Day 152

The little one "cooking" on the floor while I was making dinner. Apparently her dinner was better than mine =)

Kimmik

Day 151

I love Nutter Butter cookies!

Kimmik

Day 150

T'was a rainy day in the neighborhood.

Kimmik

Day 149

Eagle!!!

As you may have figured out, Charlie is a very creative kid. His latest creations are 3-D animals such as the eagle pictured above. Charlie's other animals include a seagull and a turtle that can pop his head back in its shell. How cool!

Kimmik

Day 148

My newly acquired camera. Kodak Instamatic 104. Such a great $2 find today!! George Eastman is amazing. I love reading about him and his photography aspirations of his time period. He gets my vote as the "person I would most like to meet." With Ansel Adams, Shakespeare and Bobby Orr right behind him.

Photography is my escape. What is yours?

Kimmik

Day 147

My little guy. Melts your heart doesn't he?

Kimmik

Day 146

This little guy was scared for his life today.

As I was in my house, I heard a loud commotion outside, followed by a very deep bark from Pongo. Pongo usually never barks like that, so I knew something had to be bothering him outside. Sure enough, he had this little squirrel trapped. The squirrel was clinging to the side of the house while Pongo was trying to jump at him. Luckily, the squirrel was out of Pongo's reach. I quickly ran inside and grabbed my camera to get a few shots of the squirrel. After a few shots, I felt bad for him and went inside the house with Pongo. The little guy got away unharmed. I know Pongo is a Labrador and they are ment to hunt, but I always feel bad when I see him chasing a rabbit or squirrel. I always root against Pongo during his pursuit of the other animals, often calling his name to distract him, giving his opponent an extra second to get away. Though I still love my puppy.

Kimmik

Day 145

All smiles in the kitchen =)

Kimmik

Day 144

Inspiration.

People say they draw inspiration from a lot of different places and people. I am easily inspired by a friend training to run a marathon to find the next cure, or a complete stranger who smiles at me while passing by on the street.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. Today, my photograph was indeed inspired by another's still life photograph featured to the right. As always, I was researching more techniques and information on photography, I came across this article about Still Life photography. One I have never attempted because I do not feel that I am artistic enough to do so. As I read further down the article, a black and white photograph (by Yassine Hakimi) with a coin caught my eye and was burned into my brain. The simple, yet effective photograph obviously made an impact on me. I was hoping to attempt to re-create the same in my photograph for today.

I remembered that I had a Zwei Deutsche Mark coin that I keep in my wallet along with my Australian Dollar coin. I decided to use the Mark and use one of my favorite chapters out of my Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or should I say, Harry Potter und der Stein der Weise book. One of my favorite objects in the entire series is the Mirror of Erised which shows the viewer their reflection of what they desire most. I have always thought of what I would see when I looked into the mirror, but those thoughts change periodically. I would really like to see what my reflection would show.

Kimmik

Day 143

Flounder!

I love Disney movies. In my opinion, they are one of the best movie producers. The Little Mermaid was the first movie I watched as a child. What was yours?

Kimmik

Day 142

Shadow maker.

In school, Charlie is learning about the sun and its position in the sky. He told me that our shadows move throughout the day because of the sun. He was also learning about the moon and riffled off some interesting facts about that as well.

Kimmik

Day 141

I am 100% a dog person.

So why am I hanging around cats? This is the coolest cat (no pun intended) around. She comes when her name is called, loves to be around people and acts more like a dog than a cat. That's why I love her so much. She's my friend's cat and if every kitty was like her, I'd totally be a cat person. Wow, I just used the word cat about a million times.

All you need to know is that Flutter is one cool cat.

Kimmik

Day 140

Lunch with my brother and our awesome cousins. Nom nom nom!

Kimmik

Day 139

Going to need lots of coffee tonight.

I seem to have lost about 500+ photographs that I edited. My external hard drive is deciding to be unruly...hmmm...

Kimmik

Day 138

Lumos Maxima!


I have said it once and I will say it a million times more, Charlie is one of the most imaginative kids I have ever met. Today, he fashioned a wand out of tin foil and proceeded to run outside and start shooting spells at pretend Death Eaters. Whenever Charlie plays pretend, my camera and I are never far from him. At one point, he pointed to the sun and belted out LUMOS! as if it was he who lit up the sun. That, being my favorite, Harry Potter spell, I found myself in awe of this incredible eight-year old.

He is easily my favorite eight-year old.

Kimmik

Day 137

Kids.

Gotta love them.

Kimmik

Day 136

I am a coffee snob.

Most of my friends know that I am apathetic towards Starbucks Coffee. There a many reasons why, though I will not name them. So, why am I in the possession of a Starbucks Coffee cup, you ask? Because it was necessary to be so.

Tonight, I was supposed to have a meeting at BigBy Coffee, but when I found out that they closed early, the closest coffee shop that was open late was the one with the green logo. I met up with two really nice girls who would like me to take their senior portraits next month. I am honored that after checking out my portfolio online, they asked me, for these are memories that they will hold on to forever. I will do my best to capture them. 


During our meeting, we talked about different locations, outfits and all that good stuff. I sipped on my Starbucks latte and could not help but to picture the woman on the logo with a mustache. I thought, why not make it the photograph of the day? So, I took out my sharpie and proceeded to draw on her. Muahaha.

I am still a coffee snob.

Kimmik

Day 135

FLYING V! (kind of)

Kimmik

Day 134

I love my puppy.

I also love my friends and a special one has a birthday today. Happy Birthday Cheryl!!! Be sure to visit her fundraising page because she is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is one of the coolest, most unselfish people I have ever met. Do you have one of those friends who lights up the room as soon as they walk in it? I do, her name is Cheryl.

Kimmik

Day 133

I will never forget.

Kimmik

Day 132

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." Dumbledore

I awoke at 6am to see that it was pouring rain outside. Nowhere near idyllic for photographing a golf outing. After having a very sleepy start to my morning, grabbed my waffles and coffee to go, said "see you later" to Pongo and I was out the door.

Windshield wipers at full power, I carefully drove to the golf outing. While exiting on the newly paved exit ramp, my car started to slide on the road. Not once, but twice. I was not driving fast at all. I vaguely remember what happened because my adrenaline kicked in fully force, took control of my brain and saved me from crashing my car. I looked up at my grandfather's funeral card on my visor and said, "Thanks for looking out for me Gramps."

With hands gripped as hard as I could on the steering wheel, I drove at least 10 miles under the speed limit the rest of the way to the golf outing. My mind was racing a million miles a minute, going over what just had happened. I was incredibly glad and lucky to be safe at the golf course.

It rained until about 10 minutes before the 8.30am shotgun start. The sun started shinning and the skies turned from grey to baby blue. The rest of the day was gorgeous and other than the large puddles on the course, it was hard to tell that it was pouring rain just hours before.
While photographing the golf outing, I could not help but notice the reflections that those puddles made. I loved seeing the trees reflect in the water, especially the willow trees. Other than watching Pocahontas when I was a kid, I never had a fascination with willow trees until today.

I had no idea why. No idea why it rained so hard. No idea why I slid on the exit ramp this morning. No idea why the weather turned out great after the storm. No idea why I was suddenly fascinated with willow trees.

But now I know exactly why all of this happened.

When I arrived home after the golf outing, I see there is a neglected voice message on my phone. I listen to it to hear an Australian-accented voice informing me of a tragic news. My cousin Paul's grandfather had passed away. I knew "Opi" as we called him (a variation of the German word "Opa" for Grandpa) from living with my aunt, uncle and Paul for three months in Melbourne. While he was not my grandfather, Paul was nice enough to share him with me and I looked to him as my own.

Opi is easily one my favorite people in the world. Such a funny man with a great sense of humor. Always smiling and could melt anyone's heart by looking at them with his warm and kind eyes. He kept my blood sugar levels at a constant high, always offering Paul and I heaps of candy, cookies, Coke and cake. Saying "no" to Opi's favorite "C" words was unacceptable. He would always insist I take one. And when I did, it was not long before he offered me another. But that was how he was; constantly giving to others. He was full of love. While I could go on forever about him, Paul explains Opi best in his own words:

He peacefully passed away earlier today. He was simply the most amazing person I knew, all his life all he ever did was love and care for those around him and never asked anything in return. He made my life so much happier just with his presence and cheeky smile. You were the most incredible grandpa a person could ask for, you went above and beyond to do anything for me and I will forever be grateful for every little thing you ever did for me. I hope one day I can be at least half the man you were. I will never stop loving you with my whole heart nor will I ever forget you. 

So now I know why Mother Nature was crying this morning. I know why I did not crash, it was my grandfathers telling me slow down and to not take life for granted. I know why I was fascinated with the weeping willows as East Asian nations' cultures commemorate the death of loved ones with these trees; a symbol of death, tears, mourning and reflection. And I know why the weather turned out to be perfect after the storm, to remind me of exactly that. That regardless of the hardships, one day everything will be okay.

Without saying, today's post is dedicated to Paul and my family in Australia in memoriam of Opi. May his spirit live on in all the hearts he touched. I know it will.

Kimmik

Day 131

Making in it the Motor City.

After several Detroit Tigers games, a trio of boys are out in front of the park playing drums out of plastic buckets. Travis Barker, eat your heart out. It's a pretty cool thing too see, so I attached a  (short and crappy) video below! I forgot their name, so I couldn't look them up. But if anyone knows their name, please feel free to inform my forgetful-self.

Kimmik

Day 130

My little cowboy.

When Charlie is super-duper extra helpful and is on his best behavior (which he usually is), I like to plan a special themed day for him. Earlier in the week, seeing that I was a little bit overwhelmed, he asked what I needed help with. I told him that he did not need to help me, but I was very appreciative that he did. This is one of the times where Charlie did not listen. He proceeded to set the dinner table, clean up all the toys AND vacuum the dining room floor. What kid does that? An awesome one. Charlie is one of those kids that will continue to surprise you and leave you in awe each and every day. Such an amazing kid.

So as promised, today was Cowboy Day. I got Charlie a cowboy hat and he dressed up in a red plaid shirt and jeans. He also used a toy pistol and his bandana to go with his outfit. We went outside for a little bit and it was incredible to see him imagine himself in an old western-style duel. I searched theme song for The Good, Bad and the Ugly on my phone and played it during his duel. He loved it and thought it was the coolest thing. Of course, I snapped a few photographs during Cowboy Day and he was happy to model for me.

Having this project constantly on my mind for the past 130 days has been a lot of fun. I have received many compliments on my photos and I am happy to gain some more exposure with +4,000 views worldwide. THANK YOU!

I have lucky enough to have been featured on many websites including The Hoping 4 Hope Art Project, The Photography Daily and The Bloggers Daily, an online publications I highly suggest checking out and following them on Twitter.

Another website I was recently featured on is Molly Alone. The website of a fantastic artist and an inspiration. Even though I am not interested in fashion nor the Olsen twins (two of Molly's favorites), I am interesting in expanding my "artistic" horizons. It is because of Molly that to really appreciate many different art forms, gain new perspective and because of her, I started to paint, not well I might add. I will leave the painting up to her. Regardless of my ability to duplicate a Van Gough or Daudlin painting, I believe that it is important to seek out other artistic mediums to improve your own.

Kimmik

Day 129

Though it was a very rainy day, I managed to find a sunflower in a local garden. I really enjoyed the way the colors stood out from the dismal and grey sky.

Kimmik

Day 128

Nothing like a nice bonfire with Pongo to end a long, stressful day.

Kimmik

Day 127

I'm an addict for dramatics, I confuse the two for love. Taking Back Sunday

Lately, I have been drawn more to black and white photographs. I do not know why, I think it is because I love the drama that comes with them. The somber blacks of the photographs combining with the luminous whites to construct imagination. It is the great thing about black and white.

Today's photograph is a perfect example to me of dramatics. The sky I have been looking at has been nothing less than settled. The weather has constantly changed, being 100ºF during one hour and dropping 20º and raining the next. When this happens, I love looking to the clouds and their changes in color and shape. Today, the clouds were dark as they covered a brightly lit sky. It was incredible.

As I hope you day was nothing less than that, incredible.

P.S. The latest Taking Back Sunday song Faith (When I let you down) OMGWTFTBS Cat is amazingly awesome.

Kimmik

Day 126

Still looking to replace my broken lens...

Kimmik

Day 125

Pongo had the right idea.

Sitting in the shade on a 100ºF day is a great idea. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so. While working downtown for the Tigers, I started to feel very weak, dehydrated and nauseated. I was suffering from heat exhaustion and did not work the rest of the day. I am still not feeling up to par and I am hoping that Pongo will keep me company while staying in and watching movies tonight. I know that he will. I love my goofy puppy.

Stay cool,

Kimmik

Day 124

Today, I met a dinosaur.

Luckily for me, he was animatronic.

Kimmik

Day 123

ABC's as easy as 123.

Today is day 123. 123 makes me think of the Jackson Five. The Jackson Five makes me think of my inspirational friend Cheryl who happens to be training to run the Chicago Marathon and raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She is 79% of the way to reach her fundraising goal. Check out her webpage here and help her to help others!

I am still trying to figure out a way to get a new lens, so for now, I must stick with my 55-200mm lens. It is a little tough because the lens that was broken was my "everyday" lens, and now, it must be replaces. Poor Irwin (my camera) lost a great friend.

Kimmik