Kat Eye Studio

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Photo-Heart Connection: May

What’s behind this door? It must be something important, to have had so many locks on it. It must have been there a long time, to have so many scars.

I know what’s behind this door. It’s a piece of my heart. As much as I’ve allowed my heart to open over the last few years, there is a piece that has remained locked up. Even while the paint has cracked and the door begins to splinter, I keep putting new bars and locks on it. I don’t want it to be unlocked. It will hurt to open what’s inside.

This last door to my heart has to be unlocked. I know it does.

And I’m scared of what’s going to come out. So scared. Maybe the locks all this time haven’t been to protect what’s on the inside, but to protect what’s on the outside.

It’s time to face it, and see what happens. Ready or not, the lock is coming off.

My heart’s message this month cuts to the truth of things in a personal and painful way. When I captured this image last Saturday in Portland, I was interested in the history of that door. So many layers, so many scars. It’s story intrigued me. It wasn’t until I sat down to find my Photo-Heart Connection this month that I discovered the deeper message for me. There are some things that I need to work through. It is time to face them. I feel as if I’m squaring my shoulders and filling myself with fortitude as I reach for the lock this morning.

What is your heart’s message this month? There is one there for you, if you take the time to look. Sit quietly for a little while, clear your mind, then look through your images from May one by one. Is there one that you feel a reaction to in your body? Sit with it for a while, see what it has to say to you. Then write about it, and come back here to link in. We’re here to support and encourage you to listen to your heart, whatever the message.

The Photo-Heart Connection link up for May is open from June 1 to June 7. I look forward to visiting you soon! I’ll be away from the computer the next couple of days but will be by to visit your posts on Sunday. I’ll also be moderating links this month, so please be sure you are following the guidelines, found here.


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What are you doing this Summer?

If you’re looking for something to stretch and grow your photography in the summer months, Find Your Eye: Journey of Inspiration may just be your thing! In this course, you’ll begin to recognize your unique style and deepen your the connection between your photography and your heart and soul. Amazing things happen as a result!

Registration has opened for the summer series of Starting the Journey and Journey of Inspiration. See more about the course series here and you can find registration information here.

I’ve found my eye. It’s full of texture and details that make my heart sing, like this door from Korkula, Croatia.

Won’t you join me to find yours? Class starts June 17.

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Locked Up

What is my fascination with locked doors? I’ve been photographing them for a good long while. I especially love the ones with evidence of multiple locks over time, like this one from Jacksonville, Oregon. All locked up tight, keeping something inside safe. Or keeping something from getting out? It’s hard to know. The lock protects both sides.

I’m starting to wonder if these locked doors aren’t an analogy for something greater for me. Is there more locked up inside myself that needs to be opened up? This creative journey of mine has been one of layers. Layers drifting open, unfurled, blasted away… perhaps now unlocked. I’m trying to find the key.

Today’s post is a Photo-Heart Connection, touching me deeply with a message from my heart. Sometimes these messages come unbidden, you don’t have to go searching for them. You look at the photo and know there is something there. The more you practice with this concept, the easier it becomes to touch the connection. It doesn’t mean that it’s easy to feel though – today’s post leaves me a bit emotional, with the knowledge that there is more work to come around the idea of being unlocked.

The link up for February’s Photo-Heart Connection is still open, through the 7th. I hope that you will consider joining in, sharing your Photo-Heart Connection and journey with us. You will find a wonderful and supportive community here!

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The Green Door

Life has an interesting way of presenting us with choices. Sometimes they don’t feel like choices, but they are choices nonetheless. I was reminded yesterday, as I gave choices to my son. Choose different behavior, or lose computer privileges. Guess what he chose? Yeah, no computer time for him this week. Somehow, it’s my fault that he lost his computer time. Those of you who are parents will understand how this conversation goes. We had quite a bit of discussion about this topic, the rest of the afternoon. The afternoon that we planned to go out exploring as a family, looking for interesting things in our area to see and do. We still went out on the excursion, but there was a cloud of discontent hanging in the backseat.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t raining and it was a beautiful afternoon outside. I found some interesting things to photograph, and being out and about with my camera kept me calm and cool. I was excited to find this interesting green building, in the tiny town of Harrisburg, south of Corvallis. Even more interesting, was the green door of the green building. The shapes, color and subtle texture were fun to compose.

I have this sneaking suspicion though, that this image of the green door is always going to remind me of the day that I truly realized that teenager-hood is just around the corner. That parenting through the next few years is going to be so much harder than it has been up to now. That the choices I’m making now will affect what my son learns about how to navigate the world around him as an adult. Whether or not he learns to connect the dots: Regardless of what life presents you, you always have a choice in how you respond.

We all have to learn this lesson. Maybe again and again, for some of us. Somehow, this simple image of the green door is always going to remind me: When life presents us with a challenge, we always have the choice in how we respond.

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Changing Perspectives

OK, here it is, the window that started off last week’s rainy photowalk. I was drawn to those window frames of wonderfully peeling paint in contrast with the shiny smooth metal of the building. It was interesting to find that the metal wasn’t as shiny smooth as it seemed from the car driving by. It had it’s own texture of rust and even writing on it, as you got closer. I like the shapes and lines in this image, and the contrast of not only textures but the silver-blue building against the warmer yellow and brown found in the windows and doors and repeated in the color of the curb.

I’ve been noticing lately how “straight on” many of my images are. That seems to be a favorite perspective. It’s not intentional, I often take many different angles and perspectives of one scene but come back to the “straight on” one as my favorite. Maybe it’s a reflection of my personality, I’m pretty direct and straightforward.

But the angles often show something that the straight on perspective cannot, and that’s depth. This is the window on the left. You can’t tell the depth of the texture, borne out through the paint and screen and screws and nails, in the image above. To show that, it took moving around the angle of the camera, the depth of field, capturing the layers and the details. Of the two images today, this second one is my favorite. It has more depth, it reveals more. It says more to me.

It’s just a reminder to continue looking from all different perspectives, to see which one connects with you the most. You never know!

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