when i look up

the sun is shining.
it does me and my heart good.
i think i'm very much needing the vitamin d,
so a walk is in order today.
nothing but blue skies do i see.

what else is looking up.

reconnecting with one of my best friends
{the only pen pal i've ever had },
who although lives miles away,
walks a similar road
which helps me feel i'm not alone.

a night of insomnia and
a morning of three hours of broken sleep
entitles me to a rare cup
of the coffee i've given up.
{with whipped cream on top! }
oh, how i miss coffee!

after today,
only one month separates us
from the month that holds
the first day of spring!

knowing that the true friends
i've made in bloglandia
won't run away when i let myself
be open and vulnerable
and share my struggles and my thoughts...
and even feel comfortable enough
to share right back with me.

taking another self-portrait photo shoot,
but this time setting out to do it on purpose,
instead of just stumbling
into it like last time,
and being happy with the results,
because i had hoped to create
something artistic
after seeing so many creative
self-portrait sets on flickr
from other photographers.
and knowing the whole time i was doing it,
that it was for fun
and not to be taken seriously,
but was still a serious thing,
because i knew i was capturing the me
that is doing some serious
soul searching right now.
i know i will look back on these photos
and remember {very definitively }
all the feelings that filled
my heart at the time.
and that excites me,
because that is one of the reasons
i want to take pictures.
for me or for anyone...
i want to record the outer shells
whose many windows
give a glimpse into the inner selves
at any given moment.

one more thing.
at some point,
i will be doing another
photography collaboration
with someone who i admire,
both as a photographer and as a person.
and i also thought of a little solo project
to take on for myself in photography as well.
it came to me while i was
sitting at work one day.
i'm pretty excited about it,
because it has very much to do with
the thoughts i shared above
on photographing people
in the moment.

~~~

here are the rest of my self-portraits.
{not including the one from yesterday's post,
which is probably my favorite of the bunch.}