Victoria

I love images that make me feel something. Maybe that's why I tend to show the stuff that's a little less-than-mainstream.

Don't get me wrong. I love simplicity in a photo as well. But there is just something about an image that sucks you in and trips your emotional responses. For this reason I tend to shy away from your basic "art nudes." To be honest, they usually bore the hell out of me. They are about lighting, form, shape, and shadow. I have the utmost respect for those that excel at that type of work. But it's just not something that gets my heart pumping.

So instead, I focus on feelings. We aren't always pretty. We aren't always healthy. We don't have a perfect day every single day. So instead of pretending the world is full of puppies, fluffy clouds, and fragrant flowers, let's experience the spectrum. Yes, we have good days. We even have AMAZING days. But the average day is just that: average. But here is the greatest part about an average day. It takes very little to push it towards either misery or bliss.

We feel things for a reason. If we cut our finger and thump it on something, it hurts. We are reminded to not do that again until we finish healing. It's a sort of internal positive and negative reinforcement training.

So why all the rambling about emotion? Because it's part of me. It's part of being human. Without the bad, the good just seems normal. That makes it bland. Without the good, the bad becomes commonplace. It is that balance we need to allow us to fully enjoy the wonderful and joyous moments of our lives while granting us the knowledge that even the most traumatic event will one day fade away. There might be a scar. There might not. But once it has passed, it is gone. And then it only leaves a small reminder to not smack our finger when we have an open cut on it.

The photo is of Victoria D and was shot last Saturday.