I thought this would be a super fun challenge! You could use so many things as smoke or fire: baby powder, flour, smoke emitters, fire extinguishers, fog machines…and for fire: candles, lanterns, lighters, lamps, bulbs…

I just love the possibilities of this! Go to town!

I’ll pull some of the art that I see this week to feature!
Use the hashtag #PromotingPassionChallenge so I can find you!

Here is some food for thought. Enjoy the challenge, and remember to push yourself creatively!

Oye my loves, am I fired or forgiven?! I went road-tripping to Joshua Tree to check out a venue I might use later on, and I didn’t have internet. And then, my computer broke. So, I took that as a cosmic sign (re: excuse) to unplug and have a grand time with my best friend instead of running around trying to find a computer and internet to edit and upload on! I still got up every day at 5am and I beat the sun and did my shoots and made videos, but alas, I am late posting because of the desert situation. I take challenges such as this July creation challenge very, very seriously, so rest assured I did my part. The posting will just be a little bit late. I’m home now, and ready to share Mondays’ image/video!

I was surrounded by beauty, the kind that makes you move slower and appreciate more. The first morning I couldn’t sleep; I was excited to see the sunrise. So, I went outside when it was still dark and took a walk and thought about my concept, which I utterly abandoned in an attempt to be more present and to use what inspiration was surrounding me rather than what I anticipated. I ended up half naked in a bush, which was alright because I was quite utterly alone.

It only dawned on me halfway through my shoot that there was a silent retreat going on at the venue, so I wouldn’t properly know if someone was lurking about, but then again, they couldn’t say anything even if they did see me, so it was all fine.

I think this simple video perfectly reflects the morning I had and the feeling of the image I created from it. I’m so glad I waited to share, as I couldn’t even see the whole image on my laptop and just knew it could be something better if I could just get home and love on it.

I couldn’t help but be infatuated with the flow of red fabric yesterday, so I opted to try again for an opposite style image. Blue fabric instead of red, and candles burned out instead of flaming. I thought it was a nice counterpart. Not to mention entirely too much fun to freak my neighbors out. Sometimes I wonder if they’ll be glad when I move, or if they will miss me. Sometimes I even wonder if they might find my blog. Doubt it.

For today’s video I’m sharing the setup for this image (and consequently yesterday’s as well!). It has been nice shooting a little bit later in the day (I shot this at 8:30am rather than 5:30am). However, tomorrow I’m back to the early shoots, and it is going to be a FUN one! Instead of shooting really early today, I went hiking instead. I walked with my love along a river and picked blackberries as we went. It was incredibly delightful.

So that said, real life calls today. However, this weekend will be one of no real life whatsoever. I’m headed to Joshua Tree on Sunday and can’t wait to create while I’m there!

I’m working on two main series this year. One I will document via video but will not be sharing the final images until a gallery debut later (NYC, January 2017, wahoo!). The other, which includes this image, is all about fragility. It is a very special topic to me, since I’ve often been seen as fragile in the eyes of others and have come to believe it myself on occasion. Because of this, I’m often fighting to be seen as strong and smart and capable.

A lot of this stems from having Fibromyalgia, which I’ve detailed in other blog posts. I might have a limp one day but feel fine the next, but the only thing anyone can remember is that one time my body ached, so I must be weak. And to be honest, I am in ways. I’m not as strong as a lot of other people, I do have painful days (and weeks and months, sometimes), and so this idea of fragility plagues me. For most of December and January I was in a flare up of pain and had to walk with a cane for a lot of my outings. But, I can happily say, I’m feeling much better!

And, my cane looks like something out of a fairytale, so it’s all good!

In all seriousness, the theme of fragility has always fascinated me. I think it is beautiful in so many ways, and I’ve always loved writing about it and capturing it as well. I’ll write more about it in blog posts to come, but for now, I wanted to share this image.

I was inspired visually by the video came Limbo. It is a truly incredible visual narrative that has given me a new visual interest to explore.

As I was shooting this image, I knew I wanted a strong stream of smoke. I typically use really safe, totally harmless smoke emitters. This time I pulled out one of my 5-year-old smoke bombs from a fireworks website. I’ve used them before, and they were mostly safe, but this time…I decided to put it in a glass jar to set it off so that I could work my camera while it was going, and the result was that it trapped too much oxygen and created a giant, flaming flame. Fire was shooting into the air about a foot high. Luckily that stopped after about 10 seconds and after the sparks settled down, the smoke began pluming just as I wanted it. I got many different, fantastic shots of smoke! And thankfully I was outside for all of this, on cement, so there was no danger.

I love that photography always lets me create memorable days that turn into stories in my mind. I hope you enjoy this new image, more to come!

While I was traveling I overheard two statements that made me sad:

“I can’t believe how stupid humanity is.”

“People are just naturally cruel.”

I heard two people say those statements in the same day, and for some reason, instead of letting them be random words murmured by strangers in passing, they stuck with me. I wrote them down in my notebook and really thought about them. I thought about all of the horrible things people have done, and all of the senselessness that seemingly goes into decisions that turn out terribly. I felt down that day. I felt like those words got into my head.

Here is the problem with allowing negativity inside: it clouds the good stuff.

The next day I had forgotten all about what those people said, and when I was out for a walk I watched someone help an older woman up some steps at the subway station. Someone held a door for me even and I hardly even noticed. My suitcase got stuck on a curb and a stranger picked it up for me. I gave my leftovers to a homeless person.

And then it struck me: Yes, people can be cruel and people can make poor decisions, but that does not make people universally blanketed by those qualities. I started thinking about the amazing things people do for one another every day. About the way that if we did focus more on the good, we might come to define people based on those attributes.

If we show others more kindness, we might see more kindness in the world.

We are an innovative people. We are always imagining and doing more and creating. To think only of the negative contributions we’ve made is to take away the probability of something changing. If you always scold a dog for doing bad things but never reward them for doing good, how will they know to keep doing those good things? We must remind ourselves of our powerful we are, and use that power to swing ourselves over to the good side.

When I was creating this image I couldn’t help but think about the concept of how powerful our minds are when we allow them to be. From being kind and compassionate creatures to using the little machines in our heads to create amazing art or build an amazing piece of technology, we have the most infinite potential – more than we could ever tap into. Let the magic come from within. Let it envelop you. Let it overcome all other senses. And use it for good. Good art. Good actions. Goodness.