Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Everything is Changing




Everything is changing, and I don't just mean the season. 

I refer to something subtle that begins internally until it can no longer be held inside.  A certain power, the acquiring of tools.

It started last Winter when encouraged by an online photography course, I left the safety of my kitchen and walked around my neighborhood, photographing.  I was incredibly self-conscious for months to come, but I kept doing it more and more often.



I felt liberated, and I fell in love with the exploration.  I suddenly had another way to tell a story; I had a new tool.

This doesn't mean I'm good at taking pictures, nor does it make me a photographer.  But a new tool to use opens up the world a bit.



I began walking down a new trail, one that did not loop back to my kitchen table.  Like having an affair (I imagine), I was swept away and didn't care about what I was leaving behind.

I was cooking, reading, baking, gardening just as much as ever, however, I had no interest in photographing any of it.  Most of the time I simply forgot.



I stopped reading food blogs as often, and pored over photography and creative personal blogs.  Yet, I kept on reading cookbooks and personal memoirs about food and gardening.

I'm now in the final week of an online blogging course, and I know for certain that I am not the same person I was since the day I first walked around the neighborhood with my camera.



Recently, I gained another tool, or at least a sharpened, pre-existing one.  I now touch a finger to my heart before I start writing a post.  During these weeks, on more than one occasion, I have sat up straighter, asked myself if I am tapping in to what I feel, deleted, and started over with a slightly different tone.

This doesn't mean I write well or even that I am a writer. Expertise takes a lifetime to develop.

I acknowledge, though, that I possess these tools.  I accept that at their most basic level, I know how to use them.  This is confidence I have never admitted to previously.  I have an internal power now, and for the moment, it is keeping me up at night!



I hope to come back with camera in hand to my kitchen table from time to time, but with different intent.

For once one has developed a mission statement, the whole perspective shifts.

Through photographs and stories, I want to share what I see and what I feel.  My aim is for my personal stories to be universal.

6 comments :

  1. Beautiful Post Clarice - How very true - once one develops a mission statement, the whole perspective shifts. Thank you for sharing your new perspective - both in words and photos.

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  2. Fabulous Clarice! Lovely photos and words, beautifully shot and beautifully written! Bravo!! I am right behind you and hope to get 'there' soon! Thanks for the inspiration!!

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  3. I agree with the others this is a most beautiful post. I love reading about how your world is expanding and you're embracing your creativity. and I'm loving the shadows in that last shot. the growth you're realizing seems to be bringing you much joy and I think that's just grand. happy Sunday to you.

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  4. Great post, both words and images.

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  5. Lovely thoughts- and that last shot is just lovely, you have such a good eye for food photography

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  6. Ah, yes and now you are a published WRITER and you are a photographer. Brava, Clarice!

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