inspire, unique, art, living joyfully Susan J Roche fine art inspire, unique, art, living joyfully Susan J Roche fine art

Over 100 years ago | Susan J Roche empowering yourself

We find ways to give ourselves experiences that embrace who we are. This gives up a perspective of change, one of joy and inspiration. Taking these steps for ourself gives us the ability to affect others, create a way to pass along the ability to find happiness and sense of motivation.

102 years ago the Spanish Flu Pandemic happened

According to the CDC, about one-third of the world’s population was infected by the Spanish flu, leading to at least 50 million deaths worldwide. People suffered in many ways including loss, grief, and isolation.

How do we learn from history? What can we do to now?

Susan J Roche (Cape Coral, Florida) women’s underwater portrait photographer. This experience allows women to see themselves in a new light, to change limiting thinking into one of new possibilities and adventure

We find ways to give ourselves moments that embrace who we are while caring for ourselves and our families. This enables us a perspective that change is possible, where one can find joy and inspiration.

Taking positive steps, even small ones, helps the ability to affect others, creates ways to express happiness and sense of motivation even during difficult times. 

It starts resiliency

This begins on a personal level

Find hope during uncertainty. While there may be moments we cannot control, knowing you are not alone and that your thoughts can lead to change is important.

Most Important

It’s imperative to take care yourself

Find ways of thinking especially when the news leans towards overwhelming feelings. Do and be around people (following safe guidelines) that inspire. You can do this in creative ways. It could be just reading someones words and thoughts. You can also reach to others via phone or online. This will help your personal self talk become one that is good for you and for others.

Uplift, renew and rejuvenate yourself through experiences is important

It is not always easy to navigate this time of uncertainty, finding ways to empower oneself and those you love is essential.  Supporting yourself in creative ways is mandatory. Try new things and remember to do simple activities - go outside, be in nature, listen to birds or the wind, find water (large bodies or even a puddle) paint, garden, cook, walk, sit in the sun, dream, read, learn a new language even if there is no one to speak with, it does not matter what you do. Just do something that makes you feel! Even if you believe you are not ‘good’ at it, the idea is to find pleasure in small ways.

Jersey shore underwater portrait photographer Susan J Roche photographs newborns

Remember, there are others who are having similar experiences. The stay at home order earlier this year and this time afterwards has had an effect on many people.

At 59 years old, minimizing risks is my responsibility. My adult daughters ( both nurses) remind me of my age vulnerability. Even though it feels like just yesterday I was a teenage, I am not. I have a new grand baby to see. It is essential to use thoughtful care with who and where I go for my own health, the health of those I love and those who work with me. We need to use our time wisely.

Our greatest asset right now is our power of acceptance.

Use your ability to focus thoughts of goodness

To know who we are, remember who we always have been and move into the future with hope and confidence

Perhaps the greatest lesson we may learn from this crisis is simply having the courage of conviction while doing things to keep our thoughts exceptional. Perspective is the key, and so is sincerity.

Find your passion, live in ways that fulfill you, only be around others who are living with safe health practices and are uplifting, keep your spirits high and most importantly, feel happiness, peace and contentment.

Susan J Roche empowering women underwater
my passion

my passion

Susan J Roche underwater portrait photographer

Susan J Roche, as a daughter, sister, mother, wife, partner, grandmother, artist, photographer, & friend - my journey has been always been about learning to live my life as the woman I am not the woman others would like to be. At times, it has been challenging but it is my one and only precious life.


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Something About... color blind or just color deficiency | Susan J Roche underwater portrait photography

One of 200 rare women in the world - this is me!

This is the number of females in the world who are colour (this is how the dictionary spells this work) blind. When my daughter was studying genetics as an undergraduate, her professor was so excited that her student’s mother had color blind - deficiency. My optometrists was thrilled to have me as a patient. He had never met any female patients who could not see all the numbers in the dotted color blind circle tests!

portrait photographer

Maybe this sparked creativity for as child! I do see reds and greens, just the entire spectrum. This unique quality it part of who I am as an artist and helped develop my style.

It was not until I was a teen ager, that my family even knew this. Maybe it may explain so challenges in grade school, no one thought about which colors I saw. In art school & college, I pretended I was just like everyone else. Figured out ways to check pantone colors and colors wheels charts.

Interesting, I do not know if my father (who was Navy pilot) or uncle on my mothers side showed signs of color deficiency. My son has red/greencolor deficiency. I think one of brothers may also.

The 'gene' which causes (inherited, red and green types of) colour blindness is found only on the X chromosome. So, for a male to be colour blind the colour blindness 'gene' only has to appear on his X chromosome. For a female to be colour blind it must be present on both of her X chromosomes. According to Stanford Geneticist, more women who are colorblind than people know. The women who are carriers are only affected a little bit. Too little to be noticed except with very sensitive tests.

The reason for this is that these women actually have a mix of cells in their eyes. Some of these cells can sense color and others can't. Usually, enough of these cells are working that these women don't have much trouble telling red from green in their daily lives.

This maybe the reason that when color is pointed out, I can sometimes see the subtle hints that I overlooked. Or maybe, my mind just figures what I should be seeing!

beach family portrait photographer Jersey Shore

Sometimes I have a confusions between colors such as the red on the left "port side" of boats and a green on the right side "starboard.” It seems that the light beam quality affects me. Green traffic signals can appear very pale green or almost white.

As a young photographer, it was a fact I was afraid to share with clients; had systems to double check retouching and printmaking. This is important as it is part of how my artistic style developed and is monochromatic. Just love the colors of at the beginning and end of the day along the water.

A few facts

  • Color blindness more common among men. It affects 1 in every 12 males in this country but less than 1 in every 200 females.

  • Facebook is blue - founder, Mark Zuckerberg, suffers from red-green color blindness.

  • In true color blindness facts, people are “color blind” only if they see just black and gray. This is actually very rare. The more common condition is “color vision deficiency,” where greens and reds can look confusing.

  • Color blindness is hereditary, and is passed from mother to son on the 23rd chromosome. However, it can also be caused by eye diseases, aging or retina damage.

  • A fatal railway accident in Sweden in 1875 that killed nine people was believed to be caused by a color blind rail operator who failed to properly read a signal. After the crash, a method to test color vision was developed and applied to railroad workers.

  • It is illegal for color blind people who live in Romania and Turkey to have a driver’s license. The laws in those countries were implemented based on fear that color blind drivers could not read traffic signals.

  • In World War II, color blind men were considered to have an advantage since their inability to see green helped them to see through camouflage. Today, the military will not allow people to serve if they are color blind.

  • Dogs, cats and rabbits see mostly gray. Monkeys have strong color vision while bees and butterflies have superior vision and can see colors humans can’t even see.

  • Not a lot of people, but some, suffer from a rare form of color blindness called unilateral dichromacy which means they have one normal seeing eye, and one color blind eye.

  • People who suffer from red green color blindness have a difficult time determining if their meat is cooked enough. Without being able to see different shades of red, it is hard to tell.

underwater portrait photography SWFL
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