Rebekka in Nature

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Rebekka in Nature


Image by Stuck in Customs
Whenever I drive from my home to downtown Austin, I listen to a few podcasts. One of them is the TWIP (This Week in Photography) podcast, and they recently interviewed Rebekka from Iceland. I had been lucky enough to shoot with her before when I was there, so it was nice to take a little trip down memory lane. When we had met, she was just getting into knitting, and now it’s turned into this major business for her, besides her other artistic pursuits. If you visit her Flickr page, you can see a bunch of nice photos as well as some of her sweaters. Besides those, she also made this green scarf seen below (you can see her knitting it here al fresco). She makes each one by hand and they take about a month… she’ll make you one, but be sure to offer her 4x her normal rate just to make sure you get to the top of the list!

Anyway, while I was with her, we went out to this fjord area about 100km outside of Reykjavik. There were horses milling about, so we got out to do some exploring. At first I was surprised how tame the horses were around humans and how easy it was for Rebekka, who, hitherto was known only to me as the camera whisperer. I started going back through my photos from that trip, and I found this one to share with y’all.

One of her favorite things to do is jump in a car and go drive around Iceland to get lost. I like that so much too, that’s just what I did! Below the photo of Rebekka are a few shots from other fjords that knife into the meandering coastline and various places that kept me walking across the tundra as moody skies rolled in. She says she doesn’t take the raw beauty of Iceland for granted, and I believe her.

You can see the other images at my blog at: www.stuckincustoms.com/2009/02/25/rebekka-in-nature/

Turning the World Right Side Up


Image by Viewminder
2011 was an amazing year.

I’m always going to look back on the last year as one of the most exciting, inspired, influential and powerful years of my life.

It all seemed to just fly by so fast.

More than anything it was a year of love and growth and exploration.

Love and light seemed to be shining everywhere that I looked.

It was beautiful.

I really dug sharing it all with you.

After so many years it was time for me alone to determine the path and direction that I thought life should take.

It was a year of peace.

Good karma.

Kindness.

A year filled with a thousand wonderful conversations.

So many new friends.

Close friends.

Special friends.

Special close friends.

I’m not one to kiss and tell…

but I’ll tell you what…

no I won’t.

You wouldn’t believe me anyway.

I didn’t have any real resolutions coming into this year.

I mean…

I wanted to date twins…

from Sweden.

With rhyming names.

but it wasn’t like a ‘resolution’ or anything.

I just knew that I needed to work on myself.

You know I blew that one off though.

I’ll never change.

Besides… I was too busy doin’ stuff I love to do.

And I really like myself just the way I am.

I’ll get a gym membership in 2013.

And go once.

I kinda made one wish for a resolution at the end of 2010…

"It would be amazing if the entire human race could make for it’s whole self just one resolution for the new year…

A resolution to treat each other better."

I did all that I could do to pull my weight on that one.

I tried to bring out the love this year.

I saw a lot of other people doing that too.

There was a lot of love and kindness showin’ itself in 2011.

I did make a couple of predictions just before the New Year last year.

"2011 for me is going to be a year of great healing and calm, inspiration and productivity… I think it will be positive and structured in a way that 2010 never could have been."

It was.

"I could probably still be processing all of the lessons of 2010 way into 2011."

I did.

"2011… she’s gonna be so sweet on me."

She was.

Oh yeah.

When I close my eyes and think of 2011 she’s a Vargas girl.

A pinup.

Mmmmmmmhmmmmmmm.

Just like that only with less clothes.

And more attitude.

Curves in all the right places.

Then she calls me ‘Viewbaby’ and does that thing with her finger that means ‘c’mere.’

Uh-huh.

Looking back on 2011, I do not believe I’ve been in jail even once.

Handcuffs for a second…

but that was just a misunderstanding.

We cleared that up right away.

Although the cop didn’t find my ‘you’ve just been shot by the notorious Viewminder’ cards very funny when he found them in my pocket.

I guess he didn’t equate it with the big old Nikon on the hood of his car.

Even the near death experiences… though dramatic… were at a record low.

Maybe two?

That ‘cardiac event’ was some shit to watch on the monitor.

I never saw doctors argue about how messed up I was like that.

Just because you’re dyin’ don’t mean you can’t hear dudes.

My heart was goin’ haywire… the doctors are arguing about why… they’re shootin’ me up with steroids and stuff… and I was telling the nurse at the same time that if I focused hard enough I could get my heart to play ‘la coocarocha’ on the heart monitor.

That one scared the hell out of me.

Turns out that getting into a fight with four drunk guys is very conducive to bloodclots forming in places that they shouldn’t.

Like that tiny little vein at the bottom of your heart called the ‘widowmaker.’

I’m glad it wasn’t from the cheeseburgers.

I’m getting old.

I’m just gonna start running away from that crap.

Fights, not cheeseburgers.

Health insurance took some hits and I got my money’s worth there.

Vehicle insurance never had a claim.

Homeowners took care of me.

Man… it really was a good year.

I found myself in 2011.

I found my place in the world.

I found peace and happiness.

I found inspiration.

I wish I found a briefcase full of hundred dollar bills with a note inside it that said ‘Viewminder… enjoy this money and don’t feel guilty about it.’

Next year.

Watchin’ my little ones grow a year older was the real highlight of the year.

They are my center.

It’s nothin’ but pure love.

The very best kind.

My family’s always been there for me and the last year was no exception.

My journey through 2011 really taught me that if you take the time to really think about what’s the right way to live and you refine it down to principles and apply them that you can really go far.

A pocket full of principles that I came up with to apply to my own life really rocked the year.

Screw resolutions.

Principles.

I’m telling you.

So many people made me feel truly appreciated this year.

You are among them.

Unfortunately the Swedish twins with rhyming names were not.

There’s still three days left.

You know I’m an optimist.

‘Hej damer … du letar het ikväll … Vad säger du vi träffar bastun och dricka vodka och spela lite band Trivial Pursuit?’

I am blessed to be surrounded by people who have supported and encouraged me… egged me on… double dog dared me and otherwise propelled me to ‘just do it.’

You know I felt the love.

All of it.

And I sent it back out there too.

Like a ‘love hot potato.’

That feels good.

What a difference in a life that a year can make.

I might not have hit the gym…

but I worked on my soul.

And I got a lot done.

It was a great year.

I hope it was a great year for you too.

If it wasn’t…

Throw me a flickrmail and we’ll talk about it.

I’ve learned some things.

They might apply you never know.

I hope you and the ones that you love have the very best new year.

Let’s keep showin’ each other the love and try to help each other out as much as we can.

We’re all on the same journey.

Let’s make 2012 the most kick ass year yet.

Have a wonderful and safe love filled funfest of a new year my friends.

Love and light.

Lots of love and light.

~Viewminder~

raw steak, raw spinach


Image by micah rich
the sale is done for the weekend. most of the big stuff is gone, including my bed. which is why i’ve been sleeping on top of casey’s the past few days. not in, but on top. tomorrow, i’ll vacuum my incredibly dusty room and put in my airbed from boston. then, in the time when i’m not work-working, i’ll get to work building a very long desk that’ll run the length of my longest wall. i’m not sure how long it is, maybe 8 feet or something. i want a very long, very empty desk.

i randomly happened on some reading regarding the raw food diet & the evils of processed sugar. it makes so much sense, and i think i want to try it again. i’m scared, i don’t know why. but i’m pretty convinced that modern society at this point is a little ridiculous, and i’m pretty convinced that there’s better. i’m gonna ween into it.

it’s strange. i took out the trash tonight, and it’s been warm, but it was cooling off just then. and i looked up and saw some stars just peeking out, and the waning moon, that was slightly less saturated than the green, blue, orange sky. i thought,

"i’ll wake up tomorrow, late, by the working world’s standards. maybe i can take my laptop out to the back patio, and sit in the sun while i work. i don’t have a plan for tomorrow evening, but there are a handful of things i could do. decorate my room. start that garden. go for a bike ride."

and it occurred to me that i felt, finally, maybe for the first time since the beginning of highschool, like it was summertime. not summer, the semester between school & school, where i have to find a job so i can stay busy and make money and whatever. but summertime, where you take a book out and read it in the grass. or summertime, where you drive your car to the drive-in with a girl, or maybe go park it on a hill overlooking a lake, to watch the sun go down.

i’m not worried about money, now that i’m here. it might be selfish, but everyone’s agreeing that i’m making a smart decision. we’ve got enough money in the bank that our very modest salary for the next few months is already there. if we got no new business in those next few months, we’d still get paid. and we will get new business; we’re always coming up with new product ideas, and we’ve gotten a handful of interesting inquiries for client projects. we’re gonna be okay, definitely for at least the summertime. so i can get back to worrying when winter comes, but i hope that by then, this summertime mindset will be a permanent fixture.

Tags:nature, Rebekka