Working Smarter - Not Harder - To Be Creative

It's been awhile! I've missed all you amazing people and WELCOME to all the new people who signed up during my canvas wrap giveaway. Lots of new faces around here.So, where have I been? After Christmas I decided I was doing things the hard way when it came to my photography (and life in general). It was making me not want to sit down and do one of my favorite parts - edit photos - and I ended up with photos just sitting on my memory card, in my camera, forgotten.

I challenged myself to try something new and STREAMLINE my process. It meant signing up for tutorials and classes, taking time to learn new things, and unlearn my old habits. It wasn't easy because it meant I had to sloooowwww waaaayyyy down (while thinking in my whiny voice "noooo, I don't wannnnaaa, I wanna do the longer way that is ingrained in meeeeee") and keep looking up my notes and tutorials on how to achieve what I was imagining.

That is not an easy thing to do and I know many of us face that same challenge. We create habits and, even though we know there could be a better way, we keep going with those habits because steering the ship in a new direction can be so darn hard.

In the end, it was absolutely worth it. You know that saying "Work smarter, not harder"? That's my goal is this year. I also came up with a new tagline:

Photographer - Traveler - Dreamer

I feel between working smarter and following my new tagline I am more in line with what's a great creative process for me. I've also been taking care of a work-life balance by working out with a trainer, taking this free 30 Day Push Challenge to be more organized (http://www.30daypush.com/), and learning how to just chillax about all that small stuff so I won't feel overwhelmed.

And you know what I've learned? If it's not enjoyable - it's not worth it.

Confession: I never learned the proper way to type and now I type using 2 fingers on my left hand and 3 on my right. I can see your brain twisting trying to imagine what that looks like. It's not quite monkey at a keyboard but it's definitely close. I type super fast this way but get crazy looks when people watch me. I know that typing with all 10 fingers would make my life easier but the idea of trying to unlearn years of wacky typing makes me wanna sweat.

Maybe next year?

**Note: The 30 Day Push Challenge is not an ad or affiliate link. Just truly something I've been enjoying and wanted to share.

P.S. Are you on Snapchat?

I'm having fun sharing the random daily things of my life (including videos of my visits to the beach!) and interacting with fellow SnapChatters! Just open up your Snapchat, snap the ghost to the left, and it will automatically follow.

Search by username: rach.abrahams

My Attitude of Gratitude

Today, I say thank you to you - yes YOU

For supporting me and being an amazing fan of my art. 

2014 hasn't been an easy year for me and, to be honest, there were enough big wham-o life changing things that happened to me which made me walk around and say "I can't wait for 2014 to be over".

Then I talked with a wonderful friend of mine who said "Wait a minute, I know it's been a lot but what about....." and then she proceeded to list all sorts of positives that happened to me this year. I hired a personal trainer, I beat my yearly reading goal (30 books and counting), I moved closer to my parents and the beach, my photography has grown by leaps and bounds.....and her list went on and on. She made me cry because not only was she right but she also had paid attention enough to remember my positives FOR me. After that, I realized it was time to step off my pity party of one (want some cheese with that whine?) and remember the positives still happening in my life.

So today, I say thank you for being in my life, providing me with amazing support, love, positive feedback on my art, and all around fantabulousness. You are friggin' terrific and today I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving (and for those not in the U.S., let's call this Gratitude Day) full of people you love, comfort, and naps......lots of food coma naps.

And may you also have wonderful people in your life to help remind you, when the negatives get you down, of how many positives there really are in your amazing wonder-filled existence on this blue marble called Earth.

Breaking My Own Photography Barriers

My mind's eye never stops "composing" shots. It's incessant.

 It's something I've done since I picked up a camera and made it my own when I was 13 years old. Back then, I took more social shots of friends and classmates. I would catch them unaware or make people pose into fun shots. It made me so happy to print them out and share with anyone who was in the shots. 

In high school, I was introduced to journalism, received basic photography training, and it was off to the races. With just a wee bit of training, everywhere I looked I saw potential photos. As the years go by, it's pretty much all I see when I am out and about. As the sun goes down, I ooh and aww over the colors and my poor husband has to say "Yes, honey. Nice (insert thing I oohed over here)". 

Having an iPhone has really changed my photography and put the fun back into making creative photos on the fly. It's removed the barriers between the beauty I see in front of me and sharing it with my creative touch added. 

I used to hesitate and not make the pictures super colorful or add layers of textures and light leaks. Now I tell myself "Screw it. Do whatever you want". And you know what's happened? The more authentic I've been with my creative touch on my photos -the better the response.I don't care anymore about the "rules", whatever they may be. I just make art that makes me happy now. 

So, what make me happy now? Stopping mid-step (with no regard for my safety) to take that perfect shot against the setting sun. Nearly driving off the road while attempting to hold my phone up to the open window to catch a drive by (just kidding, mom). Seeing an amazing possible photo in the distance, U-turning like a crazy lady and parking in random spaces to whip out my phone. Ignoring the looks from people who see me squatting low to the ground and taking magical shots. Layering, tweaking, coloring, and letting my imagination have it's way with editing the photos. All that makes me cheese like a kid being offered all the candy in the world.

......And seeing all the happy smiley feedback I get from Instagram when I share. It's an amazing community that has transformed my work over this last year. If you're not on there, I highly encourage it. You can follow me and "My Florida Life" on Instagram -here.

Are there rules getting in the way of you doing something you love? Do you view the world in a special way where the details always catch your eye? What barrier do you have that's preventing you from being super creative? I wanna know, so share in the comments below.

**All photos were taken and edited on my iPhone**

Being a Building Gawker in NYC | New York City Photos

Being hobbit sized (almost 5'2") means I spend most of my days looking up at things. My husband is 15" taller than me. I need a footstool to reach the 2nd shelf in our upper kitchen cabinets. I need a full chair to get to the 3rd shelf or I just make a life decision of whether or not I really need whatever is up there. Most times, I decide I don't really need it. I have a footrest at work because putting my chair low enough for my feet to be flat on the ground means my keyboard then is almost chest height. My altogether favorite? Sitting in booths at restaurants. My feet don't touch the ground and I look like a child with my legs just dangling in mid-air.

So, what does that have to do with anything? Before my first visit to New York City, several people gave me the advice to not look up at all the buildings because it marks you as a tourist and then you're likely to get mugged. That's a really hard task for me to achieve. I spend my life looking up and around me and to not look at the buildings was even harder because they are SO COOL. It's amazing to see when you're from a small and flat area like mine.

I get it, though. Locals really don't like it because gawking up at the buildings also means you are probably blocking up the traffic on the sidewalk and then they have to get around you, which is super annoying. It's kind of like in our area where you know the people in front of you are tourists because they are driving slow, everyone is looking towards the ocean (including the driver), and they are weaving like drunks on the road. You risk your side view mirror trying to get around them and curse the car full of tourists the entire time. I bet it's just like that for NYC locals and the building gawkers blocking up the sidewalk.

So, what's a newbie NYC tourist (or even a seasoned one) to do? We jumped onto the hop-on hop-off tourist bus and had a great time being driven around to see everything (more than we ever would on foot), didn't care if we looked like tourists, and also let an expert guide point out the buildings with historical design/details/stories for me to capture as photographs. It's a win win situation in my book! I'll admit, I am a big advocate for taking those hop-on hop-off tourist buses (I even recommended them in my lessons learned from Paris posts). I know these buses aren't everyone's cuppa tea but I think they can be fun when you're overwhelmed by the massive list of things you can do in such a big city.

The bus tour let me get my stare-in-awe-with-mouth-wide-open-like-a-fish at buildings on and then shake myself out of my reverie long enough to take some photographs. Anything that had a cool detail or a great profile against the sky wasn't safe from my camera and I almost had whiplash from trying to capture it all and not miss a thing.

You've probably noticed by now something very different about these photos compared to my usual photos. Yup, I went with all black and white edits. Mind blowing - right?!? I think this might be the first time I have ever posted all black and white photos but I really felt like that was the better choice here. Sometimes the color can overwhelm the details and that is what my main focus here is, capturing the intricate and small details on the buildings that most people rushing by on the sidewalk completely miss as they avoid looking up (like a tourist) and try to keep the traffic flow moving on the sidewalk.

So here, this is your chance to really pay attention to that area above your heads - and don't be shy you can grab your I Heart NY shirt outta the closet and rock that bad boy. No one's judging here. Especially not this shortie whose feet aren't touching the ground while typing this.

If you're also interested in seeing the color version of these photos, I uploaded them on my website.

What do you think of the black and white photos? Do you also deal with tourists where you live? Any other shorties out there, like me? Or, if you're tall, what kind of fun challenges do you encounter?