macro photography

lens-artist: live and learn

As an autodidact, individuals who choose the subject they will study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time, in 2018 I began blogging a 52-week Photo Study that explored topics such as visual composition, creativity, point of view, the photographer, street photography, contemplative photography, landscape photography, and developing a personal style,

YOUR FIRST 10,000 PHOTOGRAPHS ARE YOUR WORST.” ~Henri Cartier-Bresson

After reading Henri Cartier-Bresson’s quote, I realized that one may just mindlessly click away 10,000 times with hope that…maybe, just maybe…accidentally…one image will be an A+ A+ A+ photograph (see the movie, “A Christmas Story”).

Then…a shower thought…maybe that one triple A+ image really only arises after 10,000 intentional shutter releases.  Can you just image being present to,  thinking through, and connected with each transient moment 10,000 times?   In reality this would be like setting out on a  journey of 10,000 steps knowing that one will never reach their destination.

Yet, what is an important part of a 10,000 endeavor?  To create a triple A+ image?  Or to undertake a photo study journey accompanied by fun, education, knowledge, experience, and exploration?  I’ll go with the fun of creating and opening myself to the beauty of Mother Earth so this photo study blog journey is an encouragement to–not create a triple A+ image– but to be more intentionally present with each click of the shutter.

Thank you Tina (travels and trifles) for this week’s photo challenge to explore and share one’s lifetime journey of learning.

wow…words of wisdom

Even in Kyoto-

hearing the cuckoo’s cry-

I long for Kyoto. ~Bushō

“Solastalgia conveys the distressing homesickness we experience without leaving home, when home has altered beyond recognition, such as when seeing a familiar and beloved environment that has been destroyed by drought, fire or flood, by the extremes of climate change.”

cited: Dharma Talk bySensei Deirdre Eisho Peterson – Red Rocks Zen Circle

Note: “Solastalgia” was coined by a contemporary Australian environmental philosopher named Glenn Albrecht, and it is a word that comes out of the climate crisis.  This word solastalgia combines the words solace, desolation and nostalgia.

Paula’s Lost in Translation Words of Wisdom

a moment in thought

“… what if she wrote more from a personal place …?”

Fujifilm X-T4: f/8 1/480 s 60 mm 640 ISO

Not from the first person perspective. A self so absorbed – so narrow focused – so stuck in the muddle of feelings, thoughts, self negation. Why not write from a present awareness of self – “breathing in, I am aware of my in breath: breathing out, I am aware of my out breath.

Would she then awaken an observer through the flow of ink – ink creating negative spaces introducing a new awareness of self?