It’s tradition! I’ve traveled every summer for the past 5 years and this luggage has seen many places with me. Inspiration, happiness, and open-mindedness are found in traveling. For me anyways. And I mean real traveling: out and about at 7am on walking tours type of traveling, not the lounging on a beach, drinking and partying type.
I’m going on a rugged adventure in Costa Rica, covering San Jose, Arenal, and Manuel Antonio. It’s my first time in Central America. My love and I are horseback riding, white water rafting, canopying, and touring a national park. No rest for the wicked!
I’ll be back in a week with photos of volcanoes, rain forests, wild animals, and all that awesome stuff. Be right back!
My girl Andrea and I went out for a short and sweet photoshoot a few evenings ago because we needed a fix. So here’s a new self portrait with my bike. I do realize that I’m over-killing the bike photos at the moment. =P
Finally, an official photo of my beautiful Dutch bicycle. Available on Etsy. I’m taking her for a ride by the lake downtown this afternoon, with my love of course.
I received my first canvas order and so I printed my first canvas photograph and it is really quite grand. It has brought the artwork to life in a whole new way. I’ve added canvas listings to my shop, currently available for 8x10s, 8x12s, 16x20s, and 16x24s. They are shipped ready to hang, gallery wrapped, and beautiful. :) I am hooked myself and have an urge to send in a whole bunch of photographs to be printed on canvas just for the heck of it.
I’ve been watching a lot of Shark’s Tank lately – the show fascinates me to no end. I love the business intelligence / acumen of both the sharks and the entrepreneurs, and I just love the creativity in the new product ideas and have a genuine appreciation for it. I’ve always had admiration for entrepreneurs. I can even prove it to you with an old post here, where I raved about Ryerson University-bred entrepreneurs. And here I am, raving about entrepreneurs yet again. I admire them because they are not only able to think of a great idea but they make it come to life, too. All too often we sit on ideas that never reach the point of execution. Having said that, I think I’ve executed quite a bit since my post here about how I am going to start selling prints on Etsy. There is an infinite amount of ways to expand and though I’m moving slowly due to ample of other life commitments, I will expand in baby steps. Prints – check, post cards – check, canvas – check, product photography services – check. Next – tradeshows? Or maybe calendars. Whatever it is, do the work. Don’t be lazy.
My love and I also have a brilliant new product idea in mind (we think it’s brilliant anyway) and I’m determined to make it happen, starting with a business case to present in a patent application. I want to be writing on this very same blog five years from now and be able to point back to this post and say, “I’ve executed.”
Black and white cows are cute. They were standing in perfect formation like this as if they knew I was coming to photograph them and put them up on Etsy to become Celebrity Cows. I love the countryside. It’s so beautiful.
and this magnificent Toronto skyline (with a flawless backdrop of clear blue skies and puffy white clouds) was right in front of me, like it was begging to be photographed. And here it is. Available on Etsy. I’ve had quite a few requests for the Toronto skyline, so I hope this one does it for you!
I did love being among Soccer fans – they’re quite the rowdy energizer bunnies and they make the experience. My heart melted for the red and white and the beautifully Canadian-dressed BMO field sitting picture perfectly in front of the Toronto skyline. It’s rare for me to feel patriotic in this country (maybe because I’m not Canadian-born), unless triggered by an emotional event or when my breath is momentarily taken away when I stop to see just how beautiful this place is, but an event like this with the setting, the people, the colours, and the stadium, made it all too easy to feel patriotic, especially on Canada Day weekend. The only other sport I’ve seen live quite a few times is basketball, which I also like. But what I’d really like to see is American football, mostly because the photography would be wild.
Anyway, I have a million things to do today. How I reminisce to the old days when I had time to be ‘bored’ on weekends. Those days are long gone, but Happy Canada Day to all!
Nothing beats photography in the sunset. It’s just magical. I’ve managed to post photos and blog recently despite still processing Etsy orders and studying after work. Speaking of which – I gotta go into nerd mode and solve some math problems right now. It’s all starting to click and I’m feeling more confident about the exam.
Truly, is there anything better than sleep? I look forward to it the moment I wake up.
By the way, I am going to Costa Rica in a month. I’ve convinced myself that I need to invest in a basic necessity for this trip: a new telephoto lens, considering all the time that I’m going to spend in the jungle with funky animals.
Yes, I’m blogging and I have a million things to say.
(1) My eternal GMAT studying is coming together. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Albeit a long tunnel.
(2) I’ve reached 300 sales on Etsy. I still remember when I had only 6 sales. I will also likely be signing a contract with an art publisher and distributor on Monday.
(3) My little sister graduated from high school with flying colours and is attending the University of Toronto for the Rotman Commerce Program. She is brilliant and I am so happy for her. Academics are sexy.
(4) The photo below are of fuzzy wild horses from ICELAND. Without fail, I set aside a budget to travel every year but every now and then, I live vicariously through another traveler who has seen a place that I desire but have not seen myself. Iceland is one of those places. I skimmed through his wonky tourist shots and handpicked the ones that had subtle potential for reinvention; to be transformed into a Charlene Precious fine art photograph. It is not typical that I would borrow someone else’s travel photograph to reinvent. (And never another artist’s photograph. Only my non-photographer friends who take photos with little or no thought and simply for keepsake and memories). But if I had to borrow a photograph, it will always be a travel photograph. I have a weakness for them because I simply can’t travel the entire world. Unless of course I wake up absolutely rich and with an immortal soul tomorrow – infinite money and time would enable me to travel the entire world. I’d like that.
(5) I’ve re-written my ABOUT page to reflect my general growth in life. I haven’t touched or read this in a year and certain claims were no longer true and some even sounded a bit juvenile. It’s wild to go back and read things that you wrote a year ago and are less than impressed with it now. But at the time, it felt like it was genius. I’m going to go ahead and call it growth. Read if you care, otherwise, I don’t mind.
(6) I miss A PHOTO A DAY so much, you have no idea. I can’t wait to be back here every day. Please don’t let me go. I will be back with an abundance of beautiful art. I promise.
Hi, Charlene Precious here! Welcome to my blog that is both a life journal told with words and photographs and an evolving portfolio. I'm thrilled to be able to share my work and my world with you, so thank you for following! (Read more)
Portfolio
View and enjoy a short and
sweet collection of my work right here!
