" & when I count my blessings, I count you twice" =)

" & when I count my blessings, I count you twice" =)
Days weather like todays makes it easier for one to become more gloomy, but then I started counting my blessings and I feel much better. Staying positive is the way to be and listening to great christian music helps as well and praying to God for guidance is a biggie. Stay blessed y'all !!!

My New Way Of Living

As many of my close friends and family know, I am trying to go back to church. It's been an ongoing battle between the flesh and the spirit. The wants of the body are hard, but are they really?
What good does alcohol, sex, and drugs can really offer someone other than a high that lasts for a few hours. What comes from sin? Better yet, ask yourself real quick and think about it for a couple of minutes of what has been the outcome and consequences because of sins that you committed in the past.

While the wants of the spirit is craving for me to pray and and have a communication and close relationship with God and also by reading the Bible.

The spend we time here is a mere speck in the long timeline of where we are going to spend eternity. My new sister in Christ sent me the following video for which I thank for putting a lot into perspective for me…

I'm not perfect and nobody is. There will be times where I will mess up, no doubt about that.
I just ask kindly if you can keep me in your prayers for strength and guidance.

Pics That Tell A Story

If it's one thing I love, it is for me to capture a moment that literally tells a story.
For example:

The picture above was taken in one of the last few warm days of September of this year (2011)

it is pretty obvious what the guy in the picture I took was trying to do, because I was doing the same thing he was doing earlier was to capture the reflection of the buildings on Michigan Avenue on the bean. After a few shots I moved my camera to the right and I thought to myself, why am I capturing a refection of beauty when the real beauty is in front of me, and no, I was not talking about myself because guys are handsome, not beautiful ;) I was talking about the beauty of the skyline that was in pure awesomeness in front of me instead of being reflected and its true beauty by a reflective mirror that is covered in handprints and is not as clean as it should be. 

In other words, when I captured this moment I called it, "Guy that is too busy concentrated on a refection of beauty while I see the real beauty in front of me" =)

The pic above was taken by me in the same night. I really love how there is so much going on in one moment. I was lucky enough to capture this moment when the flash went off on another persons camera. Not only that but there is a couple in the background sharing the nice weather and being in each others arms..and other people taking pics. But as I see it, I saw the bigger picture =)

This last picture above is a love/hate kind of pic. Obviously I love it more than I hate it but the only part I dislike is the motion blur displayed because the individual wouldn't stay still…

butin a way, that is why I love it because they were not posing for me, they were just photographers as I trying to explore new ways to shoot at night.

In order to best view these pics, please click on each one.

When You Point At Someone, You Have 3 Fingers Pointing Back

Its true, point with your hand and look at it =D

Regardless of the irony that is being shown in front of your eyes, apply it to your life.

I've been judged so many times that I could care less what anybody says about me. I'm not perfect and I know the person judging me isn't either, so that is why I don't let it bother me.

I know I may say really really stupid stuff sometimes, but that is because I usually don't think before I say something,lol ( but I'm trying to get into the habit of thinking before I say something)

Regardless of what I put out there online or what comes out of my mouth.. does not mean that is who I am. Most people don't know anything of how I am at home and how I am a big component to my family's well being.

As long as I know that I do my best to take care of my family, I can care less about what people think of me.

People are quick to judge and enjoy talking about negativity.

People don't see that I could be selling drugs but I don't, but I do be on my grind with these photography shoots.

Most people are not gonna say.." Oh, I'm proud of you Obie for doing something productive".

But they will talk behind your back if you do something destructive.

So to those people, all the judging they do is never going to change who I am, only God will.

Haters

We all have them one point in our life's or another. Best thing to do is to learn to embrace their negative and turn it into positive. For example, if you are a girl and you know you are looking fresh to an event and you feel and look sexy but as how girls are real catty to begin with, they will stare at you up and down and side to side trying to look for a flaw in you to talk about. They know the dress looks marvelous and that is a fact but haters will always talk and say stuff like, "who does she think she is to wear that?", "she is too skinny/fat for that outfit" and so on.

The way to turn that negative feedback into a positive is to remember that you are wearing that outfit because you like it, and it makes u look sexy, therefore making you feel sexy. The fact that you caught someone's attention whether it was negative or positive is letting you know that you stood out from the rest.  All females are not nice, but if you do receive a compliment, embrace it ... if you receive the opposite or worse of all, a girl whispering to another girl while looking at you then you should realize they have nothing better to do than to be criticizing you just to make themselves try to feel better about themselves. We are all the same under God's eyes, her feces smell as bad as yours so why let yourself think for them to think they are better than you.

One thing that gets the most criticism which includes bad criticism is "ART". I'm not talking about just painting but artistically involving things such as Music, Painting, Poetry and in my case Photography.
When it comes to art, you put your work out there. If you are a singer, you are gonna project your beautiful voice out loud for everyone to hear. If you are a painter, you are going to paint a heartfelt painting and post it in a gallery for people to be mesmerized by your creation. My job as taking photographs, is to capture moments and that is what photography is  all about . Some bring back memories, some make you think, some make you smile but what photography mostly does is make you "FEEL". If you see a baby picture of your grown up child, it is going to make you feel joy and remember how it felt to carry him or her in your arms and when you look at him or her all grown up, it will remind you that they will always be that baby that once always relied on you for everything.

It is important to know the difference between criticism and constructive criticism. A person that is critiquing your work constructively is analyzing on how you can improve or become a better artist. They will say negative but also say positive feedback. Haters just focus on the negative.

So that being said, let the haters hate ;)

Life Is Like A Garden

This past weekend I had a great time at the Botanic Gardens of Chicago with a good friend. Not many people know this but I really really love gardens. I'm not the type of person that knows every single name of species of flowers and stuff but I love gardens for other reasons, the things they represent to me.

For me, a garden represent your life. You may start off with a naked field or just grass, but then you decide you want to do something with this patch of field. You start clawing into the grass with a special gardening tool to bring up the soil ,and with time this patch of field is ready to be planted.
A person can relate to this when they want to make a fresh start or make something out of their life. The preparation it takes to start into what you want to do with the rest of your life.

Next a gardener starts planting the flowers or vegetables or whatever they decide to do with this garden. They water their garden everyday because it is a necessary step and crucial component into having a garden. Even if the field remains naked for a couple of days, it is important to feed the garden with water and with the nutrients the soil needs.
That reminds me of a student that goes to class everyday. It is important that they do their homework because that is how they develop their brain to grow and sponge up the knowledge that is being given to them, just like how a garden needs water.
The fact that you may not see visually that the flower is growing from on top of the surface, under the ground, the roots are growing and the flower is getting ready to pop out of the soil and into this world we live in.

Finally, you see a tiny little green stem growing all around your garden and you feel so proud because you worked so hard to see this little miracle grow into existence.
This, for me represents when a student graduates. To some people they may see it as the full grown set of garden but for me, it just represent the meaning of the growing up and maturing a person has to grow through, just like a plant.

As you life starts to grow, so does you garden. it is you job to take care of you job to maintain the garden to be in tip top shape. A very important thing is to take out the weeds that can mess up your garden and make it kind of ugly. I see the weeds as negative people in your life, you have to remove them out of your life because it is your life and your garden. The more you let the weeds roam free in your garden, the less attractive your garden and life will seem.

Maintaining a garden can take up the rest of your life, just like maintaining your own life. In a garden and your life, if you care about it, you have to protect it. There's a lot of danger out there and people may tell you to put this into your garden/life but do your research first and know what you decide to put in or take out because people can tell you one thing, but you don't know their intentions…

And remember….."you reap what you sow"

Be A Leader, Not A Follower

I've had a lot of great teachers in my life, but as many have taught us about academics, one taught me about LIFE as well.

The best thing this teacher taught me was "NOT TO BE A FOLLOWER".
He taught us the values of being a leader, and I applied that to my life as an older brother because siblings tend to look up to the oldest. Therefore I stayed away from gangs as much as I could, because my little brothers and sisters are my responsibilities as well, so I would not be able to live my life knowing that if something would've happened to them as a result of me being in a gang.

I've never have been the type to be clubbing or going to bars every weekend. I'm not trying to bash anybody that does that but I would be considered a follower if I did that, knowing deep in my heart that I don't like those type of things, but yet I would go just because a lot of people my age are into those type of things…

I don't follow, but I do think of the people I follow as mentor's.
I went to an online dictionary website and it said the following..

men·tor

  [men-tawr, -ter] 

noun

1.

a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.

2.

an influential senior sponsor or supporter.

How are those not good qualities of a leader right??? So if you think you are a follower, make sure the person is leading you into the right path.

In the end, I want to thank my former teacher Mr.Stone for teaching me not to be a follower and whom I dedicate this blog entry to.