Nine in the Afternoon.

The past 2 days I've spent down in Louisville, Kentucky exploring and relaxing with family. My cousin gave me the opportunity to really explore Louisville in a way I haven't had the chance to before and see more of the history and uniqueness that makes the city what it is at heart. Seeing both downtown and the historic district, I not only got the chance to add some pictures to my portfolio but also got my hands on photoshop 7, saw the new movie valentines day, ate junk food, and got soaked to the bone playing in the rain!


^ After looking at this one and intensly studying this building, I came to the conclusion that I might have very well been teleported into New Orleans..!

^ This is a museum/art exhibit of local art right by the water tower that was built in the 1800's. I'm working on stitching a photo together of the water tower itself :]







Also, I have a lot of exciting things planned for summertime! Skydiving in July/August. Tail of the Dragon adventure at the end of this month. Going to try and get my work featured at the Art on the Levee downtown for print selling. Wedding this saturday. Hilton Head, SC in July and hopefully make a stop at Charleston, SC to get pictures of the Angel Oak I recently discovered. All in all, I'm looking forward to how awesome this summer is going to be.

BROOKE

PS. Title comes from the song by Panic at the Disco

for the love of SKY

For some odd reason, the sky draws my attention more than anything I can think of. Both the day and the night offer such uniqueness and beauty it's easy to take for granted. THE DAY: vast, open, and blue the sunlight drowns the atmosphere with feelings of happiness and the clouds can sparkle white in all shapes and sizes. THE NIGHT: With our faces turned away from the sun, we are compelled to live in the utter darkness space offers and we are given the opportunity to look directly into the vastness of the universe. And through both day and night, as it varies all over the world, we are treated with beautiful thunderstorms and are reminded of the awesome power the Earth can portray through natural disasters.

So, today was one of those rare days in which I got to witness every formation of cloud known to man in a scale that was absolutely breathtaking. To be honest, the few pictures that I got hardly even do it justice (mind you... these are all taken as is... the only photoshopping I did was take out a couple lamp posts on image 2):


^I want to smack myself for shooting in such high ISO totally unaware lol



Regardless it was a great day driving around. I found myself all over the place <3 Here's to my beautiful city of Cincinnati (this isn't the best picture I could have gotten as it was shot in very high ISO but still, I find the city captivating as it's my first/only picture of the Cincinnati skyline in the daytime) Hurray for panoramics!




BROOKE
P.S. song of the day: Cave In - Owl City

Fly Me to the Moon

So yesterday was the first night in about 2 weeks where its been clear enough to shoot the stars. Unfortunatly there seemed to be an awful lot of light pollution :(. Probably due to the humidity/fog that was lurking around so the pictures I attempted to capture didn't quite turn out the way I was wanting. I'm going to have to make a trip away from the city.

I did however get a chance to visit kings island yesterday which was a much needed ride of joy. I want to go back just to take pictures of people and the rides. I've been there so many times I almost know all the coasters by heart lol. Visiting there reminded me of a place I went to a few years ago called LeSourdsville Lake, which is an abandoned amusement park. I would love to go back and take some pictures with my Canon because my Sony point-n-shoot just isn't quite the same as a DSLR :]

Here's some that I got with my old camera a couple years back:




So, my day begins and I shall follow it. Wishing all the best to every one of you!

BROOKE

-one-

I stayed up late last night into the wee hours of the morning to make this documentary type style of a video because I had such an urge to make something reflective/thought provoking. I just took a few simple video clips I took at the park and some of my photography that hasn't really been posted anywhere and set it to one of my favorite theme songs from a game I like to play (Bioshock 2... awwweeesome series :D)

And I feel as though you're either going to love it, or hate it. So feedback would be awesome :)

BROOKE

Follow Your Heart

The moon shines on an empty day
where the broken words of many lie.
The careless actions of a few suffer so many
as the cautious mind follows blindly.
-Me

This is a poetry excerpt taken from my journal reflecting on an idea that has been plaguing my mind for a while but I'm not so willing to accept. It's the fact that people have the ability to give up their dreams, wishes, and desires for temporarily relief for money, relationships, or even to save their job that they don't even like being at. I understand that there are things to take care of in life, cars, living spaces, even other people at times, but it doesn't mean you have to lose yourself and what drives you in the process.

I found out that my uncle and my grandpa used to be into photography just as passionately as I was when they were my age. I talked to them for hours about equipment, techniques, places they went to. "Why did you give it up?" I asked both of them, and they both responded pretty much the same way, "Well there were other things to take care of, a family to raise, a house to get... it just kind of got away from me. When I was your age though, I wanted to do exactly what you are doing now." Thing is, they don't even know each other. My grandpa is on my mom's side and my uncle is on my dad's side. They, among many others in life, let go of what drove their curiosity, their willingness to be creative, following their bliss for something else.

I guess the point I'm getting at is the reality of the situation that it isn't possible to achieve everything at its maximum level. You have to let go of certain things to obtain others and what I'm noticing is almost everyone I know let go of what drove them personally for those that are around them. And I fear I've been following the same path. But, this year will be my year to step out of the box FINALLY and achieve all the things that I never thought possible. Or at least start creating the path :] Growing as an individual and tackling all the things that I actually don't really like about myself and want to approve on. It's possible to be all that you want to be but you have to have a certain level of selfishness and that has always been something I never really had enough of.

BROOKE

VBLOG 2 - Driving Adventures

Live for Today

In the past few days, I'm noticing quite a few instances that make me realize how important it is to life in the moment, and not for tomorrow. When you're constantly making excuses as to why it can't be, or when it will be, or just wishing, dreaming, and hoping, your losing out on the chances to make the moments passing even right now the best they can be. Take each thing as it comes. Don't rush life. And don't expect so much that it leaves only disappoint in the end. Whatever your heart desires, follow it, and you'll find that not only acceptance of yourself will become a lot easier, but also that you'll feel a lot happier once your day has ended.

So for me, Aion is calling my name right now. And then work for a part of the day and enjoying the next few days off. I'm going to plan out some self portraits I want to take in those days and maybe do some exploring :) I'm feeling a strong desire to go on a trip somewhere as well and will probably find myself on a couple road trips this year. Have a fantastic week everyone!

BROOKE