Showing posts with label Why I Do Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Why I Do Things. Show all posts

4.16.2012

Worth A Thousand Words

A picture really is worth a thousand words. Since this is the case, I have books (tomes even) worth of photos. Luckily, because of the digital age, we can do this, without having a box, photo album or film canister full of photos. Now we have a computer full. One of my projects for this year is to go back and print out some of my photos and put them into an album. I am doing pretty well; of the 10 years worth of digital photos I have to print, I have put about 8 of them into albums so far.

I probably take a photo every day. Maybe not every single day, but most days. I looked back on January, February and March and there are probably only 2 days that I did not take a photo, either with my camera or phone. One of the things I found helps me to remember to take photos is to bring my camera with me everywhere, even when it seems like a pain to carry it.

There are so many different reasons to take photos. Here are a few of mine.

To play: As you know, each week I contribute one photo to Triptych, a site where we give you a word to interpret how you want. Each photo is different and it's fun to see what other people get out of the same word. This also goes for photo of the day sites and lists (a couple of fun ones are: Fat Mumslim's Monthly List and Capture Your 365's Monthly List). I don't do these every day, but sometimes it's fun to make a day out of it.

Triptych's SPLENDID prompt

To capture a moment: These photos are often a little blurry, but they are a freeze frame of something remarkable. Of your baby's first steps. Of a smile. A vacation. A good night out with friends. Or a bicycle ride for two down the streets of a Brazilian town, 4 seconds before you ran into the curb and fell to the ground.

He's on the handlebars, taking the photo as we are riding along.

To remember: I travel a lot and love seeing all the beautiful places in the world. But with time, memories fade and that thing that you thought you would always remember can be just a fuzzy thought. I like to take photos so this doesn't happen. Like this one of my trip to Yosemite in 2004 with my Dad and Grandma, and my botched attempt to die my hair red.



To laugh: I snap a lot of photos with my iPhone. Of signs. Of people wearing silly hats. Of "butt rub". Of naked people walking down the streets of San Francisco. Yup. That really happens.

Bay to Breakers 2010

To create: I used to just snap photos left and right without thinking about it. Now, sometimes I take the time to get the light right, or the setting, or even just the frame. And sometimes I just get lucky.


To chronicle: I use my photos in lieu of a journal sometimes, since I often fall way behind in writing in it. Also, when I do decide to finally write in my journal, I have an easy database of photos to pull from, and to remind me of what I was doing.

Thailand: food to them; bugs to me.

To show:  I take a lot of photos with my iPhone to show my loved ones, who are far away, what is going on in my life. Even if it's as mundane as "look what I bought at Target" it's still fun to feel like they are right here with you, doing boring day to day stuff, as well as the fun things. Or, oftentimes, I show you too! This photo was taken by my Dad after we reached the summit of Mt. Shasta, and sent to my Mom from the top.

I'm ready to get down now

To remind: Different that "to remember" this is more like taking photos of something to remind myself of something...which wine I DO like, what book I want to buy, or how much batteries are at one store, so when I go to the other I can compare. It's like easy note taking.

These clips are cheaper at Target

And mostly, I take photos because it's fun!

Why do you take photos? What do you take the most photos of? Do you ever print your photos out and put them in an album?

8.06.2011

Why I Blog

I used to send emails.

Wait, let me back up a minute. Before that, I used to make phone calls. I would arrive in a new country and I would ask in bad French where I could find a phone card (un carte telephonique! telephonique!!?) and then I would take my 5 dollar phone card and find a telephone booth where I could spend 7.8 minutes yelling into the phone to my mother (YES! I am fine! No! I don't need any money!) 

That was how people knew I was alright. Then email got more popular and THAT was how I let people know I was okay while I was traveling. At first I was a good daughter/friend/sister. I would send each person a nice little note about what I was doing in New Zealand or wherever and how fun the skydiving/hiking/people watching/sheep was/were there. I would tailor it depending on the other person's interests.

Then it got to be too much. There were too many people to write to. There was not enough time to travel! So I started this blog. If people wanted to know what I was doing, they could read it. If they didn't care, they didn't have to get my periodic emails. And I could talk about what I wanted to talk about and what I was doing. Most importantly, I would have an online journal of my trip. It was a win-win situation.

But Me, and Who I Am, is not just about travel. I am a passionate hater of bad drivers; I am a money saver;  I am a lover of cooking and eating food; I am a reader of books and a taker of photos and I run (or try to run). I realize as a person who would love to have blogging or writing be my job and be able to make money from it that this is usually more easily done if you have a niche. But I don't have a niche. I am all over the place.

I like it that way. I can say what I want and be who I really am, in life and in the internet world. There is always someone on the other side of a computer who understands what I am going through, be it a travel situation or a life crisis. I love that there is such a community out there, of runners, of readers, of bloggers...of PEOPLE.

So...why I blog? I blog to let off steam, to write, to share, to meet, to understand and to learn.

Why do you blog?

This is a Dare to Share post with the subject of: Blogger Identity. The task was to write a post that reveals, discusses, or explores who you are as a blogger.