Hello again! It's been raining so much lately. It amuses me that whenever I can't take photos outside because of poor weather I get super creative and inspired. We have a cute little climbing rose bush and it's finally bloomed! I wanted to head outside to photograph it so badly but I had to wait days until the rain stopped. I was able to run out to snap a few photos before being rushed inside once again because it started drizzling. I think I got some decent photos, though! I want to take some more next week. Hopefully the weather will allow it!

I absolutely love looking at macro photos of insects. I'd love to start taking my own. My issue: I am deathly afraid of anything creepy and crawly. Basically, if it has six or more legs and an exoskeleton, I'd like to be nowhere near it. Even when I see a harmless fly coming my way, I duck and cover. I'd like to get over this fear enough that I can comfortably take photos of bugs without having a near panic attack. The only way to do this is to gradually expose myself to these things I am afraid of. It's scary, and may seem silly to some, but hopefully I can get over this!

To reflect these thoughts, my photos for today include one of a dreaded buggo! It was some sort of flying... thing? I have no clue what it actually is called. It was flying all around me, scaring me half to death when it finally took a rest on some burs. He seemed to be content so I quickly snapped a few photos and proceeded to run away before he could come flying after me. 😉

Hello there! It has been raining almost nonstop all week. It's let the temperature cool down a bit to a comfortable level, and it's brought out some little friends! I have so many snail photos I've taken in the past week- expect to see some more soon!

Isn't this little guy the absolute cutest? I love snails so much. Their little antennae always get me 😍 These snails were pretty fun to free lens- but also a challenge. They're so tiny and I have horrible balance, so squatting and trying to keep my camera steady enough to free lens was pretty difficult. I think this set of photos turned out quite nice regardless!

I've always loved looking at beautiful examples of portrait photography, but I've never had any opportunities to practice it myself. I know very little about formally photographing people. My family members and friends dislike having their photo taken. I've never really felt confident enough to practice portrait photography on myself. I also dislike having my photo taken, and even though I sort of know what I'm doing it's a struggle for me to take pictures of myself and not feel disappointed in the result.

Well, I want to change this. I really want to improve and by taking photos of myself it will help my photography skills as well as my self esteem. If you told me, at thirteen, that I'd still have trouble loving myself when I'm going on twenty, I probably wouldn't believe you. Growing up, I always felt hopeful because I believed I would outgrow my insecurities. This did in fact happen in some cases, but overall I am the same insecure little girl I was in my preteen and teenage years. I've been neglecting a lot of aspects of loving myself and it's time to change a few things in my life. 

These two photos, although sort of obscure, represent small steps in my journey of self-love. I hope to improve in more than just my photography abilities during this adventure.