• Photography,  quotes

    On the Way

    September 12, 2010
    On the Way

    “I pray I may keep my feet on the way.”

    I often fail to keep my feet on “the way”, in fact sometimes I feel I’m not any “any way.” It’s a recurring theme in my life to take my shoes off, or not even putting them on, and therefore not venturing along a path. Laying on my couch, propping my feet up will not get me very far. I can sure dream about walking along some wonderful path but the motivation to move fails me. It reminds me of the lyrics from the song in the move Madagascar, “Move it, move it, move it.” I need to “move it” more.

    I’m aware of something within me that discourages me from moving forward and sometimes paralyses me. Steven Pressfeild labels it resistance, a force to stop us from accomplishing things in life. I’ve also heard it referred to as our “lizard brain” by Jeff Godin. There is a voice whispering the fear of my failures and successes, or it reminds me of the required effort on my part, or that I will have to learn something new. No matter what it’s called or what it says, the challenge is to know it exists and then to put on our shoes and walk. There are so many paths for us to find, and each is our own. No one else will have the same journey as me. No one else will have the same doors to open. Even though somedays I struggle with my progress, I’m know I’m on my way.

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  • Plants

    Commenting

    September 11, 2010
    20100812-_DSC4414.jpg
    Teasels

    When checking on a favorite photoblogger do you ever find yourself glancing at their image then movinig quickly to the comments, rather than spending time looking at the image to see what it says to you? Well, I do. It seems strange to me that I do this. Am I wanting to know what others see so I can see what they see? Even after posting an image on my blog I find myself wondering what people will say about my images or the commentary I may have included.

    So, it brings up the question: what would our blogs look like if we only were able to post images but were not able to post comments. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

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  • landscape

    Artist and Technician

    September 10, 2010
    Routt National Forest

    Earl Moore had an interesting post a few of days ago that caused me to stop and think, so I wanted to pass along the link to it for those who may be interested. He talks about how we mix these three ingredients in our photography: technique, vision and emotion. I really like his statement, “You are the artist and technician.” It is so relevent in my photography. When I reflect back over the years, the mixture of those three ingredients in my photography has varied from time to time. I can see those times where I was mixing in large portions of vision but skimping on the craft and emotion. While at other times there were spoonfuls of emotion mixed with poor craftsmanship.

    I think the tools and techniques I choose, my perspective when I pressed the shutter, my emotions when I pressed the shutter and the way I feel about that work, both at the time of capture and in post processing, are truly mine. So when the switch is turned on and I am in the mode of photographer, I can be the artist or the technician.  Thanks, Earl!

    You’re right on, Earl!

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  • Cityscapes/Urban,  Plants

    This Works

    September 2, 2010
    Green Leaves

    I found these leaves against the wood fence while on a walk around my hotel. Just after I returned to my room it began to rain. As I watched it rain from my window I noticed how the contrast had changed with the fence and leaves so dramatically. I realize how we so often will walk away with just the images we found at that particular moment. We can wish for better light or stronger contrast, or had a different lens with us, or had brought our flash, but that doesn’t really matter for me. I think what matters is we were out and about, looking for opportunities and experiencing these moments.  I can’t have everything and for me, this image works just fine.

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