Slowly, I'm learning to love writing again. I had given up on writing stories years ago - poetry, I dabbled in sporadically because it was shorter, quicker, and required no long-term commitment. But after a few amazingly fun Writer's Craft classes and after reading an incredible novel by my friend Natasha Poholka, I caught the writing bug at last. It's so much fun to put down thoughts and feelings on paper as you explore somebody else's life. It shapes you as a person, I think... when you ask yourself, how would you act in this situation, you get a good grip on what your values are. And you learn about how other people feel when they act in ways you wouldn't -- it really develops your sense of empathy. It's incredibly soothing to sit down and forget everything for a little while, and immerse myself in painting a picture with my pen.

I'm writing two short stories at the moment. One is set in the early 1800s, about a little girl named Analise who works as a servant for a cruel and abusive master. She does manage to find someone to love her in the end (I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that), but there are big twists in it which hopefully make it more than the generic Cinderella story. I will add it to FictionPress once I'm done.

The other story was actually inspired by a brainstorming activity we did in Writer's Craft. We had to create plots based around inanimate objects, and I got a lock, so I began to make up a story about a poor Mexican woman who lost everything in a house fire. (This was a day or two after that incredible story about the baby thrown out of a burning building in Germany, so fire was fresh on my mind). I actually managed to get a really good plot, which, upon revision, didn't involve a lock ... or a woman for that matter. It's about a young girl who emigrated from Mexico with her family to go to University in Toronto. I won't say much, since I like this one more than my Analise story, but after losing everything, she met Jason, a man who would change her life completely (and it's not a romantic relationship at all -- that should keep you guessing! :). Again, off it goes to FictionPress when I finish.

Love, Oksana

One of the things that struck me as I was finding a photo for my last post was how the photos I take illustrate my life. What would be nothing but a pretty sky to someone else wasn't just a pretty sky to me - it represented my relationship with my mom.

When I was first starting out with this photography thing, I felt as if I was cheating when people praised my work. It wasn't really mine - if it was a photo of a toy, it belonged to the manufacturer, if it was a photo of a flower, it belonged to the florist, and so on. I still can't and don't take complete credit for any of my photos; and moreso, will never take credit for my gift of photography: that belongs to God alone. But I've finally figured out what it means to be a photographer.

Your experience makes a photo yours. You are related in a way to whatever your subject is. Even if your subject is a blank wall -- you are related to that blank wall. Maybe it's a wall in your house that has seen countless family moments. Maybe it's the wall that closes you off from your brother's room where he sits secluded all day so you don't have a chance to talk to him. Maybe you've never seen the wall before but it reminds you of your blank mind during math class. It doesn't matter. You are related to that wall, and you're not photographing the wall itself -- you're photographing that relationship. That's why two peoples' photographic renderings of the same subject never look alike.

Eyes are windows to the soul -- so often, people comment on portraits, saying, "I can read their whole life in their eyes." Photos are almost like eyes - you can look straight into the heart through them.

Love, Oksana

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Thank you for inspiring me!

I joined Flickr about 3 years ago to look at and favourite photos... I sure didn't think I'd ever be uploading any! Then my parents got us our first digital camera -- it was actually a camcorder that took stills, an actual camera came a few months later. I immediately became a shutterbug, and started taking hundreds of photos. I shared them with my mom and dad, but there was still something missing -- I felt like I absolutely needed to share them with the world.

What is a photo unless you have shared it with someone? It's like getting a gift and not saying thank you. My way of saying thank you to God for giving me the gift of photography (and the moment I photographed) is by sharing the photo. Why should I be covering up the beauty he has created by keeping it somewhere deep in the mess of folders on my hard drive, when I could be showing it to the rest of the world?

Slowly and tentatively, I uploaded my first photo - then my second - my third quickly followed - and then my fourth. Still, my confidence was really low -- and I can only thank each and every person on Flickr and beyond who commented on, favourited, and viewed my photos. I first considered myself a "real Flickerite" when I finally uploaded a photo on the same day as taking it -- versus a few months later, after painstaking deliberations on whether it was 'good enough.' Again, I thank you guys for helping me grow into that!

And here's one more thing to thank you for: inspiring me! I can't say I'm self-taught -- I've got hundreds of teachers who don't even know it! So, today, in order to give them the acknowledgement they were due, I sat down and went through my favourites, all 45 pages of them -- twice -- to compile a list of 36 pictures that have inspired me most so far. These are the ones that have really shaped my own way of seeing things through the viewfinder, and touched me with their sheer beauty -- or, in the case #2 and #30 -- made me laugh harder than any other photos in the world!

Here they are... my all-time favourites:



1. watching the world go by, 2. Dandelion, 3. Eyeing... ♫ little egret from bali ♪ ♫, 4. burning skies, 5. me, 6. II, 7. Hattie, 8. Untitled, 9. the eye and the sky, 10. Waiting For Buddha, 11. this american life, 12. Girl near Ga Sai Gon, 13. Colours dancing with light, 14. a family, 15. Untitled, 16. Flower girls, 17. she's back, 18. freckle face, 19. unexpected.., 20. Untitled, 21. two, 22. caught in the net, 23. Sifting Sand, 24. Hmmm ? ..., 25. are you gentle too ? ..., 26. life goes on ..., 27. first taste of rain..............., 28. Swan who felt in love ♥, 29. remembering why, 30. bad breath?, 31. A Flower For Nanny, 32. Atendendo a um pedido especial de uma amiga especial !, 33. smiling at, 34. skeeter hawk, 35. animated speedy, 36. Sunday afternoon

Love, Oksana