up

When I look up at
The wide-stretched plain of heaven,
Is the moon the same
That rose on Mount Mikasa
In the land of Kasuga? ~ Abe no Nakamaro (cited: http://jti.lib.virginia.edu)

skyscape … Leica D-Lux 7 f/5.6 1/400s 34mm 100 ISO

skyscape photograph submitted in response to The Life of B’s monthly square challenge … the absolute rule – Your main photograph must be square in shape!

breath of time

red pedal tractor…

sun-lit hair…freckled-face smile

fading breath of time

In remembrance of Christopher Ernest Broyles, December 10, 1954 ~ January 27, 2014

snow has fallen…

Snow has fallen
And you cannot have
Even the unusual sight of men
Along the precipitous path of the Peak of Yoshino. ~The Sarashina Diary (Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)

lens artists photo challenge: striped and checked

Once upon a time
A tiny striped caterpillar
Burst from the egg
Which had been home 
For so long.
"Hello world," he said. 
"It sure is bright out here in the sun."
(excerpt from Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers)

Fun striped and checked findings for Leya’s lens-artists photo challenge!

lens-artists photo challenge: emotions

This week, Patti gives us the opportunity to focus on emotions…to share portraits or street photography that captures people’s feelings, such as happiness, anger, sadness, curiosity, or fear.

Okay…this weeks lens-artist challenge, emotions, opens the door to one of my secret struggles…it is one of many that remain in a mud puddle of confusion.

I am not sure if I understand the difference between a feeling and an emotion.

So far this ongoing search for clarity has me understand an awareness of a feeling, like sadness, arises from my awareness of … tears/heart pain. I am able to acknowledge “anger” from a awareness of variations of speech and thoughts. Fear…the gut punch feeling in my stomach. I have experienced a lot of gut punch feelings since the latest events in Washington D.C.

I continue to ask myself, what is an emotion? I’ve looked at the word, emotion, and came to an awareness of “motion.” So, I’ve asked myself is emotion a feeling that motivates me to action? Today, at this moment in time, I’m going to go with yes…well…a tentative yes because within the word heroin is hero. There clearly is a mismatch there.

I do know for certain that to be driven by the emotional system often times is action that is separated from thinking. It can be action that is blocked from an awareness of moral shame, both internal shame or external shame. Now, I find myself questioning is shame a feeling, an emotion, or is it a mental formation that arises after a period of reflection?

Then I wonder…do feelings of anxiety (is anxiety a feeling or an emotion?) fog up a clear reflection of self with protective mechanisms of denial, rationalization, displacement, projection, and/or sublimation

Now…I ask myself are these defense mechanisms emotions…driven by feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, confusion.

I am certain that most of our communication with others is drawn from nonverbal communication. That is, the feelings/emotions that we interpret by another’s body language. Problems arise from this channel of communication when these interpretations are not clarified by the other.

I also believe that feelings are contagious; that is, a smile awakens a smile, a tear awakens a tear and fear awakens fear and anger awakens anger. I find that I just half smiled at this moment with an internal notation – we are impacted by a contagious virus as well as infectious feelings/emotions.

How are you feeling right now? I’m feeling a bit confused.

still life … josef sudek study #2

#2 josef sudek study…Nikon D750 f/5 0.2s 70mm 200 ISO

Czech photographer, Josef Sudek (1896-1976), known as the ‘Poet of Prague’, was drawn to desolate landscapes, simple, solitary objects and the quiet, unpopulated street scenes of Prague, a city to which he dedicated his whole life. He was the first photographer to be honoured by the Republic with the title of ‘Artist of Merit’ and in his 70th year, his life’s work was recognised by the ‘Order of Labour’. (cited: Huxley-Parlour Gallery)

Travel with Intent’s Six Word Saturday