Model of Firenze.
An update on the current events: First of all let me say thanks for all the comments on my posts lately and for your entries in “The Changing Seasons”-challenge to all of you. During the last weeks I’ve been (and will continue to be) very busy for a number of reasons:
I’ve been going a lot to the gym after work, followed by book reading (I’m turning into this weird combination of gym rat/book-worm – a fit nerd). So, instead of my usual procedure of editing photos for the blog, writing posts, visiting blogs etc, I’ve been reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami after work, gym and my daily 14 kilometers bike ride. My son has also been with me often: spending time with him is truly a pleasure. The photo related stuff I’ve been doing, is putting down some work on my official portfolio & a Facebook profile to go with it. I’ve also taken some mandatory photos for the next Changing Seasons and because of two trips abroad coming up shortly, the photos have already been edited (finished them last night) since I will be travelling when the next post is scheduled. As most of you already know, I recently visited Italy and still have photos to share from that trip (in other words: there’s plenty of material to come).
Self-portrait with guitar.
Needless to say that I probably won’t be updating the blog or visiting other blogs much (but I know the world of WordPress’ bloggers and there’s always plenty of stuff happening, so you won’t even notice my partly hiatus). The good news is that the trips abroad will (hopefully) generate a whole lot of photos and that my Instagram account is alive and kicking and is being updated regularly. If you’re on Instagram, you can always add me there to see what’s up (for the time being it’s a private profile because I post a mix between personal and professional photos, with main emphasis on the personal stuff, so send me a request and I’ll add you).
Self-portrait on bike
Cardinal Guzman 
happy to see you here or on Instagram- whenever!
Thanks! Added you on Instagram and sent you a request.
I can very much relate to this. There’s a world beyond blogging and spending quality time with family and friends and getting totally observed in a good book is a must! 🙂 I started reading Murakami’s “Mister Aufziehvogel” last week, a ver good one this is.
He’s a great writer, there’s no doubt about that. Thank you Dina.
Found the photos very “Guzmanianese” (!)…….
Enjoyed them and am looking forward to seeing the next ones on Italy.
Thanks for telling about your life , good luck dear Cardinal!
Thanks for your wishes and comment 76sanfermo!
Cool that your doing stuff you like plus taking care of your physical and mental health; -)
It feels good to wind-down with a book and take care of the mental health after work and the gym. A good side-effect of it is longer and better quality sleep.
Sounds like a good life to me 🙂 Happy to follow along where ever you choose to post, when ever it works for you. Have a wonderful week, Cardinal!
Thank you Melissa. It’s hectic, but good! My Instagram is updated quite often: it’s much quicker and easier than composing a blog post.
It’s definitely a good way to stay in touch when you’re busy 🙂
Will follow you on IG. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is my favourite Murakami.
It’s my favorite too, but so far it’s the only Murakami book that I’ve read. 😀
I’m a big fan of Murakami and bravo to you for focusing on the right things, would love to follow your professional work too.
My professional work is basically a selection of some of the best photos from this blog, but posted under my real name instead of an alias. there’s also a handful of never published photos, but they will be (or have already been) posted on IG and will probably show up in the blog too eventually.
I’m keen to to break into professional photography, maybe drop me a line on my contacts page? Would be great to share thoughts. Andy
Sure Andy. I’ll drop you a line after my travel(s).
Life sounds good, Cardinal. Nice to hear from you.
Great book by the way…
An awesome book! I’ve only read about 1/3 of it so far, but it’s definitely entertaining and well-written.
Great – enjoy your travels, you book nerd. I just followed you on Instagram to see your travels 🙂
Thanks David. I’m looking forward to do some travelling!
I’m also going through a “thing,” but your things sound like a lot more fun than my things! Have wonderful travels and I will, as always, love looking at your pictures. You are one of the photographers I follow who I never need to say “like” when I mean “ARGH!” …. 🙂
That’s a nice compliment, thank you Marilyn! Lets hope I can keep posting decent photos and that your ‘things’ takes a turn towards more fun. On my forthcoming travels I’ll be meeting up with two, perhaps three, other bloggers.
Looking forward to seeing your travel shots on IG.
I’ll post some on IG during my travels. Probably already tomorrow, definitely the day after that!
I’m a gym rat/book-worm too! I was forced to take a break from the gym for a while, and now that I’m back, my blogging has become sporadic too. It’s all good though! Enjoy the gym, your books, and all the other stuff that’s keeping you busy. 🙂
The book-worm part is a ‘slight’ exaggeration, I’m only 1/3 into one book, but compared to my usual reading ratio, that is book-worm(ish). The gym rat part is not exaggerated: 4-6 days per week at the gym. Unfortunately the trips to the gym will be less frequent the next month, because of my travels and the fact that I’ll be having my son those days in between when I’m at home.
But on one of my destinations I made sure to book a hotel with a gym!
Good for you for booking a hotel with a gym! I aim for 5 days at the gym, but I’m happy if I make it there for 4. I love it, but it eats up so much of my day—2 hours at the gym, and if you count the time it takes to get ready to go and to clean up after I get home, it becomes 3+ hours! No friggin’ wonder blogging time suffers. Truth be told, my book-worm habit is suffering a little too since I’ve resumed my workouts.
Workouts beats books, so it’s all good. Sometimes a quick and intensive workout can do magic too. Usually I go on afternoons, but this morning I got up early and managed to squeeze in one hour at the gym before work. Since my flight is after work I know that I won’t be able to go to the gym until Sunday, so I figured it was best to go in the morning.
I’m an afternoon workout person too. It’s not that convenient, but it’s the only time my body wants to do it. lol
Great to hear you are busy, Cardinal. Sounds like a lot going on for you, and the travels abroad sound exciting. Amazing that you ride 14km each day, and I hope the cyclists there in your part of the world are decent people (one of them in Australia tried to run me over the other day…). Love your Instagram, very entertaining images as always 🙂
You have all kind of cyclists spanning from the decent to the rude. I’m somewhere in between the two, sneaking around in traffic at high speed, but being considerate to pedestrians – especially the young & old ones.
After my travels I have to get my bike ready for the winter season and put on the spike tyres.
I also enjoy reading a lot Haruki Murakami he is one of my favorites. Good taste! Also you are one of my favorites to follow too in this world of bloggers I enjoyed your work a lot. Traveling is by far the most exciting thing for me, so by you traveling see, read, others point of view.
One of your favorite bloggers? Woohoo! 😀 Thanks!
Travelling is great. I had some vacation days left, my plan was to transfer them till next year, but work told me that I had to use most of them this year, so suddenly I had this luxury problem: “vacation days to spend – how to spend them?”.
Great choices, Max. Enjoy this phase. We will find you in IG or here.
Thanks Lucile. IG it is!
Great!
lol, I love the gym rat/book work combination… take your time, Viking!!!
Thanks. Finally I got to see your new avatar on a large screen (I’ve only seen it on my mobile phone so far). It’s a great shot and a very beautiful model, but it makes me curious about the shirt.
I’m pretty sure that the last word (that you cannot see on the photo) must be ‘naked’.
“Life is better naked.” It makes perfect sense. 🙂
LOL..you are funny 😀 it says “Life is better as a redhead”… might be true, especially when the redhead is told she’s beautiful 🙂 have a wonderful weekn, Viking 🙂
Do what you gotta do, man! All the best until you can pick back up again.
Thanks man!
As I said on Instagram, I think you’ve got your priorities straight. Enjoy this period. I am kind of thinking of you as a caterpillar who is going into his cocoon and will emerge with something beautiful. And really, really love the selfies here.
Thanks for the support Lisa. Hopefully you’re right about the caterpillar/cocoon and that it’s not like I’m a meal being digested, emerging as shit on the other side! 😀
Definitely expecting a butterfly not a 💩
Just checking up if I missed something in the mails. The model photo is perfect, Max. Murakami makes a great read, but be careful with gym/bike stuff (just cautious me speaking). My current problems were caused by excessive sports.
The gym & bike is going well. It should have been more gym and less bike so that I could have gained some more weight, but then I’d have to rely on public transportation and would’ve had less time for the gym anyway…
True
The book was fantastic. Finished it two days ago. Now I need a book brake (so that it doesn’t feel like I’m cheating on the book that I just finished – because it’s still in my head)…
Really? I used to feel the same about book rebound stuff 😀
So you know how it feels. 😄 After this long relationship with this good book, I can’t just start a little fling with some mediocre book. Hehe
😆 not till a considerable period of abstinence