“If you define yourself by what other people think of you and their opinions, you can come undone. You can give up your whole passion or dream – just one person’s opinion.” Joel Grimes A few weeks ago, someone told me something that I haven’t been able to get off my mind. I was having…
Hi, my name is Amani, I deal with depression on a daily basis and I think about suicide at least once a day. For the longest time, I felt like a fake. There are people who can’t get out of bed, who can’t function, who can’t even eat, because of how bad their depression is. And I’m…
Just a few more days till 2015! Who’s excited? I am, and I’m not. I am because a new year sometimes feels like you get a chance to start over, like you get a clean slate and anything is possible. I’m not because almost every photographer I follow has posted something about their new years…
How often do we start down a path only to turn around out of fear? How often do we have a dream and then fail to live it? There are so many wasted moments, so many pieces of time that are lost because of fear. There are moments that could be, and moments that will…
The 52 Week Project is back! I know I haven’t been consistent with it so it kinda defeats the whole purpose. Traveling made it hard to keep up with it, and when I got back I just couldn’t get myself into that rhythm I was into, of shooting regularly. I justified it in my head by…
The other day I was looking at Jamie Tworkowski’s instagram page (founder of To Write Love On Her Arms), and he posted a picture with a caption that made me put my phone down and cry a little: So here’s my message to you, which may come as a surprise, but i hope it makes…
Have you ever come across something (a song, poem, movie, etc) and felt like it’s exactly what you needed to find given what you were feeling? Sometimes when I get sad and put my iPod on shuffle, it starts playing songs that either make me feel so much better, or that go with how I feel…
I’m in Malaysia and it’s absolutely beautiful. I’ve been trying to spend more time with my family so I’m a little slow with my photography. I shot the new image for the 52 Week Project a day before traveling and I’ve been working on it on and off for a few days. The theme was…
Being in Egypt has given me time to reflect on things. It’s probably because I don’t always have access to the internet, and most of the time I’m out. Not in a mall or anything, just outdoors. I love being outdoors. And it gets cold at night! It’s awesome. I’ve also been reading a lot;…
Fear can be the most crippling thing sometimes. It stops us from going after our dreams and it definitely makes our day-to-day lives so much harder. I’ve mentioned before that I get anxious sometimes about new relationships; always worried that I would end up being too annoying and driving people away. But I always convinced…
Amani AlShaali 