So far I'm not doing a very good job.

A few weeks ago, at Andrew's suggestion, I decided that I would do a blog post every Sunday. It's important to me to keep this blog going, and having a set day is certainly a good idea. Currently I have weekends off and I spend Sundays doing, well, nothing. So it seemed like as good a day as any to set as my blogging day. I think I was successful one, maybe two weeks in a row and then I forgot yesterday. Fail.

I suppose I have reasons, if it seems worth it to post them. Although, my reasons are a tad depressing :\ I've probably mentioned it already (but I can't remember), but this year's trip to Ireland has seen me riddled with homesickness. It seems like a fractional off-shoot of basic depression. I feel mopey and I have a difficult time motivating myself to do anything. In fact, I haven't taken a single photo since my post last week. Oh sure, I've seen lots of things worth taking photos of, and I've absolutely had the time to take and edit photos. But, the motivation! The sweet, sweet necessary motivation; she is lacking, you see?

Although, I'd really like to post about something positive and productive so I may be grasping at straws here but oh well, I've been spending an awful lot of time on Pinterest, that website I mentioned last week. I touched briefly on my photo collections that I've created, but I believe I have more to say on the subject now!

In an effort to make sure that my constant internet browsing and clicking remains even slightly productive, I make sure to add photos to my various photography boards on a regular basis. If you're curious, here is my profile and all of my boards. Anyone who is interested can see what I've been up to and what I've been collecting. It feels really good to cruise through all of the boards and poke around into other peoples' collections. I feel so inspired whenever I scroll through my own boards, and it's exciting to find another user that has a really strong photo collection.

It's actually been very helpful in causing my brain to churn ideas and catalogue inspirations. All I need now are some willing models and more AA batteries for my flash. Also, I had no idea that I liked black and white portraits so much. My portrait board is almost entirely black and white. That was a fascinating discovery. A useful one, I think. Perhaps converting more photos to black and white, or shooting them with a conversion in mind, will open new creative doors for myself and change the way I think about a setup. Either way I'm looking forward to shooting people again.

So even though I haven't been taking any photos, I've been doing a lot of research and inspiration combing. That's something that I've never really done enough of, and I can say I'm proud of myself for finally doing it. Ryan was always encouraging me to look at other work and to be inspired and broaden my horizons. Why do I have to hate studying so much? I'm getting better though :]

-MJ