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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The One

Occasionally, I come across something that speaks to my creative soul. It reaches right in and touches the depths of who I am as an artist and what I create. I often call my favorite type of work “Real Life Still Life,” where I seek to compose beauty in a photograph from something that already exists. Some scene created by another person intentionally or unintentionally. Something decorated by time and weather.

Here is one such scene found in my exploration of Northwest Portland on Saturday. It speaks to my heart and soul. The soft light, the subtle colors, the varied textures and Oh! The lines! All of those flowing lines. Heaven.

It fills me with joy just looking at it. It’s this kind of image that keeps me going. Keeps me wandering, and searching, and photographing. Every once in a while I get to capture a scene like this. It’s not often, but I’ve come to recognize the signals. There will be a feeling in my heart, as if inspiration is filling me up and if I don’t act on it, my chest is going to burst. There will be a sense of lost time. Nothing else exists for me as I study the scene with my camera. As I leave the scene, I hope there will be something good in my collection of images. If not, I had that wonderful moment of inspiration.

It’s even more rewarding when I get “The One” from a scene like this. You know The One? The One photograph that makes your heart skip a beat. The One where you say, “Yes, that is perfect! That’s exactly what I wanted to capture.” The One that goes directly into your Inspiration File. The One in a thousand photographs. Maybe more.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen The One. Maybe it’s because I’ve been photographing less. Maybe it’s because I’m getting pickier. Whatever the reason, today’s image the The One from Saturday. From May. From 2012… that remains to be seen.

Have you seen The One lately, in your photographs? How do you know when you’ve found it? Feel free to share your images with a link in the comments. I think this will be a fun discussion.

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Dissolving Problems

Isn’t it funny how when something comes up in your consciousness, you suddenly notice it everywhere? Like getting a new car. Suddenly you notice how many of the same car are on the road. Your awareness helps you see what was already there.

Last week, when I wrote Focus on the Good, it was unrelated to anything else that was going on for me. Since then, the concept of “focusing on the good” has come up numerous times. It’s coming up in books I’m reading, in conversations with others, and in my own self-examination of things going on around me. I keep seeing how focusing on the good brings me to a better place. It keeps me moving forward, instead of wallowing and getting stuck.

In general, I consider myself an optimistic personality. When I run into a problem, I don’t get stuck. I say, “OK, here I am. What am I going to do about it?” I’m a problem solver. I think you have to be optimistic to solve problems. If you believe there is no solution to something, there won’t be. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But maybe the “problems” don’t always need “solved.” Maybe it’s just a matter of seeing what’s good in a situation, and going with that. I wonder, would the “problems” dissolve away, in that case? It’s something for me to think about. I see some interesting possibilities in the idea of problem dissolving rather than solving. As if maybe, some of the problems aren’t really problems in the first place.

You can see the dandelions as weeds, or as a pretty yellow flower. Your actions will be different, depending on how you look at the situation.

Focus on the good. Dissolving problems. I might be playing with this idea here for a while. I think there is something to it.

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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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Filling the Void

If there is a void, I want to fill it. As I work on letting go of old expectations, I’m discovering how hard it is to leave the void alone. My personality wants to fill it with new plans and new expectations.

What I recognize I need to do though, is sit with the void. Discover the texture and feeling of the open space. Let something new evolve to fill it over time. Yes, I can have plans. Yes, I can have expectations. But let’s set the big, long term ones aside for a while, I tell myself. Leave the void alone. Leave that space.

I’m not so good at that. It seems as if I’m always clearing space and filling it up again. Clearing space on my schedule. Clearing space in my expectations. Only to find a month or two later it’s just as full as it was before.

How about you? Any tips you can share, to help me keep the space I’ve cleared?

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Scooter Sightings: Too Italian

I am in love. In love with a scene that just screams “Italy” to me. I decided it was time for the monthly Scooter Sightings post so I visited my archive, discovering this image. Why didn’t I see and celebrate this image before? It has so many elements that are Italian – the texture, the niche, the scooter parked where it’s not supposed to be parked. I’m entranced by the triangle of red created between the flowers, the scooter and the candle. A perfect scooter sighting. I can’t believe I’m just falling in love with it now, more than a year after I encountered the scene in Sicily.

Scooter sightings are still pretty slim around here in Oregon, what with the SNOW and all! I did see a very bundled up scooter rider the other day, the brave soul. I’m longing for warm summer days to get out on my scooter again!

Until then, I have to manage with scooter sightings from my archive. And thankfully, I have more people sharing scooter sightings with me…

This sighting comes from Sherry, in Alvin, Texas. She says the owners were taking a motorcycle class at the Community College in Alvin. How cute is that, with the red VW bug pulling the red scooter? The only thing that would make it better is if it was a FIAT 500 instead of a bug!

Next we have these unusual sightings sent by Brianna from San Francisco, California. I asked her what was up with the typewriter, and she answered, “I was working on a photo shoot for the cover of the next edition of The Edge, a local literary publication here in Tahoe. It was a fun shoot, we just walked around San Francisco shooting this old typewriter in odd places.” A typewriter on a scooter, odd indeed!

Thanks to both Brianna and Sherry for helping me get my scooter sighting fix! Do you have a scooter sighting? Send it to me and I’ll share it here on the blog in my next Scooter Sightings post.

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