Finding My Path & Texture Tuesday

You might wonder when reading the title to this post what do the two have to do with one another, so I'll explain.
On Monday I began participating in Karen Walrond's Chookooloonks Path Finder a five-week self-guided study program on creating your own beautifully different life, and part of the study program involves journaling - something I do fairly consistently, but not in the same manner Karen encourages.
Yesterday's prompt involved writing a "Love List", and one of the things that I love is to learn new things. Recently I said to a friend that I might want to work in academia, partly because I love the aura found on college campuses.
While reflecting on my love list I happened about Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday post and started playing around with some of her textures. Now I won't say I have learned all there is to know, or even a great deal but I have learned how to use the textures and this photo is the result.

Photo compliments of Kim Klassen's textures.

To create this look I used Kim Klassen's kkportrait with color burn and an opacity of 62% along with her sweettart texture with vivid light and an opacity of 31%. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome!

Below is the original photo, and I really love it, but it is really more dramatic with the textures. What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Before

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to work on the "why" associated with my "Love List" - so much fun!