Newness

Hi everyone!

I mentioned several months ago in the previous post that I wasn't finished blogging. So, I now present:

http://aperturemittens.blogspot.com, where you can find my photos

&

http://inkblotswritinglog.blogspot.com, where you can check out the progress of the literary pursuits of my friends and I. We're in the process of recovering from NaNoWriMo at the moment. 


 - Mia

Transitions

I've been thinking of this post for a few weeks now.

When I started this blog, I didn't know where it would take me or what I would experience. It's been an adventure, writing it and meeting other bloggers via the Internet. An adventure I've learned a lot through and have really enjoyed.

Now, it's my time to start a new adventure. I'm not sure yet which way I'll go, or where I'll end up, but I have ideas. My photography has come to a crossroads - I feel a pressure to get serious with it.

My change from homeschool to a full class load on a campus is also reshaping my view on things. Life in general, the future . . . those kind of things. I'm afraid that, for now, I don't have the time to write a satisfying blog.

But I'll keep writing and reading. I'll keep honing my photography. I'll keep being enchanted by life and love. And I'll grow my new interests, too.

This blog was started by a fourteen-year-old dreamer. Now she's sixteen, has new ideas and altered dreams.

 I have a feeling that I'm not finished with blogging - but I know that I'm finished with H,W. It has been fun, though. So, so fun and interesting. I loved the experience. When it's time for me to start up again, in a new place with the aforementioned new ideas and direction, I'll know it.

But until then, I'm backing off, to let myself transition from the past to the present. That in itself is an adventure!

And before I go, there's something I have to say: Thank you. For all the fun comments you have left and the wonderful blogs you write, thank you! It's been a joy to be inspired by you.

Keep growing, everyone!
M

PS - An afterthought: Isn't life nuts? And isn't God good? 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

~Hebrews 13:8

Unsure of a title . . .

. . . but I know what's on my mind.

While I love a good blog post, I'm not always sure I'll pull one off.

My blog is my my time capsule. My time capsule. And even though I want to put days and weeks into it, I don't always have the hour or so it takes to do that cleanly and satisfyingly. Sometimes, most times, even, I don't even have the inspiration. The only thing I want to do is not forget anything beautiful. I don't want the pictures I took of those beautiful things to be forgotten, reduced to a number on the hard drive.

(I've been finding it hard to find a reason to publish a post without a photo, even harder than finding time to post at all. If that makes sense.)

So photos and memories are, apparently, the two biggest reasons I blog. And I have some good photos and memories from over the last week to capsule.

I've been so busy, doing so many different things I could talk/write about for hours, that I didn't have time to download the photos from my cameras onto the computer. Next week, I'm anticipating that it'll be so busy again that I won't have the time or patience to sit down at the computer and plug in the cameras, purge the photos that need purging, and whip the others into shape.

I'll maybe still be taking photos, and I'm certain that I'll be making memories, but whether or not I'll chronicle them here, or on flickr, or even order prints of my favorites, is another matter.

It's important to live fully. And while documenting your own personal reality via words (blog or personal journal in my case) and photos, I still have to remind myself that even if the memories aren't being properly stored or reflected upon, the experiences still happened. They made me smile when they happened, and their afterglows are delightful while they last. And just like the past experiences, of a day or week or season, happened, there are still countless others to go out and live.

Ok, I've written candidly this whole time, and I think that I've finally found my point: Life goes on. Whether what has happened was good or bad or boring or weird, life goes on. And if you're a Christian, life really keeps going on! =)

This post is now really long, and I'm getting really tired, so I'll sign off. If you had the stamina to read all the way here from the beginning, know that you deserve a mocha or frosted brownie or something equally delightful. =) On a different note, know that I really do appreciate you readers.

♥
~M

PS - I still have the want to capsule this last week, as it was one of the most memorable of my life thus far . . . because I started school. I'd really love to show you pictures and write a few (dozen) paragraphs, but you know why I'm not going to. Not today, anyhow. =) xoxo

Moments.

My friend picks up a cookie and the bottle of sprinkles. The sky is bright blue behind her, and the pink and purple of the candy and her nail polish make a cute color combo. Suddenly, I have an idea.

"Emily, I'm going to ask you to do something weird . . . " I say as I stand up to fetch my camera. "Keep sprinkling that cookie."

"Okay. . ." she laughs as I kneel and start taking some shots.

Soon, we're both laughing.

"Alright, thanks," I say as I stand up. "Wanna see the photo?"

A photographer, whose name I simply cannot recall right now, said that "Photography is the art of moments."

I really couldn't agree more. =)

Love,
M

Arriving at a Photo

The other day, I wanted to take a picture of my desk for my photography project. I had just joined Pinterest and wanted to show off how it inspired me to organize that usually-cluttered piece of furniture. Here's how I got it the photo I decided on.



The first photo I took. It's alright, but I'm certainly mot satisfied with the distracting background. And this whole deal was about the death of clutter, so I'll try something else.



Second angle. I like it, but it wasn't quite what I had in mind . . .



Here we go! I like this one - it's clean, bright, and the order is clear. Maybe it's a bit too clean, though . . .



. . . so I added an extra element to make the whited-out half matter a bit. Have I mentioned that G2 pens are a favorite of mine?

So there it is! A nice thing about digital photography has to be the breathe-easy way of experimenting . . . no film's being wasted, after all!

Of course, the beauty of film is that you're not going to take a photo that might not be what you want . . .

But that's a different topic entirely. =)

PS - Check a guest post I wrote here today!