sorrow, like the wind, comes in gusts

As with almost all things you can observe good bones underneath neglect. Line, shape, echo. A home, a boat, a woman. Look at what she might have been, had she been loved.

Hollow cheeks and a weary posture belong among us. They speak when voices do not. The wind-shredded tarps tell the story of her abandonment more harshly than proud, bare wood and so we trudge through snowbanks and across this hayfield to visit her again, to whisper to her of her dignity. I lay my hand on her as I always do, pet her like an old dog demoralized with immobility and deprived of its vigor-giving toil.

Sadness makes outrage and outrage makes conviction, if only this: I will never fail something so lovely. I will give it love, even adoptive love, even if all that can be is to give her the pulse of the ocean from the palm of my hand.

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Do you see beauty in solitude, abandonment? Does your camera tell stories for the voiceless?

Practice

 

I’m often asked about this ‘exercise in mindfulness’ that I practice daily. What is it about? How did it begin? When and where? And more importantly- how do I continue to do what I do day-after-day?

It began with an unlikely pair of domesticated Pekin Ducks that found themselves living in the wild on a small pond not too far from where I live. It was the summer of 2004. Although photography had always been an interest and a passion, it was rekindled when these white ducks miraculously appeared and crossed my path. They quickly became my morning muse, my focus, my reason for once again picking up my camera and looking at the world through its lens. As the greens of summer turned into the rich warm hues of autumn and as those faded into winter whites, I continued to photograph this pair until their disappearance and ultimate sad demise.

Funny how ‘endings’ can so often be ‘beginnings’ in disguise. Their disappearance forced me to look at the world around me; to search the everyday ordinary and find the extraordinary in each and every new day. Without them as my guide and muse I had a chance to start once again from the beginning; to seize the opportunity to see the world in a whole new way.

As an avid yoga practitioner, I study the power of presence, the strength of acceptance, and the grace of embracing what ‘is’. This ‘practice’ of photographing the world as I see it has become no different than that of stepping on my mat, feeling the ground solidly beneath my feet, opening my heart and my eyes to the world as it unfolds around me. It is a union of body and mind and the click of the shutter’s lens. Day after day, week after week and month after month after that, no matter what the forecasted weather I get up before the sun rise and walk my morning walk. With my camera over my shoulder and in my hand, I ‘practice’recording the world as I see it. I never know in advance what it was I might find. The perfect scene, the perfect moment, the perfect light are allinconsequential and often elusive. There is always something new to see and be seen; something to be captured from a different point-of-view and in a whole new way. The morning light, the weather, the mood, the seasons are ever changing and evolving along with my vision.

Looking thru my lens I often find myself totally immersed in the moment and what it has to offer. My ‘practice’ has become a daily reminder that there is hidden magic in the details if we actually stop and breathe and look and listen.

Am curious to hear how you do what you do? What inspires and motivates? What gets you up in the morning??? What is your muse? And how do you keep that passion going?

Photograph and words courtesy of Honorary Sister / Guest Blogger Marcie Scudder. You can see more of her beautiful work(her practice) on her blog Daily Practice.

Take a Seat

The holidays are such a hectic time! There is so much planning, buying, cooking, calling, mailing, traveling and visiting going on. We rush through our days trying to be efficient and looking to please everyone... We tend to focus on the energy we need to put forth, and we forget what is there to also be received.

So I wanted to share the photo above with you, as an invitation for you to slow down a bit. Please snuggle in that while little chair for a moment, and fully experience all the joy and generosity of the season!

When you're feeling pressure... Take a seat and lighten up. Don't be so hard on yourself. You've done enough. Too much seriousness about everything, only contributes for a killjoy attitude!

When you're feeling frustrated... Take a seat and breathe. You can give in to anger and resentment or you can hold your seat and be merry!

When you're feeling disconnected... Take a seat, close your eyes and put your hands over your heart. Let that beat humble you and make you feel grateful for all that you are and all that you have!

But of course you can take a seat any other time you'd like too. Just allow this little chair to be a friendly reminder, that you can always find your way back to your center and true intention.

Image and words courtesy of Honorary Sister / Guest Blogger Alex of Gypsy Girls Guide.

For today's giveaway Alex is offering an image of choice; an especially matted and packaged 8x10 photograph from her Etsy shop! You'll have a tough time choosing as each is as enchanting as the next but you only have to leave a comment for a chance to win! Good luck!

A happy congrats to camerashymomma for winning a copy of Kelly Rae Robert's book Taking Flight.

feast

Love After Love  

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life. 

 -Derek Walcott

If there is an image that shines a light on the feast of your life, share the bounty with us today.

Touching Down

Returning home after our 24 hours in Chicago

There are those moments that sweep us up from where we stand and carry us beyond where our normal motion might ever dare take us. Events when our feet leave the ground, our head in the clouds, with a lightness of feathers drifting with the wind of possibilities. In this state of being we allow ourselves to be led, up and down by the lofty elevation of circumstances we don’t have the time nor the desire to process.

I’m a pretty grounded person; feet firmly planted, taking great comfort in my well-established roots of routine and predictability. And still, I will move and sway, arms reached up like branches welcoming the movement of what the climate might bring. Although I much prefer a zephyr to a gale, one can’t control the weather. Nor predict it.

The last few days a nor’easter of chance has howled through my life leaving me feeling, among other things, displaced and disheveled. A swift force of nature uprooted me and yet the thrill of shifting, spinning and spiraling in such unstable conditions felt as invigorating as they did overwhelming. And so I let go.

As quickly as they came, the winds are dying down and I feel my feet once again touching the ground. I sense the sturdy, solid weight of my body settling in again, using the earth below me as my stability and my strength. I remind myself that below me is hallowed ground and I sink my roots back into the soft, earth. It welcomes me home again. I am altered, there is no doubt. But what remains is who I am and no winds of change can ever take that away.

How do you deal with sudden climate changes of your life? Are you open to being tossed about in the currents (good, bad or otherwise) or would you rather batten down the hatches and keep yourself firmly planted? If there is by chance a photograph that illustrates a symbol of your stance (or flight), I hope you choose to share it today.