Kat Eye Studio

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Looking Back, Looking Forward

I debated on doing the obligatory end-of-year post. In the last week I wrote down a list of all that has happened this year, with the idea I would summarize it here. It turns out, just writing it in my journal was enough, I don’t need to publish a list for effect. It was enough to show me I had an amazing year. A year of transition, of endings and beginnings. A year of wonderful opportunities. In some ways, I’m sad to see 2011 go. As we roll over into the new year, it will be in a year I didn’t live in Italy. 2009, 2010 and 2011 will forever hold that special designation. 2012 will be the year “after Italy.”

Window in Bologna, Italy

But then again, maybe 2012 will earn itself a different designation. As I look at the coming year, I see lots of opportunity. I have some goals, but am leaving space for new ideas to form. I find myself drawn to the concepts of empowerment and connection, and I can feel things shifting to align with these ideas. Stay tuned, there are some new things to come I’ll talk about in the coming days. I’m sure there will be more as the year progresses. That’s the fun of looking forward, you never know what the future will bring. I find myself comfortable, even excited, with that delicious uncertainty.

Window in Ashland, Oregon

Happy New Year to all! Enjoy the last hurrah of 2011 today and the transition into 2012 tomorrow. It’s going to be a very good year, I can feel it!

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Hopeful

It always amazes me the range of emotions you can capture with still photographs of objects. Perhaps that’s why I love the medium of photography so much. To me photography is as much about capturing what I feel as it is capturing what I see. Or, put another way, it’s about capturing what I see with the emotion I feel.

At any rate, while in Ashland a few weeks ago, I spent a good long time capturing these vines against the wall. Yes, the same day I captured crispy fall leaves and a wintery black and white tree, I captured these springy vines. I love the fresh leaves, against the colored wall. Today, as I look at them, the color and new growth fill me with a hopeful outlook. That even in the winter, there are moments of green. Fresh growth and color still exist.

I choose this image because that’s how I feel in general too. Hopeful. After struggling against the down cycle I’ve been in, I finally accepted it at the end of last week. I said to myself, “Here I am. I am sad this holiday season. I miss Italy. I have no creative ideas. I accept it. I’m going to tell my friends, and then I’m going to curl up and read a book.” I’ve been doing that anyway, the book reading part, but I finally gave in and took it all to heart. This is where I need to be. You know what? That’s when I started to feel better.

You see, by accepting where I am, I allowed myself to begin to move through it, and there found a glimmer of hope. I allowed myself to share it with others, and there found encouragement. I’m not alone, neither is the down part of this cycle permanent. It’s hard to remember that sometimes, when you are fighting it so hard.

So this Monday morning, I find myself content with where I sit. The sadness is still here too, and it’s not like I’m bursting with creative ideas yet. But there is a glimmer of hope, and that’s all I can ask for today.

Today’s Many Muses Musing prompt is HOPE. Tomorrow’s prompt is COZY. Come on over and join in!

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Window to the Heart

I’ve been struggling for the last week, with this whole hibernation thing I’ve got going on. I went from crazy-busy-overwhelmed to almost nothing on my plan. It feels really weird. It feels like something is wrong. I was looking forward to this time, when my commitments eased up and I would have space to breathe. Instead of enjoying it, I’ve been fretting. Argh. What is wrong with me?

Deep down, I know the problem. I’m a “doer” – I like to have a goal, a plan, to be moving forward. To sit and be free of a plan is uncomfortable to me, especially after months of intense activity. This is definitely an area for my personal growth.

One evening last week I got together with some friends, and talked about it. They all agreed, I need this time of nothingness. I need to just sit with it and see what comes. This is how new ideas are born. That night, as I was getting ready for bed, this thought popped into my head: Your photos will show you the way. They always do.

The truth of that thought instantly resonated with me. For it has been my photos that have shown me the way, every step of my creative journey. It is my images where my inner heart is revealed, sometimes in surprising ways. So that’s what I will do: Focus on my photography. From there I’ll find the way through this time of hibernation, to whatever new adventures lie beyond.

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Happy Endings

You cannot have a happy ending to an unhappy journey.
–Abraham-Hicks

Wow. Those words are so simple and profound. I read them in one of those daily inspirational emails this morning, and they struck me to stillness.

We are all on a different journey in our lives. Each journey is unique in its challenges and our responses. But there is a universal truth in the quote above: How we approach our journey affects the outcome. Do we approach it openly, with a willingness to learn? Do we feel gratitude for what comes our way? Or do we rail against the unfairness of the universe, wishing things were different and trying to shape things to our liking?

There is a different energy that comes when we force or control than when we accept and learn, don’t you think? Whether a journey is unhappy or happy depends mostly on us, on our attitude, regardless of the circumstance.

Happiness is a choice. Gratitude is a choice. As we head into the holiday season, with all of the potential stresses and joys, I’m going to remember this. I’m going for the happy ending by choosing to be happy on the journey. I hope you will too!

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Dramatic Cropping

Today we are going back to the Rhine River Valley in Germany, to the town of Bacharach. This image has been in my file waiting to be shared for ages, and today it won’t leave my head. Isn’t it a beautiful scene? So “German,” with the timber-frame house. So “Rhine River Valley,” with the grape vines growing on the hillside behind. So summery, with the sun, the green vines, and the flowers. This house is the Altes Haus, one of the oldest timber-frame houses in existence, built in 1368.

Take a moment to look below at the original image. It’s just ho-hum. A little overexposed in the sky and the composition doesn’t do anything for me. It’s amazing what cropping can do. Reducing the extraneous information improved the image. I don’t normally crop my images this dramatically, going from vertical to horizontal, but look at the difference!

This morning I’ve been considering what “cropping” I need to do in my life, so it should be no surprise to me that this image comes to mind. Where am I filling my time with extraneous things? Am I spending my energy in places that aren’t moving me in my chosen direction? It is easy to get into a cycle of do-do-do. To join activities because they sound fun without ever considering everything else that you have going on. Ignoring the time and energy loss that being overwhelmed can create. Even if you don’t follow through on the activities, the mere guilt or remorse of having joined and not taken action can drain us.

Today I ask you to consider, is there something that you need to crop from your life? What would make your personal “composition” better, just by trimming a little extra away? Like a photo, where you have no guilt whatsoever about removing extraneous information, just decide and let it go. Focus on the part that makes the image, your life, a healthy and complete whole.

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Yesterday my fellow muse Suki asked a question to the Mortal Muses, “If you did a 365, what did you learn this year by doing it?” Initially, I dismissed the question because I didn’t do a 365. (For those of you who don’t know, a “365” is where you take a photo every day, for an entire year.) But then I realized that I do my own sort of daily photography practice, if a bit different.

A little over a year ago, in November 2009, I started posting a photo a day here on the blog. Up to that point my blogging had been sporadic, and I didn’t have much focus. I had all of these great pictures from our travels, but it was so overwhelming to think of editing and posting many of them to tell the stories. I wasn’t interested in writing about our daily lives or travels. Sorting through, editing and picking one favorite photo a day, however, was doable. I decided to try that.

This simple little decision has had a profound impact on me. Today I found myself journaling this in answer to Suki’s question, on what this simple daily practice has given me:

  • The discovery that photography is art. And I am an artist. I’ve been able to claim that title, grow confident in myself as an artist. Along with seeing myself as an artist, I see my work as art.
  • Finding my “eye,” the portrayal of the world around me that is all my own. I can see it, own it as mine. There is huge confidence and satisfaction that comes with that. 
  • The discovery that photography is a passion for me. I love being in the moment. Finding the evidence of life – beauty, joy, love, happiness, even imperfection – all around me in the smallest of things.
  • I’ve become deeply aware of my art and creativity as an extension of my soul. It links to something at the core of my being, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.
  • The discovery that I can share this passion, this confidence and wonderful self-awareness I’ve gained, with others through writing on my blog and now with my Find Your Eye course. My “corporate world” skills are not completely unrelated to my passion, they can directly translate into great things in my creative, artistic life.
  • I’ve found that I’m a writer. I enjoy writing, like communicating ideas via words, having a conversation with others online. Combining words with photos has been an incredible source of creativity for me.
  • I’ve learned that following my heart – whether it’s in taking a photo, writing a blog post, taking a course of action – is never, ever wrong. It has always led to good things, even if everyone around me is not immediately happy about it. Following your heart is not about making other people happy. 
  • I’ve found an amazing community of people here on the internet – through the blogs I read, the people who read mine and comment, Mortal Muses, other groups and challenges I’ve participated in. I’ve found people who have similar interests and passions and challenge me in such positive ways. Those connections are incredible. I look forward to forming more of them, more interaction, more friendships as I continue on.

It’s good to take a moment, look back and see all of the gifts I’ve been given through this one step. I don’t think it matters whether you specifically do a 365 or post a photo a day or write three pages every morning or whatever it might be. I don’t think it even matters that it is every single day (I certainly haven’t done that here!). What matters is that you find a regular practice that you learn and grow from, and you stick to it long enough to see the benefits.

I can’t stop doing this now, posting a photo and some words most days on my blog. I would lose some important, integral piece of myself. This practice, for me, is a gift that keeps on giving.

Today’s 9 Muses Musing challenge is GIVING. Stop by and leave a comment or link up to win the giveaway.
Tomorrow is my challenge day for 9 Muses Musing, and it’s LIGHTS. I know, big surprise! Get those holiday light photos tonight if you can – I have a great giveaway you won’t want to miss!!

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