Taken at Trader Joes…

Your ability to see is not increased by the distance you put between yourself and your home. If you do not see what is around you every day, what will you see when you go to Tangiers?
~ Freeman Patterson, Photography and the Art of Seeing

Allow

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream, and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in—
the wild with the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.

by Dana Falls

b: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept

To me, passion means something that overwhelms you and compels you to do something with it. Part of life is finding what you are passionate about and then diving in. It may take awhile or you may find it early in life. You may find one thing or several things you are passionate about. Finding an outlet for that passion is important, though. Not only for your emotional well-being but your physical well-being as well.

I would like to show you a photo that screamed out passion to me. You may not see it when you first look at it, but you can’t miss it when you hear the story. Patricia Lay-Dorsey is a 67 year old woman with MS. She spends her days in a mobility scooter, but she doesn’t let that slow her down. She picked up a camera fairly recently (2000) just to add photos to her blog. This was the beginning… her beginning.  She soon graduated from a point-and-shoot to a DSLR and has had her own gallery shows, been published in different media, and has been mentored by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey. The photo that caught my eye was this one:



It shows a woman fallen out of her scooter and in pain. She had set up her camera on self-timer to get a specific self-portrait with the brick road. Unfortunately, in her rush to get into place her scarf got hooked under the wheel of the scooter and she fell out. Luckily there were two very kind gentlemen who helped her back in and got her camera for her. Her first thought after getting seated and realizing she was okay was, “I wonder if I got the shot.” Wow. “I wonder if I got the shot”… That is passion. That is something that consumes her life.

I was lucky enough to interview her as she prepares her year-long book project, “Falling Into Place,” for submission to a publisher, and ask her about her passion, photography, and her life. Here’s what she had to say:

You mentioned on your blog that you studied visual arts in the 70′s. Was that just a mixture of everything? Sculpting, drawing, painting? And were you able to have a career as an artist? (On a side note: the first photo on the self-portrait page of your site has a sculpture in the background, is it yours?)

I started with watercolor after having received a drafting table and watercolors in tubes as a xmas present from my husband in 1974. He’d seen something artistic in the magic marker drawings I’d bring home from my work with kids at an inner city hospital here in Detroit. I was originally a social worker and always did volunteer work too.

Watercolor classes at community centers led to my taking summer classes in life drawing and basic drawing & design at an art college in Detroit. One summer of classes led to two and a half years at the college studying drawing, painting and sculpting (yes, that sculpture in the photo is mine). I was active for ten years in the “art world,” showing & selling in galleries and alternative-spaces, winning some awards, writing art reviews for local and regional publications, and even doing performance art (it WAS the 80′s, after all!). But in 1985 I walked away from the art world to do more socially-minded work with the folks in inner city Detroit. I’m always re-inventing myself.

When you first picked up a camera what felt different about that compared to the other arts you had been involved in? Is photography better (for you) or just a different medium to express yourself? What appeals to you about photography as compared to other mediums?

Over the years I’d occasionally used a film camera to express myself, usually in black & white. But in 2000 I bought my first digital point-and-shoot camera specifically to take photos to post on my daily blog. After six years my photographs became more important to me than the words I wrote. So in July 2006 I bought my first digital SLR and have been obsessed with photography ever since.

It’s hard to put into words how I feel about using photography as my primary medium. I guess the older I get–I’m now 67–the more I need to see the world as it is, not as I wish it were. Creating fantasy feels like going backwards to me.



In the old days I used my art to recreate the world into what I wanted it to be. Painting, drawing, sculpting and even performance art allowed me the freedom to turn reality into anything I chose. But photography holds me closer to the truth of things, closer to the real. Yes, I spent a few months in 2007 creating composites with Photoshop, but for the most part I’m interested in using my camera to capture how I see the world. My vision may be quirky but it reflects how I see. That’s what I want to explore and share.



What inspires you on days when you don’t want to pick up the camera? How do you break through blocks? Or do you get blocks?

I never force myself to create. To my way of thinking, creativity inhales and exhales, is active and lies fallow. Both aspects must be respected. To be honest, I am usually so engrossed in a project–I almost always work in series–that I have to force myself to stop, not to start. But after a very intense year of shooting two major projects followed by an overwhelming ten days at a workshop and photo festival (LOOK3 in Charlottesville, Virginia), I recently found myself not picking up my camera for three weeks. But I trusted the process and now am back to shooting again. I sense I needed time to digest the multi-course photographic banquet I’d just consumed.

You have a different perspective as a photographer being on a scooter. Do you find that helps to make your photographs unique? And, do you think that makes people more or less willing to talk to you and have you photograph them?

There are many disadvantages to being disabled but being a photographer is not one of them. If anything it is a perk. First of all, I can easily carry my camera case with me everywhere I go. It stays in the basket of my scooter. OK, so I don’t usually get overhead perspectives on my subjects, but I do get up close and personal especially with children and persons who are seated.

It wasn’t until other photographers first saw the self portraits in what became my book project, “Falling Into Place,” that I even realized my point-of-view was unique. And when I shoot from my lap, as I like to do, my POV is even more unusual. I like that.

Regarding how people respond to a disabled photographer, what could be less threatening than a little old white-haired woman in a mobility scooter? I can approach anyone I want, from tough-looking kids on the streets of Detroit to wealthy older folks in the suburbs, and most people say yes if I ask to photograph them.

What has been your favorite thing to photograph, and why? (or your favorite project)

My favorite project is always the one I’m working on at that moment. I live very much in the present so don’t waste too much time and attention thinking about past projects or worrying about future ones. Life is in the NOW.

Did you learn anything about yourself while doing your self-portrait project?

Oh yes, that project has been and continues to be a tremendous teacher for me. I’d say the most important shift in consciousness was my releasing the feelings of shame I’d had about body issues that had been hidden away behind the closed doors of my bedroom and bathroom. Just taking photos of myself in the shower, getting dressed, falling on the floor of my bedroom, and sitting on the toilet helped to dispel my fear that people would judge me if they only knew my “secrets.” Well, there are no more secrets. Everything is out in the open, and you know what? It is all OK.

Your “Mirror Me” project is such a unique group of portraits. I love how you capture each person looking straight at you and yet not seeming to realize the photo is being taken. I know a lot of photographers struggle with approaching strangers (myself included). How do you go about approaching people that you don’t know to take their picture?

It probably helps that I really like people and they seem to know that intuitively. I also smile a lot and I bet that helps too. But with the “Mirror Me” project, all I do is scoot up to whomever interests me and say, “I’m a photographer and I’m working on a project using mirrors. I’d love for you to be part of it. Here, let me show you how it works.” I hold up the hand mirror I always carry with me and show them how to hold it so I can get the picture I want. I then ask, “Will you do it? Will you be part of my project?” Out of over 500 persons thus far, I’d say maybe 8 have said no.



Like I said, this post is about passion. Finding your passion and diving in. Patricia Lay-Dorsey is a real example of this.  Not because she continues on in spite of her disability, but because of her honesty, her openness, her ability to be real. It is something most of us strive for and can’t achieve because of our own hang-ups of what we or others expect us to be.  She has a passion for life no matter what her situation. She looks at today, not yesterday, or tomorrow. Her photographs are proof of that. There is a vulnerability there that you don’t see very often.  She really is an amazing woman. I would encourage you to check out more of her work at these sites:

http://www.patricialaydorsey.com/

http://www.pbase.com/windchimewalker

http://patricialaydorsey.blogspot.com/