Taking steps forward
Hi! Today's post is not depressing or preachy or anything to do with current social affairs or elections so if that stuff stresses you out you're in luck. I've recently taken a few steps forward towards my goals in life and I figured that writing about them will make them more real to me while simultaneously informing anyone who cares about my life so here goes.
I bought a camera. In order to understand how much this means to me some backstory is required. I've worked most of my life with a simple pocket digital camera that had bad audio quality and a stain on the lens that wouldn't come off. I took thousands of photos with that camera, filmed all of my videos (for my questionable youtube channel), captured hours of footage of family and friends. I was aware of the shortcomings of this camera but really there was nothing I could do but hope one day I'd be able to invest in a DSLR. Then I decided to go into the film business by studying the subject at uni and the need for a proper camera became a lot more dire. I got monetary support for my 18th birthday but couldn't find a camera I felt good about investing in. I got graduation money and started talking more about a camera with my parents and my dad helped me find the one I felt good about, and finally, I have bought it and it is mine. I went out to take pictures with it today.
I know very little of how to operate a DSLR camera. I only know for now that every photo or video I take looks amazing compare to what I had before. It is such a change. I will take this camera with me everywhere because it represents me finally taking another step into the direction I want my life to go into. I hate to be overly poetic or dramatic but I feel kind of like a writer who's just been given a pen after not having anything to write with for years. My medium is finally at my fingertips and I'm ready to make so many mistakes until I learn what to do and what not to do. So yes, my new camera is already opening doors for me to go on adventures and I can't wait to capture it all!
Another thing that feels a bit like taking a step forward, is that I just opened my own Etsy shop. If you don't know what Etsy is, its an online marketplace for mostly handmade goods. I've been making crafty things for as long as I can remember (thank you to my grandmother for having an entire room devoted to all things crafts that I could hang out in as a child), and tho I've moved from making beadwork to jewelry to cross-stitching to painting to embroidery, making things to make other people happy has always been a part of it. Be it for my art show at school or a beaded lizard for my best friend in 4th grade I love sharing my arts and crafts with the world because I too crave acceptance and making other people happy makes me feel loved.
When I arrived at university I felt quite out of place in terms of my crafts hobby, because I had just left my home that was full of all kinds of materials I could work with whenever I felt the itch to create. My dorm room had none of those materials. So, I went to the craft store and figured I could make a felt pin for myself, because there was a cute raccoon in one of my favourite movies that I wanted to replicate. Instead of making that felt raccoon I made pins for my friends and after hearing "you should really commission these" several times I figured I might as well. What was I going to lose?
So now, after months of working on designs and getting supplies and making different versions I've been able to open my shop! I don't really expect to sell anything, because my stuff is very much the type you look at and think "I could make that myself" but never end up making. Its nothing too unique, but it makes me happy to make them and so I will keep making new pins and hoping someone somewhere in the world stumbles upon my shop and finds what they've been looking for!
The shop is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/theweeshoppe if you want to have a look, be it either to laugh at me or take a look out of genuine curiousity.
I leave you today with some of my favorite pictures from tonights little wander around Edinburgh, where I learned that it is still possible to take nice pictures in the dark (shout out to Danny for helping me work out the settings on my camera)
I bought a camera. In order to understand how much this means to me some backstory is required. I've worked most of my life with a simple pocket digital camera that had bad audio quality and a stain on the lens that wouldn't come off. I took thousands of photos with that camera, filmed all of my videos (for my questionable youtube channel), captured hours of footage of family and friends. I was aware of the shortcomings of this camera but really there was nothing I could do but hope one day I'd be able to invest in a DSLR. Then I decided to go into the film business by studying the subject at uni and the need for a proper camera became a lot more dire. I got monetary support for my 18th birthday but couldn't find a camera I felt good about investing in. I got graduation money and started talking more about a camera with my parents and my dad helped me find the one I felt good about, and finally, I have bought it and it is mine. I went out to take pictures with it today.
I know very little of how to operate a DSLR camera. I only know for now that every photo or video I take looks amazing compare to what I had before. It is such a change. I will take this camera with me everywhere because it represents me finally taking another step into the direction I want my life to go into. I hate to be overly poetic or dramatic but I feel kind of like a writer who's just been given a pen after not having anything to write with for years. My medium is finally at my fingertips and I'm ready to make so many mistakes until I learn what to do and what not to do. So yes, my new camera is already opening doors for me to go on adventures and I can't wait to capture it all!
Another thing that feels a bit like taking a step forward, is that I just opened my own Etsy shop. If you don't know what Etsy is, its an online marketplace for mostly handmade goods. I've been making crafty things for as long as I can remember (thank you to my grandmother for having an entire room devoted to all things crafts that I could hang out in as a child), and tho I've moved from making beadwork to jewelry to cross-stitching to painting to embroidery, making things to make other people happy has always been a part of it. Be it for my art show at school or a beaded lizard for my best friend in 4th grade I love sharing my arts and crafts with the world because I too crave acceptance and making other people happy makes me feel loved.
When I arrived at university I felt quite out of place in terms of my crafts hobby, because I had just left my home that was full of all kinds of materials I could work with whenever I felt the itch to create. My dorm room had none of those materials. So, I went to the craft store and figured I could make a felt pin for myself, because there was a cute raccoon in one of my favourite movies that I wanted to replicate. Instead of making that felt raccoon I made pins for my friends and after hearing "you should really commission these" several times I figured I might as well. What was I going to lose?
So now, after months of working on designs and getting supplies and making different versions I've been able to open my shop! I don't really expect to sell anything, because my stuff is very much the type you look at and think "I could make that myself" but never end up making. Its nothing too unique, but it makes me happy to make them and so I will keep making new pins and hoping someone somewhere in the world stumbles upon my shop and finds what they've been looking for!
The shop is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/theweeshoppe if you want to have a look, be it either to laugh at me or take a look out of genuine curiousity.
I leave you today with some of my favorite pictures from tonights little wander around Edinburgh, where I learned that it is still possible to take nice pictures in the dark (shout out to Danny for helping me work out the settings on my camera)
Cheers,
Becks
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