Leaves of grass

November 11, 2016January 11, 2017 ~ Madison Kennedy

Aloe Vera plant

© Photography by Madison Kennedy

This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it by yourself.
It is not far. It is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know.
Perhaps it is everywhere—on water and land.

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large—I contain multitudes.

― Walt Whitman

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EPIC VLOG FAIL

November 1, 2016May 23, 2017 ~ Madison Kennedy

I tried…

I was so motivated at start, there was even good weather conditions; a bright and sunny day in Paris is unusual at this time of the year. On this Halloween, I kept failing but I brought you something anyway, check it out, you’ve been warned.

© Video by Madison Kennedy

I DROPPED MY LEICA !!

October 19, 2016January 11, 2017 ~ Madison Kennedy

This is just terrible guys !

I DROPPED MY LEICA !! — *My sorry-ass face when I realized my Leica’s screen was dead…*

So, it happened… I got reckless, a short moment of inattention is all it took, and my camera plunged LCD screen first to the ground. I managed to catch it before it exploded entirely, but the screen was gone ! MISERY *crying face emoji*

I took it to the Leica store, and they told me I had to wait two months until I could get it back fixed… 2 FREAKING MONTHS ?! “are you kidding me” I asked there, but that was it. They scrambled urgent on my file in hope that would accelerate the process…

I was feeling so distraught about what they had told me, that it made me realize I couldn’t go through those two months without my main aka only work tool. I have a convention I’m attending this weekend & I’m covering it for Geekland magazine; how am I supposed to shoot portraits of cosplayers without a camera ? Using my iPhone… please. Let’s be real.

I went to a photography store, and spent an hour (at least) looking through their cameras, and trying some, until I decided : let’s get it, my first DSLR. I bought a Nikon D3300, which is an entry-level cam, for beginners, people who know almost nothing about reflex cameras. That means me ! I was told it’s a really good one, easy to use and after reading reviews online, I made up my mind about it.

I encountered many little issues at first, but I figured the camera’s technicalities and now I’m more than happy with my purchase 🙂 I’m gonna need to get a couple more lenses later, so I can shoot portraits & landscapes better, but for now it’s all good.

© Photography by Madison Kennedy

it’s 11pm and i’m in bed eating tortilla chips.

September 27, 2016January 11, 2017 ~ Madison Kennedy

Tomorrow night I will be in Paris… tonight ? I’m at my best friend’s in Zürich. I came here a couple of days ago to spend some time with her. She’s an incredible human being, one of the most amazing that I am lucky enough to know and basically, count as family. We’re like sisters when together; I love her so much.

I was busy the week before leaving Serbia for Switzerland, so I had no time to schedule any posts for The Blog the way I usually do. Which of course, I felt bad about & started to blame myself because I promised I wouldn’t do that anymore… or that if it really had to happen, I would at least take some time off so I could give you a heads up, that I will be “ghosting” for some days.

Last time I wrote that, I definitively did not realize what it actually meant in real life. Now that it’s happening, I figured it was a mistake to promise such thing, because it’s totally impossible to keep. I mean, when I say I’m busy it also means I’m exhausted to a point I can’t handle anything at all. I barely make it to bed and fall asleep right away… so managing more than that is just not realistic.

I know there’s people who can deal with much more intense things in their lives, and still keep doing what they’ve put their responsibilities into : I’m not like that. I wish I were, but as hard as I try, my body and mind won’t every time, keep up with me & everything that I want. Sometimes, I learn that it’s all right to recognize my limits, for my own good.

That’s why I am not gonna stress myself over missing out on my blogging duties for a week. I am only gonna clarify and change what I wrote that last time when I was being reckless with a promise. My goal is to post an article a day on weekdays. I try to schedule them a week in advance so it allows me to skip blogging a day or two the next week, if I have to — because I’m traveling and unable to focus on The Blog during that time (for example).

Which is great, since that way it stays updated and nobody is missing anything. When I can’t do that, I try to post “live” the day there’s no scheduled posts, but that requires me to have an hour or two break from my crazy life, which is not always possible. When all my efforts to be proper with blogging fail, I try to publish the five posts I usually make, even if it steps up on my weekend.

Problem with that is my weekends are packed & needed for personal intentions, and it kills me to work then if I feel like I gotta. Basically what I’m trying to say is I’m really doing my best to keep my word, and be a good blogger & I think in all fairness I am not that bad, because I’ve created this blog in 2010 and it’s still up and running.

Thank you for your patience & occasionally baring with my irregular schedule. Now you know that if there’s no update it’s because I couldn’t make it, but that I tried to. Big kisses, xoxox ! Madison.

What on Earth is Wellness ?

September 6, 2016January 11, 2017 ~ Madison Kennedy

These videos inspired my life !

Here’s the final two episodes from this amazing series produced by British VOGUE, with model Camille Rowe. I shared the previous ones here & here.

I talked about my interest for wellness on The Blog before, and how I thought it was a new important step that I should take in my life, as to help me feel better and happier, and just be more mindful not only of myself but things around me.

Since my first discussion about this, I tried some of what was brought in the series, like meditation, and found out that I have become not only more relaxed but also more open, and caring. Many good positive things, that I will be writing about in future posts. For now, I’m simply gonna say that I feel great and that wellness is inspiring the way I’m living.