knowing it we were warming our bodies up to eventually get into the fullest extent of that pose our bodies are capable of. By being patient, using props, and moving with my breath I was delighted and astonished that I could actually touch my foot to my head! Less than 24 hours before I thought couldn't. I could all along, I just needed to use all the tools I have gained through my yoga practice to get to that point. King pigeon was such an important reminder that anything is possible. As long as you are willing to do the work and not get caught up in today's need for immediate gratification.

I am so grateful for this body, mind, and spirit that guide me though my practice.

Buddha

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world~

This is such a true quote from the Buddhist philosophy. I live by these words. Always seeing the light, staying positive, and optimistic. I find profound logic and reasoning up top in that great brain of mine. However, I have come to the realization that I am sometimes up in my head much too often. I need to release some of the power and control of my mind. Instead, react by sending the intuition I feel in my heart out into the world. React, and be completely engaged in the here and now. Stop. Feel. Live. Love. Breathe. Be Free.

Holy Cow

I had the joy of volunteering some of my time at the Gentle Barn. If you have not heard of this organization, you must check them out. It is an animal sanctuary that saves and rehabilitates animals from severe abuse, neglect, and slaughter.  Each and every animal has their own story, it is not easy to listen to, some really fucked up shit happened to such sweet beings. It is truly amazing that the animals they rescued are capable of love and trust after they had been so mistreated and had horrible previous lives. These animals are ambassadors of compassion. While spending my time there, it was hard not to fall in love with every single animal. I mean, did you know turkeys LOVE to be hugged!? Out of all the sweet little faces there, I felt the deepest strongest connection to the cows at the barn. Their curious, round,, brown eyes captivated my heart. I am sure you can see why.

I have this photo hanging in my kitchen above my stove. She is the only cow allowed in my kitchen.

power of the portrait

It amazes me what I am capable of when I am focused on the creative process of a photo shoot. My sweet little camera is a magical box. I am the magician with the power to transform people, to invoke a mood, emotion or a feeling. My goal was to take two completely different photographs of the same person. One portrait of what she looks like. The other was to create a sense of mystery using shadow. On this particular day I had the enchanting Kristelle in my clutches to preform my vision. The day ended up being so beautiful, a day  full of laughs, smiles, matcha, sunshine, rain, music, nuts, yoga, shadows, tears, love, and rainbows.

Motion

A really great friend of mine has unmistakable positive energy. Super fun. She has a deep passion for music. We love to dance and be crazy carefree together.  She loves the city of L.A. She soaks up every second of living here. To the max.  I wanted to capture all this for my latest photo assignment titled motion.

Tears of joy

As I woke up this morning, I stepped outside to allow the fresh air wake up my sleepy skin. A little glisten caught my eye. I was enamored with the simple little yellow daisies covered in their morning dew. I walked closer towards them, I could see my reflection in their water drops. Mirror image.  Just like me they were not all awake quite yet. It seemed as if they were stretching and yawning. Slight hesitancy to greet the world. As I was having this moment with my daisies, I couldn't help but wonder, what if these droplets of morning dew were actually tears of joy? Life is that good.

random household objects

Being forced to take photos of random everyday objects is really allowing me to see more beauty, form, pattern, and irony throughout my day. I was told to make a brown paper bag look visually stunning in a photograph. At first I thought to take a shit in it and light it on fire. That would be pretty visually stunning, no? But then I really started thinking about those little brown paper bags and what they really mean. I realized that they are a representation of consumerism. I lined them up. 27 of them. Like little soldiers ready to preform their duty. Just shuffling down the conveyer belt. To be stuffed, loaded, crammed and filled with all the odds and ends we want. In taking this photo I started to sympathize for the brown paper bags. I created a relationship with them. They came from the earth, in the form of a beautiful life giving tree. And will end up back in the earth in the form of trash. This assignment ended up being a reminder of the cycle we get caught up in. I went from wanting to light a load on fire in it to understanding and feeling compassion for brown paper bag. I always try to be, and most certainly will be much more mindful the next time I am asked 'paper or plastic'. I will whip out my canvas tote and say 'neither'.

I AM my own muse

I AM natural

I have been taking photos for over 10 years now, a bit more seriously in the last 5. In this time it has been very rare that I take photos of myself. I feel much more comfortable behind the camera rather than in front of it. Well, its is time to take a step out of my comfort zone...and apparently out of my clothes. Day one, class one at the Art Center we are given the assignment of a self portrait. one inside my home and the other outdoors. Both had to make a statement of how I communicate myself to the rest of the world.

I AM radiant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both assignments were fun and exploratory.

Dancing with my inner artist

Once upon a time... I feel like my blog should start like a fairytale story. After all I am the queen. Now that we have that established, we can talk about what is really important. Photography. The intention of this blog is to keep an ongoing digital journal of sorts to store and share my creative journey as a photographer. I am not setting a boundary that limits my posts solely to photos. I will be mixing and blending all the facets of life that get my creative juices flowing, art, yoga, love, food, animals, light, darkness, humans....
And so begins the dance with my inner artist.