Be happy with how you look

Hello all,

In my photography course, we study post production, among other things such as theory and the actual taking of images. I find it frustrating how much emphasis is put on making people look (sometimes impossibly) perfect. Getting rid of every spot, wrinkle and stray hair may make you look younger, or as some say more “beautiful,” but I believe it would be much more beneficial to us all if we were able to be happy with how we look.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are times when photoshop tools have their place. I don’t see a problem with removing temporary marks (spots/rashes that show on the skin for a short time). They are not a part of your regular appearance. However, when you go to extremes, you end with images that look like this:

The woman in the first image looks practically unrecognisable from the woman in the second image, but it is the same woman. It is no longer an accurate representation of her.

The main issue I have with this kind of retouching, is how often it is seen in images available to the general public.

Many people who read magazines do not realise that the models featured have been altered digitally, which can lead to all kinds of problems, from feeling self-conscious about their appearance, to developing eating disorders (as there will have often been edits done on models’ waistlines):

This also happens in adverts such as in images from before and after pictures of people who have used a certain skincare product. Chances are, the person has had two images taken, relatively similar, then has had editing done on one of them to show a “change” in the condition of their skin or hair *. This leads people to buy a product after seeing the images of people whom it has worked on, and many times it turns out that the product doesn’t work as well as it was supposed to. Good money raising tactic though, show people that a product “works” and you’ll get customers by the million…

I expect that the post production will continue for a long time to come, but if we keep ourselves and others educated then perhaps we could prevent the onset of self-consciousness, eating disorders and depression (just to name a few mental disorders and mindsets) from seeing “perfect” people in images and wishing that we looked the same.

Be happy with how you look and you’ll find that you start liking who you are and enjoying your life more 🙂

Until next time,

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

* I’m not saying that every advert does this, I’m sure there are many products out there that have actually worked for the people pictured. What I am saying however, is do some research into a product you want to try and try and get in contact with someone whom it has worked for before you buy.

 

It’s been awhile…

It’s been almost a year since I last posted here. Chances are a lot of people who have read my blog in the past no longer do so, but hopefully some of you are still here.

Right now, I’d like to look back to a post I made quite a while ago. I won’t share the whole post here, but I want to look back and see where I am now in terms of what I was hoping for back then.

So, what do I want?:
. A job I enjoy.
. To move out.
. The freedom to be myself everywhere.
. To find someone who loves me for me.
. To be able to wake up every morning and feel happy and excited about the day ahead, instead of going “is it over yet?”

I’m not working at present, but I am studying commercial photography full time, so that kind of counts I guess. I have also moved out with my (wait for it) fiancé, which covers the last four and am getting married soon (very exciting) 🙂

All that in about a year. From the girl who thought she’d never be loved to having basically all of the things listed above. Amazing.

Until next time,

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

(Now that I have access to a computer and internet all at the same time I can go back to posting regularly. You’ll be hearing from me again soon) 🙂

Ah, success! :)

Finally my iPhone has decided to let me log in. If I’m not too busy over the weekend (not likely, but you never know), then I’ll write a post about everything that is happening. If not then I’ll write about it on Tuesday.

I have a busy three days ahead of me. And it is going to be… Fantastic 😉

(Couldn’t help myself) 😉

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

Busy Busy Busy… Except on Monday ;)

So much to do.

Make garb, Cleaning, Midwinter Coronation, Research, Photography classwork.

All in such a short space of time.

Still, I’ll be able to put all the things I have on my to do list aside on Monday. It’s always good to take some time off sometimes and do things that you enjoy 🙂

Then it’ll be back into the crazy world I call my life 😉

Goodbye Script Frenzy… :(

Four years I knew you.

Four years I completed the challenge you presented and won.

And now, due to not enough funds, you are coming to an end.

Us Screnzy participants will continue to write 100 page scripts in April (well, my group will anyway), but it just won’t be the same without you.

R.I.P Screnzy. You will be missed 😦

Time

Time.

It’s a rather odd thing.

It seems to enjoy fleeing from us when we are enjoying ourselves and then sticks around when we are in the process of doing something we would rather not do.

The questions I’ve asked myself time and time again, are ‘why is Time so against people enjoying themselves? Why does it enjoy making us wait so long until we can do the things we love again?’

But then again, Time has no control over these things. In reality, the above questions can be answered with, it isn’t and it doesn’t. After all, in order for it to be against or enjoy something, Time would need to have feelings. Time is not a being with emotions. At least not that I’m aware of.

Of course, that leads into a whole new set of thoughts. What if Time were an immortal living being with emotions? In that case we would need to think of reasons why Time might be against people enjoying themselves and for people waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for the next moment of joy.

If Time were a living being, I don’t think it would be seen (after all, no one as far as I know has ever seen Time) in its physical form, but would hide in the different representations of itself in the world and would probably be a lonely being. Perhaps then the reason it loves to hold us in a state of boredom, waiting, is because, in that time, Time would have company. Then it lets us go for a while, lets us lose track of it and forget it, before pulling us back.

But at this present moment it would appear that Time is not a being, but a concept. Nothing more than that.

– Random thoughts on Time from the tired mind of The Nocturnal Philosopher.

Researching Names, Buying Linen, Time To Cut Down FB Time.

And once again, I’ve been absent for a while.

Between the internet being down, being away from home and being really busy, I haven’t had much luck with sitting down and writing an entry.

The internet being down ended up being a good thing for the most part (apart from the fact that I needed to book and pay for a place at Midwinter Coronation and ended up having to do so much later than intended, which was then held up by more technical difficulties). I stepped away from my computer, finally finished reading Inheritance, went for a walk down to my local park (which also has some nice walking trails), watched my favourite movie (The Sound of Music) and found I had even more time for other things.

It wasn’t until the internet went down that I realised just how much time I spend online and how much time I would have for other things if I wasn’t on it.

A lot of it is doing research at the moment. Trying to find a name for my SCA persona is being somewhat of a nightmare at present. My persona is from the 6th Century Scotland. And it’s really difficult to find names from that time period for women. Or perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong place. I’ve started looking through Irish names (because apparently before the 9th-10th Century, the names would have been quite similar) and still no luck.

I did find one name that I liked, but it wasn’t until after I found it that I realised that the title of the article was ‘Names of Women of the Brythonic North in the 5-7th Centuries’ and the name is from Cumbric speaking regions (what later became Southern Scotland and Northern England. But I saw 5th-7th Centuries in the title and at first thought I’d finally gotten lucky *facepalm*). Given that I want a Gaelic name, I really don’t think that it would work. And saying that my parents travelled around a lot, heard the name and decided they liked it won’t work for documentation 😉

I’ve also been doing research on clothing, but that’s mostly done now. I mean, for all I know, I might find more information later on and then have to upgrade my garb, but given that I’ve only been with the SCA for about a month now, it’ll do. All I need to do now is buy some linen, wool and Penannular Brooches and make the clothing now 🙂

However, I also tend to spend a lot of time on Facebook and the like. Of course, a lot of the time, people don’t really realise just how much time they spend on these things until they can’t access it anymore. I was one of them. So I’m now making an effort to cut down on the time spent on there to make time for the other things I enjoy/need to do (and about time too methinks :)).

Until next time,

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

P.s. If anyone knows of any sources that have Female Scottish/Irish Gaelic names from around the 5th-7th Centuries that are documented and can be used in my documentation for registering my name with the SCA then please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated! 🙂

Sci-Fi, Character Death, War, Broken Hearts and Plot Bunnies.

For the first time (I think…), I’m going to attempt to write Sci-fi (I don’t like to write it usually because I’m worried about messing it up) and true to my usual content, it will contain much character death, war and broken hearts. Because, y’know, we can’t have the characters being happy in the end or anything… *sarcasm inserted here* I’ll be combining this idea with my previous plot bunny to create a brilliant storyline.

But not until August. I have lots of stuff to do before then and lots of research to undertake. Or maybe November. My one and only subject will be finished by then.

I love it when I’m able to use events from my life as inspiration for stories. It makes it that much more meaningful to me and at times, it’s easier to write. Not all the time though. Sometimes it becomes much harder, especially if you are writing about something you’d rather forget about, something that caused you pain or to become miserable. But we push through that, write it down and eventually we finish up with a fantastic story that many will enjoy (after the edits and re-writes of course ;)).

Until next time,

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

You Are You, Not Someone Else

It’s been a quiet five days. Sorry about that.

Of course, when I say quiet, I mean on here. The blogging world. In everyday life, it hasn’t been so quiet.

Armouring, Heavy Combat, Photo Shoot Planning, Essay Writing, Persona Research, Dance…

So many things.

I made a piece of elbow/knee (depending on who it’s for) armour on Sunday with a bit of help. For my first try, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It took me a bit of time to become happy with my effort though. Being the perfectionist I am, I kept getting frustrated with myself for various things at the time, for little mistakes made. It’s ridiculous to expect myself to be able to get it perfect first time round, but when you’ve spent your whole life putting expectations on yourself that are probably too high for you to reach because it’s what others have expected of you, it’s hard to break away from that. I don’t just mean challenging myself either…

There have been so many times in the past when people have said to me “so-and-so can do it, why can’t you?” and so I’ve pushed myself to try to achieve the same level of success. The majority of the time, I would fall short and add my disappointment in myself to the disappointment coming from other people.

Afterwards, I was told that I had done a good job given that it had been my first effort.

By the end of the day, I got a new point of view (one that will probably seem really obvious, but that had never really come to mind due to my perfectionistic mindset). It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay if you aren’t perfect. No one is able to do things perfectly first time round. It can take ages to get things to the point where they are even close to perfect, never mind perfect in themselves. We are constantly learning, constantly improving. You are you, not someone else. If someone else can do something to a certain standard and you can’t, it doesn’t mean you are a failure, it just means you haven’t reached that level of ability yet.

It’s something for me to keep in mind and remember next time I get frustrated with myself for not being perfect.

Until next time,

The Nocturnal Philosopher 🙂

Plot Bunnies…

I just got hit in the face.

By a plot bunny.

It jumped out at me from Georgette Graham‘s post and now it won’t leave me alone. But I’m not planning to do Camp NaNoWriMo in June! Just August…

 

Hmmm…