Kat Eye Studio

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Filled with Intention

This morning, I continue to ponder the difference between intention and expectation, and the relationship between the two. I continue to seek a way to maintain the space created by letting go of expectations. With all of the random thinking I’ve been doing around this topic, I might have found a way.

Here are my thoughts:

  • Let go of the expectations. No easy task, here. But it’s the starting point. Identifying the expectations that are driving you in a direction, examining them and letting them go if they do not serve you. I started with this, in Lessons from Abroad: Letting go of Expectations, but I didn’t know where to go next.
  • In the space created, explore how you want to feel. Maybe it’s a feeling of peace. Maybe it’s acceptance of what is, or love for the world around you. For me, there is always this desire for balance. I have so many different sides to me, always pulling me different directions. I somewhere gained the expectation I should choose among them, but I have come to realize I am not complete without any of them. I’ve become clear: A feeling of peaceful, joyful balance is what I desire.
  • Fill the space left by letting go of expectations with the intention to feel as you desire. Intention becomes the mirror for evaluating actions. As I set out on a path, I reflect the path against my intention (non-physical feelings) instead of comparing it against some expectations (physical outcomes). If the action fits with the intention I continue; If it doesn’t fit, I change course. The path is guided by the intention, in the moment. I lose the rigidness of a predetermined plan.

I’m liking this sequence. Instead of holding the space left by letting go expectations empty, I’ve filled it with something. But that “something” allows me the space, flexibility and non-attachment to outcomes I am seeking. With my intention filling the space and becoming the guiding factor, maybe I can avoid getting myself into the same situation again. That darn situation of letting expectations for outcomes drive me. Or maybe I can avoid getting myself into the same situation as quickly – I seem to keep coming back to this place so I can only hope that someday I will truly learn and move on.

Thanks for joining me on my journey, no matter how many times I might circle back around to the same place. Especially thank you for your comments; they have been invaluable. Each one is like a spark of thought being shared across a distance. I take the thoughts from you and add them through my own, weaving them together in different ways until they bring me to a new place of understanding. That we can do this with miles of distance between us is testament to the power of human connection. But that’s a topic for another day…

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Popping Over to Paris

I thought I would pop over to Paris this morning. Unfortunately I can’t take an hour flight to pop over there anymore, but it’s nice that I can do it anytime in my photos! We’re “Exploring Icons” this week in A Sense of Place, so I thought I would share this image of the Eiffel Tower, one of the world’s most famous icons. Do you see it in shadow?

I have to share how much I am loving this class! It’s so much fun to get to know the participants and explore the Photography of Place – one of my favorite subjects. I love learning about myself and my photography through the creation and teaching of the course.

Sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do… Why I am compelled to add things like this course on to my already busy schedule of my corporate job, my family, my friends, my travels, my photography. But this reminds me – it’s because I love it. I absolutely love it. This is who I am, how I need to express and process and share my world. It’s an integral part of me now, and I don’t think I could shut it off if I tried.

So even though my ideas sometimes add a layer of craziness to my life, and I wonder if I’m just making my life more complicated than it needs to be, I remember my love for what I do here. I am lucky to have found this part of myself, and to have a venue to share it with all of you.

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Making Space

As I play with the concept of intention the last couple of days, I am finding an adjacent concept of space. Call it space, openness, expansiveness, or freedom – all represent the feeling that I am sensing should come along with an intention. My impression is that when I set an intention, it should not be for a specific outcome. When I intend with a specific outcome, I close down the options; narrow the possible results. Look at the words I’m using: close down, narrow. In direct opposition to open and expansive.

A place to pause in Korkula, Croatia

Whoa, I thought intentions were supposed to be specific and clear? You know, the Law of Attraction and all that.

But now I’m considering, maybe they shouldn’t be “specific and clear” in the way I was thinking – in terms of actions or results. Maybe I need to get clear on the desired outcome in terms of how I feel and not in terms of what actually happens. In my search for beauty on Saturday, there were multiple ways it could have been found. I didn’t limit the possibilities with my intention, I didn’t set any expectations, and the results were surprising, delightful and immensely satisfying.

Aha, there’s a clue in the previous sentence: Intentions are not expectations. I’ve tried to shed expectations recently, and hold open the space that comes when the expectations are cleared. All of this is related.

Here’s what I’m thinking:
– Intentions relate to feelings or internal, non-physical ways of being.
– Expectations relate to outcomes or external, physical results.

There is space and openness with an intention, because there is no attachment to a specific, physical result. None of that expectation stuff. If I intend to live a life filled with beauty, peace and love there are multiple ways that can happen. It doesn’t require a specific outcome, if I’m open to the possibilities that present themselves. If I intend (expect) to live in a mansion and have 10 cars, I am tied to a specific outcome. I’m going to be disappointed, disillusioned and unhappy when it doesn’t come to pass.

I’m going to continue to play with this concept of intention. It feels like I’m on the right track. Thanks for following my meandering thoughts today, as I work through these concepts. I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences and suggestions too!

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The Simplicity of Intention

When I went in search of beauty on Saturday, I found it. I rediscovered the beauty of flowers against warm stone. I revisited a time and a place from a couple of years ago. I recreated a feeling of peaceful exploration through my images from Korkula. It was a joy.

Is this an example of intention? I wanted beauty. I intended beauty. I found beauty. It seems too simple, but maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s the perfect example, showing that intention is not hard. It just is. Wherever we set our attention, wherever we place our thoughts, we develop intention. When we switch it around, putting intention first, it changes the dynamic. Our thoughts and attention follow.

The concept of “intention” has been coming up for me a lot lately. It’s as if there is a cosmic neon sign flashing, “Start here.” This example tells me maybe I’ve been struggling too hard with it. It really is this simple: Intend beauty. Find it.

I sense there is more for me around intention… things like not trying to control outcomes, and being open to what comes. But this is enough for today. I’m going to keep it simple, and enjoy the beauty I found.

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In Search of Beauty

Today I find myself in search of beauty. Craving flowers in my images. As I sat down to write this morning, I discovered I didn’t have any photos ready that I wanted to share today. So I set out in search of some beauty.

For some reason, this brought to mind a day spent in Korkula, Croatia, in 2010. On this day, I wandered the alleyways of the historic stone town. I remember enjoying the shady light, the summer flowers and the texture of the stone. It was a quiet day, as if I had the town to myself. Me and my camera.

Revisiting images of Korkula, I found beauty.

What are you searching for today?

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Studying those Diagonals

It’s been an interesting week so far, studying all of these diagonal lines in our photographs! Exploring with a Camera: Dynamic Diagonals has got me thinking and observing how our eye moves in the frame.

How does your eye move through this image? The diagonals are integral to the image, yet they are not part of the main subject, the city sky line. The view through the fence creates a feeling of separation, but the crazy diagonals of the fence give more energy and life. It doesn’t feel like a stiff separation to me. What’s your response?

I’ve also been pondering the whole idea of the eye primarily “left to right” through the frame. I have seen many situations in the linked exploration where my eye does not move this way. I think the subject itself, along with our own perceptions and experiences, have a strong impact on how our eye moves through the frame. “We always read photographs left to right” is too much of a generalization.

For example, in this image my eye moves from the upper left to the lower right. All of the branches are along this diagonal, with varying angles. It feels as if I am following gravity this way, so it is a comfortable flow. Gravity is pulling the branches toward the ground; my eye follows.

I have noticed in images oriented vertically I tend to follow the diagonal top-to-bottom more than left-to-right. That is how I read the staircase image in my original post, top-to-bottom. Many others, however, followed the staircase UP, bottom-to-top. That is in direct opposition to both the premise that we will read a photograph left-to-right, or even my new idea of top-to-bottom in vertical photos.

As another example, I’ve noticed converging lines along a path or a road have a stronger impact on how I follow a diagonal than the expected “left-to-right” reading. My eye is going to want to follow the path to its conclusion, regardless of the orientation within the frame. In this case, my personal experience of walking down a path or road outweighs the other factors that might influence how my eye moves through the diagonal.

Without a doubt, I’m seeing that diagonals are a dynamic and powerful force in our photographs. How we read them, however, may have more to do with our personal experiences and perceptions than any compositional generalizations.

What are you seeing so far? Share with us today.