We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
~ Woodrow Wilson
I have been thinking a lot lately about what a huge influence photography has been over the past 150 years or so. The stories that have been told, the faces we have been privileged to see, the events that have been recorded. Miraculous may seem like somewhat of an exaggeration, but I really don’t think it is. Photography is vital to all of us. With it we have a link to not only the world’s history, but our own history; as families and as individuals.
I think most of us tend to look at photography as just something fun, nothing out of the ordinary; when, in fact, it is nothing but ordinary. Albert Camus said, “If we understood the enigmas of life there would be no need for art.” There are things in photographs that cannot be written about, cannot be described. When I look at pictures of my father or my grandparents or even just a trip that I took long ago, I am there once again, in that moment. I could not describe that feeling to anyone, although I’m sure most people have felt it.
Most people these days have cameras, whether it’s in your phone or a small pocket camera or a big, expensive DSLR. If you do have a camera, here are some tips on getting the most out of your photography…
2) Back up your files. Make sure you have more than one copy on just one computer. Use DVDs or put them on an external drive. Your best option is to put them in another location in case of a fire or burglary.
3) If you are a parent and you are the one always taking the pictures, get in front of the camera every so often. I have known plenty of people whose parents did not like to get their photos taken and therefore were behind the camera (I am one of them). Force yourself to let your kids take your pictures. I hate to bring up such a morbid topic of death, but we do all die and our kids and grandkids want pictures of us. They don’t care if we had a bad hair day, look fat, feel ugly… doesn’t matter to them. Get in front of the camera.
4) Use whatever camera you have. The type of camera doesn’t matter; what matters is that it is used.
5) Organize your picture files. Make sure you use a folder structure that is easy for you to use and access. Use keywords so you are able to search.
6) Share your pictures. It is so easy to do today using Flickr and Facebook. Just a click of a button and relatives on the other side of the country can keep in touch.
7) After you share on the computer, print your pictures. This is so important. We tend to just leave our photos on the computer these days. We share them online, but no one sees the actual print. There is nothing like an actual printed photograph, especially framed and hung up on your wall.
8 ) Get your family photographed professionally. It doesn’t matter if you hire me or someone else, but you never know what the future holds and those pictures could be priceless.
9) If you are a photographer like me, make sure you leave your camera behind sometimes. It’s also important to actually be in the moment. You can miss a lot standing behind the lens, seeing life through the viewfinder. When you are out from behind it you can actually participate.
10) Don’t stress. Photography should be fun. Enjoy your camera. Enjoy pressing the shutter. There are no more worries about cost of film or developing. Just shoot.
I came across this poem the other day through a friend’s Facebook page and I had to share it. It spoke to me about embracing disabilities, which I have been struggling a lot with lately (and will have to be shared in a later post).
Doctor, you say that there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life
to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don’t see,
to learn that the line I called the horizon
does not exist and sky and water,
so long apart, are the same state of being.
Fifty-four years before I could see
Rouen cathedral is built
of parallel shafts of sun,
and now you want to restore
my youthful errors: fixed
notions of top and bottom,
the illusion of three-dimensional space,
wisteria separate
from the bridge it covers.
What can I say to convince you
the Houses of Parliament dissolve
night after night to become
the fluid dream of the Thames?
I will not return to a universe
of objects that don’t know each other,
as if islands were not the lost children
of one great continent. The world
is flux, and light becomes what it touches,
becomes water, lilies on water,
above and below water,
becomes lilac and mauve and yellow
and white and cerulean lamps,
small fists passing sunlight
so quickly to one another
that it would take long, streaming hair
inside my brush to catch it.
To paint the speed of light!
Our weighted shapes, these verticals,
burn to mix with air
and changes our bones, skin, clothes
to gases. Doctor,
if only you could see
how heaven pulls earth into its arms
and how infinitely the heart expands
to claim this world, blue vapor without end.
~ Lisel Mueller ~
It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.
~ Claude Monet
