Hello, Internet.

Me in NYC this Spring at Lincoln Center

Hello, blogosphere that I am rather unfamiliar with as of now!--(though that will hopefully change later on). I still feel as though I should give more background on me before I proceed with daily posts of my exploits in the arts. So first of all, I should warn you of my sometimes rambling writing style and attempts at being humorous. I should also warn you of any grammatical errors that I make as I don't have an editor. So bear with me, please, as I try my best to write down the ideas I have in my very confusing mind. I assure you that they are quite interesting once you understand them.

Anyways, I began my ballet training at age 3. Ballet at age 3 when mainly involving skipping around in a circle can hardly be called training though, but I had to start somewhere. I meddled in dance at several studios before really cracking down on my mission to attend my dream school, UNCSA. I began training harder and harder and pushing myself to where nobody really wants to be pushed until I made it into the Preparatory Program and eventually the school itself. For those couple years, dance was a single-minded pursuit of mine and I thought it would remain that way until I eventually completed a professional career. But alas, new dreams have a way of forcing their way into the picture *cough* photography *cough* med-school *cough* and making a single-minded pursuit of anything nearly impossible. So today those new dreams stand hand-in-hand with my dream of taking a graceful bow on the Lincoln Center stage.

At my wonderful arts school, I have had the great opportunity to be surrounded by all types of art--including visual art. I have always had a certain affinity for drawing, but was never taught how to draw "properly". Well, I was ever so fortunate to befriend a few people who could draw more than properly--more like perfectly. And these few extraordinarily talented people were also extraordinarily kind and helpful and taught me a few things. They are who I have to thank for being able to draw the photo on the left. So now I have yet another hobby to enjoy in the free time I don't have. (Along with singing alone in my house when nobody can here me, playing the piano as well as someone who hasn't had lessons possibly can, and watching Netflix).

I guess the appropriate topic concerning myself to post about on this blog is where my photographic journey began. Sorry, but I don't really know. I just ended up taking pictures one day and really liking it. I think that I grew into the hobby through the many trips my family go on to far away lands where I desperately wanted to capture the beauty for myself. After a long time of looking through the lens of a Nikon Coolpix with 10 megapixels, anyone would get frustrated with the poor zoom and image quality, as I definitely did. My Sony finally came into my possession two Christmases ago and that is when I really fell in love with photography. It is a remarkable camera for being small enough to fit into my pocket though it is no studio camera. Nevertheless, it is the perfect camera for me and has allowed me to capture the images I now display in my flickr feed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/b_leyende/. I have found my main calling to be wildlife photography but would love to get into shooting with people as my subjects. Hopefully that will happen in the near future.

Basically when I am not working on dance or taking pictures or studying away in school, I find some ways to clear my head and make it easier for me to continue in the arts. Granted, I love all three of the above listed activities (yes, even school), but there are a couple things that I find so incredibly refreshing. First, I love doing anything with my lovely kitties when they agree to be cute and cooperative. Second, I love riding my bike when North Carolina weather agrees to be cute and cooperative (i.e. not sweltering hot or freezing cold. I attribute my sanity to both of these things. And, of course my incredibly awesome friends and family who put up with me.

Thanks guys ~B