Practice

Just practicing Photoshop retouching on old photos. Still got lots to learn.

Photographer: Me

Model: Marisabel Fernandez

Post Processing: Me

year, month, day, week

I don’t know when is the right time to learn something, all I know is that there is always time for learning. But we only learn if we are aware of ourselves and are able to step back to see things from a different perspective. It has taken a lot of will, patience and discernment but I have made it through. I feel like I have learned more about myself which helps me learn about others. I learned that I cannot do and be everything I would like to and each of us have a special talent we need to develop on our own. There is time for everything, even though time is golden, health is golden also. Therefore there is no necessity for killing ourselves into doing something because someone else wants us to, or because we feel obligated to do it because we are committed. There is no point on forcing situations and doing everything our way; but we do need to push ourselves to go beyond our expectations and what we think we are capable of handling, then we will be surprised how much we are capable of doing. I’ve also learned that we are responsible for every situation in our life. The way we think and act shape our life and everything happening in it. The people we meet, the places we go to have a purpose, their lives are waiting to be influenced by ours and ours is waiting to be influenced by theirs, even in the smallest way possible. I learned that if you don’t put your heart into what you are doing, you will just be another human being who lives in autopilot; that is just surviving with an empty mind and heart. I learned that nature is one of the most precious and forgotten gifts we as human beings have, and we need to take care of mother earth in order for it to take care of us; which is not the case today. I learned that we are never alone, that loneliness is a psychological way  to hide our pride and inability to forgive others. Because sometimes we may think that people don’t like us but the truth is that sometimes we don’t like people. It is necessary to have our own space to reflect and meditate about our actions; because there is always space for love, forgiveness and doing good to others and you always need to be nice to yourself first in order to be truly nice to others. Also, we need to learn to listen more, observe more and learn to say less; less is more sometimes. We don’t always need to say what we think but more of what we feel.

One of my most memorable moments has been when I discovered that happiness is in my hands and just one step away. I have heard that we cannot trust anybody but I say we can trust ourselves and trust that life will always have the best for us. Because life is not like a shakespeare play, it doesn’t have a happy or sad ending, it has many beginnings. I learned to think that growing old is not a punishment, but it is a blessing and a product of the decisions made throughout our lives, and sometimes decision are better made when we don’t really know what is going to happen or how we will deal with them later; everything has its own time. I also learned that age doesn’t define maturity; maturity cannot be defined it can only be leaned but it cannot be taught.

I hope to keep learning with these ideas in mind.

Tango

I wish I lived in a tango, in between romance and exquisite melodies.

Everything

Deceit

Sometimes, we think we know what we want; but the truth is, we have no idea.

Our mind, plays tricks on us; or better, we play tricks on our minds.

 

Happy

 

 

If you have seen my blog around October of 2011. You know that I used to write along with my photographs. I felt like the experience was as important as what the photograph conveyed. I started to get some critiques and opinions from different people, then I started to realize that I didn’t want to photograph to need writing in order for it to be strong. I took most writing out and only left the most important one, it’s in my “Inspirations” page.

I could say I have been living in another world for the past year, and I just got away from my usual routine and my normal way of living; I took a completely different path. I feel like I have not been in planet earth, or maybe I have been in planet earth and I got away from the planet I usually live in. I have given myself to a way of being and living where I have fallen and risen a many times; watching closely not to hit my head too hard in order to stay sane and keep looking forward to what was next. A life I had never lived before, trying things I had never thought of doing and having self-control at the same time. I feel like this time has been so necessary for me and my personal work. It has helped me grow in large amounts and I could have not imagined it any different. I have learned to appreciate many things a lot more than I used to; like family, food, oxygen, health, happiness, people, the sun, warmth, affection, love, silence, inner peace, kindness, honesty, respect and even just an honest hug from a loved one. These are things that some of us have and we never stopped to think how important they are to our lives and for us to keep going every day. Someone asked me yesterday what I am going to do when I get out of college, I responded that honestly I don’t really know. I will know when the time comes. I do have many goals, dreams, aspirations and I am going to work like never before in order to accomplish them, but the most important thing that I wish to always have in my life is happiness; and I wish everyone in the planet is happy and good. Not matter what I am doing, of course they are going to be good things, the only thing that matters is that I have happiness and I can smile just because it’s sunny outside, or it’s raining, or just because I can breathe and I am alive and take advantage of the beauties of the world.

I post these photos of my nephew along with this writing because I remember one I day I was in my sisters car with a very good friend of mine and him. He was six years old at the time and my friend asks him what he wants to be when he grows up, and he says to us “happy”. It touched my heart, and it is very true, I will always remember that moment. He is the happiest most loving person I know. Even though I don’t get to see him very often because he is very far away, I could say he is one of the most inspiring and influential people in my life, along with my mother, father, brother and sister. To me we are not a normal family but I think every family its unique in its own beautiful way.

I am so glad I got to photograph him with my medium format camera. It was so important for me to do this. You have no idea …

Last but not least, I would like to thank a friend who gave me the motivation to write on my blog again, I honestly thank you from my heart for helping me. You know who you are

I hope I didn’t bore you with any of this, and if I did then check out the next post, maybe it wont next time …

I wish a beautiful day to all,

Peace and love!

AK

Covergirl NY – Portraits

Met her while she was shooting a “Covergirl” commercial in Battery Park NYC

Shot in color film with a Rolleiflex camera.

New

New

Inspiration – Martin Weber

Martin Weber

http://webermartin.com/work/a-map/

I got introduced to his work by one of my teachers. The first time I saw it I was extremely touched. It is on of the most beautiful works I have seen.