Writing Prompt: Window Light
I was leaving a restaurant with my mother on Saturday when I caught the afternoon light reflected on the yellow glass in this window. I had to stop to snap a picture.
Writing Prompt: Write about light in your life? Where have you found it? When has it surprised you?
Light
This is a view I don't expect to tire of any time soon. First, because the glow of having my own office has not yet worn off -- and I don't anticipate it in doing so for a long while -- but also because each time I come out to the parking lot to go home the light is different. On this late afternoon last week, it gleamed golden as the sun descended in the sky. The icy ground caught the gold, holding it in yellow pools of light. It made me gleam, too.
Snow Day
Snow, snow, snow! It began falling in the wee hours and continued throughout the day. It blanketed everything, creating a cozy comforter of a day. It was the kind of day where people stay home from work and nest with a cup of cocoa and a good book.
I stayed home, but my day held busy work: emails to send and answer, a guest blog post to write, to-do lists to check off. I’m taking a class on self-publishing, and another online class on Blogging from the Heart. I am teaching a poetry class and working on deadlines for four articles. Sometimes I am so busy working I don’t have time to get anything done. So, I love this kind of day, when the world comes to a standstill long enough for me to catch up. I made corrections to my short story for my self-publishing class, did my blogging assignment, sent emails out to real estate agents for my real estate closings’ article, printed out directions to tomorrow’s interview, scheduled another interview for next week and yes, crossed off a number of to-dos.
As daylight started to wane, I took my SLR and tripod outside to snap a picture of the girls and I in the snow, hoping to use it for my guest blog, but decided instead to post it here. We’re kinda cute aren’t we?
Then the girls and I came inside for their favorite part of the day. Sofa time when pug snores grows as deep as the snow and blanket my world with peace.
Little Things
It was a day devoted to beauty. Actually, I spent the afternoon at the hair and nail salons, but I made sure to enjoy the beauty around me as I saw it. One client brought her dog Buckaroo to the salon. He happily walked around greeting everyone and then sat at her feet as she got her hair done. When I went outside I noticed this beautiful bush covered in the falling snow and an oil slick on the street. Walking past a local restaurant I saw a flower and bench having a conversation in the snow. Sometimes it's the little things that make a beautiful day.
Healing with Art
A lot of people I know -- some with whom I have close ties -- have been dealing with cancer lately. That's why it was an extra special honor to have two of my photographs -- Man's Best Friend and Girls with Lenore -- chosen to be a part of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center's Healing with Art show. Today was the reception and it was a wonderful event. Patients, artists, staff, doctors and friends and family all mingled together to not only view the artwork and hear us talk about our work, but also to listen to patients read poetry and prose about their experience. Some of it was poignant, some painful, and some humorous and direct. Many participating shared their personal reasons for being there -- friends and family who had survived and suffered from cancer -- everyone expressed their belief in the healing power of art. There was a warm and beautiful spirit to the gathering. I felt particularly supported having not only my parents in attendance, but my photography instructor, Jim Block and his wife Jann. It means a lot to have the support of a teacher especially one that launched you in a direction you never expected to take. I made a number of contacts, connected with another former instructor, Carla Kimball, who also has work in the show, and was especially proud to hear from a fellow artist that a patient had grabbed her hand and led her over, squealing in delight, to view one of my "dog" photos. It is a small bit of joy to share with people undergoing such pain, but still I am happy to provide it.
Portrait of An Evangelist
Following my poetry class and trip to the vet's today, I had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and make it to Faith Assembly of God in Bethel, Vt. to hear evangelist Nathan Pimentel preach. I snapped this photo of him with my iphone a few minutes into his sermon. He will be at Faith Assembly for one more night.
Writing Projects
I haven't been blogging much lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. I had three articles due by New Year's -- one on real estate sales, one on Rutland Regional Medical Center and one on the things we do for our pets. Each is either finished or almost so. I also had my friend Joan's (Waffles' breeders) annual Christmas letter to get out to all the people who had received puppies from her over the years and I've been working on a short story. Inspired by my work last year with the Hubbard Hall Writers' Project, I decided I needed to get some of my own writing projects out of my head and down on paper. The story isn't done yet and on the face of it isn't the most cheerful of subjects -- about a man who runs a pet crematorium -- but I think it has soul. I hope it will be one of many dog-focused stories and expect the follow-ups to be about happier themes. In the meantime, I have begun exploring the option of turning some of my photo collages into Kindle covers, I hear there's a market for them and many people have commented that my collages already remind them of book covers. My first attempt will be a collage to go along with the dog story, but I needed a Labrador model. I'm hoping to still take some more photos of some other friends dogs in the next couple of weeks to get a variety of shots to use, but one of my friends from my photography classes offered me the opportunity to take a picture of her brother's dog, Abby, who is a partial Lab. Today, I visited my friends house and got a number of shots to use for the collage in addition to this pretty portrait. I think she enjoyed modeling. When the collage and story are done I will let you all know.
Uncle Sam
A couple of weeks ago I visited Troy, NY. I attended a writers workshop and when I was finished I roamed the town taking photographs. I posted some of them here on the blog. One of my fellow writers in the Hubbard Hall Writers group told me I put a good dress on Troy and maybe I should contact the chamber with some of my photos. I didn't, but they got a hold of me. Not the chamber, but a downtown nonprofit responsible for Uncle Sam statues around the city. It seems they are putting together a calendar of the statues, they saw my photos online and want to use the above one in their calendar! I think that's pretty cool!
Decomposition
I posted a color picture of this scene on my local photoclub's favorite's page the other day. I knew it wasn't the best composition. It was a piece that I had struggled with, taking numerous shots of the truck and the solar panels in the waning light. As I was shooting the moon came up, the solar panels moved and everything changed, but I was struck by the moment -- the moon over the truck and the panels -- and although this shot wasn't great it at least preserved all the elements for me. The leader of the club quickly noticed some of the flaws in the shot and offered advice on how to make it better. I thanked her and explained what I had been trying to achieve. Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words and sometimes you can can say it better with the words themselves, here's my attempt at that. And, thank you Lisa for inspiring this poem:
Decomposition
I struggle to create a composition that can take it all in –
old blue truck, modern army of sun-seeking solar panels
stalwart lavender mountains, golden grass,
all under a rising moon
“You have to pick and choose,” the photographer warns me,
“Decide what it is you are trying to say.”
“It’s the photo journalist in you that craves it all,” she concludes,
with a nod and a period,
as if that settles the matter.
It doesn’t. The story pretty much tells itself.
I have nothing to do with it.
An innocent bystander like the rest of you
Observing it all –
Blue truck giving up the ghost, array of solar panels
following in its wake, old giving birth to new
giving birth to old, giving birth to new
again,
Hope bowing to disappointment
Under the watchful eye of the stalwart mountains
And the moon that never ceases to rise.
It is the only composition there is
Yet, we remain optimistic that we can change something
while the moon and the mountains smile
And the truck and solar panels
and all our best made plans
decompose.