project 365

The Dam

~ Kristen ~ 6 Comments

Dusted off the camera yesterday.  I missed it, and had to take it out for a beautiful stroll at my favorite park.  It was a gorgeous day, a little overcast, but still very warm.  I don’t mind the humidity much, so long as my car has the AC to come back to.

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I tried my hand at a slow shutter speed with no tripod.  It’s not exactly tack sharp, but not too shabby, I think.  I love this view of the Dam.  It’s water is so nasty because of all the rain we had gotten last week, but honestly, it’s always been murky.  But the walking trails, and the trees, and listening to the birds are worth the dirty water.

I always feel like my posts are kind of depressing.  I am always so down on myself because I can’t seem to get back on track with my 365.  I apologize.  I seem to be going through a tough time at the moment.  But if you will allow me to dump on you….

Have you ever just wanted to run away from life?  Just run to see how far you can get, and then run even further?  Leave everything about your life behind, assume a new identity, see if you can start fresh and do things differently?  Obviously this isn’t a very responsible thing to do, but some days I wish I could just…..run.  Some days I think life likes to play its cruel jokes on me and then kick me for good measure.   Ugh, sorry for being such a debbie downer, I promise I am not usually like this.  Sometimes I feel like the only way to vent is through typing to complete strangers who don’t really know me, or know the gory details about my life and there seems to be something so therapeutic about hearing the clack-clacking of the keys against my fingernails.  Or the fact that if I am feeling better, I can just hit the delete key and pretend this never existed.  As selfish as this may sound, I don’t write this for sympathy or for anyone to feel sorry for me.  As a matter of fact, I’m not really sure if I really care if anyone actually reads this or views my pictures.  I write and I shoot for me, because in a lifetime of pure misery with a few bright spots, I have to force myself to find somewhere to vent or find something that brings me joy or I’ll just scream.  Scream until nothing comes out and I’m not sure my neighbors would appreciate that very much being that it is after midnight.  I have gone into this blog with absolutely no expectations, so every like and every comment and every follow is that little ray of sunshine seeping through.  Thank you friends, for bringing some light to this very dark soul.

I think I chose photography as my avenue because I feel like it is the one part of my life that I can control.  I haven’t mastered all that these brilliant machines have to offer, but I can manipulate settings, and fire test shots until I get the exact picture I am looking for.  Then I can busy myself with uploading it into my editing program and there I can unlock all of the options to make it just how I want it to be.  What colors I want to mute or enhance, where I want to focus to be, and if it isn’t sharp enough well, lucky me, my software comes with a sharpen slider to where I can make it look sharper than it really is.  (Although I am sure, if you zoomed in, you could totally tell!)

Sorry for the rant tonight, it’s just been one of those millenniums.

I truly hope you and your families have a wonderful 4th. ❤

-K

Teenager

~ Kristen ~ 1 Comment

TDB

My teen is heading out of state.  He’s never been so far away from home before.  I’ll admit, I am a bit nervous, but super excited for him to experience things without me hovering about.  I remember my church retreats growing up.  I had so much fun with my friends away from my parents.  I hope he has a blast. ❤

Once Bitten…

~ Kristen ~ 6 Comments

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A co-worker of mine just got back from Iceland yesterday.

And I’m green.

He told of a place where the summers have no night, and the cuisine, the freshest ever tasted.  A place where you can bathe in these geo-thermal pools of water, and watch geysers spring up from little cracks in the ground.  All of this reminded me of my trip out West with my mom.  Thank goodness we had gone when we did, otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to go.  I remember being in complete awe of this vast land untouched by man.  These mountains, and these cliffs and these tunnels and these man-eating bison!  Ok maybe they weren’t man-eating, but they look like they could devour a man if they wanted to.

So now I am inspired.

This is a pic I snapped of the Midway basin at Yellowstone.  They tell you not to step off the bridge or you could fall through the earth.  I’ll be honest, it did freak me out a little.  There were no rails, and just a friendly little shove could send you hurtling through the surface into the scalding water below.

I miss it.

I feel like when you travel to sight see, you are actually living.  You are fulfilling dreams and checking items off of your list of future regrets.  I remember being at Zion National Park in Utah, and being so scared driving so close the cliffs.  I swore, one wrong turn of the bus and we’d be toast.  People had asked if I had dared to hike Angels Landing to which I replied “not only no but HELL NO.”  I remember reading that on that trail, there had been 5 or 6 hikers to plummet more than 5,000 feet to their death.   Towards the top, there is steep rock and one flimsy metal chain link to keep you tethered to the mountain.  No thank you.

However, take a trip to Honeyville to Crystal Hot Springs to sit in the mineral water, I am so there 🙂

Happy Travels.

K.