Eat Drink & Talk About it: Oct 28, 2010

The only thing that seems logical to do at the moment while watching one of the most uplifting and inspirational movies that came out last year (I think it was last year) is to blog of course. Julie & Julia is the movie I’m referring to. While some may just see it as a funny “chick flick” about cooking, others, like myself, see it as a heartwarming story about a woman who digs deep and figures out a way to do what SHE loves. The way she hates her job, watches in agony as her best girlfriends succeed in their high paying assistant having careers yet still finds such joy in something so simple as making a good meal. Just goes to show that no matter how complex everyone else’s life may come across when put up next to your, what you seem to think of as an insignificant life, that it doesn’t really matter in the end. The only thing that will leave you with no “what ifs” at night is to simply do what makes you happy and do what you love and by that my friend, you will be the one who is the most rewarded with “the goodness”.

I am at the point right now where I somewhat envy the things I see my friends doing with their lives. I have been out of work since December and have been having a lot of fun while not working with all of my trips and such but at the end of the day I’m constantly stressed out about money. It has a way of consuming every bit of my thoughts and how I take hold of my days going forward. I try my hardest to recognize the amazing things I have surrounding me right now such as how incredibly patient and overwhelmingly supportive my friends and family have been with me while I’ve struggled to hash through this stressful period. Like all things, it WILL get better…it has to! The only way to succeed in life is to be positive and believe that although there are times “when your face looks like a punching bag and you’re elbow deep in Kleenex”, (name that movie) it will get better and the perfect sunset you see every day while walking your adorable dog, will be there to greet you again. “You just have to get up and look for it. The sunset isn’t going to smack you in the face if you’re sitting on your couch feeling sorry for yourself!” is what I tell myself every day.

As I sit here and ramble about how doing what makes you happy is the way to truly live your life the way it should be lived…I need to tell myself the same thing. Photography is my passion. Is has been my vice, so to speak from as far back as I can remember. It has never been something that I’ve wanted to do as a profession because I always assumed it would take the fun out of it for me. I’m uninterested in boring, portrait style photography…I love to merely capture a moment. Moments can’t be staged as far as I’m concerned and when they are, its obvious and it makes my skin crawl. Whether it be a 2 year old holding his favorite freshly picked yellow “wower” aka flower in a seemingly perfect day at the park with his mom or capturing the absolute silence in a steering wheel that was once driven by your late uncle…it’s a moment in time that speak volumes. I thank my father for teaching me my way through a lens and showed me that it isn’t silly to love it. “Don’t ever delete a picture” is what he says to me. Since I was a kid, he and I would walk around anywhere and beat each other to saying “wow…that’s a picture” (I said it first you owe me a beer). I drive my friends crazy with my picture taking. Whether it be a split second I see between my friend and her boyfriend, a moment that everyone else is blind to, or just a fun candid while out having a few beers with the people I love the most… they’re memories and they’re what make my days better in the end. All of the shots I’ve produced have been armaturely taken with a basic point and shoot camera, (expect for the so few times I was able to borrow my sister’s big boy) and I can’t wait for the day that I can proudly go about putting my mark on this world by effortlessly capturing precious moments out of people’s lives that will then never be forgotten...with my very own "big boy Mac Daddy camera.

With all of that being said and while I still don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel I am starting to really put myself first again in the equation of what we call life. I’m the decision I make every morning, not anyone else’s. I’m the one who deserves my thoughts, not the guy who doesn’t call. I’m the one who determines my attitude for the day, not the bill I am about to open that will bring me to tears. I’m the person who is the most important, not anyone else…I may have forgotten that but don’t be fooled, it didn’t last long.