temporary absence.

i apologize for my absence! (though i know i really shouldn't because it is my blog hahaha but i just feel guilty really easily.)

i hit the 200 followers mark! thank you all so incredibly much, i cannot say this enough. thank you for all your love, support, encouragement, comments and feedback, without which i wouldn't get anywhere. i feel like i owe all of you dear, lovely readers an explanation for my absence from the blogosphere. i've finally finished studying for 12 years straight and now i am finally taking a long, long break before starting uni. in the last year, everything was the most hectic and i had virtually no time to focus on my photography at all (except for day-to-day shots) and i feel like i never properly took any time to think of what i want to achieve through photography.

when this year started off, i didn't know it but then realized that i felt a deep shift in me. suddenly, what i was used to creating just wasn't enough anymore, nothing was enough to quench this thirst. i felt i couldn't express myself well at all, not anymore through my usual style of photography. maybe it was all the chaos accumulated through the years, never being able to express eveything properly because of the lack of time and the effort that i never put into creating. this change in me that i felt, it was so deep, so resounding that i felt i had to, i simply had to do something about it. i felt it was maybe time to face my deepest emotions, that have been tucked away for far too long. i want to express them and share them with all the world through the best way i know how, photography and a little writing. so that was when i decided that i should step back for a little while from blogging and then start up a 52 weeks project. for those who aren't familiar with it, a 52 weeks project typically consists of posting one photo a week for 52 weeks, equivalent to a year. it may mean may different things to different artists but that's basically what it is. i know i will face many challenges doing this project but that's what i want to do, to push myself to create outside of my comfort zone. i'm not saying or promising that each of my photos for every week will be outstanding because i know that i might be at a loss to express myself somewhere along the way but i know i will pick it up again. basically, it is life. this project is helping me so much already. it's the first time that i'm doing something entirely for myself, for the sake of my sanity, or insanity.

i hope and would absolutely love for each and every one of you to be on this journey (and every other journey in the future) with me. it would mean the world to me. i want to be able to end this project in a years' time and look back, feeling tremendously grateful and being able to feel indescribably happy and content to have achieved something. :)

i will leave this link to my 52 weeks set (so far) on my (new) flickr. i will most definitely post up my future photos for each week on here! :) 

also, here is a photo of my cousin from a few days ago that i created (and am quite proud of hahaha) and also my latest self-portrait! :) please do click on the photos to view on flickr and to read the descriptions!

 "messenger" on flickr

"i am one." on flickr