Heather - Winter's Pearl

So I just checked in here a moment ago, and, to my surprise, I found out that this place hasn't been completely dead, even though I haven't shown that I'm alive in ages! An thus I'm blowing life into this blog again by showcasing my 2014 calendar.

For those who do not know, W1K has been running calender challenges for a few years now, which basically means that you have to shot something during each month. All pictures have to have a common theme and all have to depict the month in question in some way.

If you have checked out my portfolio at W1K you might have noticed that I have a thing for floral macros, that's what I decided to go with this year. Therefore, every month will feature a floral shot, and I'll be using my fairly new macro lens for all of them.

This first shot, of course, was shot in January. The snow made it really cool and after messing around with the picture a bit in Photoshop I realized that it had a pearly glow to it that I really liked, and thus something hit me. Flowers and precious stones (and such) are both pretty, and to name my entries that way could be both fitting, and keep me on my toes - it is a great way to avoid using the same colors too much and to communicate a message at the same time. This is where my philosophical artsy side pushes away my logical alter ego, and things get sort of fuzzy and silly, but bear with me.

I really think that nature is precious. I don't mean in any political "saving the world" kind of way (even though that's obviously very important!) but in the "enjoying the little thing in life that we tend not to notice" kind of way. At least I'm that way, no, strike that, I was that way. Nowadays really I try to move away from that. Last autumn was crazy busy - and I mean crazy. I worked every day of the week and, basically, never had any time off, at all! I would literary burst into tears sometimes when my packed schedule would get disrupted due to some unforeseen circumstance. Thankfully, it only lasted til January - then came the relief of a lesser workload - but it's been really hard to let go of the stress. It goes a lot quicker to get used to extreme planning, structuring and organizing than the other way around. Anyway, to cut my ramblings short, this calender is symbolizing my path towards getting back to basics, and learning anew to stop and smell the roses. Nature is precious!

More to come.

/MrsHjort