Kat Eye Studio

by

Tomorrow’s the Day!

The Photo-Heart Connection link up for April opens tomorrow! Plan some time to revisit your photos from April, to find your heart connection. I wonder what my heart connection will be this month… will it be an image like this, from Korkula? A city scene from San Francisco? I never know until I go through the process. You and I will both find out tomorrow!

If you haven’t participated before, all are welcome. You can join in once or every month – no expectations or commitments.

To participate, follow these easy steps:

  1. Choose your Photo. Review the photos you worked with in the last month, either new or archive, and find the one with the strongest connection to your heart. Not sure how? Read here.
  2. Write from your heart. Looking at this photo, start to write. See what comes from your heart. There is a message in the image for you, if you open yourself to it.
  3. Share online. Pair your photo and words somewhere online where others can read it, and learn from your experience.
  4. Link in. Visit my blog between the 1st and 7th of the month to link in your Photo-Heart Connection. Connect with other participants by visiting the links.

You will find a great community of kindred spirits, waiting to meet you in the Photo-Heart Connection. See you tomorrow!

by

The End of the Diagonal

Ah, here we are, finishing up our study of Dynamic Diagonals. This has been a great exploration! It’s been fun to take a closer look at all of our images, seeing how we naturally use diagonals and the impact.

As I was looking at images from Korkula last weekend, this diagonal jumped out at me. Completely created by my perspective and the angle of the camera, the diagonal strongly leads me through the frame from the bottom left, where the plant is in focus, to the upper right. With the line running almost corner to corner, I break every rule of diagonals and yet I like it.

This exploration, more than almost any other, has made me want to throw conventional composition knowledge out the window. Yes, it’s useful to study what the experts have to say. But it’s important to not blindly spout or follow their knowledge. There is so much more to how we put together an effective image than compositional “rules.” That’s what makes photography an art form. It’s not just point and shoot, no matter what some may say. It takes the engagement of our whole minds and hearts. That’s what I love about it.

So, let’s wrap up out exploration of Dynamic Diagonals today by breaking every rule. Go crazy! You can still link in below and share your findings with the rest of us. Please take the time to visit your fellow participants and see what they have to show you. The more you see, the more you explore, the more you learn.


by

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…

by

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.

by

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?

by

Lessons from Abroad: Letting Go of Expectations

[Started while living in Italy, the Lessons from Abroad series shares some of the life lessons I learned through my expatriate experience. Since moving back to the US, I’ve found the lessons from living abroad have not abated; just changed. This post continues the periodic series.]

Each of us has a different path through life. Each of us has our own choices to make. We should make the choices with our own hearts in mind, finding the best option for us in the moment. We should be watchful for where we might be choosing to live up to the expectations of others, rather than what’s right for us. This is an area I’ve done a lot of personal work, and feel stronger about ensuring that I’m not following someone else’s path for me. I’m not trying to live up to someone else’s expectations. That’s a good place to be.

The new problem, I’ve recently discovered, is that I’ve been full of my own expectations. Expectations I made for myself while in Italy, upon return home to the US. I returned with many “this is how it’s going to be” statements. I was so worried about losing the personal growth I found in my expatriate experience that I set a path for myself to follow. I made plans. And while I’ve followed those plans for the most part, it’s been with increasing struggle and frustration. I’ve come to realize why – the plans and expectations set for myself while in Italy (let’s call that version of me “Italy Kat”) were done with the best intentions, but without knowing the reality of the situation.

Only the version of me that exists now, in this place and this moment, knows the reality of the situation. Only I can choose what’s best and right for me now. But I’ve become increasingly aware of this little voice in my head as I make new plans, saying, “But you planned… expected… thought…” The voice is Italy Kat, and she’s constantly judging the decisions I make now against the plans I made then. She’s constantly on the lookout for places where I’m off the path she set for me. And she’s quick to make me feel as if I’m falling down on the job if things don’t turn out as she planned.

So I struggle. And I get frustrated. And I discover it’s due to nothing else but my own expectations.

I discover this because the last of my Italy Kat expectations are starting to fray. One by one, over the past months, I’ve had to unravel these expectations. I did have big plans for what life would be like upon moving home. I wonder if I wanted to recreate my Italy experience here. I know now, I can’t. We are in a different place, leading different lives, with different needs. My Italian experience was wonderful, beautiful and life-changing. But I can no longer live my life under the shadow of that experience, with the expectations I set for myself during that time. It’s time to hug Italy Kat, thank her for her only wanting only the best for me, and send her back to Italy where she belongs so that I can get on with the business of living my life the way it needs to be lived. Here. Today.

So I find myself learning another important Lesson from Abroad, almost ten months after repatriation: Living to please and follow the expectations of an older self is just as damaging as living to please others. If we live our lives to please others we only find ourselves empty and unhappy in the end. We lose who we are. It’s the same for our own selves, with the expectations set in another place and time. If we live the path we defined for ourselves in the past, we won’t grow. In trying to keep my Italy experience alive, I wasn’t allowing myself to grow into new experiences. I was starting to lose the very thing that was so important to me – the connection to my heart and soul. That connection must be ongoing, in the moment. It can’t live in the past.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think it’s only obvious to me because the dramatic differences in life that repatriation brought. Has this ever happened to you? Do you recognize yourself in my words? I’ve thought through some steps to help me move through this, and they may be helpful for you as well.

  • If you are struggling in an area, not feeling satisfied because it’s not turning out “as expected,” take a close look at where the expectations are coming from. Are they from a plan that you created for yourself in the past?
  • One you identify the expectation, acknowledge it. State the expectation, make it real. So often these are unspoken expectations, hiding in the background, and it takes acknowledging it to begin to deal with it.
  • Forgive your former self for setting the expectation. Acknowledge and thank her for having your best interests at heart.
  • Let the expectation go. A ceremony might be helpful here, in order to physically act out the letting go of expectations. I’m planning on writing all of Italy Kat’s expectations down on slips of paper and then burning them, letting the ashes blow away in the breeze. Even visualizing this has already helped me let them go.
  • From this clear state, look at the choices you need to make and decide which next steps you want to take on your path. This may take some time, as there is no longer a guiding expectation from the past. As you create a new plan, recognize that you are setting new expectations. Make these openly and with flexibility. Give yourself permission to adjust along the way.
  • Breathe deep, and take the first step on your new path, free and unburdened by the past.

I am still working through these steps for myself. I’ve recognized, acknowledged and let go the expectations set by Italy Kat. I have the blank slate in from of me now. I don’t know that the next step I take will be much different than the one that Italy Kat would have wanted me to take, but I know that I will be doing it for the right reasons now. I will be choosing with my whole heart and soul, in the moment, within the reality of now. That’s the best I can ever hope to do.