blogjanuary: a treasure that has been lost

Wanting more than what is given…

I’ve often found myself pondering the realm of the hungry ghost within the Tibetan Wheel of Suffering. This realm is illustrated by beings who have long, extremely slender necks, needle mouths, and bloated stomachs.  They are characterized by their infinite emptiness and eternal starvation. … If they do obtain a taste of what they desire, their insatiable craving – their wanting more than what is given – blinds them to the small treasures within life … a flower, a smile, a sunrise, a birdsong, a joy-filled moment, a gentle touch.

Included within of the six realms of the Wheel of Suffering is a tiny figure symbolizing a bodhisattva.  These spiritual warriors are compassionate beings whose sole and unique purpose is to work for the benefit of all beings. Within the realm of the hungry ghost, is a bodhisattva holding a bowl filled with spiritual nourishment.  These spiritual morsels: grace, faith, mindfulness, centeredness, compassion, loving-kindness, and equanimity, all contain the nutrients to help them ease their suffering.

blogjanuary: earliest memory

The personal story is a narrative of our unique sense of identity.  We create our identities through the stories we weave onto a tapestry that is formed against the background of our family mythologies.

We pull threads from of an assemblage of recalled details from our pasts and weave them into images that cast us in whatever role corresponds with our current situations, feelings, thoughts, or actions. The colored threads of this tapestry are often re-embroidered to reflect the creative and dynamic process of our perspectives as we shift in, out, and between various roles, feeling states, and cognitions.  As we reflect on our self-created images we are in turn affected by them; therefore, there is an unconscious re-weaving of our tapestries.

Excerpt: Koeford, B., A Meditative Journey with Saldage

blogjanuary: how are you brave

“Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.” ― Donald Woods Winnicott

Blogging despite living within a continuum of a drive to communicate through art and an emotional need to be hidden behind one’s art … is an act of courage.

“It is a joy to be hidden, and disaster not to be found.”
― D.W. Winnicott

skyscape

As I was wandering though YouTube I found myself watching a couple of videos that discussed the question, “what makes a good photograph?”

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is that each person’s response to an image is subjective. I’ve also heard that when we are watching the sun set with a loved one, we do not experience the same sunset. A lonely thought, don’t you think?

Yet, an important element of a good image is … storytelling.

So now I ask myself and you, “is there a story or two within a skyscape photograph?”

lens-artist: perfect patterns

Patterns give us order in an otherwise chaotic world. 

I find myself pondering the concept of perfect…are patterns designed by human design seen as more perfect than the ones that ebb and flow through the dynamics of mother nature?

Is there a pattern within an image that at first glance seems chaotic?

solitude

Does rhythm which involves the same or similar elements repeating at regular intervals create an image that soothes the eye and thus a seemingly “perfect pattern?”  

Join this week’s lens-artists challenge: perfect patterns at Leya to see the world in a grain of sand

A coffee cup, small dish, frozen strawberry, and afternoon sunlight

Point of view photography

“Point of view” in photography simply means the position from which the camera’s eye sees the scene. Is the camera looking down on the subject? Looking up, sideways, or straight on.

How close is your camera to the subject? Is there anything between you and the subject? Is the source of light in front, to the side, or from the back? Every decision you make about point of view has the potential to introduce an unique visual experience to the viewer.