Upcoming Elite

As the tides turn against us,
we move not an inch forward, not an inch back.
Still as an inanimate object on a distant island.
Holding our stance,
clenching tight on what's left of our ideals,
we stay stubbornly to forge a different  path.

A path for me, a path for us.

Model: Nika Cole
Modelling Agency: IMG Paris, IMG Australia, Uno Models

Recollections of the past

As we cross path with places we once knew,
places we once called ours,
places filled with memories,
both of laughter and misery,
we stop all at once.

Regrets of something that could have blossomed,
Fictitious characters made up to fill that story,
yet regardless of the outcome,
you were contented to cross path with it again.

Treasure things in the present instead of letting it get away.
Learn and let it pass.

From Lottie with Love.

Model: Lottie Moss

Photographer: Sean and Seng

Hair: Karin Bigler

Magazine: Dazed & Confused

Effortless Illusion

"The best part of beauty is that of which no picture can express"

Oh you effortless beauty,
Regardless of angle, sunlight or anything at all,
those still images can never be a true reflection of your grace.

Model: Klaudia PulikPhotos: Models.com

Bewitching Beauty

"Words often fail me at times like this"

-FGR

Purge

The empty space next to me, "so cold" she whispered.
The void with your absence is uncannily horrid.
Without a clue of your whereabouts, she purged.
"Keep me occupied please" She pleaded silently, without a word spoken. 

Model: Marnie Harris
Photographer: Rokas Darulis
Stylist: Marina de Magalhaes
Hair: Svajuna Grybe

Credits:FGR

Out of Sight

"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything"
"Why is it every time we say goodnight, it feels like goodbye?"
-Lang Leav

Model: Kia Low

Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Stylist: Magna Bryk

Make up Artist: Joanna Banach

Hair: Show Fujimoto

Credits: FGR

Confessions of the doubtful

When you left, everything was in a blur.

My whole body cringed at that thought.
When nightmare becomes reality, would light still conquer?

I lay motionless.

Angels and demons descended upon your absence.

My choice.
Strength from an unwavering sense of hope.
Strength from what's left.

Model: Anne Sophie Monrad
Photographer: Markus Pritzi
Stylist: Isabelle Thiry
Makeup Artist: Nadine Baur

Credits: FGR

Longing Souls

The first moment i came across lang leav's art, I was captivated.
That was the moment when I felt words were not just letters, phonemes and tools to communicate. They are so much more.
& I am in awe as to how aptly it is describing me.

"When two souls fall in love, 
there is nothing else but the yearning to be close to the other.
The presence that is felt through a hand held, a voice heard or a smile seen.

Souls do not have calenders or clocks, 
nor do they understand the notion of time or distance.
They only know it feels right when you're with the other.

This is the reason why when you miss someone so much when they are not there - even if they are in the very next room.
Your soul only feels their absence - it doesn't realize the separation is temporary."

Credits: Marks&Spencers, FGR

Bitter Broken Thoughts

" It always start subtly.
Someone suitable is a slippery mystery.
You'll never be ready."

"You will receive mixed messages.
They're honest, they're harsh.
Everything runs to your head."

"It is through giving everything we have we find all that should come to us.
It's the little things that add up until one day it becomes blatantly clear and you're facing a huge monster of reality."

"Loving ourselves is usually the aftermath of loving another so much that we're exhausted and broken and have no other choice. "

Model: Kristen Owen
Photographer: Chris Nicholls
Fashion Stylist: Rita Liefhebber

Quotes: thoughtcatalog writers

Monochrome Rebel

She sashay's into your life and burrows her smile deep inside you within a matter of minutes.
This is how you remember her -  Strong yet vulnerable. Bold yet cautious.
Attractive. Mesmerizing. Humorous.

You think you know her.
But do you, really?
Hidden behind that vicarious demeanor...

Model: Daphne Groeneveld
Photographer: Ellen von Unwerth
Fashion Editor: Samuel Francois

Faith

"Faith is the art of holding on to things in spite of your changing moods and circumstances"
-C.S. Lewis

Embrace.

The words "I love you",
were stuck inside,
knocking politely on the door to my throat,
asking politely,
if they could come out to play,
with you today.
For those three words,
I decided to take down the door,
and instead put up a window,
that I will always,
always leave open.

Tyler Knott Gregson

Model: Ai Tominaga
Photographer: Carter Smith

Givenchy Fall Campaign 2013

Enid Blyton | I am not.
Therefore, I do not write long.
- The little drom store

Givenchy Fall 2013 Campaign
Model: Amanda Seyfried, Dalinah Arekion
-FGR

Brooklyn Chick

I remember you.
Your face innocent as always.
Your makeup, understated for your beauty.
Oh how your tresses fall perfectly over your shoulders.

I remember you twirling your hair around your fingers.
Your loving gaze.
& your relaxed stance.
How you shift your weight to one side, daydreaming.
Effortless beauty.

I recall the favorite taunting tilt of your head.
The unknowing pout plastered across your face when you're unhappy.
Even when you're upset, you never cease to amaze me.

The whole room lights up when you enter.
Your natural beauty.
Irresistible.

Model: Yuliana Bondar (IMG Models)

Photographer: Della Bass

Boyish frown

Upon closer inspection, he looks more captivating. His deep blue eyes staring intensely afar, lost in his train of thoughts. His eyebrows arching gracefully upwards, casting a slight frown, making him looks confused and possibly amused even. Amused at what? Naomi was interested to find out. Her gaze shifted to his strong jawline, then to his boyish haircut. 

The script started playing out of the blue. Naomi panicked. Hurriedly rummaging through her puse, she found her phone. No incoming calls, she was bewildered. Trying to find the captivating young man again, she caught sight of him answering his phone. Her heart stopped a beat, same ringtone? Her mind drifted and filled itself with romantic fantasies from her collection of romance novels.

Stop it, you're being ridiculous. Her subconscious chided.
But then again, if you don't take a risk, you'll never know.

Sometimes, lady luck might be on your side.
Follow your heart.

"He looks ___ with his youthful, tousled hair. There is something boyish about him, which makes him look younger than he is" - Haruki Murakami

Model: Ludovico Vacquez
Photographer: Nicola Casini

Paradox of our time

@weheartit

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. 

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. 

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. 

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. 

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete. 

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. 

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. 

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

-George Carlin

Crossroads

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

For a fraction of a second, we feel that our whole life is justified, our sins forgiven, and that love is still the strongest force, one that can transform us forever. But at the same time, we feel afraid. Surrendering completely to love, means giving up everything including our well-being or our ability to make decisions.
- The Witch of Portobello

photo credits: garypeppervintage

That snapshot

Every life has one true-love snapshot. For Eddie, it came on a warm September night after a thunderstorm, when the boardwalk was spongy with water. She wore a yellow cotton dress, with a pink barrette in her hair. Eddie didn't say much. He was so nervous he felt as if his tongue were glued to his teeth. They danced to the music of a bag band, Long Legs Delaney and his Everglades Orchestra. He bought her a lemon fizz. She said she had to go before her parents got angry. But as she walked away, she turned and waved.

That was the snapshot.

-Mitch Albom

I'm going to buy the book! :)

Back in 1958, John Steinbeck, author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, got a letter from his teenage son Thom, in which Thom confessed that he had fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan at his boarding school.

Steinbeck wrote this wise and wonderful letter back to him the same day...

New York
November 10, 1958
Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First -- if you are in love -- that's a good thing -- that's about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don't let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second -- There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply -- of course it isn't puppy love.

But I don't think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it -- and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone -- there is no possible harm in saying so -- only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another -- but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I'm glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don't worry about losing. If it is right, it happens -- The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

Via A Cup of Jo, via Letters of Note

Ohana, family

'Miracles seem to me to rest not so much upon our faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what there is about us always'
-Willa Cather

The sun was up, the sky a sheet blue with marshmallow clouds hanging above.  There was a wind that  dispelled all the  doubts of the night; comforting and reassuring. 'Gulls swooped and soared over the water before diving, hitting the surface and sometimes coming away with breakfast - in the form of a wriggling fish.' It was not long before she turned to see her face. The sight of her smile was sweet and tormenting; she felt her eyes well up with tears. No words needed to be exchanged. The silence and embrace was enough - it was a both a gesture and a language for the two sisters, after they parted 5 years ago.

Reese held Rossete's hand tightly, part of her afraid to let her sister  slip away from her again. She ran along the beach, past their house and into their garden, with her sister trailing behind her. Like old times, both of the lay side by side on the grass. Reese had the rarest of feelings, overwhelming and incomprehensible, she had no words to describe it. She had so much to say, yet neither of them spoke. They just lay there, silent and both with their eyes closed; it seemed like they time traveled back into the past. She saw her sister making pretend-tea-session with her soft toys, a stuffed bunny with a pink bow on the right ear and the stuffed bear she called brownie, donned with a red and navy blue checkered scarf around its neck. Then she saw her wearing a princess outfit. It was her 6th birthday, she was running around whisking her magic wand, turning butlers into strawberry shortcakes, the clouds into angels and giving life to inanimate objects.

As her mind flashed images from the past, she unknowingly let a tear creep down her cheekbones. She felt rosette's finger on her face. She looked up and smiled.  She knew that no matter which continent or time zone rosette is in, no matter how far they were apart from each other, nothing would have mattered. They had each other in their hearts.
 "Ohana means family- family means nobody gets left behind." - Stitch, Disney

Models: Nina & Krista (Ace Models)

Photographer: Maria Petri

Stylist: Danai Simou

Written by yours truly.