Kat Eye Studio

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Photo-Heart Connection: August

Behind the scenes he worked. Starting hours before the performance, the guitar tech began getting ready. The performers were nowhere to be seen, but he was there. Gently unpacking and prepping the guitars, his hands steady and sure.

The sun went down and the lights came on. The performers took the stage. Throughout the performance he stood at the ready. Knowing what song came next, what each guitarist needed. Everything flowed. He knows his job and does it well. You can tell, because no one noticed him there on the side of the stage.

There are so many roles like this in our world. So many people behind the scenes, making things work smoothly. They are skilled. They love what they do. They make a difference to those around them.

So today I’m thinking about how we often notice only the headline act. We see the artists on stage, in the spotlight. But they wouldn’t be there, successfully doing what they do, without the backstage artists that make everything work. I’m thinking about the people in my life who are backstage artists for me in different ways. I owe them my notice and my thanks.

My Photo-Heart Connection this month is from da Vinci Days, an annual festival of art, science and technology here in Corvallis. I had the good fortune to be the Main Stage photographer for the headline night of the festival, where I got the backstage view and prime locations to photograph the performance. I am honestly surprised at picking this one as my Photo-Heart Connection. It was a tough month to choose. I had a lot of photos; many with a strong heart connection. At one point, as I was narrowing the field down, I had to stop and go do something else to clear my thoughts and emotions.

In the end, it was the hands that drew me in. As I looked at the guitar tech’s hands, I remembered how this guy did his job, quietly and confidently. He didn’t really talk to anyone that I saw. He was just always there, doing what needed to be done for his band. Such a simple photo of hands, teaching me a bigger lesson. Reminding me to watch for those backstage artists in my life and thank them.

What did you discover in the Photo-Heart Connection this month?


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Thirty Minutes

Can you spare thirty minutes for me? I bet if I called you and asked you for thirty minutes of your time, you would give it to me.

What about sparing thirty minutes for you? If you wanted to do something, all for you, would you create thirty minutes to do it? Maybe, maybe not. We all have a long list of “things to do” don’t we? We couldn’t possibly spare ourselves thirty minutes, we wouldn’t get everything on that “to do” list done.

Yet I’ve been realizing just how much you can do with only thirty minutes a day. In late January I started to learn to play guitar. I have one thirty minute lesson per week, and I practice somewhere around thirty minutes almost every day.

Less than four months later, I have callouses on my fingers and I can actually play a song or two. They still aren’t perfect, and there’s no way I can sing and play at the same time, but the songs are recognizable. And I’m so excited. I can play the guitar, and I love it.

Five months ago I would have told you I have no time to learn to play the guitar. Are you crazy? On everything else I have to do? But I did. And it didn’t mess up any other commitments or items on the “to do” list. It didn’t stress me out in any way. Because I’m doing it with thirty minutes a day.

Turns out, I can easily spare thirty minutes. It’s starting to make me wonder what else I might be able to do, when I think of it this way.

How about you, is there something you want to do? Is there something you think will take a vast amount of time to learn? Maybe it’s learning to use Lightroom. Maybe it’s starting an exercise routine. Maybe it’s creating in an art form you love. I imagine there are many things on your wish list of items to learn and do.

Can you spare thirty minutes? Think about it seriously. I bet you can. And then, you can decide: What you will do with your thirty minutes a day?

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Music in Me

Creating takes many forms. We often think of creating as bringing something wholly original into the world. We limit ourselves with this belief.

When we take some raw material and transform it into something new, we create. When we cook a meal from ingredients, we create. When we combine pieces of clothing from our closet into an outfit, we create. When we pick up an instrument and bring sounds from it, we create.

I’ve been exploring this aspect of creating through my new/old guitar. I’m not the “creator” of the music I’m learning, but I am the creator of the sounds. This guitar would not be making these sounds were it not for me. The music doesn’t exist without me.

Every day, we get to create. Every day, we start with raw materials and turn them into something new. There is freedom and joy that comes with this knowledge. I love knowing this, don’t you?

In The Picture

This month’s {in the picture} theme is “Write On,” putting words on our self-portraits in some way. I thought this quote was perfect to express what I’ve discovered about playing the guitar. I envisioned this shot in my head, wanting the view out the window overexposed and me to be dark in contrast. I set it up using a tripod and remote, and discovered it was challenging to use the remote to trigger the camera, drop it, and get my hands in position in time to take the photo. It took a few tries! The blur of my head was a total accident, I must have been looking between my hands at the moment the picture was taken, but I found I liked the softness it brought to the image. It went well with the light.

So, month two of my self-portrait journey is done, and it’s getting a little bit easier. It helped to know what I wanted to “say” with the photo, and focusing on the concept I was wanting to convey rather than the idea that it is a photograph of me. How’s it going for you?

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A New Love

I have a new love these days. It came at me out of the blue, unexpected. I’m learning to play the guitar. Not just any guitar, but my Dad’s 1950’s Gibson.

Sometimes life throws us a curveball. Through some twists and turns, the guitar came to me in January. My brother, the only one who played, inherited it after my Dad passed away in 1995. Now it’s come to me for safekeeping.

I have so many memories of my Dad playing this guitar. Listening to him play 50’s and 60’s country-western music. Singing along to “Country Roads” by John Denver and “Sing a Song” by the Carpenters. Hours spent on Saturday nights watching TV at a certain house, while my Dad played music in the basement with his friends. He had this guitar my whole life, even before he married my Mom in 1969. It was a tiny piece of him we were able to keep after he passed away.

My Dad and the guitar in the 1980's

If you had asked me, two months ago, if I would be learning guitar today I would have laughed at you. What guitar? Who has time? I would have said. But when this piece of my history arrived and I put my hands on the guitar I knew it couldn’t stay in its case. I knew I had to learn. It’s like a living thing; it needs to be played. And by playing it, I feel closer to my Dad than I have in a long time. As I learn to play the chords I wonder how he managed to use his very large fingers to play them. I wonder how and when he got this guitar, why he chose this particular one. And I miss him, even more.

My guitar-playing friends seem to love this guitar. It’s a ~1956-7 Gibson ES125 hollow-body electric. Don’t know that that means? Don’t worry, neither did I a couple of months ago. It’s an early electric guitar, and little tiny piece of guitar history. A big piece of my personal history, growing larger every day.

I was surprised at how comfortable it is in my hands; how well it seems to fit me. I find that I like having music in my life again. Making music again. (I played flute years ago.) I always like learning something new, but in this I’m a true beginner. I can see how far I have to go, to even play a song. But I’m working on it. Working a little bit everyday, through the sore fingers and the awkward pauses to play the chords right and someday, I’ll be able to play a song or two.

And you know what? Surprise of all surprises, I’m loving every minute of it.

PS – Today is the last day to enter the Market/Wheels Giveaway! I would love your feedback as I prep for my exhibition, and you could win a matted print for giving it. Visit this post here for the details.

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