Born to be Fab

In this photo, staring with the top row, my aunt, my grandmother and my mom. Bottom level is my cousin, me and my older sister. 

This past week I started a journey finding/looking/discovering old photographs that my parents have stuffed in boxes. Believe it or not, I've NEVER seen a photo of myself younger then 18-24 months. I came across this photo and was blown away. I mean, I don't want to brag, but to you see that cute baby in the middle? Wearing the pink one piece? Yes, that's me. I must have only been a few months old but quite possibly the cutest baby ever. Ok, I'll stop bragging now, but considering this is the first time i've seen myself this young, I think I have the right.

Any who, There are several other things that drew me to this photo, the furniture, clothing and overall theme to the room. Boy oh boy how things have changed. This is also of of the few photos that I have with all three generations. My grandmother lives in Poland and needless to say, we don't see her that often. When I was a baby she came over to the US once or twice, and I've been to Poland about 3 times, but I haven't been in years. There are the memories that are great to capture in photographs, so thank you to whomever took this photo many many years ago. It's created a great memory for me. 

I've been feeling nostalgic lately, so expect a lot more old photos to come. 

Flickr Friday: Twin Peaks Through A Pentacon Film Camera

Twin Peaks Through A Pentacon Film Camera, originally uploaded by Troy Holden.

One of my favorite SF photographers. He always does amazing work. This photo is beyond words to me.

Boom Boom POW

Kayla's her name and she's darn proud of it! Kayla probably only owns things with her name on it. No lies. Her Kayla ring, necklace, notebook, pencil... The girl's got pride. 

A Very Merry Happy Birthday to Kayla

Click here to view on Flickr

Today my friend Kayla turns 23 years young. Well, according to her facebook invite she is really turning "21 the trilogy" or something of the sort. In honor of her big 21+2 I thought it would be appropriate to share her photo booth session! I think it turned out amazing and Kayla was a great model. More photo booths to come soon!

Happy Birthday Kayla! I'm excited for 21+3! 

Flickr Friday: the decision

the decision, originally uploaded by Ąиđч.

Yesterday I discussed how music can turn a bad day around or inspire you to turn something negative into something positive. I was browsing Flickr and came across this photo. Now, records aren’t exactly the desired form in which we listen to our music nowadays, but this photo represents (to me) how promising a new record/album/song can be. I know I’m almost too young to remember the days of actual music stores and CD’s/records/cassettes, but there was always a thrill about walking into a store, not knowing what you will find and falling in love with a new artist or song.

Records remind me of having an all-around good time. Some of my favorite family moments are when we listen to old records with playing cards together. There is something about records that bring people together.

feel good, be good and do good

Something that has always made me feel good is music. One little thing can go wrong during the day and it’s all turned around with a song. I’m a SUCKER for classic rock, so if I’m feeling down or uninspired I’ll listen to Journey’s, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” For the record, I know this song is totally over played but I could care less. It’s my jam. You want proof? In high school my friends and I used to drive in my convertible (top town of course) blasting and screaming the lyrics to “Don’t Stop Believin’.” More proof? The lyrics, “don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feelin’” are forever embedded in my senior yearbook under my picture. That’s dedication my friend.

Anyways, music is a real ‘pick me up’ for me, I’m sure it is for you too. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Adele. The Adele station on Pandora is on point! It’s made me re-fall in love with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. My iPod is now filled with these artists (and many like them). The songs are so pure of heart and honest. No cussing and no bashing. They are mostly positive and upbeat. The artists weren’t trying to be someone they weren’t.  They certainly didn’t need to wear dresses made out of meat to be noticed (don’t get me wrong I love lady Gaga). Old school music just has so much more depth to it. The song that I am currently stuck on is Aretha’s, “Sisters are going it for themselves.” Maybe I’ve watched “The First Wives Club” one too many times in my life, but this song is original girl power. Ladies, if you are ever feeling down and out, give this a listen, you won’t be disappointed.

Our Thoughts are Forming the World

Photo by Lola Rain

Feeling lack of inspiration, I’ve been given the advice to find my “blog voice” and topics. I’ve been really focused on my photography, and when I have no new photos to blog about, I don’t blog. It’s a struggle for me because I’ve always felt like I wasn’t the strongest writer. My spelling is atrocious and my grammar is questionable, but I’ve come to the realization that I’m not getting graded for my work. Sure, people are going to judge what I write about or how I write it, but at the end of the day I give myself a grade.  I’m judging myself! This brings me to the something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately…

We are what we think. We attract things to ourselves by the way that we think. If I think I’m a bad writer, I’m going to be a bad writer. Another example,  If you think you aren’t going to find parking in a busy area, guess what, you won’t. If you have a positive attitude about parking and one the  drive over there, guess what, you’ll find the parking spot you want. I told my friend Ryan to so this last week and guess what, he got the parking he wanted!

I’m slowly becoming a firm believer that you are what you think.  You attack positive or negative energy towards you by the way that you think. If you believe that you are going to become an artist, broker, fashion designer or a millionaire, it will happen. It could happen in 10 minutes or 5 years. You just have to believe it. This leads me to finding out what I want. I guess you could say that I’m not really sure yet.  It’s hard to focus on positive thoughts when you don’t know what you are striving for. As of this moment, I’m still trying to figure that out so I can start walking down the right path.  I know that I want to start on more photo projects and take more mini vacations, but I want to think more long term.

What are you goals? What keeps you positive?