Archives for May 2013

May 30, 2013 by Kat

Tis the Season

It is the season of beginnings, with new growth in a bright spring green. The season of glorious sunshine one day and pouring rain the next week.

And it’s the season of endings, as graduates finish up their schooling and move onto the next phase of life.

I’m off to Colorado today with my pink suitcase in tow, heading to attend my nephew’s high school graduation tomorrow and celebrations with my family over the weekend.

I’m a bit in shock that I have a nephew graduating. That my younger sister will have a kid in college next year. Oh my. So many of the people I know are well beyond this place, but it’s a threshold that, for my family, pushes my generation into a new phase of life. One with adult children and empty nests. I can’t quite wrap my head around it. I’m not ready for it.

But off I go… because it’s happening whether I’m ready or not. ‘Tis the season!

Oh, and don’t forget: The May Photo-Heart Connection link up will open on Saturday, June 1. That, at least, I am ready for!

May 29, 2013 by Kat

Low Tide

I don’t get out to the coast nearly often enough. I tell myself this every time I visit. Having grown up landlocked in Colorado, there is always this amazement that I can go to the ocean, to the edge of the continent, in an hour’s drive.

Last weekend was a very low tide, and I went out with other members of the PhotoArts Guild for a Friday morning trip. Up well before dawn, we met at 5am to head out in the drizzle. We were back before I needed to be at work. You can’t beat that!

While I took my big camera, I left it in the car and carried only my iPhone. I could always go back if I decided I wanted my dSLR. (I didn’t.)

I found myself mostly interested in curves. The curve of rock carved by time…

The pools of water…

The sweep of sand and sea (my favorite of the day)…

And the curve of the stranded, waiting for the tide to come back in…

These aren’t my usual subjects, but it was a fun morning, nonetheless. It was great to get out to a new place, with people who know where to go. Great to talk on the drive and get to know the other members better. Great to share online and see the other points of view, after the excursion.

Have you joined a local art or photography group or club or guild yet? You should. Don’t be intimidated – there is always room for one more. You never know where you might end up going, once you join in.

May 28, 2013 by Kat

Retraining the Brain

Did you have a nice weekend? I’ll hear that a lot today, getting back to work after a long weekend. I’ll probably ask it myself once or twice.

And how will I answer?

This morning, lying in bed the last few minutes before getting up, the thought floated through my head, I didn’t do anything yesterday.

Whoa. That caught me off guard. Because I did “do something” yesterday. I took a seven mile hike. Up a hill. In the rain.

Of course, afterward I spent the rest of the day in my comfy chair reading because I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. But I did hike seven miles, before sitting in that chair.

I can clearly see there is a part of me that doesn’t consider that “doing anything.” I didn’t accomplish something worthy; check something off of my “to do” list that I won’t need to do again. This probably explains why any sort of exercise has not been on my radar the last couple of years. Why I’ve been struggling to make time for these hikes. Because to my old mindset, I’m not accomplishing anything.

My sore muscles today tell me otherwise. My photographs tell me otherwise. I just need the message to get through to my head.

Making changes that affect ingrained belief systems, whether we want them lingering or not, is hard. It takes recognizing the thought patterns, and then changing them. I’m at the first step, the recognition of the damaging thoughts.

Whether my brain likes it or not, these hikes are here to stay. And I’ve discovered It’s not just my body that needs the conditioning. Apparently my brain needs retraining too.

May 27, 2013 by Kat

The Space Between

I have been struggling with my art. Yes, I’ve been playing and exploring, but struggling too. Learning something new is like that. The delight of new discovery. The wonder of the first, sometimes accidental, success. Then comes realization of intent. And with it the struggle to recreate what was first encountered by serendipitous accident.

For weeks, since creating this piece called “Looking Through,” I’ve been staring at it on my photo display. Trying to figure out what makes it resonate with me so much. How I can create other pieces with a similar feel.

It’s been a struggle. Lots of experimentation and failures. Many successful in their own way, but not the same as Looking Through. Finally, this weekend I created another that’s on the right track. I finally figured out one of the secret ingredients that had been eluding me — the space between.

The next day, as I was getting ready for yoga, I was wondering what I should do with myself. I had two days left in my holiday weekend, and no major plans. No classes to prepare for, since I’ve rescheduled to take the summer off. No big exhibitions to print and frame; I’m all ready for June. Newsletter written. No looming deadlines. My head started racing off onto new projects and new ideas. I started thinking of what I should do next, making plans. I suddenly stopped short, realizing…

For just a little while, I need to live in the space between.

What did I clear my schedule for this summer, if not to create space? Space for being, instead of doing. Space to take care of body and soul, instead of mind. Space to explore, and see what happens.

Even as I struggle to bring intentional openness into my art, I struggle to stay here, intentionally open, in my life, too. There must be something I need to learn here, in the space between.

May 23, 2013 by Kat

Happiness is a Choice

I am often surprised by how the seemingly simple choices I make affect me in larger ways.

My choice to settle in to the place I live, instead of holding myself back. My choice to play around with mobile photography and see my everyday in new ways. My choice to spend less time on the computer and more time in the woods. All are simple choices, but they have come together in a profound way.

I didn’t quite realize it until my Mom emailed me with a comment this week after my Silent Communication blog post, and I wrote back, “I am falling in love with Corvallis all over again.” I am. I am seeing what this place has to offer me, as it is.

It was a choice. I could have continued to hold myself apart. I could have continued to wish I was somewhere else or that Corvallis was something other than it is. I could have continued to hang on to who I was in a previous time and place. But I would have missed what was right in front of me for the taking.

We have choices in how we approach our life, even if we don’t feel we do. A lot of that choice is around accepting where we are or how things are. And by accepting what is, you open yourself up to what could be. The phrase “bloom where you are planted” comes to mind.

We could be planted in the rockiest soil, but that may be exactly what we need to bloom. We just have to let our roots grow, and find the nourishment waiting for us in the earth below.

I’ve talked about this shift for me here on the blog often over the last six or eight months. I’m now realizing how deep this concept of choosing acceptance can go. It can mean the difference between dissatisfaction and happiness.

This doesn’t mean we need to stay in a place or a situation that doesn’t feed our soul. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make plans or strive for change. But having a measure of acceptance for what is can lead to greater appreciation and happiness of our current state. If you aren’t happy with where you are now, will you truly be happy in some new situation? We often think changing the place or the job or our body is the answer to our woes, when the answer truly lies within. It is available to us in the choices we make.

I choose to accept what is. I choose to be open to what is available to me right now. I choose happiness.

May 22, 2013 by Kat

Abstracted

One of the things I’ve noticed I enjoy lately in my photography is taking things out of context. Removing or changing the normal context for a familiar object creates abstraction, and leads to the the “pause” I’m looking for. You might stop and think, “Hmmmm, I’ve never seen it that way.” Maybe the viewer would ponder if its a photograph or a painting. (Of course those of you reading my blog know its a photograph, but pretend for a moment you didn’t. How do you respond in that situation?)

On Monday I mentioned I went to the iris gardens and didn’t photograph the iris. That’s not totally true, but I didn’t like any of the “traditional” iris images I captured. My favorite one from the day is more about form and color than the flower itself.

Out of context, a bit abstracted. Would you know it’s an iris if I hadn’t told you? The clues are there. That’s what makes it fun.

Archives for May 2013

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