Self Portrait Tuesday : Time

The Self Portrait Tuesday challenge this month:

For one month I would like you to document time - in order to ...
- document and observe physical changes in yourself
- create a discourse on identity
- keep a visual diary of moods
- tell stories

This one totally hit home with me. One of the very core reasons I scrapbook/create is to document the everyday. The everyday ordinariness. The little things. I love the concept of photographing the same thing everyday for a period of time - check out the SPT site here for a great list of cool, inspiring resources on different projects people have entered into (like documenting the food they ate everyday for a year). There is nothing like the mundane to give us an amazing picture of our lives.

So in thinking about the story I wanted to tell this month, I wanted to keep it pretty simple. I wanted it to be something right in front of my face. Something I see everyday that changes over time. I chose to take photos of my computer desk, the place I happen to spend way too much time. Papers. Notebooks. Boxes to be taken to the post office. Pens. Yellow sticky notes with the stuff of my life all over it. All a part of my daily life. So each night before I go to bed I have been taking a photo - whatever happens to be there at the time. Just one shot.

This place is me. It makes up a big part of the time I spend working, communicating, planning, etc. My question to myself: what do I really think about that? Is this really what I want?

This place is me. Looking at the photos I see my computer and automatically reflect on technology and the impact it has made on my life directly. What would I be doing without the internet? My life would be so very different in so many ways. Things that have happened would not have happened. The good and the not so good.

This place is me. I see lists. It is my nature to make lists. My mom makes lists. They keep me sane. They keep me in line. And even though I have a fancy computer right there I still make handwritten lists of things to do. It is in writing them that I remember and imprint them into my memory.

This place is me. There is old and new on my desktop. Awhile back my friend Mellette sent me this cool old wood piece with three holes on the top. It sits on my desk and holds my pens - one of my favorite things. And there is always the new as well. The computer. The moleskine notebooks. The iTunes gift card. I love and need both the old and the new.

This place is me, right now.

(and in case you are wondering, the rolodex in the back of the photos can be found here: Lovely Design )