About Me
I'm Seth Neeley. I was born in Tiffin, a small town in northwest Ohio. Since then, I have lived in Cincinnati, Seoul, Hong Kong, and several places in Michigan. I have always been curious to learn how things work and enthusiastic to apply my knowledge. All the learning and creating keeps me busy. At one time I was working full-time, going to college full-time, working as a part-time photographer, and renovating my first home. I try to make each day as productive as possible, creating something I can be proud of in the process. I value close relationships with friends and family--they are what keeps me going. In 2016, I married my wonderful partner Karen, which has opened the doors to a new phase of life. I find myself always looking to the future trying to figure out what's next. I am a vegetarian, photographer, designer, writer, cyclist, animal-lover, traveler, artist, and musician. Applying a simple living philosophy allows me to be able to focus on what I really care about. Below you'll find bits and pieces describing my many personal interests.
Travel and Expat Life Videos
Karen and I have been to 4 continents and over 20 countries together. We love to travel and document our adventures. We have been adding travel videos to the following YouTube playlist for the past several years. It is fun to have a five minute recap of our journies to reminisce on from time to time. I generally use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit video and add a soundtrack. It is a good opportunity for me to practice video skills and techniques. After not owning a decent camera for several years, I finally bought a new Canon again to capture better shots. This is apparent on our New Zealand honeymoon, though it really is impossible to not have amazing photos and videos with the stunning landscape across the islands. We still have plans to make our way to South America, Africa, Ireland, India, Cuba, and the Mediterranean someday. We don't plan to ever stop traveling.
Our Wedding Video
After our engagement on Christmas Day 2015 in Prague, we were married on July 24, 2016 in Macomb, MI. We had actually been living in Hong Kong for the previous two years, so it was challenging to plan a wedding while abroad and especially doing it all in just two months.
Videos were shot by both our photographer's assistant and Karen's relative Cindy (thanks!). I edited the best I could and we added music. Songs include Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, Staralfur and Untitled 4 by Vitamin String Quartet (both covers of Sigur Ros songs), and the video ends with My Favourite Book by Stars (this song was used for our first dance and it was actually Karen's first ringtone for me after we met in 2010).
Quotes
With all the films I watch and books I read, I'm constantly running across new and interesting quotes which I like to share on social media. This album is a compilation of these quotes which I sometimes lay over my own photography and sometimes over pictures from online. Some are inspirational, others bizarre, and sometimes they are just happy little tidbits. I will be adding more as I come across them and maybe one day in the future I will redesign them to all be in square format with identical typewriter font. Kerouac is the winner for the most quotes.
Check them out:
Films
Watching interesting films is one of my favorite relaxing activities. I tend to favor films with stunning cinematography and especially ones where I can form a strong emotional connection. I have seen films from many different countries and find great interest in the cultures and storytelling styles from foreign filmmakers. When watching films, I see the experience as a learning opportunity. I try to learn from the framing, camera movement, lighting, and colors--all of which I attempt to bring into my own art through photography, drawing, and painting. Some favorite directors include Wes Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Wong Kar Wai, Akira Kurosawa, Charlie Chaplin, and Hong Sang-soo. For the past several years, I have been keeping a rated list of films I have watched. Currently my list has over 750 films and I've now made it through over half of the IMDB Top 250 list:
Books
It wasn't until I was 27 years old that I started to enjoy reading for pleasure, starting with The Catcher in the Rye. Since then, I have been reading contemporary and classic works at an average of 1-3 books per month. I wasn't enthusiastic about reading in school because it was forced upon me, but I feel fortunate because as an adult I have been able to appreciate books like The Old Man and the Sea and The Great Gatsby whereas high schoolers sometimes despise these works. My mother introduced me to beat literature at a young age and it is still one of my favorite genres. Much like films, I enjoy reading books from a variety of countries and periods. Some of my favorite authors are Jack Kerouac, Haruki Murakami, George Orwell, and Kurt Vonnegut. I keep a rated list of the books I've read which can be found on the GoodReads website:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/21004581-seth?shelf=read
