Culver City Art + Architecture
Day 16
Culver City California has some really cool/weird architecture. This mural painted by Jen Stark is on a parking garage located at The Platform LA a new outdoor shopping center and the black and white image is a little cactus sculpture elevated 20 feet off the ground.
Love, create, inspire.
Self Portrait
Day 15
Be selfie conscious.
Million Little Pieces
Day 14
Sticking to the plan one day at a time:)
This did not happen in one day.
Openness
Day 13
Stay open
Spirit Animal
Day 12
While I was at Lightning in A Bottle I took a class on animal totems and was lead into a meditation to find my first spirit animal. The animal that came to me was a horse! I am deeply afraid of horses. I guess its time to face a fear:)
Derby Daze
Day 11
Sunset Vibes
Day 10
Camp Life.
Day 9
We made it to the camp site after a very short 1 hour wait in line to get checked in. Let the games begin!!
Festival Bound
Love Create Inspire
Jesse DeYoung
Day 8
On the road
No End In Sight
Keep your head down and stay on the path!
Day 7
Which lane would you take?
Happy Little Buddha
Are you happy at this very moment? If you answer yes, then stop reading now and go have an amazing day!! If you answer no I have to ask you another question. Why are you not happy? I spent my whole 20's searching for something outside of myself to make me happy. I own so many self help books that all basically say the same thing. Happiness is within you and happiness is a choice. Are your choices supporting your happiness or making you more unhappy? This is kind of why I started this project in the first place. I was starting to go down a path of, I'm not doing enough, I'm not feeling inspired. This is a dangerous place to go because it will kill whatever inspiration I do have. This means I would be doing less and less and becoming more and more unhappy. Ugh! What I'm learning from this daily ritual of creating a new image is that I'm being forced (by myself) to think about creation everyday and every post that I make is a win no matter how small:) What do you have to be grateful for today?
Love, Create, Inspire
Jesse DeYoung
Day 6
Small wins are still wins.
Sunday Night Lights
I was out for a nightly constitutional and loved how the porch light was creating a shadow on the sidewalk. If you tilt your head slightly to the right and look into the shadow you might see a heart <3
Day 5
Vintage Venice
One of the coolest things about living in Southern California is seeing the old cars that never age. I spotted this baby on the way to our Local Skill Posing School location!
Day 4
Magic Moments
This kid (and his dad) just showed up in the middle of our shoot and asked if he could get in a photo with Shay. I said sure!! With a small amount of direction this is what we came up with:)
Day 3
You got this!
Afternoon Dreaming
Griffith park has become my go to place for exercise and inspiration. Yesterday I brought my girlfriend, Shay, along for the journey and we ended up in this amazing pine tree forest. I asked her to lay down on a rock that the sun was hitting so I could take some photos to test how the light would look on a persons face. I had a feeling it was going to look great:) And it did! I added a purple overlay to give the image a more vintage/ day dreamy feel incase you're wondering:)
See you tomorrow!
Love, Create, Inspire
Jesse DeYoung
One Day at A Time.
Yesterday was the day that I was supposed to be sober for 6 years. I forgot all about it until I was sitting at the dinner table and looked down at my watch and saw the date May 17. Oh shit its May 17th I thought. I flood of feelings came up that I wasn't expecting. Did I let myself down? Should I start over? The thought of starting over is so daunting and seems like a bad idea. I felt like I was just counting the days and collecting time that I could never cash in. When I first started counting the days of sobriety I really needed it and it felt like every day sober was a huge achievement. Don't get me wrong, it was. It was a struggle to change my behavior and not rely on this crutch that I was leaning on so heavily to get out of the house, to be social, to not judge myself so harshly on any mistakes that I made that day, week or month. What I found is a new crutch and that was, and still is, my camera. I could go to parties and interact with every person at the party, take their picture and not feel socially awkward or left out because I wasn't drinking anymore. Photography has now become so much more for me. It's now my full-time passion, purpose and my career. So, I don't want to measure the days by something that I don't do everyday. That means I need a new ritual. Instead, I'm going to start celebrating something that I DO everyday. Starting today, May 18th, I'm going to capture a new photo everyday and post it to this blog for one year. Thinking about the big picture (pun intended) is a bit overwhelming. I don't have a theme yet, I don't really know what the days will bring, but if I do the work one day at a time, I know I will succeed!
I hope you walk through this door with me and follow along on my journey. Join in if you want to!
Love, Create, Inspire
Jesse DeYoung
Day 1
Day 1
I found this doorway less than a mile form my apartment in Los Feliz. I love the leading lines and thought it was perfect for my first post entering the unknown.