Day 91

"Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the furture." -J.F. Kennedy


Kimmik

Day 90

Old school Mercury. 

What up?

Kimmik

Day 89

Who says Detroit is not beautiful? 


You just need to know the right places to go. Very Harry Potter-esque if you ask me.


Kimmik

Day 88

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. -Ansel Adams 

Kimmik

Day 87

Old school close up.


Last month, I added another vintage camera to my collection. A Nikon F2 SLR MD-2 Motor Drive MB-1 DP. The guy I bought it from was really nice and said he would give it to me for $25. I was bummed when I realized that I only had $20 in my pocket. But he took it and I was the new owner of another Nikon. 


On my drive home, I was perfectly happy knowing that my collection of vintage cameras is growing. (I am up to two cameras, my first being a Kodak Brownie) When I got home, I cleaned off the dust that had collected on the camera and started to look at it closer. My research on the Internet started. Then I found a similar camera on eBay and its current bid was $800. I intensely stared at the item's description and picture. I compared it to my newly purchased camera and it was the same. I could not believe the bargain I received. I felt a bad for the guy I bought the camera from because he obviously did not know how much the camera was worth. Nor, did I. 


I am not planning on selling the camera, though it would pay for a semester's worth of books at my college. I like having it on my bookshelf, keeping my Brownie company. Because who knows, maybe in ten years, its value could double.


More on the F2 in tomorrow's post.


On a separate note: my blog has over 3,000 views!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love reading the stats and seeing where the views are coming from. This week, I have audiences in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the UK, the Netherlands, Columbia, France, Croatia and more. That is so great because I do not know anyone living in those countries. I have a lot of friends all over the world and when I have views from Canada, the US, Brazil, Australia, and Germany, I take a guess that those are my friends who are looking at my project. But whether it is my friends, or a complete stranger who is looking at this, I greatly appreciate it all the same. The only thing I ask is that with over 3,000 views, where are all the comments? Please feel free to leave a comment, critique or constructive criticism in the little box below =)

Day 86

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts, teach us something please"

Charlie and I have been discussing a lot of Harry Potter related topics recently. Probably due to the fact that we watched most of the movies together. He wants to be sure he knows everything about Harry Potter before seeing Deathly Hallows pt. 2 in the theater. My little eight year-old friend says he thinks it is better if we watch the movies together so he can ask me questions. And let me tell you, this kid asks a lot of questions.

One time during a movie, he asked me if it was okay to ask so many questions and if I was annoyed. I told him that the only way to learn is to ask. I was worried because I did not want to seem as if I was annoyed with him; I did not feel that way. Charlie told me that I did not sound annoyed, but he just wanted to make sure he was not bothering me. Such a thoughtful kid.

After watching The Half-Blood Prince today, Charlie went straight up to the craft drawer and started folding a white sheet of paper. He spent some time with a red Sharpie and a black pen. After creating his masterpiece, Charlie came running back to show me his "letter from Hogwarts." I thought it was the coolest thing! He is such a creative kid and I am very glad he is enjoying the Harry Potter movies so much. I hope I can get him to read them as well. That way, he can come up with his own theories about the books, instead of asking me all the time. 

I am interested in Charlie's theories, I bet he would come up with some really great ones.

Kimmik

Day 85

"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof."

Kimmik

Day 84

Taking some time to appreciate the little things in life. Luckily, these pretty little flowers grow in my backyard.

Kimmik

Day 83

What up Mr. Washington?


Today, I decided to play with shutter speeds. It was a lot of fun creating these effects. I am trying push myself to think of more "creative" things to do with my photo of the day. Any suggestions? Feel free to leave them below =)


Kimmik

Day 82

What are you thinking about?

I am thinking about the people who inspire me on a daily basis: my awesome friends, my loving family, my incredible teammates and my bravely heros.


When I moved to Australia, I started a private blog for my close friends and family, so they could see what I was up to. It was a nice way to keep in touch with everyone back in the States. Now, I rarely use it because I am so focused on my 365 project.


Sometimes, people ask me how I got started in all of this, and my answer comes down to one of the people who inspire me the most, Kat von D.


On April 21, 2011, I wrote an entry of how she inspires me. Below is the text, word for word: 

"Sometimes it's hard to remember that there are two sides to every coin." Kat Von D

Call her weird.

Call her bizarre.

Call her dreadful.

Call her eccentric.

Call her kooky.

Call her an oddball.

Call her ominous.

Call her mysterious.

Call her quirky.

Call her abnormal.

Call her odd.

Call her mental.

Call her strange.

Call her freaky.

Call her deviant.

Call her anomalistic. 

Call her strange.

Call her wild.

Call her peculiar.

Call her off the wall.

Call her unusual.

Call her what you wish.

I call her inspiring.

Growing up, I always had a fascination with tattoos, but never imagined getting one. Once TLC released "Miami Ink" in 2005, my interest in tattoos grew. Not because it was becoming a popular TV show, it was because I started to see tattooing as an art and not just markings that gang members or pirates had.

As the Miami Ink customers were being tattooed, they always told stories of the meaning(s) behind their tattoo(s). Some were being tattooed to remember a loved one, some to remember the past, some to have hope for the future. Whatever their reasoning may have been, each story was inspiring and heartfelt.

The person who I really paid attention to is pictured above alone. Kat Von D.

After a couple seasons of being "picked on" (in my eyes) by the guys in the tattoo shop, Kat von D moved back to L.A. and opened her own shop. TLC followed Kat through her TV show "L.A. Ink." Maybe because we're the same gender, I took to Kat more than the guys. But I highly doubt it. While I really enjoyed watching other members of "Miami Ink," the episodes where Kat was featured a lot, were always my favorites. Needless to say, in 2007 I was ecstatic to hear that she would be starring in her show based out of L.A.

I had high expectations for her show, and they were definitely exceeded. It was great to get an insight into Kat's brilliant mind and tattoo parlor. With every person that she tattoos, she puts the outline of the tattoo into a book and writes a little something about them and their story. She published a book that followed a year of her doing so, and I have yet to have it in my possession. She also has a book of sketches and tattoos that I'd like to have as well http://www.hvtmerch.com/products/89-high-voltage-tattoo-book-by-kat-von-d.aspx

I've been following Kat on Twitter ever since I had one. She always tweets the most inspirational quotes and posts beautiful artwork. The picture above is from her "Sketch A Day" project.

Yes, she is eccentric, but I cannot imagine her any other way. As I'm writing this, I find it hard for me to explain how much of an inspiration she is to me on a daily basis. Much harder than anticipated. I had all the thoughts organized in my mind, but that's the beauty of it…it's all organized in my mind and makes perfect sense up there. It doesn't have to make sense to you (the reader) because she may not be as influential to you as she is to me. And that's perfectly fine. Everyone has something/someone that inspires them.

Kat von D is mine.

Until next time,

Kimmik

Shortly after that post, I was half-awake when I an @reply on my twitter. It was Kat von D! I instantly woke up and could not believe it. I had to sit up straight and re-read the two-word tweet about 10 times before I convinced myself I was not dreaming.

So here I am, on day 82 of my 365 photography project, still going strong. I have Kat von D to thank for being a continuing source of inspiration.

I hope to be able to get the chance to meet my hero one day and be lucky enough to get a tattoo done by her. What an exciting day that will be!

Always inspired,

Kimmik

Day 81

Today I had the opportunity to read a few pages of the first issue of "The Savage Sword of Conan."


The really neat thing about old school comic books are the advertisements on the inside. It is interesting to see how much a Coke was in the 1970's amongst other ads. It is also cool to see the black and white comics as opposed to the colored ones we have today. I am sure I did not appreciate the Conan comic as much as an avid comic book collector, though I still thought it was really cool.


Kimmik

Day 80

To try and explore other artistic mediums, I have been attempting to paint.


Keyword: attempting. While I know I will not be the next Picasso, it is still fun to create something on a canvas using paint and a brush. In doing this, I hope to study other art forms in order to gain more perspective. Hopefully, I will improve my photography this way. Plus, it is fun.


P.S. Happy 189th Birthday Gregor Mendel


Kimmik

Day 79

One of the benefits of working with kids is that I get to play with my food.


Today, the kids I babysit wanted Spaghetti-O's and I did not object. They know that if they ask for something like that for dinner, it is countered with veggies and something else healthy. But during dinner, I was eating my Spaghetti-Os with the kids and I saw some words starting to appear. The letters formed "Love you" but scattered with other letters in between. Secretly, I started to play with my food while the kids were eating. I did not want them to see me playing with my dinner and think it was proper etiquette. I spelled out the words as seen above and snapped a photograph with my phone's camera. Being addicted to social media, I was about to upload it to Facebook and Twitter (@KimFanBolt) when I thought about my photo project. So here it is, my (un)masterpiece from dinner. 


By the way, it was delicious.


Kimmik

Day 78

Game on.

Kimmik

Day 77

These peppers are muy caliente! Just like our weather today.


Kimmik

Day 76

I saw this design on a stone flower pot and thought it was pretty neat. I decided to take an HDR photograph of it and turn it black and white.


The eight year-old I babysit loves it when I show him the photographs from my project and he helped me choose today's. He is a great little kid with such a creative mind. At this moment in time, while I am writing this post, we are sipping tea, eating crackers (but we are calling them crumpets) and watching the fourth Harry Potter movie. He wanted to be British tonight, though we are not speaking in the accents. We should though. He is a great kid.


Kimmik

Day 75

All was well.

Kimmik

Day 74

Dear Mr. Potter:

Thank you for providing me an escape into a magical world with just the turn of a page. For the past 13 years, I have found comfort in knowing that if the events in my Muggle world did not have the outcome I had hoped for, I could vacate my life through the life of The Boy Who Lived.

In my early elementary school days, my reading skills were not the greatest, for I did not have an interest in such a thing. I did not want to read Dr. Seuss or those books about girls starting a club for babysitting. During that time, I preferred playing soccer and ice hockey, those were my hobbies. For my 10th birthday in November of 1998, I unwrapped my presents and found two books next to my birthday cake. One with a skinny, goofy-looking boy with dorky glasses and something on his forehead. I do not recall what the other book was. My parents told me that the book was about a boy wizard and they thought I would like it. My 10-year old self started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and loved every minute of it.

During that same holiday season, my brother (he was seven at the time) kept taking my book because he wanted to read it too. I remember hiding it in various places in my room, I was selfish, I wanted the book to be available whenever I wanted to read it. Not my brother. Of course, like most siblings, we fought over the book, until our parents made me share. My brother returned it within two days of borrowing the book. He was finished. I had no idea that my brother could read and comprehend that fast, so we made a deal, that when the Harry Potter books were released, he would get them first because he read them a lot faster than I did. 

Shortly after the third book was published in 1999, the troubles my family was facing got worse. What we went through was tough on my brother and I, but we had the Wizarding World to escape to. As cheesy or cliche as it may sound, I believe that really helped us and helped us bond as siblings. When things went wrong, we always re-read a Harry Potter book, quizzed each other to see who knew more facts (to this day, my brother still wins those quizzes), and would argue who would be in what house. Though our world might have seemed as if it were unstable and falling apart, Harry, Ron and Hermione's seemed to have a handle on their crazy lives, and we wanted to do the same. There are so many life lessons and other things we learned from those books and we will be forever thankful. 

I am also taking some of those lessons and trying to help others in my community through an organization called The Harry Potter Alliance. A real-life Dumbledore's Army where the weapon we have is love. It is a fantastic organization and I am always trying to find time in my crazy schedule to be apart of something great. Please "Like" my chapter on Facebook =) Thank you! Be sure to look for a chapter in your area if you are interested, or start your own!

Having been a fan for the past 13 years, I have had my fair share of people make fun of me for liking Harry Potter so much. I always shrug my shoulders because they do not know the real reason why I love the series so much. But if you are reading this, now you know.

So today's photograph is (some) of my collection of the Harry Potter related books I have as well as my newest addition, Dear Mr. Potter. I received it in the mail today and think it is only fitting because the last movie is released tonight at midnight.

I know this is the longest update I have posted in a while, but I currently found the time to sit and type, instead of scrambling to post a photograph before midnight.

I cannot wait to see the last movie. While it will be the end of the Harry Potter movie franchise, it will live on forever.

Mischief Managed,

Kimmik

Day 73

Today, I asked my friends which photograph they would choose for today's post. 


I was not totally torn between the two, I knew which one I wanted to pick, but I decided to make a little contest out of it. The above photograph was the winner with 83% of the votes. 


This photograph was taken at one of my favorite parts of Detroit, the Heidelberg Project. As a kid, I remember going there, not fully understanding the meaning of the art. Something kept drawing me to The Project, and as I grew, so did my comprehension of its meaning. Each time a friend visits me from out of state or country, I am always sure they never leave without seeing it. It is a great experience.


Check out the website listed above!!


Kimmik

Day 72

Anyone else up for a siesta?


Kimmik

Day 71

I have to remind myself once in a while to stop and smell the roses.

Sometimes, I think we all have to remind ourselves.

Kimmik

Day 70

Today, some friends and I went to Grand Bend, Ontario, Canada. It was a nice relaxing day on the beach enjoying the great company.


I really enjoy taking photographs of kids, not in a creepy way though. I believe there is something magical about their innocence. They do not have a worry in the world, except which cartoon they should watch next. No work, no bills, no obligations to fill, just fun. I like kids, their curiosity makes them très cute.


Kids are cool, but more so when they have a colorful hat and flames on their sunglasses.


Kimmik

Day 69

I went on my friend's boat today with some other friends and we had a great time. We traveled to Harsens Island from just outside Detroit. About a 20 minute boat ride.

My friends are fantastic and are always a lot of fun to be around. I know there would be a lot less laughter in my life if I did not have this group of people to be around. 


It is days like today that make me feel very appreciative and fortunate to have such amazing people in my life.


Kimmik

Day 68

Cookie time!

Day 69

What a beautiful hallway!

Kimmik

Day 67

After a long day of work, nothing is better than coming home and slinging some birds at pigs.


Kimmik

Day 66

This photograph is a great representation of my weekend. The wind chime represents the soothing sounds of the breeze dancing over the shores Lake Du Bay. The hammock represents the comfort of friends who I was surrounded by. The chair represents reflectiveness, it was great to be able to think about everything while in a peaceful place. And the lake represents a gateway into solitude and out of the craziness of the world. 


I had a great weekend and wish it would not have ended. It was very nice to see my Minnesotian family and friends. Such great people. I cannot imagine spending the 4th of July with anyone else. It has become a tradition of mine to visit them during this time of the year. 

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."


Kimmik

Day 65

I love cheese curds from Mullins Cheese Shop.


Best cheese ever.


Kimmik

Day 64

The moon was incredibly beautiful. I loved the colors in the sky. 

So picturesque. 


Kimmik

Day 63

Jason is a fantastic wakeboarder/wakeskater.

Kimmik

Day 62

My friend's puppy on her homemade boat.


Best captain ever.


Kimmik