A look at the all the photo shoots I've ever done thus far

Five, not counting one of the most indelible portraits I've ever shot from this one time I went to the magical woods with Kanna.

In chronological order:

So that's five.

And here's possibly one of my favorite portraits:

You know it when you feel it.

 I know when a photo shoot goes well. It has that vibe to it. I can't define it completely. It's not simply the atmosphere. But you just know it because the feeling--that vibe--is so palpable. It's like the feeling you get when you know that you're living instead of simply existing. That's about as close as I can get to explaining it. Like I told Ariana, I felt alive while shooting. Most of the time I feel that I am simply existing, and the vibe is just meh, but when I'm feeling alive and living, it's inexplicably wonderful. It's the feeling that all my hopes and dreams are founded upon, a manifestation of all the happiness, passion and strength that I have.

As a side note, I had a photo shoot with one of my loveliest friends today. I felt like I was living it. It was wonderful.

Challenges are either equal or cannot be subject to be compared.

Every person is an individual, therefore his or her life is unique to themselves. The same goes for their challenges.

What may seem insignificant or significant to one person is not the same for the others. It is incomparable. Our roads and circumstances are different. Not everyone is on even ground, and not everyone is equal.

You may be an "adult," one who has familial and financial responsibilities, as well as a "job." But that does not make your struggle any worse than a student in high school who has the deal with expectations and insecurities exceeding skyscrapers.

Someone may have been born into the most unfortunate family and circumstances--poor and starving--but that does not mean that you have it better or that they have it worse when you've got a family that hates you, a dysfunctional family.

What I'm getting at is that no matter how significant or insignificant you feel that your struggles are in comparison to others--don't think that way.

Your struggles are yours. Do people have the exact same circumstances and problems as you do?

No.

I do not think that it is reasonable to compare, for better or worse.

[diary] epic day

Today, I sold my first ad for newspaper. Jane (EIC) was awesome enough to drive me to the store (well, it was a spa/beauty parlor place). I don't know what I would've done if she hadn't followed me in because I seriously think that just with her presence, it managed to put the co-owner at ease. I had no idea what to continue saying or where to go with it all after I was done with my spiel, but Jane jumped right in and just said a few words (maybe a sentence or two) and I think the lady was just about sold.

Oh boy. I didn't think things could get any better than they already were. But then Jane took me to the Dairy Queen only a few stores away and bought me a BLIZZARD. WHOOO! Epic day.

[film] Meliae by Paul de Luna

Meliae (Zen Sevastyanova by Paul de Luna)

This truly plucks at my heartstrings.

So heartbreaking, poignant, expressive, precious, tender, beautiful. Ethereal.

I feel like I know what these feelings are.

I feel as though, despite the ethereal, fairy-tale like quality to this film, this world exists. It might be a different world, a world apart from ours, but I feel like it’s so real at the same time that it could exist.

You know what I want to know?

I don't want to know how to be a good person, or whether we are part of something larger, or why the world was created or any of that.

I want to know:

What is beauty?
What is beautiful?
Is what is beautiful what is good?
Is there goodness truly?

That is what I want to know.