pictures

Day 30: Legacy (list 10 things you hope to be remembered for)

Posted on August 30, 2012August 31, 2012 by momentswithmisty

Today’s the last day for the 30 day challenge, guys! I can’t decide if I’m happy or sad about this.

Today’s topic is to list 10 things you hope to be remembered for. This is kind of hard, how can someone be really good at 10 things? I think this should be like 5 things you’d like to be remembered for, or how would you like people to remember you? Coming up with 10 things that don’t all sound ridiculous is hard (so hard that I think some of mine register as ridiculous).

1. I’d like to be remembered for being kind. If I’m remembered for nothing else in life, I hope that people will look back and say that I was kind. Kindness is such a fading attribute these days. (Yes, sarcasm is my first language. And yes, I hate most of the population, but I try to be nice to people, even if it’s forced.)

2. World peace. I’d like to bring on world peace I think that would be great to be remembered for.

3. And also, I’d like to save the polar bears. And by saving the polar bears, I will have ended global warming. And that also seems like a pretty great thing to be remembered for.

4. In a world full of close-minded, judgmental people, I’d like to be remembered for being open-minded. I try to see every side of an argument and then make my decision based on what I think makes the most sense. Based less on feelings and emotions and based more on logic and facts.

5. Can I be remembered for marrying Zac Efron? Can we make that happen, Zac?

6. For taking legendary photos. This is a no brainer. Every artist wants their art to be remembered, and that’s no different for me. I want people to see magic in my pictures. And I want my pictures to make them feel something. I want people 30 years from now to say, “Oh, remember that one picture Misty Clay took of -insert person, place or thing-, it was so cool. She was great at capturing that perfect moment.” I know that I remember pictures that I’ve seen that I think are cool.

7. Comedy. I want people to remember that I was funny. That I was good at making them laugh and diffusing tension. That I didn’t take things too seriously.

8. I want people to remember seeing Christ in me. Not just that I talked about Him, or that they knew was I was a Christian, I want them to really remember seeing Him in me. I don’t want them to remember me preaching at them, or me telling them 100 times to go to church, I want them to think, “hey, I think that’s what Jesus would have been like if I met Him.” I know that’s a lofty goal, but isn’t that everyone’s goal as a Christian?

9. That I was 100% me. I don’t want to be remember as someone who followed the trend, or let others influence her life. I wanted to be remembered as being true to myself, no matter what kind of mockery I had to endure.

10. A good influence. I know that I’m a influencer. We all are. We all have influenced, do influence or will influence someone at some point in our lives. Probably lots of someones. Probably lots of someones we don’t even know, and I want to be an influence for good.

Everyday Happenings

Day 22: I look once more, just around the riverbend! (where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?)

Posted on August 22, 2012August 23, 2012 by momentswithmisty

Oh man. The future is a scary place. I still remember when it was so abstract. It was always something I was planning for, but what do I do now that it’s actually here? And now that I’m really planning for it? It’s scary, I tell you. It’s still pretty abstract to me. I like to dream about the future, but most of what I dream about is not even in the realm of reality. I like to think about an ideal future, so I’m never actually thinking about where I actually see myself in the future. I know where I want to be ideally, but I have a hard time picturing the reality of where I might be.

Who knows where I’ll be. I have so many scenarios in my head that I find it hard to even begin to predict where I’m going to be just next year, or even next month. Right now my life has so many question marks in it. There are so many variables that could have a major impact. Small things and choices that could take me from one path to a totally different one.

Predicting my future is like predicting an earthquake, you think you’ve got the pattern figured out, but really it’s a total surprise every single time. But here’s how I’m predicting my future today, but it could change tomorrow, or three minutes from now.

5 years from now. It will be 2017. I will be 28-years-old.

What the heck? I thought 23 was old. 28 is older. That’s almost 30. I never picture myself that old. Somehow in my head I’m eternally like 21, looks like I’m going to have to marry a vampire (that’s a joke, just fyi, I’d never marry a vampire, a werewolf maybe, but never a vampire). By the time I’m 28 I hope to have a real career. In something that I love. Hopefully I’ll be taking pictures professionally. I hope to be on tour with a band by that time (Case two: or working for a football team as their team photographer, traveling with the team, still sort of like being on tour). I see myself traveling the world. Planes, trains and automobiles are definitely going to be a part of my life right now. If not for my career, then for some other reason. I may not be totally financially stable at this time, because I’m probably still going to think I’m a kid. Or maybe I will be? Perhaps I’ll be married, perhaps I’ll be engaged or dating someone seriously (perhaps in some kind of convent), who knows? Definitely no children at this point (unless I’ve managed to snag Zac Efron, or someone of that caliber of attractiveness, and I’m forced to reproduce as many times as possible to make the world a more beautiful place one baby at a time). I still plan on being the coolest aunt possible. Unless one of my siblings reproduces again, my youngest niece will be 6 and my oldest will be 16, with everyone else filling in the space. I definitely see them traveling with me.

10 years from now. It will be 2022. I will be 33-years-old.

I seriously hope to be married by this point in my life. I want to be a young bride, and I don’t want to have all these individual memories of my life. I want to have them with my husband, and 33 years is already a lot of individual memories. Hopefully he and I will be working together. He can do whatever he wants, but maybe he’ll be in a band (or case two scenario, maybe he’ll be a football player). Or I guess he can do something else, but depending on what his job is we might not be spending a lot of time together (and that would be very sad), because I still want to be on tour. So it would obviously be ideal if he was some kind of musician (or athlete), or at least did some kind of behind-the-scenes work (like me) too so that we could be on the road together. Though I still want to be on tour, and I definitely want to still be traveling the world (I’m always going to be traveling) I’d also like to have a home by this time. I for sure don’t want to be in LA anymore (at least not permanently, maybe working here sometimes). I want to own a beach house in North Carolina, even if it’s just a small one. Somewhere that is cozy and personal. And barring some kind of crazy stint of craziness, I’ll 100% financially stable by now.

15 years from now. It will 2027. I will be 38-years-old.

What? 38-years-old? What happened? 38 is almost 40! And 40 is over the hill. That is ridiculous. By this time I will either be married, or I will have checked myself into a nunnery. If I decide to have kids, I will probably already have had them. They’ll probably be toddlers at this point (and hopefully they’ll be boys). Which means that I’m not longer touring the world (unless I’m touring it with my husband as a full-time wife and possibly part-time photographer), and probably living in North Carolina, or at least somewhere in the south/midwest. If I’m going to raise kids, I want to raise them in that type of environment. Not in LA, or in DC, or NYC, I want to raise them somewhere where people are real, polite and safe. Hopefully I’ll have a bigger beach house. I’d like to be wealthy by this point. Not disgustingly wealthy, but comfortably wealthy. Where I can live comfortably and also take care of the other people in my life. I want to still be taking pictures, but maybe not in such a dedicated manner. Like, maybe just for special events. Hopefully I will have made such an impact in the world of photography that my name will be recognizable and people will seek me out to cover things for them. Like maybe just certain concerts (or games), and things like award shows (or the Superbowl). I just want to be settled and comfortable in life by this point.

Everyday Happenings

Day 8: “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” – Benjamin Franklin (what are 5 passions that you have)

Posted on August 8, 2012August 9, 2012 by momentswithmisty

I feel like this is a little bit confusing. I have a lot of passions. I’m passionate about a lot of things, but the question makes me want to list hobbies type things that I’m passionate about, so I’m not real sure how to handle this. I guess I’ll randomly pick some stuff.

1. My beliefs. I’m pretty passionate about everything I believe in. Whether that be God, freedom, dreams, or what I believe to be right and wrong (and my opinions). If I believe in something, I am passionate about it. I don’t do any of this halfway crap. Unless you’re very close to me, I might not share with you all the things that I’m passionate about, but rest assured, those passionate beliefs are there.

2. Photos. I just love pictures. I can’t even do everyday things without at some point imagining how to frame the picture. It’s pretty crazy. That’s apparently how I’ve trained my brain to work. I would spend every day taking pictures if I could.

3. Relationships. My family is the most important thing to me. It makes me sad everyday that I’m not with them. I hate missing things in the lives of my nieces and nephews, nothing makes me more sad in the world than the thought that they might forget me. My friends are usually as close to me that they might as well be family. I am fiercely loyal, so once you’re in, you’re in forever (assuming you don’t do anything really, really REALLY stupid). I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, and I have some of the highest quality friends.

4. Sleep. I’m pretty passionate about napping.

5. Sports and music. These two tie. They are both things that I love and am passionate about, but am not good at. I guess that’s not totally true, I am sort of athletic. But I’m not sure I’m motivated or competitive enough to be really good at sports. I like to play, and I tend to do okay, but I’m by no means anywhere close to being fantastic at them. But, I do absolutely love to watch sports. Football, soccer, hockey, basketball, you name it, and I probably watch it (and needless to say I love the Olympics). And music; I love music. I love the radio (okay, not really, I like itunes, radio stations kill songs and play too many commercials), I love live music, and I love musicians. But, if there was ever a job or hobby in the world that I should avoid, it would (sadly) be music. I have zero rhythm, and nobody would ever pay to hear me sing.