so much for my secret…

Every Sunday I look forward to Frank posting his secrets… I never really thought I had the types of secrets that people share there, but I loved that people were brave enough to share with everyone.

Last week, I’d bought some postcards to send to friends and family to share my new address (a PO Box). I had one postcard left over. So I took a permanent marker and wrote a little something on the front… nothing TOO special, just something I’d wanted to say out loud and never did.

I put a stamp on it, and stuck it in my purse so I could take it to the Post Office. But I kept forgetting to mail it, so today, when I saw my postman drive up, I decided to walk it out to him and grab the mail while I was at it. I guess my step dad had the same idea… He met me half way… and put his hand out for me to give him the 2 things in my hand, my insurance paperwork, and my secret. I didn’t know what to do… keep it? Hand it over? I started to just give him the insurance envelope, but decided last minute to just hand them both to him…

I have no idea if he read it or not… if he did, I don’t think he’d be surprised at what it said… but now, I just feel odd… my step dad might know my secret…

Washed hard and put away wet…

OK… so yes… I usually edit EVERY SINGLE picture I take, in one form or another… either by white balancing the colors, or upping the contrast or even sometimes just sharpening the eyes or putting a slight blur on the edges… I also like to add a “vignette” border on most of my pictures… so even if a photo comes out “perfect” straight out of the camera (SOOTC), I’ll play with it… it’s a given… it’s a Tori thing…

So yes, I did play with my photo… but I did not saturate the colors at all, nor did I “photoshop” it… I did apply a hard light filter and my “signature” border (even if a zillion other photographers use the same border)… I’ll give you a few pic’s to compare…

Here is the original… SOOTC

here’s the one I posted a few days ago… hard light filter added and border…

this one is a pretty simple action that has dramatic results… I applied a simple “boost” filter… I think it’s probably a sharpen/saturate wash… then I isolated my eyes, inverted the isolation, and applied a black & white filter… my eyes ARE really blue, so you saturate that or “cool” my eyes… and/or “warm” my red hair… and it’s instant android! Add the vignette border… boom! totally different photo…

So… yes… my eyes ARE really that blue… my sisters call it “freaky blue”… because they see me at my worst… which is when they’re the bluest… usually when I’m sick or when I’ve been crying… they’re an amazing unnatural color… but yes… I do edit/play with my pictures… so… there ya have it!

This ISN’T a photo blog!!!

but it sure looks like one!!!

I’m so busy unpacking, repacking, organizing (again), and re-arranging… along with helping mom and looking for work… I just haven’t made time to sit down and write.

That’s going to change… the local newspaper offered me a freelance job, per article (is that redundant?), to cover local happenings… I’ll see what transpires…

In the mean time… I give you a picture of my crazy big hair… I guess all the ups, downs and all arounds made it just want to BE FREE!!!!

you wouldn’t move for this?!?!