Fading Away

Nature does not hurry,

but everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

As winter fades away I welcome spring.  It has been a long time coming.  Some winters are not so bad but this one was really, really long for me...I'm yearning for color and warmth.

Just Around The Bend

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved to "just go for a ride".  See what we might find.  Back then, rides were not easy to come by as most of my family did not have a car.  When one of my aunt's came, or when my Dad was home on his leave from the Army...we would sometimes take a Sunday drive.  I loved those days, especially if we stopped for ice cream on the way home.

I still love taking those drives...and one of the things that I do, and I would bet many of you also do, is dream about the inside of certain houses that I pass...like the one above.  Lace curtains, front porches, pretty lights and flowers and also I get a sense that inside "that" house it is warm, cozy and filled with wonderful smells and a sense of  peace. Perhaps someone is sitting in a big, wrap around chair by a fire, reading a lovely book, with that perfect cup of tea in a china cup.  Now I'm not sure why certain houses stir those kinds of memories but they just do.   

This is Route 100 in Vermont...it is one of the most picturesque roads in New England.  Sweet, gently winding roads full of farms,cows and horses in the fields, road side stands and country stores.  I love this old country road.  The houses on it evokes memories of days gone by..like something you would see in a Norman Rockwell painting..fall is particularly beautiful in Vermont...this house, right on the bend in the road, with the light and deep shadows and just the perfect amount of reds, orange and yellows took me back to what I think were gentler times.  Those  upstairs windows stirred some deep memory and I would have like to have visited.  

I love Sunday rides, any day of the week.  Just to go and see what happens. When my kids were little and now with the boys...I would always tell them we were going on an adventure and they think that is really cool...so now, before the snow flies and it gets to cold, take yourself on an adventure, stir up some warm hearted memories and when you do, record them either in your camera or in your heart.

I should also remind you that in the winter, after a fresh falling snow, close to Christmas, ride by a few houses at dusk...and think about what's going on it there... lights in windows, trees dancing with ornaments, chestnuts roasting on a open fire, Christmas carols playing softly in the background...and babies dreaming of sugar plums.. 

Texture KK Heartbeat at 25% 

Their Softer Side

Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out where we are going..to connect to what we like.  Stepping out of the box is not easy but it's the only way to advance and learn..finally after many tries, we find that we love this new learning...this new angle of creating...and so it is for me with my Still Life photography...by nature, I'm a Nature photographer.  Winters can be long and cold and snowy and after doing all the nature shots I like, I was left with months of grey...everywhere I turned...so enter Still Life.  I have struggled with it.  It does not come naturally but finally I am beginning to see it's value and also to see that I am learning to see light and color and softness in a new way...

This weeks lesson in Be Still is to take a look at a body of work that we have done and to find a connection in the photo's...to see what we are shooting more of and how it is evolving...when I did this I became aware of the fact that I really like portrait work lately..with two Grandsons I guess that isn't a surprise...but they delight me in so many ways..and Still Life does not mean just flowers or set-ups.  It means those moments of life...lived by two little boys..and when I can catch them in quiet moments it become a Still Life memory. Along with that I love the softer side of  my photographs lately..I would see it in others work and so I worked at it and it is just so much fun to do...not just in portrait work but also in every other still life that I've done lately.

 

The soft side of still like reminds me to slow down, take time before pushing that shutter button..compose more thoughtfully and just let the color fade away into it's own background. The mood changes with the softer side of color..it allows for quiet reflection.  Although this is what I'm working on right now...there will always be a place for the more vibrant, colorful and vivid color that makes me smile in a different way...I'll never lose my love of nature and green grass, bugs and trees.  I'll also always welcome joyful, animated and flashy photo's, fast cars and galloping horses...it's a big world out there...and I love shooting it all.

 “One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” ~Unknown