Older Models in Demand

My mom, Valerie Ramsey, and coauthor with me of GRACEFULLY: LOOKING AND BEING YOUR BEST AT ANY AGE was featured with a 42 year old model on NBC Miami this morning in another segment titled "Older Models in Demand"...

Wondering when ABC and CBS will start featuring these stories? Seems like NBC has it down, as this is my mom's sixth appearance between Miami and the Today Show on the topic or similarly related themes. Kudos to NBC.

Kellie Elmore's Tumbleweed - Guest Post

I recently read and reviewed Kellie Elmore's newly released book MAGIC IN THE BACKYARD and was intrigued by her poem "Tumbleweed" so I asked her to stop by my blog and give me the lowdown on what inspired her to write it. Thanks, Kellie for indulging me and visiting my blog!

Tumbleweed

She saw her life as a

tired progression; exciting as

a Cannes film about some trailer park

in the middle of the desert,

she watched it running past her

like a tumbleweed, leaving her

in the dust. Trapped—in this

desolate town with dreams falling

from her fingertips and hope

from her eyes, but where

would that highway take her?

Where—would it lead if

she jumped on its back in

a spontaneous effort to find

something greater than

what she knew, and would she

even recognize it after being

blinded by the numbered, un-named

signs that line this county, or

would there fall on her a sick and

un-digestible feeling of remorse in

the realization that ghosts will

follow you no matter where you

run, and hiding is not an option.

Home—this is home, she thought,

and the craving for greener grass

will never be satisfied until she

takes time to tend to the weeds.

Tumbleweed was written during one of those times when I felt the need to "run". I think we all go through periods in life where the grass looks greener on the other side. Life can become monotonous and boring and we find ourselves dreaming of new places, somewhere where no one knows your name. A place where you can just start over fresh and become someone else, someone you always wanted to be. That was the idea behind this poem.

Instead of running, I began to write about running. I got my pen and wrote in free verse all that I was feeling, everything that was overwhelming me and the reasons why I thought "running away" would fix it. There were so many dreams within my words but, for the most part, it was filled with excuses and nothing I was saying was a good enough reason to just go. I found that all my problems had a solution. All the little things that were suffocating me were being brought to the surface and I was finding that I could repair them all right here at home but, that would be the hard way. I had to convince myself that though running would be an easy way out, of this town, of the struggles I was facing, it would not bring happiness. So, I started to weigh the pros and cons, and I realized that while I may rid myself of some of the old, I would be bringing on new problems and how would that be better?

So, what I learned from this exercise was that it's all about removal...You have to find whatever it is that's holding you down and tend to it and if you can't fix it (with reasonable effort) then the only other option is to get rid of it completely.  You cannot stay in bad relationships, do work that isn't fulfilling, continue down the same paths and expect things to just change. YOU have to make it happen...and most of the time, it begins with yourself.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Happiness is inside of you...and so is sadness. It doesn't matter where you go, you take it with you. If you are not happy at home, you will not be happy on a beautiful beach, by the bluest waters, on a tropical island either. Your ghosts will follow you, until you make peace with them and set them free. Pluck out the weeds from your life and you will have room to grow toward the sunshine.

Kellie Elmore is a writer who knows no bounds. She believes self-expression is most beautiful in its pure, raw and unedited form. “No rules, just write” is her motto.
Kellie finds inspiration in nature and in the humble surroundings of her “backyard” – Southeast Tennessee. Through poetry and prose, Kellie writes freely about cherished and magical moments as well as tragic losses. Her goal is to take readers back, rekindle a memory or elicit a feeling. Charles Bukowski wrote, “If it doesn’t burst out of you, don’t do it.” Kellie agrees and states, “If it were not for my pen, I would explode! Writing is my happy pill.”  Join Kellie as she writes her way through life’s journey – magic in the backyard…Visit Kellie's website at http://kellieelmore.com/

Magic in the Backyard
COPYRIGHT © 2012 by Kellie Elmore
Excerpt appears courtesy of Winter Goose Publishing

If Everyone Can Do It...

"If everyone can do it, no one will pay you to do it." - Rosh Sillars In discussing being a photographer.

Rosh continues on (in a podcast on Photofocus) and makes a great point that freshmen in college today have captured more images in their young lives than he has in his whole photography career because digital allows for that (unlike 15 years ago). And we all know, practicing and doing is how we get better (assuming you're learning from mistakes).

I'd agree that the same mindset carries over to being an author. Anyone can publish a book nowadays. To put things in perspective, when GRACEFULLY was published by McGraw-Hill in April, 2008 there were 2 million other books on Amazon. Now, only four years later, there are 8 million.

Making a photograph or a book stand out in the digital crowd is a full time job, leaving less time for the creative realm. My mother being a Wilhelmina model at the age of 72, now that's one way to stand out in a crowd.

Paraglide by the Dashboard Light

Late yesterday morning I was just finishing my Arnold Palmer at one coffee shop and had two hours to go before meeting my cousin at another coffee shop in Cannery Row. As I took my last sip, Muse knocked. It was at the door telling me to drive up Highway 1 toward Santa Cruz for a quick image capturing session. I had no idea what I was looking for; I just got in the car and started to drive. It only took about 4 or 5 miles until I spotted some paragliders over the the Fort Ord Dunes.

I made my way over there (not as easy as one might think), parked and grabbed my camera. When I got up to the dunes, two paragliders came gliding up the coast. One of them - in the video below - gave me a 20 minute show. As a result, I captured 127 images and this 1 minute video. The images are done in HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. For more on HDR Photography, I recommend Trey Ratcliff's Stuck in Customs site.

Here are some of the top images and beneath them is the You Tube video (the rest of the images can be viewed at PulseImages.net):

 
 






Images and video were captured with my Canon T3i. © Heather Hummel/Pulse Images