I have 3 days left to enjoy my 20's... but that's alright, I am ready for it! I feel like my 30's will be full of wiser decisions, and a lot more adventure. In fact, so far... every year I get older, I feel younger. It's a different kind of youth though... I mean people in their early 20's have SO much to learn. Sometimes it is so easy to see where they are headed and what is going to happen when they act a certain way. For example... getting married or engaged after 2 weeks of knowing each other.. haha, maybe that only happens in Utah. I have seen it work out, but it's rare, LOL. I got engaged to my x-husband after one year, but that wasn't long enough because I think I was too young to know what I wanted. Some more examples might include having a big ego, knowing more than they think, being selfish, etc.. Sure there are people who are this way their entire lives... but IMO, should be lessons learned in your 20s. Anyways, the type of youth I feel is less naive. My 20's seemed to be all about finding and losing myself over and over again. I hope to use my 30's to build my business, set up my future, guide my kids, have a happy family, and be passionate about the things that I love.
During my 20s...
My goal for 30 was to have 2 degrees and be a huge success... I wanted to do business and marketing or something like that. I never went back to school though. I have some college under my belt, but mostly just general classes, and some communications & design. If I were to spend money on it, I would rather open a business than go back to school. Todd and I have an idea that would be guaranteed success, because we are genius, hehe.
One thing that was funny about me in my early 20's is that I was extremely intimidated by women... It kind of makes sence...women are much tougher to impress, lol. I had to have certain accomplishments before I felt good enough to even have conversations with people. Saying that out loud feels weird, but it was a big deal for me at the time. I was completely over it by 25ish, LOL.
A big part of my 20's was all about having bad relationships... In fact, I never really got off to the right start with those from the beginning. When I was going through separation and divorce, a councelor told me that our brains are still developing in our mid 20's, so we are still finding ourselves. That made a lot of sence. My brother told me that I would keep going through bad relationships until I learn what I needed to learn. That really hit me... that maybe it was me, and not just unfortunate things that keep happening to me. After another lame relationship in 2007, I conciously changed my priorities of what I wanted in a relatiship to include a man that loved me as much as I loved him.... then BAM... there he was. Love you Todd :)
I found my passion for photography in my early 20's. I have always been an artist, and photography has been a great outlet for me. That's probably why I steer away from vanilla, stock photography (that makes $$$)... because I have to like looking at my work, and it has to make me feel a certain way, or I start to freak out, haha.
And last but not least, I have spent ALL of my 20's as a mother... I have two beautiful girls that are such a big part of my life. I can't explain how RAD it is to have these two beautiful little spirits running around. I love giving them their first experiences in life. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have no kids in my adult life... but after they go to their dad's house for a few days (shared custody), I start to miss them. When you are kids, you live on your parents adventure... and as adults, your children become a part of your adventure. Its up to you how exciting it will be.
30 looking at 40...
I want to focus the next 10 years on being successful in my (future) marriage, photography, business, and traveling the world. I hope to take at least one overseas trip a year probably starting with Italy. Maybe we will go on an African safari or see the pyramids in Egypt next year. I have always had an extreme longing for travel, but never really had a stable life situation that would allow me to go until now. And wow, that feels good... travel will be an exciting thing to focus on. I also hope to keep building friendships with like-minded people... that is also super important!
I have seen it more and more... people are leaving VOX for other sites like Facebook, Twitter or even using WordPress to create their own. Well, today is the last post here as I move to Blogger.
Come take a look: Hammondovi Blog
Or see our progress on the home site: http://www.hammondovi.com/
Also be sure to visit my portfolio on iStockphoto: http://www.istockphoto.com/hammondovi
Enjoyed VOX.
See you on the web.
Geoff Hammond
What an amazing book! I was SUPER excited to find out that my images are on the front and back cover. A huge congrats to iStock and all of it's contributers. We have come such a long way! I know I have. 4-5 Years ago when I first started, I knew nothing of photography at all... just that I liked to take snapshots. Without all those rejections, I dont know if I would be where I am at today, hehe. I am so thankful that I have a career with total creative freedom and plan to always step it up a notch. I will have some amazing stuff come out this year... so stay tuned!
Quote from Bruce Livingstone:
"Back in the fall, we had an idea after starting a partnership with the people over at Blurb.com. They're a really cool site that makes bookstore-quality books on demand. We were doing a cross-promotion with them, and everyone here in the office had the same thought: we really need to make a book showcasing your talent.
We're happy to announce that Parallel Perspectives, the first iStockphoto coffee table book, is ready. And it's hot.
There are more than 65,000 iStock artists around the world now. We wanted to capture the unique, personal moments all those different sets of eyes have witnessed in their corner of the world. This book is our visual atlas: the world as iStock sees it.
The book is available at Blurb in both paperback and hardcover. 100% of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to charity: water. So not only are you getting the best of iStock to put on your coffee table, but you're helping out a great cause.
See a preview of the book, and order it here."
OK, I've done it again, left a gap of several months or years between blog entries. Let's just agree that blogging is not really a skill I possess on a daily basis and leave it at that. After all, I'm here now and you're happy to see me, right?
I really just wanted to drop by and chuck a few things down while I had the urge to do so, it's been pretty hectic around me for the past year or so, and I wanted to get back into the normal groove of my life.
Recently, since the last time I posted, things have been a little rocky on the business front, I think the big interruption to life came at a bad time because when I got back to working we were bang in the middle of this fictional "credit crunch" or "economic downturn", I say fictional because I honestly believe that nothing has changed with regards to the amount of money in the world, or in people's desire to spend it, all that's happened is a bunch of bankers have got everyone scared about money, and probably quite rightly, because these bankers are meant to be good at looking after our money, and it turns out that they're actually really crap.
Anyway, on to happier things. Yesterday, as I was datamining the internet for potential marketing contacts, an email dropped into my inbox from a friend who does Hypnobirthing. It was completely unrelated to anything but I had been meaning to contact her, as part of my new marketing masterplan, and see about updating the coupon that she gives to her clients. So we had a chat and she asked me (yep, I don't even have to ask for help) if I would send a new copy of the voucher for her to distribute to all her clients. I happily reworked my old voucher and came up with a good looking one, which will hopefully drum up some business for the Maternity Photography I offer. as you can see. Her daughter, Erin, who appears in the photo, just turned one recently.
So she took the coupon and sent it out to everyone she ever met, and within a few short hours, I had received an email from a lady who has recently become involved with the Glasgow North chapter of the NCT (National Childbirth Trust). The NCT are an organisation which helps and supports women through pregnancy, childbirth and early years, I had previously looked at doing some marketing through them but ignored it because their operation apperaed to be nationally based and advertising space was pricey. Turns out however that they have local chapters who organise events, like the upcoming "Nearly New Sale" where mums can buy and sell things which their kids have outgrown, saving a little money over what they'd pay int he shops. Everyone who attends gets a goody bag full of vouchers etc. Normally it costs to put vouchers in, but since this woman is new I think she's looking to make the first event good and build relationships with businesses, so has offered to let me put vouchers in the 250 goody bags for free!!! I'm so happy, you can't buy this kind of coincidence. It just proves that it really is who you know, not what you know!!!
Last night, MyKitten finally got exposed to the movie making genius that is Memento. We'd been talking about it since we watched an episode of Stargate:Atlantis called Tabula Rasa, which makes use of some of the concepts from Memento (let's keep the "original thought" discussion for another day). So we watched right the way through the movie, with her getting more and more confused with every passing second, but tolerating it because she believed that it would all be explained at the end. It wasn't. The whole idea of leaving so many questions unanswered is to put you in the shoes of the lead character, since he doesn't ever know what's going on, and I love the movie for that, but she was not happy at all, she likes things that get neatly tied off at the conclusion.....Oh well.....
Today is another day of working my little touche to the bone, trying to squeeze just a little drop of blood from the stone of our economic climate. Wish me luck!!
To the Right: That is Todd (such a hottie!!) sitting at our favorite Italian restaurant in SLC (so far). We absolutely love the Farfale.
To the Right: I put my little girls hair in curlers for the first time tonight, what a doll! It's so much fun watching kids experience everything for the first time. I love my girls!! I have a lot of friends who are single, and just not big on family life. Instead it is all about parties, fun, sex, etc. I have somewhat been on that road... and it's just two different worlds. I love the family life so much more. Its really great :) I really lucked out with Todd too... he is a rare find. We are constantly planning road trips, building our business, buying toys (new photo gear), etc. Not only that, but he is one of the only boyfriends that I have ever had that is not a jerk, lol.
To the Right: This is the band Oh! Wild Birds playing at Derek's art show. They are actually playing in Kent Rigby's recording studio called Midnight Records right behind Derek's art gallery space on Main Street. They are super cool, they use a ton of instruments including the accordion, violin, etc.
As Todd and I were doing some more volunteer work for the Red Cross... we came across another volunteer named Eric Kiltz. At first he seemed like an ordinary guy... volunteering his medical expertise. Somewhere during a conversation that night, he explained to me that he will be the President of the United States in 2036. I smiled... and he looked at me with a serious expression and said "Don't laugh, I'm serious". I continued to smile and shook his hand once more. Except this time, I was shaking a future president's hand!
Here is his website: http://www.eric2036.com/
I thought it was great... you've got to cheerish each little random moment in life :)
Todd got me an iPhone for Christmas... it is super cool :)
Here are some pics I have taken with it:
But this is RAD.... I thought I was the only one who refused to wear shoes. LOL.... I'm funny about it, I usually wear either flip flops or boots. I choose comfort over high heels any day :)
Next picture (to the right)... my girls! They are too cute ;)
Christel is an amazing, undiscovered singer... I got her some recording sessions for Christmas :)
Next we have Russ and Laurie to the left. These guys are my family (not blood related). Russ, Laurie, Christel and I get together all the time for dinner parties and what not. I always end up laughing so hard that I cry... FUN stuff. Love you guys!!
Anyways, thanks for tuning in :) That's the last of my phone pics.... I will have another update of random people and experiences soon!!
I LOVE my girls... not only are they so sweet, beautiful, and smart... but they can dance too!! Here are a few shots from their hip hop class the other day. I plan to eventually get a video camera so I can record this stuff.
Todd and I photographed the Salt Lake Chapter Red Cross Christmas party this year... here is a slideshow (made with slideshow pro for lightroom).
Lol... I will just link to it, because I can't figure out how to add it to this blog.
http://bellaorastudios.com/Galleries/redcrosspartyslideshow/slideshowpro.swf
