good vs. evil – Promoting Passion

12/31 July Challenge

brookeshaden — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 17:04:31 +0000

I had such a busy day yesterday that I didn’t have time to brainstorm my next photo. Well, technically, I did have time, but I chose a little self-care instead, which meant eating a giant artichoke and watching Sherlock. It was stupendous. But then 4:00am rolled around and I popped out of bed wondering what in the world I was going to do, or if I should just go back to sleep and phone it in today. I felt awake and ready for a challenge, so I pulled my clothes on and ran to the garage to see what goodies I had hiding.

I noticed my hula hoop, which has been hanging uselessly for three years, and I wanted to do something with it. It was calling to me. I threw it in the car, looked at dresses, and kept power-brainstorming (that’s when you’re under a deadline and your brain is in danger of exploding). That was when I remembered a little passage I had written yesterday that I saved, and wanted to do something based on that. The hula hoop suddenly fit perfectly into this scheme. I chose the longest dress I had, of a neutral color and no decoration, and started driving.

The question I am most fascinated with is WHY. Why do you create? Why do you bother getting up in the morning? What compels you?

Living, creating…they are not so different. In my mind, they are not different at all. I create…

To be understood
To feel less alone
To experience my imagination
To forge my own reality
To give my life meaning
To have adventures
To connect
To destroy my perceptions and rebuild them
To be the person I want to be.

This image felt right for me today – a darkness grabbing at the bottom of the character, a lightness at the top. Ascending…descending. Turning into darkness, becoming light. That doesn’t much matter. What is important for me is that I recognize the duality of my creations, of my life, of my persona. To embrace each part of you that would shout for a voice to be heard – that is the heart of why we create.

What is your why?

Creating: “The Shadows We Follow”

brookeshaden — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 15:28:27 +0000

Sometimes change is necessary to feel refreshed, inspired, and motivated. It could be something as simple as changing your daily routine. For me, back in November, it was changing my hair color. I made it white/lavender so that I could feel more like a fairytale character. However, after a couple of weeks, that color faded to a bright yellow, and I had lost the inspiration that came with the change. Once my travel schedule settled down I went back to get my hair done and said only one thing: “I don’t care what color my hair is, as long as it’s not yellow.”

We settled on a brown color, though which brown I did not know. I like bold change, and so I left the salon with dark brown hair…and I adore it. It is just the change I need to feel like a character again. When I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror I hardly recognize myself…I am a natural blondie after all. The other day I was thinking about this change, and although it is only superficial, had me thinking about more internal matters.

Noticing the stark contrast of my pale skin and the dark hair, I began to think about how white and black are perceived through symbolism. Very often the connotation is good vs. evil, and so I decided to create an image with that theme in mind. I used my hair to my advantage in this self-portrait, allowing it to pull me in one direction while my white dress pulled in another. So often we feel this pull: good/evil, life/death, right/wrong.

To create the image I photographed it on my patio, as I so often do, using my neutral wall as a backdrop. My hair was just dark enough against that gray color to isolate it and cut it out from the background to place it on one I photographed when I was in India a week or so ago. I started this shooting process by flinging my upper body forward with my hair to capture that portion. Afterwards, I began moving the dress behind me and capturing that movement.

Mind you, when I say “dress” I really mean “bed sheet”, as that is one of my favorite costumes. It is versatile, simple, and very inexpensive…my kind of costume! No matter how many dresses I buy, I always go back to different colored bed sheets as my favorite of all. There are so many possibilities with them!

Finally I knew that I needed a dust/dirt effect in my final image. I also knew that I needed to photograph something light for the dust on the dress and something dark for the dust on the hair. That was when I decided to photograph just one handful of “dust” – or in this case I used baking flour – and then invert the color when I needed to make it darker. By adding contrast to that shot, the background became darker while the flour became whiter, making it easier to isolate the flour from the background.

Promoting Passion Week 39: Strength & Weakness

brookeshaden — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 11:57:59 +0000

Strength vs. Weakness.

What are yours?

Why do I ask? Because understanding these simple (albeit hard to discover) things about yourself will give you the foundation with which you can build the life of your dreams. If you understand your strengths, you are more likely to capitalize on them. You will understand yourself better, make choices that are suited to you and how you want to live your life, and you will gain confidence. Understanding that everyone has something amazing inside is the first step to loving yourself fully. Weaknesses are just as important. In the same way that we must love ourselves to find personal success, we must also recognize that we are constantly evolving.

Do not beat yourself up for the areas you are lacking, but instead identify them and draw up a game plan to fix them.

I’ve got some major flaws. One is my disorganization. Another is my forgetfulness. I am sensitive and I’m scared…and I could go on and on. But having weaknesses does not make a person weak. Identifying what those weaknesses are makes one strong, and figuring out how to change your weaknesses can make you invincible.

If you are honest with yourself, no one can tell you something that you don’t already know. Think about how powerful that is! So this week, find the strength in your weakness. Figure out how to take control of your life. And celebrate what makes you awesome…because you are.