CURRENT MISSION

To spend the greater part of my days and nights achieving personal growth and sustaining a life filled with human exchange-oh and I forgot: to one day run down the street screaming "I love you all-each and every one of you"

ABOUT ME

I'm a 30 something young at heart.... It should be no other way! I grew up hearing my mom say one too many times or maybe just the right amount so it sunk in "Age is a frame of mind-If you don't mind, it dont matter".

Welcome to this colorful world that often lives inside my head. I'm not always able to translate unless through the use of my lens. A twister of words, a rainbow of colors, an orderly and ornate pattern, silent lips and gasps for air. There's a circus in my mind, which I attempt to apply liberally on the surface of my tongue-hoping the language will be as elaborate and daring as those who fly the most decent trapeze. VR*

My name is Vanessa, native New Yorker now living in Oakland, CA. My eyes are what help guide me to my truth and so my eyes are are the most valuable thing in the world to me. This idea brings me to photography. Without it, I would not be able to share my world, my truth with all of you. I’m a photography student but often feel I can’t possibly learn it all, so I figure that w/ or w/out the education I’d be doing it anyway. I use photography as my medium of expression. I use the technical aspects when my brain allows me to connect the dots but otherwise I just create w/ out all the technicalities. It's sort of how I treat life. I don't like to many confining and conventional rules. I take lots of pictures, sometimes of random people, places or things and it’s later that the complete vision comes and I am able to tell a story with what I’ve got. It’s probably the reason I do a lot of composites. One of my favorite quotes is by Rene Magritte and it goes like this: ‘Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see’. I think I am fascinated w/ this idea. It remains in my psyche always and is often my inspiration when I am creating and making my images.

I can be shy at times, quiet-but not always.. I sometimes will watch in silence-taking in a lot of the world around me-attempting to see exactly where my place is, although I have recently realized that my place is where I create it. I write down a lot of what I can't verbalize. It makes my thoughts concrete, solid so to speak. I've begun to flourish, let go, be free, putting my urgency to rest........

I want nothing more than to be a part of this life, contributing with my spirit and nature to give. I listen, I understand and try in almost every situation to extend love to all those around me. I believe we all create our own space and our own reality, so why not create one where we embrace all that cross our path. Every person, even the less than likable ones, can teach us something, such as compassion. Why not step out of our comfortable box and into someone elses? Judgement is not something I find to be effective when you are attempting to be an open-minded and compassionate individual.

I send you all immeasurable amounts of light//////

PHILOSOPHY

I have been forming my philosophy over the course of my lifetime. Constant transitions prompted by experiences made up of joy and pain and a few people who have entered my life-some for only a moment-some who will never know the impact they had on me.

To me it is all color, texture, music and captured images. Ingrained in our conscious-intentionally conceived...

We should all create our most vibrant and delicious existence and vow to spread our colorful spirit..

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have hosted and continue to at least meet up with some of the Cser's that contact me..

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Beautiful!

Interests

Photography, scribbling words from head to paper, films, creative fashion, raw food, collage work, reading, meditation, yoga, art of all mediums, music, talking with children, biking, social consciousness, thrift stores, collecting old furniture, trinkets, etc. , laughing until my stomach hurts, shaking my hips, walking the vibrating and evolving streets of New York City...

• arts
• fashion
• photography
• coloring
• education
• dining
• raw food
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• walking
• flying
• thrifting
• movies
• reading
• music
• cycling
• boxing
• teaching
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

So many, Too many!
Favorite Book-A Must Read: 'The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
'The Essential Laws of Fearless Living' Guy Finley

Movies: Amelie, My life as a Dog, Somersault, Darjeeling Limited, Amandala, Pans Labriynth, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, It might Get Loud, The Lives of Others, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Vanilla Sky, Fur, Garden State, Frida, A Single Man, Volver, Broken Embraces, Avatar, Gonzo, Eyes Wide Shut, Secretary, The Hand, etc. etc. etc..,

Music: This list is long but I'll attempt to let you in a bit: Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Bat for Lashes, The XX, Tricky, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, M. Ward, Luke Temple, Here We Go Magic, Bright Eyes, M.I.A., Rilo Kiley, Jay Z, The Roots, Cold War Kids, Wilco, Cat Power, My Morning Jacket, Beirut, Jaymay, The Strokes, Elvis Perkins, Jose Gonzalez, Prince, Radiohead, Johhny Cash, Peaches, Thom Yorke, Lauren Hill, JT, She & HIm, The Shins, Nneke, Biggie- list goes on.... Oh and I love to dance and do it pretty welI, so anyone up for dancing?? love to hear what others are listening to! I like what I like but I can appreciate or learn to love what others embrace with their ears..

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Inauguration Day (1/20/09) in my beautiful neighborhood of Harlem, NYC..

Teach, Learn, Share

And here I share:
Does the world function in black and/or white? Is it our own individual sight that adds splashes, hints, tones, contrasts and shades of color? Do our individual views, experiences and perceptions reveal colors in certain people, objects and places that maybe another may not see? Does color exist everywhere and some of us just don’t perceive it or does this world exist w/out color, in order for individual shading of color to be added?
My world is open and reveals freedom to welcome all shades of color. I welcome the addition of diverse hues to be spread on my skin and ingested for fuel to grow...

Directions: Apply color liberally, mix and match, spread on quickly but gently, brush and stroke. My canvas is a work in progress-hoping to result in a masterpiece... vr*

Countries I’ve Visited

Bermuda, Puerto Rico, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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