Warmth in the Cold

Sitting around the fire place
Sipping tea
Cuddled in a warm blanket
Windows frosted up
Jingle Bells playing far in the distance

Oh how I wish that we could experience this type of weather in FL without moving.

The weather Channel is hosting a Fall Photography contest. First place winner is the recipient of $2,500! I think I may enter it, though I have some odds working against me,... like the fact that I live in FL and it is still summer weather, and that we don't have many trees if any where the leaves change colors. So, that means I will have to find a way to use these "disadvantages" to my advantage! I want something that says this is what fall is like in FL, something that makes people feel like they want to be where my picture was taken, something that says "WINNER!!!" In order to do this I will need to take many pictures, and weed through them finding the best, I also, need to look at what I am up against; find their flaws and their strong points then I need to keep that in mind when I take my picture. Will I use a close up that seems to be my strength, or will I be daring and use a long shot? What will I incorporate in the picture? I need to focus on my strengths but I don't want the picture to be typical.

So I guess I won't be posting pictures for a while, because even though I will be taking them I don't want anyone to steal my ideas. Although, I will post what I have chosen after it is submitted. Thank you guys for your support!!

Fall Festivities

Fall stirs up a lot of emotion in people it seems, The changing colors of the leaves, refreshing breezes, mounds of comfort food, and I think it may just be the only time of year before Thanksgiving that people act truly thankful, just about all of us love the change fall brings with her.

This year it started with a cold front in October. Everyone was so excited! And just as it ended Halloween came right around the corner. Soon, we (my boyfriend and I) will have some friends visiting from out of state, then it will be Thanksgivings turn to flash it's warm festive colors, and spread those comforting filling aromas that make as all kinda sleepy yet eager to be with family and friends at the same time!

This is a picture that I feel reflects my feelings for fall. Now, granted it is a photo from Halloween so it mostly reflects Halloween, but the colors scream fall!

However I have noticed that along with my lack of keeping up this "daily" blog, the majority of my photos are all close ups. I do enjoy close up because of the intimacy and the direct approach of the subject. Though I do think some more long distance shots of wider areas and sky lines might have a different but equal effect. So I will go out today and take a lot of shots and filter through them using each for a new blog.

Oh, and just a side note: "I would like to thank my followers, I now have two. Both of whom I love. My Dear Grandfather who has never let me down and continues to love me no matter what, and my wonderful supporting friend who never fails to show me a fun time and makes me feel worthy of, well, me I guess. Thanks a ton to both of you!"

Freedom

Today was an important day for me. I started out by eating a healthy breakfast with all the food groups invited. ^_^. And I had a math test, spent some time sharpening my video game skills, got into it with a close friend, complained about it to another, came home and read something very comforting that some one very great and wise and close to me wrote, to me. The reason today was so important is because I acknowledged a lot. First I realized that I am my own worst enemy, not math. Of course I already knew this, and I was aware that I often felt very anxious when it came to math, but, I really showed myself. I was able to calm myself for this math test even though I was unsure of knowing everything I needed to know. I helped myself to not get worked up and forget everything, I realized my strength! Secondly, Getting into with my friend also taught me something I am having a hard time grasping. I can lead a horse to water but I can't make it drink. I can tell someone what is unhealthy and I can tell some one how not to hurt themselves, but I can't make them better themselves or keep them from hurting themselves. But I do not have to sit there and let myself be used as a crutch. I do not need someone telling me to not get involved even though they know they are hurting themselves but then tell me to be there when they are hurting. I don't need to be used by the ones I love just because I love them. Lastly, sometimes when you think you have lost something so dear to you and you search and search and cannot seem to find it, when it pains you to even think about, sometimes you never lost it at all, it just wasn't what you thought it was. Well, it's what you thought it was but it isn't in the form you thought it was. I just want to say that I love my Grandpa. And I always will. I may realize I don't need other ppl or things that I thought I did, but I will always have my grandpa and I will always love him. Today was an important because I had a lot open up to me. I feel so free, like how your body feels when you are just floating, suspended in water. Kinda like your flying. That's why I posted this picture, it shows the sky which indicates freedom, but it also shows the road which indicates a path for you to follow. I feel like my work is cut out for me and in that I am free!

Untitled

I love order,... like I was talking about in last nights post, sometimes things in life seem so chaotic. When things are in order, everything has it's special place, and you know just about every outcome of your decisions. Don't get me wrong, I love spontaneity as well. But some things in life are just better planned. For example, you cannot just up leave for vacation if you have work, school, kids, pets, or budgeted funds. You have to be able to afford to be spontaneous, otherwise you are just creating more work for yourself. And then everything will build up and you won't ever be able to finish. I really do love being spontaneous, in fact when I retire one day I hope that I will be able to do almost anything I want when I want. Or when I have kids, I don't want to have to tell them they can't go somewhere or do something because we can't afford it. Even short term, I would like to be able to say one week end, "Lets go to Disney!", and be able to do it. That's why I love organization, it helps you have fun! Idk, I like this photo because the posts in the fence create a unity with their continued repeating patterns, and then all of a sudden, BAM!!! Smooth fun curly, wavy, lines. The porch railing can afford to have interesting detail because it is consistent in it's function, form, and structure. Adding this bit of exciting detail allows the viewer and the home owner to enjoy it's presence.

Familiarity

Often times I find myself feeling anxious and annoyed, everything is scattered, unorganized, and hectic. This is when I take a moment and look over my budget, readjusting it, and write down my schedule organizing everything down to the last detail. It is times like this that I find comfort in traditional contemporary lines. I know I have already posted these pictures, although I am pleased with the diference of feeling you get by looking at the pictures put together on a plain, clean, simple background as opposed to looking at each individually.

Making me look.

I love how things sometimes seem as if they are something they are not. Of course you know I did not make this art piece in this picture but I needed to take a picture because it really hit a cord in me. To me this sculptor looks like a seal, and the colors make me think of seals balancing beach balls on their nose. I love when an artists work makes me stare!

Happy 21st to Me!!!

Yay! Yesterday was my twenty first birthday! I watched: "Where the Wild Things Are" and had came home to "chill" with some friends. We had a few shots of Patron Citronge and some Jack Daniels Watermelon Spike. I hate to disappoint some of you out there but no,... I did not get drunk, it's just not me. But I did have fun!! First time buying alcohol! But now I guess since I am 21 I have to start acting all grown up and official,..... screw that!! I am gonna stay a kid forever!!!! At least in my mind. I am just half kidding I know when I need to take things seriously, but if you don't always need to but do anyways,... your on a fast road long painfully boring OLD life. Come on ppl we have to stay young at heart otherwise there is nothing worth living for!!


Day to day in this stiff suit,
Through the jungle of tall glass and steel trees,
Danger lurking in every direction,
See the hungry man of immense size,
Watch closely how he tears into his prey...,
The donut once at peace now fears for his life,
He can see this ginormous creature tearing into the rest of the colony,
Watch as he gulps down the coffee dribbling onto his chin and down his shirt,
See the news paper scattered on the ground, torn and abused,
It once had a nice life,
People cared for it and loved it,
They printed their stories on his body using gentle precision for each new letter,

See the pointy woman,
Her shoulders and nose seem to point at everyone,
Accusing them of failure,
She pounds the key board connected to the mother ship,
Sending commands and orders to every peon,
Her shadow lurks eerily in your direction,
Move away so you are not pinned in her path to be the next one fallen,

But wait,...
What is that,
Over in the shadows,
There do you see the outline,
It is soft, and comforting,
Silky petals reaching upwards towards the sky,
It seems so strong,
Yet at the same time so weak,
It grows rapidly and unnoticed,
Perhaps the brightest thing in this hard grey jungle of steel, glass, and stone,
It seems to be from ancient times,
Never before have I seen such beauty and strength at once,

Maybe a new era is coming,
Maybe life as we know it is changing,
Will we not have to worry about the man of immense size,
Or the woman with her pointy lurking shadow,
It seems that possibly things are going back to how you thought they once were,
How it seemed when you were young,
The circle of life is now taking control.....

I love this picture, whenever I look at it I am comforted by the asymmetrical balance the fish swimming at the bottom balance out the lotus flower at the top as do the shine of the coins at the bottom and the white on the flower. Not to mention this is probably one of the best picture I have taken!

Morning Wood

I was walking through the neighborhood and I was this in someones back yard it was soo cute so I just had to take a picture, I hope you all enjoy it!!

Colors

Today when I woke it was like every other morning, though I did not follow my normal routine I was unusually awake this morning, so their was no groggy fumbling trying to wake up. I went outside to take pictures with my puppy which was very hard because he kept pulling on the leash causing my to get many blurry shots.

However I think that this unexpected cold front makes things a bit less aggravating, in fact it inspires me and so that was the reason I went a long walk for picture taking. I got some pretty good shots I think. More reasons I love FL: the inspiring cold fronts which last long enough to make you miss, enjoy, and finally tire of the cold; the beautiful colors of all the flowers, flowers that you usually only see FL; Lastly as I have mentioned before, (I think) the laid back feeling. Above are examples of the oh so wonderful color that I love!

Biscuts and Cake

I like this sign because it gives you a nice home feeling, and when the coral is added you think "beach" and I don't know about you guys but when I have these two feelings I don't think it could feel anymore like home. I am not originally from FL but after 10yrs I have definitely become a Floridian! And in my opinion I could hang this picture in my future dwellings, not because of the quality, (I am not sure if the quality is that good) but, because of the feeling it gives me, I guess that has something to do with the quality... idk. ^_^ Well feedback is welcomed! Oh and there is no life lesson I can incorporate with picture, this sign just always made me feel comforted!

I really like this photo because of the repetition of the blinds in the background and the variety of all the different seashells. I think it shows good principles of design and besides that, I made the wind chime. You cannot tell from this angle but the top of the wind chime is made with recycled magazine pages. I started by cutting strips in the pages and rolling them up. Then I would smush the rolls flat and glued them together in a circle. I made sure that it would not fall apart by binding them with fishing string. Which can be very tricky if you do not know how to do a fishing knot. It is physically tiring as well. You have to attach the shells in a specific pattern while your body is twisted in positions you probably don't find yourself in often. It was pretty hard for me because of my back prob. ^_^!

I thoroughly enjoy the beach, and I even get a little excited when walking along the sand finding a spot to settle down for the next few hrs. I start thinking about all the shells I will find and what I can make with them. I feel so free when my body is suspended in the water. And I sure you know as well as I do how peace it is to just lay back on the sand and listen to the seagulls and the waves crash on the shore.

Just the other day I was at the beach (if you didn't already assume that) and I had a first time encounter with a jelly fish. I knew what they looked like from books and pictures and the discovery channel. Thankfully the experience was not spoiled by it stinging me, (as soon as I saw it I fled in panic ^_^.) I was beautiful looking back on it though. It was pink, my favorite color, and when I think back to the way it swam, it was so calm as if the waves had no effect on it. It was as if the water just went through it, not pushing it at all. lol. Meanwhile whenever a wave hits me, a much bigger creature, lol, I fall over just about every time! hehe!

Cycle

I am still new at this blog thing and I am still missing days. But I will continue to try. I think that the consistency of this blogging project is a good lesson to learn.

Lately, nothing exciting has been going on. Just the same cycle of everyday life. My schedule consists of waking up around 8 am on school days 9 or 10 am every other day,as soon as i get up i go to the restroom. Make a pot of coffee. Start cooking either eggs or pancakes. Shower, do homework, feed and walk the dog, finally on school days I head out and don't get home until around 6pm ish. And I start studying again, then I play video games for about 1-2 hrs and go to bed around 12am.

That's why I chose to take a picture of a fountain that is in our front yard. The water cycles through the fountain and even though it is the same water, it comes out different every time, it filters it slightly, the pattern of the flow is never the same, much like a finger print. Also, for some reason it is calming to hear the rhythmic cycle of the water, just as it is to have a set morning, you start to relax and soon you don't want to change a thing. Although, change is sometimes good, like this blog I am doing. While I get so relaxed and don't really want to get up always and take a minute to right about a picture i take, it will benefit me in the sense that it will improve my skill and teach me to finish something I start.

Taking Time to smell the flowers

I have skipped two days on my blog. :( I wanted to do this everyday, and now I am so disappointing with myself. I have been very busy lately. But every once in a while I remind myself to stop and smell the flowers. Like I was walking town this street in TN when I looked down in the ditch and saw these beautiful flowers, so I took a picture of them, whenever I get over worked I just look at this picture.

Diamond in the Rough

Sometimes as you go about in day to day life it is easy to get stuck on the little things. It is so easy in fact, I think a lot of us allow ourselves to sincerely dedicate our precious time to eliminating little things about people we are close to instead of reminding ourselves of what we love about these oh so special people. Like in my first picture, You see a ton of bare brown tree branches that are getting in the way of viewing a beautiful bird. But in my second picture you see that sometimes added obstacles such as all those leaves help us to recognize the beauty in things such as that bird house. I think that if there was no leaves (obstacles) around the bird house it would not be as pretty as it is now. We only have a one hundred yrs to live, if that. Why waste any time trying to change ppl? The next time you find yourself arguing about something with someone special, ask yourself, will this matter in ten yrs?

Hard work pays off.

I was never a very good student in fact I was a fairly bad one. It started in elementary I suppose. I had a problem with math, and no one knew how to explain in ways that I would understand. I got punished, yelled at, lectured, and I was made to sit for hours practicing flash cards of multiplication table. Which btw I still have not completely memorized 1-12, apparently the majority of ppl have memorized them. Any who, I started wanting to play hooky and say I was sick,... it worked a few times. In middle school I had made up my mind to stop talking to ppl because I was teased so much in elementary. (The teachers and kids would imply that I was dumb or at least that I was not as smart as the average grade school child)In high school I became friends with the wrong crowds because they were the only ones who wouldn't pick on me. I started skipping school and doing drugs.

Well, things changed quickly for me when I turned 17. I got kicked out and I finally starting growing up. I was always labeled the problem child so even though I started to grow up I always had a uniqueness to me that some might view as a rebel streak, I don't agree. I got my first job moved in with I girl I met in middle school, (ok so I talked to someone, but not really anyone else.)I kinda wound up in a relationship that wasn't too healthy and my sister and I both moved in with him and his mother and sister. He was an asshole I ended spending my first years salary all on him and food. (4,000$)Any who, long story short I met the man of my dreams told my boyfriend to shove it, (not literally,) learned to stick up for myself and re-enrolled in college. (I had taken a yr off previously because I kept failing)

Now I live with my wonderful boyfriend who supports and loves and respects me and never takes me for granted. We aren't rich, we live with his parents, but I guarantee you won't find more love anywhere else in the world. We each come from a different past and we understand the importance of appreciating our loved ones. And finally, I am an "A" student. Now granted I am only taking 2 classes so I can climb out of academic probation and not overwhelm myself with more classes than I can handle. But one of my classes is MATH!! The other is art, which if you did know me, you wouldn't need me to tell you I have been waiting forever to take an art class!I love all forms of art, my top fav.s are oil painting, photography, and making little nic-nacs! I take more pictures because their cheap, and I occasionally make nic-nacs, because they are the second cheapest.

So yeah,... when people say hard work pays off,... it really does. You just have to be willing to put your literal ALL into it! And lemme tell you,... IT FEELS GREAT!!!!

(This picture I took in TN as well, my friend and I were walking around town and three men were sitting playing music and it just really gave the surrounding a very sincere close feeling, you just felt like a part of the community)

Oct. 1st, 09'

Ok so you don't know who I am, You can call me Penny Farnworth. I live in FL but have lived in NY, NV, and think even TX for a while, and I have been to many other states. I am just a regular person (young woman) trying to figure things out. I have a unique way of thinking, side effect from having an artists mind. Or at least that's what I would like believe. And I am taking you along journey of growing up. I am 20 yrs old and will be 21 on the 20th of this month. I have been on my own since I was 16 and I am still learning to fend for myself. It's a big tough world out there. In this blog I will try to express my "Growing Pains" if you will, through photography. Now keep in mind these are suppose to be art, expression of my feelings while growing and learning. I chose to post this picture I took in TN of a door because figuratively speaking, I am opening my door to you. This is an entrance to a wonderful little coffee shop that made miniature coffee cups out of chocolate, they fit in the palm of your hand and were just barely wider than a quarter!