My Cure for Digital Depression

         Has anyone else been feeling down about the current state of affairs throughout the world?  People murdering each other, landslides, floods, earthquakes, wars,  genocides (and people betraying their own countries to go help with said genocide), riots, and the list goes on AND on.   I get that this type of thing has been going on since the beginning of time and probably isn't going to stop any time soon, but it's pretty depressing sometimes.  You can't pick up your phone, turn on the tv, or check your email with out receiving the latest update on who has killed whom in the last 20 minutes.   SO to cure my "digital depression", that has been particularly bad the last few days since I've been stuck in bed with a cold, I've been working on one of my favorite hobbies: photography.  Or more accurately photo editing, because there is no way I'm getting up and going to do any photo shoots the way I've been feeling.  Instead I've been trying to get caught up on editing a lot of old shots that I've been too busy with life to do.  There's something very therapeutic about photography for me.  A big part of it, I believe is that it forces me, in a world seemingly so full of pain and wrongs, to sit and focus on the intricate details and beauty that I normally miss as I'm rushing about between calling back clients and getting contracts signed and studying and picking up kids and dropping them off again and trying to figure out what to fix for dinner and where in God's name I left my car keys..... It let's me slow down a bit and remember that even though I miss it sometimes, or can't see it through the shroud of graphic news reports, that there still is lots of good and beauty in the world.       Without further delay then, here is some of what I've been working on these last few days!

The inside of antique wristwatch that we found recently in my late grandmother's belongings.  I've always had a bit of a fascination with clock gears, and I used the opportunity to test out a new (to me) photography technique called free-lensing (I'll talk more about that in another post) that creates a little bit of blur around the edges.  Loved the detail and colors, though! 

Here's the front of the watch. Love the Saphire on the winding knob.  We actually wound this up, and it still works!

The famous First Birthday shot!  Probably the only time in your life you can get away with eating like an animal and having food smeared all of your face, and still look cute as hell.  I tried this last week and all I got were disapproving looks and a lecture on table manners!  =P

And finally, the old Stars & Stripes.  Getting whipped in the wind, but still as beautiful as ever.