beam me up, scotty.

if you would have seen the originals from this shoot you might be quite surprised at the stark contrast in style. i took these shots with my tripod and self-timer {apparently the canon i splurged on does not have the inner-workings to accommodate a remote -- epic fail.} on a beautiful, sunny morning. there were lovely trees in the shot. but it wasn't quite the mood i was going for. i tried to make the design and layout pay homage to a 60's b-movie space flick. i totally took my world out of the shot and created a new one that reflected what i had imagined in my head that day.

it was two mornings before the nato summit {i live in chicago} and my work gave us the day off because of safety concerns. i work about three blocks from the willis {sears} tower. there was a no-fly zone above most of chicagoland and at one point marine one came through along with a constant stream of military planes. there was this underlying tension throughout the city. parts of it became a ghost town. it was so eerie.

while i was on the balcony taking these shots, jets kept passing by. i am a huge aviary nerd so i kept staring up at them and missing my self-timed shots. so i decided to go with that. in my mind i started to really absorb the scene around me - imagining this 'war of the worlds' scenario. aliens, robots, spaceships, colonization of the human race - i totally ran with it. i love playing pretend. i think it is such a wonderful exercise to help you get your inner-creative out of it's shell.

remember when you were little? you used to imagine wild and crazy landscapes and scenarios with other little friends. you used to become completely absorbed in alternate realities on a daily basis. that's what you need to let your mind practice. not on a daily basis of course because you may start slipping...haha! but once a week just let it all go. it can be so much fun if you let it.

i can honestly remember the day when playing pretend didn't feel real anymore. it was a very sad day. i felt like i 'grew up' in that moment.

but that's the thing ::
growing up doesn't mean you have to give up dreams, 
or stop trying outrageous things 
or start taking yourself sooo seriously. 

so this weekend, challenge yourself :: play pretend!
1. absorb what's going on around you 
2. let it inspire your thoughts and daydreams 
3. then, let it take over 
4. begin to act out a scenario 
5. document it somehow so that you can look back on it 
6. maybe edit it to reflect what you were imagining 


***you don't have to edit it digitally either. you could collage yourself into a setting or even make a diorama! go wild! go nuts with it!

it makes me smile just looking at my poses and emotions knowing that i was playing pretend in that very moment. what will you pretend?