I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned on the forum before, but I'm an amateur photographer and (sometimes) writer. I love nature photography and macro photography best, although I live in Oklahoma for 8 months of the year, where I sadly feel pretty uninspired. Luckily, it just makes those 4 months in the beautiful Northwestern US even sweeter.
I shoot with a pretty basic Nikon D5100 that I got a few years ago before studying abroad. Traveling and photography are two hobbies that work beautifully together. Several of my friends are amazing photographers and have helped me grow and learn more about photography in college. I've even won a couple of awards!
I've also dabbled in writing fiction and poetry. I wish I could write more, but I feel like good ideas are pretty scarce for me and sitting down to think of something is usually just not a priority for me. However, I did complete one short story last year that I'm pretty proud of, which I've attached for your reading pleasure! I
know there are other writers on the forum, so I'm interested to hear about what inspires you, what you like to write about, and any current projects you're working on.
Now, for the reason this is in advertisements: for the last three years I've been indirectly involved with my college's Literary and Visual Arts Journal, Soundings. Submissions for this year's journals just ended a few days ago and the students in charge are working on fundraising to cover the costs of printing. They've started a kickstarter here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1939436558/soundings-a-creative-anthology-for-students-by-stu and are almost a third of the way to their goal. I don't know how many patrons of the arts we have on the forum, but I figured there just might be a few!
Like I said, I've been involved with the journal for several years, so this project means a lot to me (the story above was even awarded 1st prize in fiction by the juror!). The people in charge this year are good friends of mine and I know that they'll do a great job keeping the journal's standard of quality high. This is a great chance to get a copy of a truly excellent creative anthology, one that will hopefully be featuring yours truly!