Posts tagged "reflections"

Shooting Film Stills

It is interesting how life comes in a full circle. My very first job was working in the movie theater. I absolutely loved it. I knew every movie that came out, who was playing in it. I went on breaks to watch tidbits of them, and on my days off I would go and see them whole. At Oscars, I would have seen most of the movies that were nominated.

I never realized back then that some day in a movie theater on a big screen, there would be my name in the credits.

Things come our way sometimes unexpectedly. If we just follow our gut feeling trusting ourselves, we get rewarded. There might be some obstacles on the way or sacrifices we make, but if we follow that inner knowing, it pays off generously.

Last year, my friends asked me to help out with the film, to do a still photography. As I read a heart-warming script, I had a good feeling about it. At the same time, our horse got sick and we lost him. Besides hard times and schedule, I shot the scenes and making of the film, nonetheless. But once there, I put all my heart into it. After shooting, I spent countless hours in selecting, editing and e-mailing pictures to producers.

During filming, I fell in love with characters, especially Grandma Jini and a 4-year old Kian.

Once I was there, I was totally immersed in the making of the film. I found the whole process fascinating. So much detail goes into the scene: a proper light, sound system, camera settings, scene and location setup. It was incredible.

My most favorite scenes were beach shots. Always love natural light.

Appearance of actors was really important as well: every clothing ironed, every wardrobe piece selected, constant make-up, powdering and curling the hair. Every detail was important as much as a location setup.

My most favorite part was to get into actors’ world: feel every feeling they feel in acting, see every motion – to be one of them and capture those moments that really matter.

Seeing Kian’s and Grandma Jini’s love and their embrace melted my heart.

To find right angles, to capture the right feeling, the right body language – to give a great feel and bring a viewer an intriguing curiosity is my key. Seeing tears of missing Grandma when Kian grows up, sweet memories of contemplation when Kian gets older had me lost in a moment as if it was happening for real.

I love to capture life. Therefore, in capturing the scenes, I put myself right there with the actors sensing everything they portray.

Being part of the crew, I watched every intense moment of making a scene just right. It was just like being in two worlds at the same time: being one with the crew and being one with the actors. I loved to capture each moment in filming, loved to capture the crew working and having fun in between.

What drew me to this film was a heart-warming storyline. “A Lot in Common… shared memories” was written by Grandma Jini herself. Jacqueline Serrano, Dayle J. Hoffman and Ralitsa Koleva were producers. Jini Mount and Kian are real life grandma and grandson and the parts of the film were a real-life story. This film will be a part of a family’s treasure. I could watch this film over and over again and still have tears in my eyes.

“A Lot in Common” was selected at Sarasota Film Festival in 2012. I loved being a part of this film, meet amazingly talented actors and crew and to shoot the priceless moments in it. It was an amazing experience.

Reflections

Reflections on the water look like a colorful painting.

In Reflections

Sailboat is resting in reflections at golden hour.

The Magic of Running

Running? Me? Who could ever thought?

Last week, I started something new. When my friend Sandy and I went to Celery Fields hill, I saw 2 little kids and their mother running down the hill. They had smiles on their faces, having a great time. I thought for a moment, when was the last time I run? I remembered my high school years when we used to run short-distance and long 2 km distance. I was a pretty good runner in a long distance. We even used to run in the snow.

So, I handed my camera to Sandy and I took off downhill. Climbing up hill was not challenging enough, so I upped my game. I run uphill 2 times. My heart pounding, the wind in my hair, I felt ALIVE! I was smiling ear to ear! I put my arms in the air and at that moment I decided I want to get fit. I want to be strong. I want to feel alive! … And I’m keeping my word. I came back to the hill again. I also run in my neighborhood.

In running, I became more aware of my surroundings. Even my eyes became so much clearer, and this clear vision right now is staying for prolonged time. Before, my vision was a bit blurry, then clear, a little more blurry and then clear, and so on. It was going from 20/40 to 20/25 most of the time. Right now, even after finishing running, in this past week I can feel my vision stays clearer longer than usual. And when I see 20/20, every leaf on the tree, I become ecstatic. WOW! By running, I see beautiful front yards of neighbors. Today, I saw a swing on a tree. I see birds on a roof or flying by. I hear hawk screaming. My senses become alive. My heart pounds, I breathe hard, then I start walking and later running again. I become so aware of everything. Even I pick up senses of flowers or blooming trees. Oh, what a great fragrance! It is so great to feel ALIVE!

Wow! I just read some benefits of running.

6 benefits of running

I found this article helpful, too:

For Beginner Runners

Another great form of exercise and self-expression is dancing. I danced this weekend, too. My muscles were sore the next day, but it was so much well worth it. My friends and I had such a great time. Here is something I wrote awhile ago about dancing: What is your dancing style?

Photo or Painting?

Some photos resemble paintings. The motion, the light bring a surprising outcome. As if a painting comes out of camera. I love to paint with the light and motion of a subject. Here are some photos that I took for you to enjoy:

This one is one of my favorites. The day was really cloudy, but this capture of the moment was priceless.

Sometimes the blurriness gives that special effect that looks like brush strokes of a painter.

These photos look like an abstract paintings. That’s the capture of moving reflections in the water.

It is a wonder what photography can do. It let us see what we normally would just dismiss or simply look and forget. Photography is capturing the moments that can stay with us forever. It is an amazing art that let us live in the now.

Enormous Gratitude

Recently I met my new friend. We talked for hours, walked in a drizzling rain, went to the beach in the dark. We had a great time and conversation.

In talking with her, I realized how far I came. My attitude towards everything has changed. Like the saying goes, “Do not look for me in the past. I am not there anymore.” It rings so true to me.

I realized all the struggles I been through in the past only made me stronger. The people who treated me unfairly are no longer in my life. Some things that I would be dead serious about before, just made me laugh. I know what I want and nothing will stop me.

By talking to my friend, I glanced into my past and right now. I came a LONG way. Wow! I am not afraid of little setbacks anymore. It only makes me stronger. Setbacks are just a little building blocks that goes to the top of the castle of our dreams come true.

By summing up all our conversations about life and people, an enormous gratitude filled my heart. I am grateful for:

1. My family and friends. You are truly amazing, each one of you!

2. My health. Where I was and where I am now – HUGE difference!

3. My pets who give an unconditional bundles of love and joy.

4. A peace in my heart. Forgiveness plays a huge part.

5. My self-confidence. Gosh, even my back is straight and I see clearer.

6. My cheerfulness and positivity. A simple smile makes the whole difference not only for me, but for others.

7. My creativity and curiosity. I LOVE making ordinary into extraordinary, to challenge myself to see in creative ways.

8. Challenges. They teach me lessons and test me how strong I’ve become. It builds a character, so bring it on.

9. New opportunities that unexpectedly present themselves.

10. LIFE. I cherish every minute that I am alive!

What are you grateful in your life?

Sorting the Friends Out

People come and go. Some of them touch our hearts, some of them break them. Some people come into our lives to give certain lessons. Some people test our nerves, test how strong we become. Yet with some people, it feels that we have known them for years. We can talk to them for hours, and never gets boring. It seems that they are our soul friends – people who are traveling a similar path.

If we look at our friend circle and people we meet, do we feel empowered? Or do we feel drained? Do we feel enthusiastic? Or do we feel victimized? How our friends make us feel?

This year, I decided to sort my friends out in a personal life and on social media. Animal abusers or animal hunters for fun, people who demean women and others are not acceptable in my world. I had to un-friend some on Facebook. In personal life, I had to let go of some people as well. People with chronic victim mentality only drains’ others’ energy. They are real downers and not willing to change. Some people just do not deserve to be in our lives. If they put us down or belittle us, we can choose to let them go. I did that, and my life became lighter.

Note: if mentally we are still mad on them, they still have a control over us. Therefore, forget, forgive and let it go. By being mad, we only hurt ourselves.

I choose to surround myself with people who are amazing, creative, inspiring and empowering. Yes, we all go through life’s hard stuff. We all have our stories. However, if some people choose to complain about it and do not do anything, it is a downer not only for them, but also for us. We do not need to get into other people’s dramas.

Life is all about going higher and achieving our dreams. Let’s surround ourselves with people who empower us to be the best. Let’s be the best for others, too. Let’s inspire one another.

How to Make Space for New?

Happy New Year! It is a new beginning. Like Winfrey Oprah said, “another year to make it right.” The thing is that we go through changes many times: it could be at a beginning of the year. It could be after some drastic event happening, like changing a job, losing someone, divorce, kids go to college, retirement, marriage, moving to a new place, etc., etc. There is also a saying that major changes usually happen after 7 years.

Lately, I and my friends are going through major life changes, too. So, how to cope with that? How to make changes fun? First of all, I found the greatest thing to do is to get rid of crap. Through many years, we collect so much stuff. Some things we liked before, we do not like it anymore. Get rid of it. Our tastes change. We have so many e-mails that we did not even read, subscriptions that we ignore. Delete and throw away. If we take pictures, some pictures seemed nice before. Right now they’re mediocre – delete them or save them on DVD. There are clothes that we did not wear for years – donate, give away or sell them. There might be some unfinished projects or writings that we never get to finish, or lost interest in them – throw it away.

Also, not only we got to get rid of old, worn, unfinished stuff, but also the same goes with mental stuff. All negativity out – to open a new space for positivity. There might be some people that hurt us in the past. Don’t you wish that some of them would have a “delete” button? We can do it in our mind: we got to forgive them and let it go. Because if we are mad or upset, we only hurt ourselves – let go of anger and hurt.

Or, here is a brilliant idea: Use these feelings to make you go higher. Sometimes anger or being upset gives us a motivation to succeed. We can channel those feelings to make ourselves only better and stronger. If somebody said, “You’ll fail,” just say, “Watch Me” and strongly believe that you can do anything you wish and do it.

Also, while we clean old or bad energy out of our lives, we open doors to new opportunities. The thing is that in this process of getting rid of the stuff, the new ideas come. In working on these ideas, we got to communicate with people. That’s how we start something new and exciting.

Moreover, we shall not take on a new crap. If people do not treat us right or be negative, we have every right to walk away or change a subject. We do not need their negativity in our lives. Let’s surround ourselves with friends that lift us up, inspire us, and encourage us. No more drama and no bullshit. Also, no more excuses.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I feel an enormous gratitude to my family and friends. For my family, thank you for being my inspiration. I love our deep conversations about life and what is possible, remembrance of our past moments and seeing how far we came, and where we are going next.

For my friends, thank you for cheering me on, for inspiring me to strive for the better. You inspire me to be more creative and share the beauty of life and the world with you. Thank you!

I wish you heart-felt moments with your family and friends. These precious moments are more important than any gifts in the world. I wish for you lots of laughter, many surprises, heartfelt hugs and great conversations.

Love dearly, smile widely, hug wholeheartedly, laugh till tears, dance till whole room spins, and sing from your whole being! Create something that nobody but you can create!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Thank you for being a HUGE part of my life, each one of you! You are a True Blessing!

Water Paintings

Sometimes you can find a wonder in unexpected places. We were visiting a friend, and in the bay he had a bright yellow catamaran. As I went to look more closely, I was mesmerized. The reflections on the water underneath became the ever-changing paintings that left me awed and inspired. The fluidity of water, and small ripples made this incredible show that I captured with the camera: