I had a very uneventful vacation, but luckily that was exactly what I was going for. I needed a break from everything and I really got to rest and just live at my own pace (and not have workmen at my door every morning at seven, yawn). My own pace really consists of going to bed in the middle of the night and then getting up at about 9:30 am. I wish my job would allow me to do that every day. I'm such a night owl at heart, but a working girl can't really give into that can she? In my next life I want to be one of those energetic early risers!
I had two blissful weeks of sleeping late, reading, taking long walks (when the weather allowed it that is, there were days when the roads were all ice), taking naps, reading a little more and every now and then I played a little in a journal. I did not work in my studio at all, but I did do a lot just sitting on the couch.
While hiking I also took many many, did I say many already?, photographs. One of my fun things this vacation was to experiment a little with self portraits. I don't really like getting my picture taken (I think this is a common thing among all people who like to take pictures, it's just an excuse not to be in them, haha!). I'm not a pretty cutie fashion model, so I have no desire to look at myself so much. But it is interesting to see if I could at least make some pictures that I didn't want to toss in the garbage right away. I did okay and...it was fun!
Here's some examples of how they turned out.
First the model was still a little shy and tried to cover her face ;-)
But I told her not be such a chicken and toughen up and face the camera!
An interesting alternative to doing a straight forward self portrait is by doing a portrait of your shadow self. Of course this only works on beautiful sunny days ;-) And it's nice to have a bit of ocean in the background.
My shadow was getting in a good mood with all this attention and decided to give me a little wave.
I also experimented with some different perspectives, this side view is one that I really liked. It may be the only picture of myself I am willing to frame someday.
I took a lot more than these, but you get the idea. I would highly recommend trying it. It literally gives you a new perspective on yourself and it got me out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing to do every now and then. Aah, it's good to be back!