Gorgeous Girls

So many of us doubt. We worry. We fuss. What we seem to forget to do is BELIEVE. As women, the barbie girl image has been burned through our minds since we were young children, and for many of us, it becomes hard to believe that we are beautiful. No matter how many times our friends, boyfriends, husbands and family have told us otherwise, our mind is programmed to favor negative information. As soon as one person has said "did you put on weight?" or a saleswoman give you ones of those looks, you know the one; it says "Yeah, good luck getting into those shirts/dresses/pants.", we seem to remember and believe those hurtful passes. I admit, I am just as offended as the rest of you when these things happen, and I doubt myself every day, my boyfriend can vouch for that. The one thing I am here to tell you is that you are beautiful. You are strong. You are powerful. You are a woman and no one should take that from you. Strut down that street. Flash that dazzling smile. Knock 'em dead. Let's keep our head, heels and standards high! Each and every one of you has a unique factor that shines through. Forget the makeup, leave your hair alone and be confident. They'll fall at your feet, no matter who you are. Confidence is sexy. It doesn't take big breasts, small waists and luscious hips. Confidence takes pride. Harness it, use it.

As many of you already know, I did a photo session with one of my very good friends last month. She is gorgeous, fun loving, sweet, humble, stubborn, and has some of the most amazing eyes (aside from my boyfriends', sorry Nat) that I have every seen. As an all around amazing woman, she walks with her head high and her spirits flying. Always trying to hold in barely-contained laughter, she can make others feel happy with one smile. I love spending time with her and I hope you will enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed taking them, although that is doubtful; we had a blast.

The Girl with the Green Eyes

For those who are interested, here is the article : http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text/1

One thing I will always remember from my parents' home is the bookcase. In the elaborate mahogany wood is stored countless National Geographic magazines. You see, my father had found refuge in the pages of the countless worlds captivated by various photographers.

I must have been about six years old when he showed me the one photograph that spurred me to pursue a career in photography to this day: "Afghan Girl" or "the Girl with the Green eyes". At the time, I didn't know why this picture made me cry. I remember just staring into those burning eyes and thinking "She's so pretty, why does she look so sad?" I couldn't help it, I took the issue into my room and stared at her photo for hours. 

This photograph made an impact on me like no other. Years later, I found out that NG had actually found her again. I dug up the article and became immersed in her tragic story. The once beautiful teenager who moved me had changed into a woman with heartache and destructions so clearly written on her features. I did a project solely on her story. It moved me to tears in the classroom as my teacher and other students got emotional. I swore to myself that I would impact someone else with my own images just the way this one had captured the world. 

Despite this, for a very long time, I was resolved to become a vet. This pleased my parents, my family. However, I did not have the grades to even consider applying for that program and once I actually had to apply to College and University, I got seriously conflicted. It had been recently brought to my attention that I could pursue a career in photography. My passion, my dream. It was impossible, I hadn't even though about it beforehand. I also loved writing and english literature, and of course on the side, I still drew, painted and sketched. Now though, I was debating. Graphic design, journalism or photography? The one thing I knew I never wanted to be was a sell out. I never wanted to make my choices based on other people and what they tell me. I wanted to follow my heart. 

I went for a long walk down a path in the forest that I knew by heart. I held that little piece of wilderness close to me and I took in the fresh air, the gorgeous scenery and thought long and hard. - That's one thing about me that I've found very useful. Being outside calms me, eases frayed nerves and helps me think. - That walk changed my life for ever. Although, it is probably not why you think. I did not have some kind of epiphany, I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I didn't suddenly come up with my purpose in life and no apparition appeared before me.  What happened was my boyfriend. I was talking to him during my walk. Very patiently, he listened and crooned over my problems. He convinced me to follow my heart and not look back. He drilled me with compliments on past work and wouldn't let me say otherwise. He made me believe in myself. Yes, again he has made one of the biggest impacts in my life.  He was the one who convinced me to follow my dreams. He is the reason I am now in the Photography  program at Algonquin College, chasing my heart's desires. Despite what my family has told me, I am here. 

I walked into that foliage with a very heavy heart and walked out with a large smile on my face and a resolve to believe in myself. I adore photography and thanks to a very special person in my life, I get to do it for a living. 

I just wanted to say thank you. Nick, you've changed my life and I will forever be in dept to you for that. I love you. 

Dreamers

So, I've written a lot about my pastimes and my dreams. However, what I really want to talk about is my passion. The photography industry very cut throat, you must have amazing creative skill or get your name out there on a world-wide scale. Me? I want to take a different approach to it all.

I want to show you how beautiful this world really is through the people that live around you. I want to photograph your best friend from the second grade and make her beauty shine through. I want to shoot with your husbands brother, make his brilliant eyes pop. I want to show you how amazing it is to have a newborn baby in your arms. To me, photography isn't just my passion or my dream. It is my  gateway to wonderful beauty, and I want to share it with you.

I have said this over and over, yet so many people fail to understand the concept: Photography is my art, a camera; my tool and beauty is my subject. What most don't seem to realize is that beauty reigns everywhere.  It's in your neighbor's gorgeous eyes and your child's messy hands. This is what I want to do. I want to frame that charm and capture the world with it. I might be young, stuck in the middle of suburbia and struggle every day for artistic inspiration, but I DREAM BIG, and I want YOU to join me.

Photography

The beauty that resides in my front yard garden.

 The sound of a shutter echoes in my mind. A moment in time, forever captured. It is the essence of a photograph that captures people. It becomes so much more then the image and it's composition; it goes beyond the limits of a picture, beyond what you can see inside the frame. The laughter, the despair, the pure happiness, the heartbreak.

 A photographer can capture and embody each of these emotions like a reflection in a mirror. It is not as simple as picking up a camera and snapping a Kodak moment. The hardest thing a photographer has to do is make people see what they see. As artists, we see the world differently, we see beauty where there is nothing but destruction. Many of us say they are one in the same. We see the little details, the cracks in the sidewalk that make the biggest difference that most don't even seem to register.The world is full of hidden beauty and it is our job to show you how to find it.

 My world is forever roaming new ideas, captures that frame the beauty that is around me. Photography is not a hobby and it won't even be a career for me. If I could do it for free and get by, I would, because it is a passion. It drives me. It makes me want to travel the world, go to every little place and discover new things. All I need is a camera on my back, my heart on my sleeve and my love by my side.

That is what photography means to me.

Life is art, live yours in COLOR

Taken from a large plane, over the polar circle

There are only so many changes you get to reinvent yourself. To start over and be able to be who you really want to be. These moments, however are the true testament to who you are. They are few and far between and must be maneuvered with great caution. Tomorrow is one of those days.
Graduation. Garden party. Prom. After party. These words hold great promise for so many young adults for the next weeks. We have finished the first step of our lives. Tomorrow, I will complete the last pieces of my childhood. MY life will begin, it's potential only beginning to show through bursting seams of contained dreams. The moment will set me free into a larger cage of restraints. But I will move on. I will follow my dreams, for I am young and have nothing to lose.
To all of my friends, I bid my thanks. Those I have lost and those I have gained over the years have made for an interesting ride. There is no way I would be here, making it through highschool and chasing my dreams, without them. Shall I mention a few of my closest ones? Although I have drifted apart from a few, Stephanie, Rebecca, Renee, I will not forget them or their loyalty. Then there are my current friends, Justine, Natasha, Anik and not to mention my boyfriend, Nick. These people have supported me through every trial and tribulations imaginable. They've put up with blood sweat and tears. I owe them so much more then I could ever give.
All in all, excitement reigns in the air. The world's horizon rises and dips in front of me, all I have to do is dive in.

Restless Insomniac

Hi, my name is Sophie and I am an insomniac.

We've all been there. Those moments when you lie in bed, trying to will yourself to sleep when thoughts take over. The moment you try hard to fall asleep is the moment you realize that it's already dawn and that you've lost the whole night to restless thinking. Although, if you're anything like me, you find way to  fill in those hours and keep thoughts away from your mind.

There are times when I can't stand the looming darkness of my small bedroom. The creeks of walls in the suburban home begin to get to me. So I climb out of bed and turn on every light available in my room. Usually, these are the nights where I sit down at my desk and begin to draw. I save my graphite drawing for these nights. For the nights where I want to escape in the details of an intricate portrait. Drawing calms my frayed nerves. It chases the darkness away and awakens a peace inside of me. Usually, after a couple hours of this, I will end up feeling tired, yet still unable to get to sleep. Frustratingly, I might go downstairs to do some laundry, or pick up some things around my room or, most likely, put on some music and take hold of a good book.

At this hour, generally around 3 am, my eyes get smaller and I begin to feel drowsy. I have to pick a novel that I have read previously and that is not too engaging. This, is merely for precautions. If I were to take hold of an exiting tale, whether it be fresh or reread several times, I would find myself awake and absorbed in the story of someone else's life. Making sure that I am comfortable, should I fall asleep, I crack open that spine and indulge in one of my most favorite pass-times.

If all of this fails to get to to bed. I open up the laptop, set it on the side of my bed and play a movie. On low volume, as I strain to hear the voice and their words, I usually begin to drift off. If I am lucky if I get about 2-3 hours of slumber before my alarm clock goes off at 6 am for my daily bike ride. A new day begins, and I know that in less then 24 hours, I will be doing these tasks all over again, facing the same problems.

Nonetheless, I always seem to begin my day on a good note I am very much a morning person when I force myself to wake. I get my best ideas at night and wake up early to accomplish everything else my life has to offer. However, if you've ever caught me on a Saturday morning, you know mine does not begin until 12:00pm. This is a much needed moment of rare sleep.

Even so, I find myself spending the weekends with my boyfriend, the only time when I can actually sleep without worry. By my side, I know he will be there when I wake up and the sound of his heart is the best lullaby to my sleepy soul. Then and only then, do I truly get a good night's sleep.

For anyone who has ever asked me what I do with all the free time from the moon's perspective, here is your answer: I spend mot of it trying to fall asleep.

Letter to Juliet

Juliet's balcony, Verona, Italie. May 2011

Somewhere in Europe is a piece of paper with these words written on it. 

Dear whoever you are,

I write to you in the hopes that the myths I've heard are true; that these old stones, as cold as they may seem on dreary days, have some magic and hold a promise of eternal love to those who write to them.

Some say that love is but a word, and I should agree. Love is just a word... until it happens to you. There is nothing more powerful in the mortal world that has the supremacy to change an individual. From the day I saw his shining smile, looked into his endlessly deep eyes and heard that bubbling laugh, there was no turning back. I has started to fall in love with Nick. He says he owes me everything, but I can’t help but feel that it’s the other way around. He’s pulled me out of the small pool that used to be my reality and made me see the oceans of possibilities that lay just beyond, he’s shown me what true happiness is and he’s taught me how to love without fear. And for that, I owe him so much more then I can possibly give. Though some might say that I am young and naive, they cannot see what I see, cannot feel what I feel. A quick glimpse of his figure leaves my heart racing, his smell intoxicates my senses and can send my mind reeling into a thousand unfinished thoughts; a tender gaze into the depths of his cold eyes makes my muscles melt and just a gentle touch from his warm fingertips can take my breath away. Every moment I spend with him swells my heart and it seems as though the world throws a bubble around us, where every star shines twice as bright streaking across the midnight sky. Our lips lock and the clocks stop as people seem to stop and stare as we carry on without a care.

His eyes are only one of his features that never cease to amaze me. When I take the time to look at them, they remind me of a warm summer day as I curl up into the twisted branches of an old willow tree.  The tints of green remind me of tall grasses, each blade moving with the next, making a single unit, turning into waves crashing through the fields. Forgive me for the cliché but the brilliant blues of those eyes; they take me to the sky, cloudless and blue, stretching on for miles and miles into an unending abyss. Putting it all together, they take me back to one of my favourite memories; a moment of blissful peace standing on the high dunes of Prince Edward Island. Early in the morning as the sun rose, I stood against the dawning gusts of fresh air, the high grass and cattails bending to the wind on one side, and to my other, an endless horizon of rainbowed sky with blue seas decorated my world. In that moment, I stood alone; however, when I look deeply into the doors to his soul, I've never felt more elated and he seems to be staring back at me with an unexplainable awe filling his features.  In the smallest of details, one can find an unthinkable amount of beauty that most seem to miss. All of these; petty comparisons to the real feelings that the gestures create, and there is no true way for me to explain them. I could write a novel of details about him that travel through my mind daily. But there is only so much paper in the world.

“If all else perished, and he remains, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained and he were annihilated, the universe would turn into a mighty stranger; I should not seem a part of it.” –Emily Bronte. Although I've heard these words many times before, I've only recently understood their true meaning. There is no real way for me to express the extent of which I feel for him. He is my prince charming and my idiot in tin foil wrapped into one. He is not perfect, but that exactly what I love about him, those little imperfections that make him who he is. I love him because, he is simply, himself. I and surely many others have a notion of something beyond us, a true meaning to our true beings. Nick is as much part of me and I am of him. Without each other, we are not complete, and I would see the world in grays rather than the vast vibrant jewels it truly is. If I can’t hear his heartbeat, he is too far away and my heart yearns for his presence. Our deranged love grows every day and all that I truly ask is for his life to become all that he wants it to, that his worries stay small and that he never needs to carry more than he can hold. My only wish is for him to be happy, no matter where that leaves me.

Sincerely yours,

Sophie Fortier

Last year, I went to Verona, Italy. I had just begun to fall for my boyfriend and could not resist the urge to write a letter to Juliet. It may be floating in the wind, or it may still be hidden in the many cracks of the old bricks from the broken wall. Either way, I want to thank whoever it is who made my wishes come true. The stars have aligned, he has made my world more amazing than it ever could be. I cannot fathom my life without him. I love you honey.