Congratulations Class of 2016!
A huge thank you goes out to all of the recent graduates who have supported my work.
Here is a gallery of my favorite photos. You can click on the photos to enlarge and scroll through them.
Landrum, South Carolina
Welcome to the Cliffs at Glassy- one of the most picturesque places in South Carolina!
Overlook of the Blue Ridge Mountains
I swear, my breath was taken away at every turn. High atop a mountain, you overlook sweeping views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Pickens County, and hints of downtown Greenville. It really puts into perspective how our little worlds are entwined and interconnected with one another.
That's Ashton.
This was our first time here. What started off as innocent pinning and gawking at random feeds on Flickr turned into quite a special photo journey.
We arrived 5 minutes before sunset and were literally running to the top of this stone mountain.
So many compositions were running through my head. I researched pictures on Flikr so I had a rough idea of what I was looking for.
All that planning, however, went out the window when we got there. The sun was setting rapidly. At this point, I was observing at how the light was laying along the mountain-tops and trying to figure out what to capture.
This is Glassy Chapel. It sits right on the other side of the stone hill on a cliff. The doors were locked, but it seems like a gorgeous place to hold a ceremony. My goal is to come back and photograph the inside.
Gates to the chapel.
This is right behind the chapel. You can barely make out the houses and lights in the distance. I liked how the stones contrast with hilly plains in the background. It give kind of a reference to how high we actually were.
My favorite picture. I thought the zig-zagging of the fence made an interesting leading-line to the beautiful colors in the sky. I like how the rocks and bare trees add texture and feeling to the composition.
In the end, Ashton and I decided to stop, sit, and enjoy the fleeting moments of sunlight. This is what makes photography calming and oh so rewarding.
Thank you for reading!
Naimik
It’s official: New Year, New Me is in effect
The New Year brings a year of abundant opportunity and festive spirit. It is a time that we redefine and reevaluate our personal goals and ambitions. Unwillingly, it also brings about a bland confidence in our own capacious mind. Pumped with merry and gleeful spirit, we chasten our sensibilities and gloss over possible barriers to our own success. It’s not our fault. We just too often become infatuated with unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others.
That is the sour apple to losing our discipline.
We skip from 0 to 3 without counting 1 and end up with a griping fascination with disproportionate, idealistic ideas of our ability.
This year, I strive to set goals which won’t necessarily invoke a spirit of dramatic liveliness to others. I promise it won’t be filled with ambitious goals and spacey admiration- or so I hope. I am trying hard to start with small steps towards my goal of feeling an empathetic earnestness for the goodness of every day. Seems like a bit of a reach, doesn’t it?
I plan to do this by showing emotive appreciation for the people we interact with on the daily- a simple recognition or note for those who fill our heart with emotional warmth.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
I wanted to share this inflamed optimism with my residents and the staff of Preston Residential College.
The residential staff received “mountain” door decorations to start off this semester. Let me explain why. The platform for my hall this year is "2016: Climbing Mountains". Why? It is because this is the year that we, as a group, will be setting our goals and ambitions high through recognizable “smart” goals to lead us to our ending aptitude. We will be climbing steadily towards overcoming our personal challenges with invigorating discipline. I can’t promise it will be easy, but I’ll be DAMNED if anyone tries to stop us.
I am working on creating a visual representation of these goals where residents can write short, medium, and long term goals/accomplishments for this semester. Furthermore, I also want to instill a buddy system where each resident will be paired up with another to share their daily goals and progress in order to empower one another.
I can’t say that I have all the answers of how this will work out, but I earnestly believe that we have infinitesimal power within us. We ARE the movers and shakers of this world, we Will jump leaps and bounds towards our goals, and we will make an impact on the community of USC. The only thing that will stop us is our own mind.
Thank you for taking an interest in my personal goals,
Naimik Patel
It’s officially autumn!
The leaves are turning a fiery orange as the youthful green slowly slips away. The skies are starting to clear, and the weather will never feel as good. It seems as though Mother Nature is taking a step back. Those exciting summer nights slowly transform into the chilly nights, better spent in the warmth of the people I love. This is the perfect time to slow down and reflect.
The true beauty of photography is that the world is ever turning. The world will never be in the same arrangement, same configuration to take a picture as the one in this instant.
I love photography because it makes me slow down and appreciate the moment I am in.
As the world does, I feel like my to-do list is always evolving. Like every college student, I am in perpetual motion, switching my attention from one task to the next. It’s a continuous cycle of getting things done and discovering new things that need to be done. If classes are not an issue, then there is always work I can be doing as a Resident Mentor. It is easy to get caught up and lose the present.
Behind the lens, things are simplified.
Through a 4x3 viewfinder, my perspective of the world becomes limited to what is in the frame; it selects my focus. The whole act of photography makes me conscious of the beauty that surrounds us. It also works to making me more conscious of my emotions. I see that the more emotions I can identify and capture within a frame, the more I will be able to notice it and attract into my own life.
Yes, photography is therapeutic.
When I hear the click of the shutter, I know that I have captured another memory, another moment, another snapshot of time. To me, a photo serves as a bookmark in the story of life.
That’s what is so captivating about it! With a rush of nostalgia, a photograph allows you to look back and relive that moment in time whenever you want. A picture tells more than a thousand words. It can make you express endless emotions and relive fading memories with vibrance.
That’s why I take photos. To capture joy, to capture memories, and to try and tell a story while reminiscing on the times that matter most to us. That is why the value of a photograph increases with time.
Photography serves as my creative outlet. When I shoot, I take pictures with the goal of somehow telling a story of the event. I try to focus on singular moments. It reminds me of how beautiful and unique every moment is. That the one true control we have in our life is our perspective.
I feel conscious.
I feel alive.
There is nothing more beautiful than sharing these moments with others. Capturing the beauty and love between two people brings a level of satisfaction I can only find behind the camera.
Instagram: @naimik_patel