Self Portrait Assignment

It's the project I dreaded...the self portrait.  I'm taking a class and needed to come up with a self portrait this week. As with most photographers, I would rather be the one taking the photograph and not being the subject.  However, I've seen some amazing examples of what some photographers are doing with self portraits.  One of my new favorites is Kelli Connell.  I also enjoy the self portraits from Jen Davis.

Seeing so many wonderful self portraits from so many talented photographers can both inspire and discourage you, depending on what your brain tells you.  For me, I absolutely LOVE looking at photographs from all photographers and the group of self portraits that Aline Smithson presented were no different.  Very inspiring! Self portraits can be discouraging since it's such a daunting task for some, me included.

I have many ideas in mind and I may or may not share them here.  I will however, share this one.  I took a break from my garage purge project to see if my idea of throwing my camera in the air would work.  I have several photos of me jumping up and down in front of the camera while it's on a timer to laugh at myself and to see what comes from it.  I thought, "why don't I stay still and have the camera jump around?"  Well, I don't think I said that out loud but I wanted to try the timer idea to see if something could become of it.  On my iphone, I have one application that automatically takes one photograph after a ten second countdown.  I stood on grass just in case I didn't catch my iphone and because I don't have a cover or any type of insurance for it. The click of the "shutter" seemed to be delayed a bit so I would focus on my feet while it counted down and try to throw the camera in the air to get it to snap the photo around the same distance between my waist and feet.

I took around thirty or more shots and twenty of them I kept because there was a hint of me in the photo (strand of hair here, a toe there, etc.). Also, most were blurry since the phone tends to flip around when you throw it in the air.  Once I had one in focus I stopped and put these two together.  I still plan to do more self portraits down the road.  For now, I will stay behind the lens.

Letting Go Of Emotional Items and Excess Stuff

I've haven't blogged about my life in a long time.  Sure, I post things here and there when I am excited about accomplishing something with my photography and want to share that with you but haven't really talked about other things I've been doing.

My Mother and Step Father are moving to Mexico.  I took this picture of my mom on the beach near where they are going to live.  Obviously, she's excited for the move. They've lived in a beautiful house in Sedona for ten years now and wanted to live near the water on a small budget.  They found a place right away that suited their needs so they are packing up and moving out.  I drove to Arizona to help my mother get ready for the move.  We didn't pack up what she would take with her.  Rather, we got rid of everything she has collected over the past several years.  We took trip after trip to the good will to donate a lot of the clothes she hasn't worn in the past six months.  Needless to say, the task was overwhelming.

When I returned home, I looked at my garage at all of the items I've kept in storage for so long.  Many boxes I haven't opened since I moved into this house.  I just moved them with me when I move to another place.  I knew that I needed to do something about those boxes and everything else I own.

When I was on the road for the past three years, I didn't miss anything I left behind at my house.  In fact, living with just the items I had in my car was enough for me.  Now that I am home, the excess "stuff" that I have saved over the years has been weighing me down.  Way back when, I thought that when you are successful in life, you had to accumulate things.  In the late 90's and early 2000's, I lost my dad, my dad's parents and my mother's mother.  My grandparents lived in Georgia and once they both died, my brother and I rented a uhaul and gathered all the things we knew they loved the most and took them back to California.  I have kept all of those things since.  It was finally time to take a good hard look at what I am holding on to, why I am holding on to it and if I really needed it.

I can't blame all of the stuff on my grandparents.  I've collected my fair share of things over the years.  I suppose if I put my items it in a box and hid the box away in the rafters somewhere, it would disappear.  If only that were the case.

The past few weeks and months I have dedicated time to my garage to either throw away, donate or sell what I own.  It hasn't been easy.  In fact, it's quite an overwhelming and sometimes emotional task.  I started with the large items and am working my way down.

The hardest part is letting go of something that a lost loved one owned and cherished.  I had to think about the reasons I kept it.  If it's in the garage, I am not using it, therefore I don't need it.  Even though they loved that item and it reminds me of them, it won't bring them back if I hold on to it and if I let it go, I still have my memories of them forever in my mind.  I reminded myself of this over and over.

Beyond the emotional items, there are the things I held on to because I thought, "one day I will use it."  First of all... if I forgot it even existed, I can't find it to use it so when am I actually going to use something I don't remember having?  Then there are the collection of things.  I saved just about every wine cork I had from about every bottle of wine I drank and I saved many bottle caps from the beers I (and friends) drank.  Hundreds and hundreds saved.  For what?  A reminder of how many bottles of wine I drank?  To include them in an art project I will whip up? Most likely I won't whip up that project and I haven't had a drink in 891 days so what's the point? They are gone now.  I also came across two binders full of rejection letters I saved when I was trying to get a job out of college.  I have hundreds of these letters all sorted by region and type of job I applied for.  That's an uplifter.  The list of random items goes on...

I am hoping to have only the basic things I use each week remaining.  Quite frankly it was overwhelming to start and take down all of the boxes in the rafters and open one by one.  The photographs take the longest.  Sometimes, I will only get through two boxes in a day.  I have made a lot of progress and will continue to do so in the weeks to come.  Hopefully, I will still be alive to enjoy my life once I am finished.

I mentioned my project of getting rid of things on facebook and a friend introduced me to a website where these guys are living the minimalist lifestyle and loving it. A lot of their posts made a lot of sense to me.  Especially letting go of Sentimental items.

I would challenge you to do the same.  Not only am I freeing up space in my home, I am finally able to let go of my loved ones by letting go of their things.

Fat Tissue Insulin Sensitivity and Obesity

In this post, I'll discuss a few more facts pertaining to the idea that elevated insulin promotes the accumulation of fat mass.  

Insulin Action on Fat Cells Over the Course of Fat Gain

The idea that insulin acts on fat cells to promote obesity requires that insulin suppress fat release in people with more fat (or people who are gaining fat) to a greater extent than in lean people.  As I have written before, this is not the case, and in fact the reverse is true.  The fat tissue of obese people fails to normally suppress fatty acid release in response to an increase in insulin caused by a meal or an insulin injection, indicating that insulin's ability to suppress fat release is impaired in obesity (1, 2, 3).  The reason for that is simple: the fat tissue of obese people is insulin resistant.

There has been some question around the blogosphere about when insulin resistance in fat tissue occurs.  Is it only observed in obese people, or does it occur to a lesser extent in people who carry less excess fat mass and are perhaps on a trajectory of fat gain?  To answer this question, let's turn the clocks back to 1968, a year before Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. 

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Airstream Life Magazine Fall 2011

I had so much fun last June in Jackson Center, Ohio for the second annual "Alumapalooza" event!  Held on the grounds of the Airstream Factory, hundreds of dedicated Airstream owners gather to meet, learn, and mostly have a good time together with their common love of Airstreams.

I wrote a little about my experience HERE and put together a slide show of some of the photographs I took while I was there.  You can see that slideshow by clicking HERE.

I am thrilled that eight portraits I took (including the cover) are featured in the Fall, 2011 edition of Airstream Life Magazine.  Sign ups are already happening on their official Alumapalooza website, so I would get your reservation in early for 2012.  I hope to see you there next year!

"Brothers" Selected For Photographer's Forum "Best of 2011" Hardcover Book

I am thrilled that my photograph, "Brothers" was selected by the folks at Photographer's Forum to be included in their hardcover "Best of 2011" book (out in December).  I took this photograph while I was visiting the Vintage Trailer show during Palm Spring's Modernism week back in February.  I wrote about my experience during the week HERE.

When I am at an event, I usually stand around and observe all of the people around me as there were many characters at this particular show. These two boys stuck out in my mind right away and I immediately approached their parents and asked if I could take their photograph. The parents were visiting the show and said, "sure!" (For the curious photographer, the parents also signed a release) The boys were very animated by running around and making faces.  I was trying to tell them to hold still and they weren't listening until their father yelled something at them in French.  At that moment, my "stop smiling and hold hands" was understood and for one brief moment, they did what their father told them to do in French and I snapped this photograph. Once second later, it was back to playing and making faces.

I usually take portraits of people doing what they are doing at the time of doing it.  I would like to say that I came across these boys holding hands with this look on their face but with just a little direction (and a father yelling in French), they ended up looking how I envisioned them.  I am not in any way diminishing how cute they both are making faces and running around (I know all of you parents out there enjoy looking at how precious and unique your children are), it was a brief moment that I am thankful of capturing.  Children with serious faces are more interesting to me.

Catered Paleo Dinner with Yours Truly

Gil Butler, organizer of the Western Washington Paleo Enthusiasts group, has organized a catered "paleo" dinner on Sunday, October 9th.  He will be screening the first episode of "Primal Chef", Featuring Robb Wolf and others.  He invited me to give a short (20 minute) presentation, which I accepted.  There are still roughly 30 spots remaining [update 9/21-- the event is full].

The event will be in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and the price is $15.76 per person.  I will not be paid for this talk, it's just an opportunity to share ideas and meet people. 

Click here to register.

Book Review: The End of Overeating

The End of Overeating was written based on the personal journey of Dr. David A. Kessler (MD) to understand the obesity epidemic, and treat his own obesity in the process.  Dr. Kessler was the FDA commissioner under presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton.  He is known for his efforts to regulate cigarettes, and his involvement in modernizing Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food.  He was also the dean of Yale medical school for six years-- a very accomplished person. 

Dr. Kessler's book focuses on 1) the ability of food with a high palatability/reward value to cause overeating and obesity, 2) the systematic efforts of the food industry to maximize food palatability/reward to increase sales in a competitive market, and 3) what to do about it.  He has not only done a lot of reading on the subject, but has also participated directly in food reward research himself, so he has real credibility.  The End of Overeating is not the usual diet book. 
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