Day 56: Beauty in the mundane | An origin story

I took this photo in 2008 with a Canon XTi that I borrowed from my school. This was the first time I ever had my hands on a DSLR. I shot this little plant at my mom's apartment and although not significantly awesome or anything, this photo is one of my favorites. It was the first time I felt like I truly appreciated photography. It was the first time I saw beauty in the mundane. I mean, if you saw this plant in person, it looks boring and not really worthy of a shot. I never even thought I would find use in this 'practice' photo, but the first time I pulled it up on my computer, I realized why photography is so highly appreciated. You really do find beauty in anything, through a different perspective. We can look at this plant close up and see a similar picture, but there is something more meaningful about capturing it in a photo. 

What really made this shot significant to me over time is when I found out that this plant had died. I thought about it and it's almost like seeing a photograph of a deceased person. That's the other beauty of photography. You can capture something and it's as if photographs bring a kind of immortality to living things. This plant may be dead, but when I'm looking at it here, I feel it's very much alive. And that's how I feel about people as well. There is something hauntingly 'real' about seeing a picture of someone or something, whether it's alive or not. Maybe the saying is true. Maybe photographs do capture the 'soul'. 

Things I Love: Makeup I rarely use.

Pictured: Skin 79 BB cream "The Oriental" | M.A.C fix + (seriously this stuff is MAGIC) | Givenchy "Play" perfume | 3W Clinic foundation compact | Rimmel "Scandaleyes" mascara | Stila waterproof liquid liner in black | M.A.C. "Heatherette collection" pink/nude lipstick

To be honest, I don't really like wearing makeup. It's kind of a hassle to put it on and take it off, and since my skin is sensitive, my face rejects makeup after a while. But for whatever reason, I keep buying makeup and have a slight obsession with it. You know when someone tries to explain something girly by saying, "It's a girl thing"? Well, yeah. Makeup would be one of those things. There really is no better way of explaining it.

55/365: Me likey Americano

Ever since I was a little kid, I always had this fascination with coffee. I would take a sip of my mom's coffee whenever I could because I thought it was delicious! I also loved the smell of coffee. But I never thought I would like my coffee 'black'. I liked the aspect of having cream in the coffee but I didn't really like the bitter taste of plain coffee. During college years and teenage years, I always had frapps and blended coffee drinks. Nowadays, I always get Americano with a little room for cream. It's cheap, it's less fattening, and I've grown to like the taste of black coffee!

Why is that? Why is it that as we get older, our taste buds change? I can't drink regular soda anymore because it became way too sweet. I rarely ever eat candy, and a lot of desserts are too sweet and I usually opt for the tart kinds. I guess it's kind of evolutionary in a way. As we get older, our bodies don't function the same way as it used to. Our metabolism slows down. Our body slowly breaks down. So I guess in a way, a change in taste buds is a way to enforce ourselves to eat healthier too. It kinda makes sense I guess. Most of the things I loved eating as a kid, I can't stand to eating anymore as an adult. But one thing has remained true, and that is that I will always love coffee in whatever form it comes in.

EAT ME: Appetite for design

I know I made a "photo a day" post about this book, but I felt like that photo with 4 segments showing the book just didn't do it enough justice! I mean seriously, I don't know what blows me away more; the cover of the book or the content. Okay, probably the content, but the cover is amazing too. 

Day 54: Colour Mania

Here's another inspiration book that I reference quite often when I'm designing. This is another awesome book by graphic design books publisher Victionary, the same publisher for "Eat Me". Each chapter is filled with a color of the spectrum and proceeds with pages of vibrant design works in that respective color. It's an amazing reference book for ideas based on specific colors. They also delve into black and white and the full rainbow spectrum. It's a good way to think of how colors compliment a design piece, as every single design piece has a lot of thought put into it. As most of you know, colors are important in design because they reflect certain moods and feelings. And every good design piece uses careful consideration in choosing the right colors to convey the right meaning.