CHEAP CAMERA/10 SECOND TIMER SELF-PORTRAITURE

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Hangover Helper



(All pics. snapped on 1/01/12)

It's amazing to me, how mindset alone - can so radically influence one's perception or opinion of, as well as their behavior in certain situations. Take for example, my mindset going into the shoot which produced the pictures that I wrote about in last week's post. My frame of mind at that time, was one of unenthused obligation...of having been shanghaied by a time crunch, into crankin' out a new set of images for the sake of keeping the blog up-to-date...while feeling uncharacteristically uninspired and unmotivated to do so. I wasn't there thinking, "Oh, goody! I have this incredible venue at my disposal (which I did), and tons of ideas and themes that I'm just itchin' to bring to fruition (which I didn't) - how can I lose? I'm golden, right?"...but rather, "Ugh. It's been a week since I've taken any new pics., and I have literally no idea what I wanna do...Here's hoping once I get there, the scrummy backdrop will dictate the direction of my shoot. Or worse case scenario? Override what's shaping up to be a half-assed performance on my part."


While the surprising outpouring of positive feedback from admirably glass-half-full readers, did make me wonder for a sec., if I was being unduly hard on myself - it still couldn't completely diffuse my overall disappointment. Seemed my negative approach to the shoot, had consequently poisoned my ability to see anything other than everything that (I believed) went horribly wrong with the pics..


Many of you (especially those who follow me on Instagram) know that I've spent an absurd amount of time lately (more than my usual, even) in and around abandoned buildings, taking quickie snaps with my phone...and over the last few weeks, I've come across an abundance of "lonely chairs" - a perennial favorite subject to shoot. But upon entering the vacant storefront (seen here in this entry) for the first time, I felt as if I'd wandered into a lost paradise of castoff chairs! Greedily I roamed from room to room, in search of other tantalizing vignettes to snap...and somewhat miraculously - each new space I entered, outdid the previous...


My satisfaction over having found, photographed and Instagrammed the old storefront - replete with its forgotten chairs, frozen for years in their solitary splendor - was soon trumped by a nagging desire to situate myself amid the stages that were already so perfectly set, throughout the two floors of the drool-worthy structure.


As luck would have it, a few nights after I became obsessed with the idea - I was invited to party, and to stay the night with friends who live in the same town as the old storefront stands. I arrived prepared to rise early the next morning, drive to the storefront, and stage my shoot - simple as that. What I'd neglected to factor into the equation however, was the collateral damage wrought from swillin' a buttload of cocktails, while bar-hopping the night before...And here's where that whole mindset thing, finally bookends this entry: I had been so excited about takin' my selfies in the storefront with all of those fascinating chairs, that nothing - not hangover nor high water, could've kept me from seeing it through. 

My head was pounding and I was nauseous as hell, as I set up my camera for my first set of pics....but by the time I shot the very last frame of the day, it was as if I had somehow been magically cured (well, almost). 

I'm really not sure if these pictures turned out better or worse than the ones that I bitched about in the last post, but what I do know - is that I happen to personally like them much more...and I believe that my sunny attitude towards them - is derived from this shoot having been so positive, all around. I was eager to be there, I'd come with ideas, and my hangover had (essentially) all but vanished by the time I'd called it quits...but best of all - I had made up for that last regrettably forgettable shoot (in my mind at least) and that's what really mattered...whether these pictures actually prove that, or not...

4 comments:

  1. I'm loving the shots!

    Aaaand, You've won =) http://sexymasquerade.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/awards/

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    1. @MrM - I don't quite know what to SAY! What wonderful news, I'm HONored!!! My only problem is (surprising as this may sound) I don't spend a lot of time exploring on the Internet...soooo...the list of blogs that I follow, is virtually nonexistent. And because of that, it would be next to impossible for me to complete the steps necessary to make my nomination official :( I'm so SORry!

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  2. These are great, but then, even when you are the hardest on yourself, they are still amazing to me.
    Hope you have a great week.
    Thank you for helping me start mine off with smile. I love coming here to see what's new with you.

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    1. @Melanie - Girl? Talk about starting the week off with a smile! Your kind comments helped me to do just that, THANK You!

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