state of being, state of spring

A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. Yet despite the strong similarities, the functions of each cortical hemisphere are different...

On the left side--the side of my head dominated by a cubicle farm--stuff's getting lined up to get done. Woken up from what had to have been the worst case of cold-weather despair I've felt in years, my left brain is ready to kick some manuscript butt, some income butt, some tax butt, and some photographic butt. My left brain is tough-loving itself. My left brain is ready for stumps and puddles.

On the right side--the side of my head dominated by a grassy meadow--stuff's getting let go. Stuff that was turning my green, sun-washed open space into a black-clouded tangle. All the self-inflicted agony and doubt and thumbtack shoes, as much a part of the human condition as capillaries and pancreas. Fear and shame and all those stories about how I'm fraudulent and no good. It's irreconcilable stuff. And so rather than trying to convince it away I self-soothe, a mama to myself: Now, now, tangle. Sleep for a bit.

You know what happens when you let go? You make space. Space for the left side to organize the picnic, pitch the tents, and hang the paper lanterns. Space for new things to happen.

It's spring. May as well abandon all that thinking in favour of some good, simple doing. Roses on cheeks.

What's your state of mind? Patch together old or new photography to interpret your left and your right, right now.

still with life

I'm still on this abstract kick. Waiting for spring, maybe. I'll cop to that. In the meantime, inanimate things around the house speak to me, asking to be turned into something else. Or into an idea, an emotion, stripped of everything else until it becomes movement, colour, singularity.

Today, find something around the house, put it in pretty light, get close, and see what you can make of it. Try thinking beyond things that are already pretty, though this pop-up book comes close. Rather than reaching for a favourite memento or vase of flowers or a bowl of fruit, find a pile of lego or a coil of string or an empty glass bottle. Make it into more than itself, or show me some past moment where photography felt like that: the animation of inanimate things.

I spy

I don't want him to smile. Not like that. Not like HA HA CAMERA LOOK AT MY FUNNY FACE or OH ALRIGHT MOMMY BUT YOU OWE ME ANOTHER TOONIE. I want to catch him absorbed in something other than the act of having his picture taken, and so I skulk. My shutter tiptoes, hunting immersion. I want nothing else other than the moment of processing: taste. The love child of pink and red. Maraschino!

Today, show me photographer-as-skulk-artist. Show me what you peeked at.

out of hibernation

A blizzard, then an ice storm. Then rain, then a cold snap, and everything freezes solid. Foliage is dead and buried, brittle or frozen. Everything hibernates.

Go ahead, says February. Find my beautiful. And I'm not talking about that salt-weathered barn in the middle of that field. No standing half a mile back. Get up close. Make something of nothing.

I've got a bit of a plan now. A wide-open aperture, a deliberate shoving through of foreground, a focusing on the middle. Lying in snow, stalks tangled up in my camera strap. It makes camera into brush, composition into canvas.

+++

It doesn't matter what you think you're shooting. What's in front of you is not your photographic subject. Your photographic subject is whatever that thing or person or scene evokes. Your subject is the feeling, the story, or the questions you raise by capturing that thing or person or scene one way versus another. Let's strip this down and test it. Here's a bunch of stuff.

I looked at the table in front of me. A coil of wire, some reflective paper, a pad of steel wool, some bolts, unraveled wool, crumpled paper and too much else to make sense of. I looked back up at the instructor.

Take whatever looks interesting, and photograph any of these subjects. She pushed a paper across the table to the group of us.

Loneliness
Love
Cold
Warm
Fear
Safety

It doesn't matter what materials you use. What matters is your creative intention in arranging and capturing them.

I choose 'cold' and photographed it. And I forgot it until now, or at least forgot the connection between that abstract photography course and what I'm looking for when I'm outdoors in February. I'm not looking for pretty subjects. I'm looking for shape and line, company and loneliness.

+++

The first time I did it, it was an experiment, an exercise in blurring eyes and looking to see what else I'd found other than a withered, mid-winter hosta. I've been on hiatus from Shutter Sisters for a while, and now I'm back at the very peak of my photographic dry season (which I write about every year without fail, each time with that whiny, northeastern lilt). And so I remembered the basics.

Have you ever abstracted subjects to their elements? Have you set out with the intention to construct a photograph of colour - just colour - or line, shape, texture, or space? I'd love to see. Either that, or just tell me how you're doing and what you're shooting. It's been too long.

placekeepers: another bel kai necklace for the capture collection (giveaway!)

There's almost nothing quite so steadfast as beachgrass. It digs in deep to keep beaches from washing away, holding its place through hurricanes, blizzards, and seasonal sleep. On its own a blade of beachgrass is unspectacular but together, in vast schools, they glimmer like a thousand mackerel, swishing through salt air just the same -- as one entity.

We don't pay these things enough thanks -- these proud and plain and useful elements of ourselves that keep life from washing away. They are placekeepers. They do the humble work of rooting magical things.

I'm delighted to share with you my Bel Kai Designs necklace, the newest treat added to the Capture Collection of Shutter Sisters photographic jewelery. To celebrate, we're giving one away today. Comment here by midnight PST to be eligible. Tell me this: what helps you keep your place in this life?

Update on Thursday, September 2, 2010 by Kate Inglis

All these responses were so wonderful... I love seeing all that grounds you. Congratulations to NTE, the 71st commenter and winner of the 'placekeepers' necklace from Bel Kai Designs. Thank you all for participating! ~ Kate