Resolution
The Call: Water Dance — Cheryl
Starting a 365-day photography project is liking making a New Year’s resolution, but there is one important difference (for me, at least): when I embark upon a 365, I generally succeed at meeting my goal.
The Response: Danny in the Hall — Jessica
Looking back at my neglected personal blog, I read posts written with such sincerity about my intentions to live intentionally. And then the posts stop. Life has a way interrupting even the most intentional intent. It’s hard to meet your resolution to post more when the hours just aren’t there to do it. And I don’t need to just prioritize better. After all, feeding, clothing, teaching, healing are all acts of charity that should be given the highest priority.
So now that things have slowed down…I’m able to return to my resolution. But this time the resolution is to take more pictures of the kids and the moments that you wouldn’t think of photographing. I stalked them this morning, camera half-way up to my eye, waiting for the pose and the light to magically combine in that sweet spot of the decisive moment. I got one or two keepers and I learned a few lessons.
One: My focus ability is totally out-of-whack! Need some serious practice on that front. Two: It’s the details that kill me in post. I frame so carefully and then I don’t notice everything INSIDE the frame and as a result, what could have been an awesome shot, is most decidedly NOT. My resolution is to SLOOOOWWW down.
I love the graceful curves of the leaves (?) in your picture. The green dots are so neat too — they look like some kind of cool graph or plot.
Thanks, Jessica. As soon as I took this shot, I knew it was a keeper. Everything just came together in it. The leaves are weeds of some sort, and the little green dots are like flower petals that have been shed.
That picture of Danny is just beautiful. I love the sunlight in his hair and the smile on his face.
I know what you mean about slowing down. People think I have endless amounts of energy (I don’t) or am busier than any other human being (I’m not). It’s more like I manage to get done what I’ve determined is essential (an Everyday photo on Flickr; a Shakespeare-inspired shot on Flickr; a post on Poetic Anatomy; and one here), but it’s almost like I’m on autopilot. There’s little time to think and ponder and do my best. I’ve found this even more frustrating than usual, as of late, because I’ve been doing it so long without any real opportunity to replenish the creative juices. I guess you could say that I’m feeling dehydrated. ; )