When I found out that this was the year of the bunny, I KNEW this would be my year.  How could it not?  I am after all one of the foremost authority’s on cute animals (see above photo). I started my Monday morning series of cute animals on my previous Blahg because Monday’s had become my most dreaded day (it was only rivaled by Sunday’s) and I needed a little glimmer of happiness on the first day of the work week.  

I had a job that I truly enjoyed but my boss was uh, well, uh? Hmmm?  How do I word this nicely?  I had closed down both my boutique PR/Branding firm and Stationery company to come work for said boss.  With promises of golden paved streets, fortunes falling from the sky and everything bathed in a rosy glow of perfection, I was ready for my new adventure.  Well, things didn’t exactly transpire as promised.  I spent many Monday’s blue and the rest of the week wishing for Friday.  Not the happiest time in my long life.  You see, the problem was not just finding another job, I needed another career.  I no longer had the passion to promote fashion and working in the luxury interior design industry was just not for me. I was starting to feel a little hollow inside. I wanted to find a job that incorporated my skill set but also included baby animals.  Guess what?  I FOUND that job! I am beside myself with joy. This is a story that if you are resourceful you CAN find a dream job.  I wrote about how it may have been too late for me to go back to school and become a renown zoologist/vet/anthropologist but it was not too late to try to work with animals in another capacity.  I needed to start thinking outside the box.  I did just that and started sending my resume to places that worked with animals but needed someone with my unique background in PR + Branding.  I truly believe that most every company could use a top notch brander so I came to my prospects with that in mind rather than the mindset that these types of companies probably would never utilize someone like me. It worked, I start next week! I couldn’t be happier and nothing topped the reaction from my current boss (he had a fake heart attack). Today I am IN LOVE with Monday’s and hopefully it stays like this for a very long time.

I am crazy for these blossoms.  It makes January in the City of Angels feel like a celebration. Every block seems to have a few of these tree’s in full regale.  They make the sky seem more blue, the world a little brighter and when the petals start to fall they cover the sidewalks in Mother nature’s confetti. You really can’t enhance these much, they are naturally beautiful and they didn’t really need my messing with them, but here’s the ‘before’.

I promise to come back and announce my GREAT news.  I was so lethargic yesterday from celebrating the evening before that I barely was able to get my edit done (it made it on to Flickr and I forgot to post it here). I had expended most of my creative energy yesterday and was having a serious bout of photo editing block, so this was the best I could come up with.  I tried about 18 other images and then settled on this ‘before’ photo, it was looking a lot like my energy level.  I plan to be very productive today and even hope to get out and do some shooting.  Sigh, so this is what it’s like to feel free and like you are floating on air?  I can totally get used to this sensation…

 

This is a photo of a trophy, but you my fine friends could ascertain that without my assistance.  You after all are brilliant and beautiful. Yes, it is filled with cigarette’s, a horrible vice but it’s just a gentleman’s vignette and made for a good prop. Trophy’s are usually proffered when someone is recognized for an achievement.  I am giving this trophy to myself, I deserve it and I have certainly earned it.  I am busting at the seams to tell you my amazing news, but I need to wait a second and collect myself, it’ll be difficult at best as I am not known for being able to keep a secret.  It is not any of the following: 1. Not getting married today (but yes, this year), 2. not having a baby (please refer to 1.),  3. not moving to a new state (just yet).  What could it be?  I will give you this hint–it has changed my life and I feel as if I won the Lotto.  If I was any happier at this moment I probably would implode.

…And back to our regularly scheduled program…To edit my ‘before’ photo I used one action, it was highly modified but the essence of the action is what I built upon.  It is free and is called ‘Heartland’ and is available at P.W’.s. I did use some textures but so lightly, it really was the action that achieved this rich dipped in espresso transformation. Thank you PW and Thank you Totally Rad Actions!  (they created the actions for P.W.). You both rule!

Feather’s, so endlessly fascinating, so dramatic.  The Fancy doesn’t like birds or feathers much, they are dirty and carry diseases, (some we may not have discovered yet) and by my bringing the feathers into the flat I have basically served up a death sentence and brought in some strain of bubonic plague.  Okay, birds are fine with him if they are in the sky but not in our house. Yes, we’ve had not one but TWO birds fly into our apartment and he nearly had a heart attack.  You would have thought an escaped Wildebeest was in our livingroom instead of a confused little sparrow.   This feather was so diminutive in size that he never even noticed its presence in our home, which is a good thing because no photographer likes a neurotic man screaming in their ear–‘Are you nuts?  Who knows what you will catch?”, when they are trying to photograph their subject.  When I was editing this I wanted to try to recreate the feel of a salt print (one of the oldest photo development techniques).  I wanted to bring a lot more warmth to the image because my ‘before’ photo was looking a little on the chilly side (okay, a lot on the chilly side).

One of my goals this year is to be able to try my hand in the darkroom with some alternative photo processing one of these salt printing kits may be in order. I already have the supplies for some Cyanotypes (I got a kit for my birthday!) I just haven’t had any time to experiment (yet). I will soon, I just need to decide on a subject, not my strong suit the ol’ decision making.