Hi!
And just like that, 2025 has made an entrance with yours truly. After plenty of daytime naps and being unable to zip up my pants because of all the holiday cocktails and cookies, I’m now back on the saddle ready to…slow down.
In the past, the anxiety-ridden bouts of “hustle and grind” culture would be the necessary kick I needed to get things done in the new year.
But now that I’m older while juggling everything in-between, the “grind-and-don’t-sleep” mindset is just unhealthy and thus, a no-go.
Do you relate to this at all?
So, now that we have entered a new year, I’m looking to try something a little different. I’m going to enter the new year at a slower, more deliberate pace.
If there’s no need to rush something, I’ll take my time and truly revel in the activity, especially when it comes to photography.
As once said by John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” As a goal-oriented person, it’s easy for me to put the blinders on and hyper-focus on completing a task as quickly as possible, without realizing I’m stressing myself out in doing so.
If I’m constantly stressing about every activity in my life, then what kind of life is that really?
There is a time and place for rushing…and a time and place for slowing down.
So, that is my cue to slow the eff down.
One small way to help me do this is creating images with a film that I’ve never used before. I’ve just loaded up my Canon A1 with a roll of Cinestill 400D. This will be my first time with this film, and from what I heard, this film delivers a soft palette with natural saturation and warm skin tones, with a versatility of being pushed up to 3200 ISO. The excitement of creating images with a new roll of film that happens to be super versatile leads to a flow of renewed creativity.
I hope this inspires you to take the new year in stride - slowing down to take in the sights and turn those near-constant chores into little moments of joy and wonder. May it bring you one step closer to finding some much-deserved rest and inner healing.
Hugs,
Yve