Model: Alexia Rae Castillo | @alexiaraecastillo
Shot for Arsenic
Model: Alexia Rae Castillo | @alexiaraecastillo
Shot for Arsenic
This is a great article my sister posted on Facebook. It's written by Paul Hudson for elitedaily.com, but upon reading it, it sounds exactly like what I tell people when they ask me how I live my life.
Surprise, surprise… happy people live their lives differently. They don’t have different lives. They just do a better job at living them than those who are unhappy.
Happiness is the result of subjective interpretation of perception. Of course, what we perceive isn’t always done so by choice — life does throw things our way.
However, most of the time, we find ourselves in the situations we are in because of actions we took and decisions we made. It’s the way that you live your life that largely decides whether or not you will live happily.
They like themselves and they are the only people they ever answer to. You could like them. You could hate them. You could pay them no mind whatsoever — doesn’t make a difference to them.
They do what they do because they decided to do it. They aren’t trying to gain your approval or acceptance. They don’t want to be part of your team — they’re a team of their own. They live their lives the way they see fit and if you like them for it, great. If not… then so be it.
They don’t believe they have to do anything. Other than pay taxes and die of course — everything else is a decision followed by deliberate action. If they are doing something, going somewhere, participating in something, it’s because that is exactly what it is that they want to be doing.
No one coerced them or tricked them into doing it because they value their opinion above everyone else’s. They do what they believe is right and don’t bother to ask for permission — they just do it.
Friends are tricky because they aren’t really yours, are they? You don’t own them. They are their own people who have their own wants and needs — people who will always put themselves ahead of you and your goals. Friends are great to have, but relying on them too heavily will leave you disappointed.
Those who live happy lives have very close friends, but they keep their independence in order to avoid those moments. It’s the lack of independence and over-reliance that often comes to ruin friendships — all relationships for that matter.
They tell you about the things they are doing with their lives — the places they have visited and are planning on visiting. The projects they are starting or part of. The problems they are working towards solving and the communities they are working with to get those problems solved.
When you ask them what they do, they respond with what they do in their lives, not what work they do in order to pay for the lives they want to one day be living. The real trick is that these individuals know better than to wait to live the lives they want to live. You live life whether you accept or ignore the fact, how you live it in the moment determines how happy you are.
Happy people tend to move around a bit. Maybe it’s because traveling does the soul good. Maybe it’s because the stagnancy of staying in one place their whole lives bores them.
Maybe it’s because they love meeting new people and having new experiences. Maybe it’s because they haven’t found the right place to settle down just yet. You see, these individuals see the world as their home — no single country or city. If you ask them where they live, then they’d answer “earth” if they wouldn’t come off sounding highfalutin.
You don’t need a book to tell you how you ought to live your life. You can live your life by whatever philosophy you wish — as long as you found truths that satisfy you. They have a strong grasp of right and wrong and are their own judges.
They know they’re only mortal — having this knowledge and accepting it fuels their every step. You will do. Why? Because it is inevitable. There is no way of avoiding it, only dealing with the fact.
The happiest of people don’t fear death. They don’t do their best to avoid it. They see it as the inevitability that it is in and live their lives by their terms. They may not be able to control death, but they know they sure as hell can control their own personal lives.
They don’t believe there is a single way that the world is — a single reality that exists. Instead, they believe themselves to be the originators of their reality.
They believe they have full control over how they interpret what they perceive. They see the world the way they choose to see it because they understand the power such a skill has. We all live in a reality of our own construction. Some of us just construct our realities better than others.
Happy people have hopes, dreams and goals. They have wants and aspirations, but they don’t allow themselves to get caught up and lost in them. There isn’t so much a time and place for dreaming as there is a maximum allotted amount recommended.
You can’t live life doing nothing more than looking towards the future because you’ll miss the only time that things actually matter or exist: the present. The present, the immediate moment is the only moment that you can actually live in. The rest is only an illusion.
Devoting your energy to changing other people is a waste of it. People do change, but they only do so on their own accord. They have to decide to change themselves and that only happens in time — you can’t push and force because it doesn’t work.
On the contrary, it often does the opposite of what is intended. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to do the impossible, why not do the next best thing? Learn to deal with people as they are in order to get the result you desire. If you can’t change them, then guide them to do as you wish. Otherwise, let them go.
This video will possibly inspire you, make you tear up, and convince you to go out and start living life to the fullest -- all in three minutes.
For the last few months, filmmaker Jason Silva has been impressing us with his philosophical YouTube series, "Shots of Awe." This installment, called "Existential Bummer," is no exception.
In it, Silva asks: How should we react to the fact that everything we love will eventually come to an end?
Photographer Terry Richardson recently photographed Miley Cyrus in New York. He also directed her recent music video "Wrecking Ball." The more I see of Miley Cyrus, the more I think she might be retarded. See more on Terry's Tumblr page.
Mona Johannsesson is a Swedish model that I wasn't too familiar with, but stumbled upon her this morning while looking for new models to add to My Model Wish List. She's done a lot of work for Vogue, JC Penny, J. Crew and other brands. I think she looks amazing and would love to have an opportunity to work with her someday.
Charles Lucima has been in my Photographer Spotlight since I first started shooting models. I think I first stumbled upon his work on Model Mayhem and he was one of the few photographers on that site that actually had truly professional work in his portfolio. There are a lot of photographers on there that list themselves as "very experienced" but don't have the work to back up that statement, Charles is not one of them. His work is always shot beautifully and elegantly, everything he shoots really is a work of art. He works with amazing models and captures them in just the right way. I would love to just be on location with him when he's shooting because I know I would learn a lot.
You can check out some of his work below as well as a recent video shot my Chris Vongsawat during a shoot Charles was doing with model Kate Compton for Treats! Magazine. The video looks great, but I'm really not a fan of the music selection.
Here's another great video titled "Love Me Tender" written and directed by Greg Williams for Agent Provocateur featuring model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley . Agent Provocateur is a brand that I would love to collaborate with and actually have something I want to pitch to them in the next week or two.
I was just looking for some inspiration on Vimeo. I really want to shoot some video during my shoots. Maybe I'll start next week.
Fortnight Lingerie Presents Super Sexy CPR: Now that we’ve got you interested in learning CPR and the Abdominal Thrust, go get properly certified by taking a class through one of the many certifying authorities in your local area... Then go get some lingerie... make sure it says Fortnight Lingerie on the label... cause it may just save your life.
fortnightlingerie.com
pinterest.com/FortnightLabel
instagram.com/FortnightLabel
facebook.com/fortnight.lingerie
Title: SUPER SEXY CPR
Director / Cinematographer: CURTIS WEHRFRITZ
Stylist: HEATHER LAKE / VANESSA FISCHER
Make-Up: KRISTEN BROWNING
Original Music By: ADAM ALL
Song Title: 'FLATLINE'
Advertiser: FORTNIGHT LINGERIE
Product/Service: LINGERIE
Company: RED URBAN CANADA
City/Country: TORONTO, CANADA
Year: 2010
You may or may not know this about me, but aside from being a photographer I'm also a musician. In fact, music is my main profession and something I'm extremely passionate about. Music plays a roll in almost everything I do and is a big contributing factor in all of my photo shoots. For most of my shoots I'll create a playlist specifically for that shoot. I was using my iPod, but now I primarily use Spotify since it has almost every song I could possibly want to hear and always introduces me to great new music I would have otherwise missed. So, with that being said, I've decided to create a blog series I'm going to title "Music of the Moment." with this being my first post in the series.
For my first "Music of the Moment" post I'm going to share a song that I just stumbled upon a few minutes ago by the Wallflowers called "Reboot The Mission." I've always liked Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers and this is a song I had never heard before. I just discovered it on Black Dog Films awesome website.
Here's an interview I did earlier this year for a website called Today I Conversed With . . .
http://todayiconversedwith.tumblr.com/post/44068921551/steven-williams
I've finally put together a website for my photography. This has been something I've been meaning to do for months, but could never find the time. Currently the site is lacking a lot of content, but I'll be adding more over the next few weeks.