2 years, 665 posts, countless changes - a Blog-Birthday

Exactly two years ago I started this blog with this post. The blogs name by then was "The Man-Made Project", I had just bought my Lomo Fisheye No. 2 and had the idea to take pictures of normal everyday stuff but with a twist. I soon broadened this blogs horizon. Last year I forgot about this blogs birthday (blog birthday post 2011).

During the last two years I truly learned to photograph, specializing in Fisheye and Macro Photography without ever having planned to do so and changed personally a lot (back then I was a platinum blonde). I think it is save to say this blog evolves with me. I changed the layout, name, projects and goals along with my personal development. Two years ago the blog was just for my lomographies, now I share all my photography and my other artistic ventures. In my last post I shared my first ever illustration of a certain topic and who knows what the next years will bring? A wedding gig this summer for sure but aside from that...

And I have absolutely no issues with calling myself a photographer now. Monday I got another film back and with this I achieved something that I thought I would never-ever be abled to do. And that is, in my opinion, a sign of a true pro photographer: a film full of stunning photographies, without any bad pictures whatsoever.

So yeah, after 2 years of self training I am proud to call myself a photographer, specialized in Fisheye and Macro Photography.  I think getting to this stage with my illustration will take at least 2 years too, probably more. But I will have fun getting there.

So I hope you come along on this way.

Feel the fear and do it anyway

Let me get this straight: Tuesdays SUCK! I don't know what it is with Tuesdays and me, but we don't get along well. Yesterday was such a crappy Tuesday again. I had no energy whatsoever and my mood was truly rotten.

Even though I was in such a hole I finally gathered the courage to do something that I had wanted to do for years, but I just was to scared in the last moment to do so. Sometimes I need a last push, in my case it was this blogpost: http://www.postcrossing.com/blog/2011/11/07/swab-your-cheeks-for-amit
I'm probably not a match for Amit, but there is a chance that I can save another persons life with my bone marrow or stem cells. So yes, I've registered yesterday at the DKMS. After I did it I felt quite enthusiastic about it, but in the evening I was having second thoughts. Which is my normal time to start to fuss about things that I've done that day. This morning I'm feeling great and am still proud that I finally took this step, even though I'm a bit scared. I think Susan Jeffers, who wrote the book titled "Feel the fear and do it anyway", would be proud too.

What about you? Are you registered as a bone marrow donor? Or do you donate blood? I did donate blood once. Afterwards I was always prohibited because of some of the prescription drugs I had to take or had taken months before the donation. Anyhow, I'm excited of the prospect to might be abled to save somebody out there, just by being who I am.

Oh, my Elle UK - Horoscope is also really good today: The planet of illusion and delusion {Neptune, in case you didn't know. I didn't know, until I checked some other signs.} is finally coming out of retrograde today. You’ll be delighted to feel a lifting of the spacey feeling you’ve been complaining about for the past several months. Yes, you can finally get back to your favored focus-and-finish mode. Distractions can’t hurt you now, Virgo.

Okay, now, since my world is getting back into the swing of things I'm off to finally post the birthday present of a dear friend of mine. Only one month late. Well, she knows why I'm late and doesn't mind. And she isn't the one who's getting it latest. I'm currently working on a birthday present for a friend whose birthday is exactly two months gone. Well, she gets it as a combined birthday-christmas present. Which leaves me still pondering the gift for Chris. Her birthday is next week and I'm pondering her present for three months now and haven't really come up with an idea that I really like. The real fun part is, she still hasn't gotten her gift for last year, but in that case it's our combined fault, we somehow don't make it to the shop where she is to choose her earrings. The one time we made it (9 months after her birthday, she got total information overload and couldn't decide what she wanted. Which was incidently my first reaction to the Perlentaucher too. Well, maybe we finally get this done next week.

The picture is from the Sanssouci Park in Potsdam. It was taken around 9 PM. Gee, I wish it was summer again.

Happy Birthday and a "Schaffensrausch"

Well, since I don't have a picture of a birthday cake, I thought I'd share this picture of my happy place with you. It's a shame but I haven't been there for while. In any case this last year has been full of change for me. I moved into my first own flat (flatsharing before). I lost a lot of weight and gained quite some confidence in myself. Chris and I started our ChrisSan Photographer project. I registered my own trademark and sooo much more happened. Next year is going to be even awesome, I feel it.  I've decided to be cheeky and apply at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for example. Yes, I've finally decided to switch to the creative field. We'll see where I "end" up. Who knows maybe the MoMA, maybe with Stefan Sagmeister (a very great designer and artist that I admire) or maybe as a Visual Merchandiser or maybe San's Visual Art really takes off (me the next Picasso, *snicker*). Who knows. My Tarot is quite awesome for the next year, as you can see here:

My friend K and I layed it yesterday evening. It was soooo much fun. I really enjoyed sitting in a café in the city over a nice glass of "Federweisser", talking and laying the Tarot.

While I'm talking about developing San's Visual Art, yesterday I fell into a "Schaffensrausch"*, I drew all them yesterday morning:

A thing I learned from it: drawing needs daily practice. My, my, my. Did those two months of not practicing show off on the first few cards. Steadily drawing outside the lines. :( So from now on, I'll draw every single day. And I'll invest quite an amount of time and money on improving my skills. K will give me a gift certificate for a local artists supply. So the paper in the A2 format and a Thor transport roll are the next things I'll get for San's Visual Art, besides a good scanner. I'll also take classes, whenever I'm lucky enough that they are held and not cancelled due to not enough bookings. >:(  This happened for the third time now. 

* I like this word "Schaffensrausch".