I like to think I am a relatively open book. If you look at my photography, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to see that some of my favorite pastimes include reading epic fantasy and dressing up (both in costume and more formal attire). I don’t even hide the fact that I have terrible road rage (believe me, I do!), I can’t say no to thrift store excursions, and that I am and always will be an Arkansan at heart. There are some things, though, I don’t talk about much on the blog and so today I thought I’d share ten facts you probably don’t know about me:

1. I make about half of the costumes I use. Being on a tight budget, a lot of my creations were curtains or bedding in their former lives before I bring them home from Savers.

 

 

2. A large part of who I am today is owed to my experiences living as an expatriate while growing up. I have lived in five different countries and will carry for the rest of my life every lesson, blessing, and experience gained in each one solemnly and gratefully.

3. Apart from my obvious hobbies of photography and thrift shopping, I also enjoy ballet, hiking (some people may call it nature walking…. no one said you HAVE to break a sweat when hiking!), knitting, reupholstering furniture, and shooting (guns, in addition to cameras, of course).

 

 

4. I am terrible at coming up with photo ideas for male subjects. I think this is probably because in the early years of my photography, my only willing models were my three sisters, and a very unwilling brother. So unwilling that I have only shot him three times. My mom had to force him to do it three of the three times.

5. Speaking of my mom, I got into photography because of her. Growing up, my mom used to take black and white photos of my sisters and I and hand paint them with specialty paints. I guess I’m not the first one in my family to look at photography as an art form.

 

 

6. I work as an Executive Assistant for an international telecommunications company. While I certainly could fill up a full-time job with the amount of photography related things I get up to in any given week, what I produce is created over the course of many early mornings, lunch breaks, and the few weekends when I’m not out of town.

7. I am REALLY good with directions. I almost always know what direction is north, can remember how to get somewhere if I’ve been there once, and have never had a problem reading a map.

 

 

8. I used my first DSLR, a little Nikon D60, until the shutter broke during a family vacation to London. I didn’t even know it was possible to break the shutter. At that point, it would have cost more to replace the $200 shutter than what my little camera was worth. The unphotographed second half of my trip to London still haunts me to this day…. I am now on my third DSLR, though, and have been using her for about a year and a half now (although I still break out DSLR #2 on occasion, mostly when I travel).

 

 

9. My first ever conceptual photograph was supposed to represent the Land of Enchantment, or New Mexico. I had decided to create a series representing each of the fifty United States, but unfortunately the series was short lived. Recently, however, I have been making plans to visit this series again (this time with a much more refined eye and skillset). My mom LOVES the original image to this day. I, however, use it as a reminder of how far I’ve come. (…. oh alright… if you must…. here it is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/madelineshayne/11372342535/in/dateposted-public/)

 

 

10. I got my undergraduate degree in International Relations, with a minor in German, so I’m pretty good at geography and I speak German. Surprisingly, I didn’t even take any art classes in university, but rather focused on foreign languages and governmental theories and systems (the excitement as your eyes hurriedly drunk in every word of this little fact is palpable. I can feel it. Yes, this is sarcasm).

 

 

There is an eleventh fact about my that I debated sharing. It is slightly more personal in nature, but felt it was the perfect note to end on. As a young girl, I struggled greatly with a monumental lack of self-confidence. While I still have my moments, there a two things in recent years that have taught me how to believe in myself: having my heart broken by a boy I thought I loved, and, more importantly, my adventures with photography. What I have learned, is that the best way to gain any sense of belief in one’s self is through fire. The fire of being passionate about something that lights you from within, and the fire of trial and difficulty that refines you from the outside. While one provides you with conviction, the other gives grace, creating an inner peace and belief that, in my experience, has been able to guide me towards accepting the fact that the best I can give, or create, or be will always be more than enough.