Let Us Be Inspired By Elize Strydom

I discovered photography when studying journalism in Chile. My whole family took my grandmother’s ashes to the ocean, and I took pictures of that trip. The pictures were in black and white and they turned out good. After that, I did photography occasionally, but traded my film camera for a video camera when I moved to the US. Here, I did documentaries and worked “in the industry” and left my film camera forgotten in my closet. Now, many years, two careers, and a family later, I feel like taking pictures again.

In my search for inspiration, I have discovered many photographers that do wonderful work around the world. I am very lucky to live in this era that has so much access to inspiration. Isn’t Internet a marvelous thing?

In my searches around the web, I found Elize Styrdom, a documentary photographer based in Sydney, Australia. What captivated me about her work was the intimacy of her pictures, and her subject matter, she documents, among other things, girls around the world. Her pictures are beautiful and poetic. They show fragility and, in my opinion, the transparency of youth. Even if you don’t care about her subjects, her use of color and eye for composition creates beautiful and simple images that are inspiring to look at.

She still uses a film camera. Wouldn’t you say that shooting photography with a film camera is like being a writer of  poetry? It is the hardest craft. Slower and thoughtful, but extremely rewarding.

Here is her website. You can find some of her pictures from her “Hey, girl” series down below. I would love to hear your opinion on them.

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Women – #LetGo Campaign

If you could give an advice to younger women, what would it be?

A good friend of mine sent me a link to the video below last week. I like the idea of learning from the old. Learning from age and wisdom. It is not easy to listen to those who are different. It is hard to empathize with their lives and struggles, but, in this video, I saw myself in 30 years, so my heart understood the message.

It is impossible to capture time, life goes on and we get old. One of my goals is to look at my life when I am older with no regrets. The women in this video gave me advice on how to do that: enjoy the now, start being, stop doing. Life is full of precious moments that go away, that are ephemeral: my children waking me up in the middle of the night, the sun setting behind the ocean, a nice dinner, a hug from my mother… I am powerless against time, but I have the power to savor every last second of what life is giving me right now. It is not easy, but I will try.

My friend also asked me what advice would I give to women that are younger than me. It is a beautiful question, isn’t? I would say: live your life with no fear, and worry less about what people might think about you.

I would love to hear your advice.

Source Featured Image.

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I Never Learn – Lykke Li

Lykke Li’s album, I Never Learn, was released in 2014, but I still listen to it regularly. I love how edgy it is. How much beauty and pain some of the songs can hold. It is an amazing album from beginning to end and I can’t wait until she releases the next one. I also love the esthetics of the music videos. They are so earthy and dreamy. The feelings are real, but they seem to take place in a different world.

Music is amazing nowadays. I like how technology has allowed us to access a huge variety of genres from all over the world in a matter of seconds. Internet is a beautiful thing, indeed, if used wisely.

Here are my favorite songs from  Lykke Li’s album. My personal favorite is “I Follow Rivers”, followed closely by “I Never Learn.” These songs are the opposite of a typical, commercial, boring, and, uncreative pop song. Listen to them with an open mind.

Do you have any album recommendations from 2015? I have a couple of favorites that I will be sharing here soon, but I would love to hear more.

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Women – The Strong, Nurturing And Beautiful Kind.

Lately I have been feeling very proud of being a woman. I have been reading some books on feminism (aka. the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men) and I have come to understand better our role in society and the cultural baggage that defines us.

Just to be clear, I do not think that women are better than men in any way. On the contrary, female and male energy are one. It is stupid to compete, but it is important to bring out those qualities that make us women and share them with the world. We need more nurturing, love, empathy, strength, caring, communication and understanding, and it is up to us, females, to provide these (mainly).

Anyway, I don’t want to get too serious but I feel inspired today. I will be posting more on the books I have been reading soon. In the mid-time, here are some pictures that celebrate women, and remember, let’s be good to one another. There is no need to compete.

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Image sources: 1)2), 3), 4), 5), 6), 7), 8), 9), 10) 

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