photo Separate_zpsee6734da.jpg  photo about_zps8c821b8c.jpg  photo portfolio_zps8d0d9d7f.jpg  photo bloglovin_zpsa2e5e23c.jpg
 photo 30by30_zps098a90d4.jpg  photo instagram_zpse717f74f.jpg  photo facebook01_zps3b7e857c.jpg  photo Separate01_zps16ecb567.jpg

Friday, December 30, 2011

2011 - the year that kicked my butt

2011 was a tough year for me. I lost my grandfather, my sense of home, a job, plans for the future, felt very alone, useless, and over all a giant mess. Nothing is resolved and for a lot of things I will not receive a sense of closure until much later, if at all. All these things have changed me and influenced me in some unexpected (good and bad) ways.

In review of older posts from this year, I found the way in which I reacted to life.

Amethyst
In this Rock Collection post, I consoled myself over the loss of my grandfather through learning about the things he was interested in. One such thing was the rocks and minerals he studied.

close your eyes
Nick has stuck with me through this tough year and we're both beginning to learn more about the struggles and triumphs of a relationship. I shared my favorite pictures of Nick in this post.

Eric and Sunflowers
Though I did feel very much alone, my friends and family were always there when I needed them. Eric wrote a very lovely song about my photography in this post. They encourage me and even got together to give me the money to purchase a DSLR so that I could further pursue my dream to be a self-employed photographer.

Halloween Portrait

geometric lake 3
Being unemployed was a mixed blessing. The positive part about it was the time I received to be creative and stretch my artistic abilities. I did more experimental work this year than I ever have with film: Halloween portraits, expired film, double exposures, graphic design, event photography, studio work and lots more.

Creek
This year I worked on two big projects in black and white photography. Both projects reflect the loneliness and distance I felt, and being able to work with those feelings in a creative way was very therapeutic. You can see both completed projects here and here.

And in helping with keeping up a weekly blog schedule, I started two themes a few months back. This is my favorite book review and this is my favorite Flickr inspiration.

Good-bye, 2011.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

See you in 2012 ;-)

Chrissy said...

Wishing you a wonderful year 2012! Hugs xxx

John said...

I always find the first year after losing a loved one to be very difficult. Every event such as a B-Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas is the first one without that person. After the first year, it changes a bit and the sense of loss and sorry gets replaced by your fond memories.

I hope 2012 is a good year for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you perservered through this year, through all your challenges! It's great that you never gave up on your art, and you still set goals for yourself throughout the year to make it through. Things tend to work out eventually for those who never give up!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...