Why photography is important.

I have done a post similar to this in the past.  I feel I need to revisit this subject due to recent circumstances.  You see, we have have 2 deaths in my family in a 10 day period.  Both deaths were our grandfathers.  My birth Grandfather, and my husbands grandfather, who was more of a grandfather to me than my own birth grandparents.

I learned this lesson about 16 years ago this month.  My Godfather passed away way too soon.  At the time I was 20 years old, and photography was really just a pastime for me.  I worked in film, and my camera was very inexpensive, because we were fairly poor. But in my experimentation I bought a few rolls of black and white film.  I took a photo of my Godfather in black and white, and I still have that photo and cherish it.  My Godfather was going through a really hard time before he died.  He didn't have a lot of family around him, and there really were no recent pictures of him, with the exception of the ones I took.

Flash forward to 2010.  during this year, I was really just starting our trying to make a name for myself in photography.  I had a lot to learn, but I was eager, and curious.  I loved reading books on photography and practicing as many techniques as I could. I also found it important to photograph my loved ones.  I set up a session with my birth grandfather, my mom, myself and my daughter.  Its the closest thing to a generational photo, that I could get.  And even though I wasn't that close to my papa, I still wanted these photos for one day, when my daughter asked about him.  I also set up a session just for fun, with my mom, and her 3 daughters, and her 3 granddaughters.  I never in a million years expected her to die the following month.  I just kept thinking, if I hadn't done those 2 sessions, we would have no recent pictures of her.  She hated being photographed.  But she did these sessions for me, because she knew it was important to me.  Can I just say that I hang onto those pictures for dear life.  They mean everything to me.  

With the passing of my birth grandfather this month, It occurred to me, that out of all his many many children and grandchildren, I was the only one with decent pictures of him.  Pictures from before he was sick.  Pictures when he was still full of piss and vinegar (as my mom would say)  Granted the pictures are now 5 years old.  But as far as I know, they are the most recent photographs, that are not cell pictures of him on his death bed. 

My husbands Grandpa.  I adopted my grandparents when I first met them in 2001.  My husband very happily shares them with me, and I consider them my own.  Tragedy struck my husbands family in August, with the untimely death of Uncle David.  He lived only 4 short hours away from us, and we found out our grandparents would come to say goodbye to their son.  We havent seen them in a while, because they live in California, clear across the country.  We took the opportunity to go see them.  It was a wonderful time, through a tragic circumstance.  Grandma asked if I had my camera.  (of course i always have it)  I tried to take pictures, without being intrusive.  This was also the first time they met my son, who had just turned one.  I never imagined it would be the last time we would see him.  I mean, when your dealing with older family members, its always in  your mind, that this could be the last time you see them.  But I just never imagined so soon after our visit, his life would end.  We are so full of hurt and grief.  But once again, I realize how very very blessed I am to have taken photographs.  And though my heart breaks to look at them.  It also makes me so so happy to know, I will have them forever.  So that when I look back, I can remember every wrinkle of his face when he smiles, every tattoo that I never looked to hard at, because that would be weird.  And my son, who has not stopped talking about his gah pa since, will have pictures, when he no longer remembers.  And my wonderful daughter and husband can remember that even though my  husband had fear and respect for Grandpas authority, my daughter stood up to him at a young age of  2 and made grandpa laugh when she did it.  

So I will leave you with this thought.  TAKE PICTURES!  Get in pictures!  Let others photograph you! When you visit someplace cool with your family, take FAMILY PICTURES, not just pictures of the place your visiting.  Take pictures of every day life.  Pictures of you mom at the stove, or of your children playing with their toys.  Laughing on the porch, fishing on a dock.  Do professional pictures at least once a year.  Get those memories on film, or disk, or paper!  Do it now, don't wait.  Because their might not be a tomorrow and you WILL REGRET IT. 

My new lifestyle.

I know I have posted about my weight before.  This is a journey, that I will be on the rest of my life.  But I just wanted to do a little update on how far I have come.  

The pregnancy did derail my fitness and health some, I wont lie.  I gained some weight.  I gained 40 lbs.  Compared to my last pregnancy 9 years ago, its small potatoes.  I gained 75 with my daughter.  So I consider this a huge achievement.  After the c-section I lost a quick 20 lbs. I came home to a long recovery, and a baby who has a mind of his own.  Getting back on track has taken quite some time.  With no sleep, constant feeding, and taking care of 3 big girls, I just didn't have the energy.  Quite honestly, I needed every calorie I took in.  My little man is an eater.  For a while, I thought he might just want to stay attached to the boob permanently.    

Anyway.  I decided after 4 months, it was time to get back into gear.  I let the holidays pass, and ate at my  hearts content, then first of the year (so very cliche) I would get back to work.  This is what I have been doing.

Eat like you mean it.

If your hungry, EAT.  but be wise about what your eating.  Here is a sample of what I eat every day.

BREAKFAST-

1 light yogurt (sometimes I mix in a tsp of candy or granola)

    OR

3 eggs any way I feel like it. 

    OR

A smoothie, made with my light yogurt, lowfat milk, and whatever else i want to mix in

LUNCH-

Salad with protein. (you can use any old protein you want, I prefer meat, but beans, and nuts work just as well. Sometimes i double up on the protein, and use nuts and meat)

    OR

A protein, and a good hardy veggie (example grilled chicken breast, and brussel sprouts)

DINNER-

A protein, usually chicken, but I mix it up, Anything you would cook for your family

2 vegetables.  too keep it interesting I like to do one hot, one cold.  

and always, i have an after workout snack.  my favorite is carrots and roasted red pepper hummus(2 tbsn).  Sometimes if i am hungry in between meals, i will grab some cheese.  Just 2 oz though. 

Workout like your life depended on it.

In my case, it does.  My life depends on my working out.  If I dont workout, and eat right, I get sick, really sick.  I dont want to be sick, I dont like high blood pressure, and I sure dont want to look at the possibility of diabetes again.  I dont want heart palpitation, or feeling like I cant breath.  I love life way too much to let myself get like that again.

I dedicate at least 1 full hour to myself EVERY DAY.  My kids know this, my husband knows this.  If I dont workout, i get really moody.  

I like to dance. I call it my cardio.  I have several games on the kinnect, but my favorite is JUST DANCE.  I dance for 25-50 minutes.  I challenge myself with new dances, and I keep moving up and down the list to keep in interesting and new.  

I ride my stationary bike.  Some days I pair riding with dancing.  20 minutes of one, 5 miles of the other.  I challenge myself here too.  Different levels of difficulty, go a certain number of miles.  

Good old fashioned walking.  I have a perfect neighborhood for this.  Its very hilly and is almost a complete circle.  We also have a great walking trail not far from here, and the battlefield is also a great place to walk.  

Keep yourself accountable

Here is where my facebook/twitter friends might get irritated.  I post EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT. why? to irritate people? NO.  to keep myself accountable for my actions.  I feel guilty if i get lazy.  I have this made up scenario in my head that people are judging me if I dont workout.  and it keeps me going.  

IGNORE YOUR SCALE

 I cannot express the importance of this enough.  the scale will drive you crazy! 

first off, muscle weighs more than fat.  I am building muscle every day, AND burning fat.  I am also a woman, we swell, we have weight gain, hormone fluctuations, all make your weight go up and down.  

The way I keep myself going, is non-scale victories.  Setting goals for myself and keeping them.  for instance, I was really struggling walking up the stairs to my bedroom.  I would get winded, and have to sit down on my bed.  My goal, RUN UP THE STAIRS.  Once I mastered that, now my goal is to RUN UP THE STAIRS HOLDING MY SON (22 lbs)  He likes doing it, and im pretty close to being able to do it.  Another example is making 10 miles on my bike, then 15, and so on.  Or walking a mile, then 2.  A recent goal I mastered was the walking path i mentioned earlier.  The last time I walked this trail (over a year ago) I made it about halfway, and had to turn around.  It was embarrassing, and i hated myself for it so much, we never went back.  Last week, we went, I walked the WHOLE TRAIL.  I did it without pain, or discomfort, and i did it with my breath fully in tact.  I even did it walking and training a half crazy puppy, who is terrified of everything.  I AM THE MASTER! lol  

My new lifestyle is amazing.  It makes me happy, and keeps me healthy.  It feels so good to be proud of yourself.  It feels even better to challenge yourself and meet and surpass every single time.  I just have to say, it this big fat girl can do it, anyone can.  

The one final thing you need to succeed, is LOVE YOURSELF.