It’s the people who make you smile that matter most.
Who cares about those who try to wipe them away?
Just keep smiling anyway.
It’s amazing how different emails can make you feel different things within a matter of minutes. Recently, I’ve had the strange experience of receiving a series of emails from different people under varying circumstances that had contrasting effects to my emotions.
The first lot of emails made me seethe and weep. The other lot of emails made me smile. Even laugh out loud. Feel excited.
All the emails were coming within minutes of each other.
If anyone was watching me at the time, they’d probably think the computer has driven me insane. (Not hard to imagine, right? 
)
As my conflicting emotions from these emails tried to battle inside me, I made the choice not to let the smile-erasing emails win. Go the smile-inducing emails, I say.
Not an easy thing to do for me, mind you. Normally, negative emotions overtake whatever positive emotions that I might have. I think it’s because our psyche has the tendency to feel the impact of negative emotions more. That’s why a nasty comment or a single episode with someone difficult can ruin an otherwise perfect time with great weather or wonderful company.
It’s not right, though. I think we ought to try to strengthen the effect of those smile-inducing moments and people in our lives more. And, give less power to the smile-wipers. I think that’s a lesson I’m trying to learn as I take the path of Blissology.
Anyway, enough of that… here are the style and photography notes from this shoot:
Style Notes:
Very, very casual look here, as you can see. It was the beginning of warmer weather this day, I believe. We’ve had such a long winter this year that finally getting 23+ degree (C) weather is such a relief. To celebrate, I wore my ‘Smiley’ shirt (it has a glittery gold smiley face design with the word ‘Smile’ underneath). I think this must’ve been the first time I wore a shirt in months (without layers, that is). The label says “Jack Pot”. I believe this was a gift from my mum and/or sis. Also, I was wearing one of my fave jeans (a hand-me-down from my sis), which I believe is from Bench. Although I wasn’t wearing shoes in these pics, I actually wore my favourite Wittner shoes from this shoot when I went out this day.
Where To: Off to attend a graduate school seminar at the Uni.
Photography Notes:
- Camera: Nikon D40x
- Lens: Sigma 30mm f1.4
- Lighting: Natural light, morning (around 9am)
- Self-portrait strategy: Remote control! Also used a tripod.
- Post-processing: Some iPhoto tweaks. The collage was created using Picasa.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Rachel Cotterill 10.31.09 at 2:25 am
You keep smiling!
Shout if I can do anything to help.
[Reply]
Kari 10.31.09 at 4:50 am
You look beautiful and comfy! Something I would wear on such a nice day! I hope you were able to get past the negative, because I struggle in the same way. Here’s to sunny days!
[Reply]
Shai Coggins 11.30.09 at 11:05 am
Thanks, Rachel!
Hi, Kari. Yes, indeed. Definitely working on not getting the ‘bad stuff’ get me down too much too long.
[Reply]