When the ordinary becomes extraordinary. #Indianapolis #photog #photography #tog

How much do you see?  What do you see?

I am not usually fascinated by architectural structures or for that matter, most man-made things; I like the sensual and expressive lines you find in nature, the patterns, colors and changes that occur.  

flaming!!

I went to Indianapolis to cover my nephew’s Eagle Ceremony and take photographs of the event.  Prior to the ceremony I visited the church where it was to be held.  The sun was brightly shining that day; it was rather warm for an early February day in the Midwest.  I first walked into the small chapel at this eclectic European  influenced building finding beautiful stained glassed windows lining one side of the chapel, on the other side were a few other stained glassed windows and one in the front above the altar. 

Stained Glass Beauty

Let the Children Come

Teach Us to Pray

 They were beautiful in themselves but became exquisite as the sun lit the chapel like a fantasy where the light danced in bright colors across the floor and into the atmosphere, on the walls and anything else it fell on.  It played like little fairies dancing here and there throughout the room.  What I thought would be something quite boring became a treasure of fleeting moments only there for the afternoon dancing in partnership with the sun shining in from the outside.  As I began to study how the light played and fell in the room, I could barely stop framing the intimate details dancing before me. 

Let the Light Shine

Attention to the Light

It's Becoming Clearer

My macro lens was on my camera and the wide aperture afforded some beautiful bokeh enhancing the experience and letting me carry that to those who viewed my photographs from this day.  As I let myself be consumed by what I was seeing, certainly not what I was expecting, but allowing myself to see the intimate details and fleeting moments in time before me outside the normal parameters of my expectations and thoughts it opened a whole new world to see and love.

Visions of Color Danced In Her Head

More than a Window

By allowing myself to see the ordinary in a new way, it opened the door to taking with me a new experience and the photographs to allow others to partake of the beautiful scenes I found before me.  It made me enthusiastic to explore the remainder of the church and as I did, I allowed myself to see beyond the structure of architecture but the details and beauty in the light and reflections, the detail, the textures, the shapes, values, line, form and color, not as a building but as pieces of a whole.  

Rosette Window-Second Presbyterian-Indianapolis, IN

Ceiling Rows

In the Cross-hairs of Seeing

With eyes wide open, I looked.  I squinted, I lay on the ground, I stood on benches, I squatted, I stood up tall.  I looked down, I looked up, I looked in front of me, I looked behind me, I seemed to spin in circles to breathe it all into my soul and take away something new from an experience I thought would be mundane and ordinary and cold; instead I discovered life in the light and structure.

Sanctuary Reflections

Columns of Light

Walking Through Light

Falling Colors

And They Shall Mount Up with Wings as Eagles

I let myself feel and experience the excitement and the excursion, letting it breathe new life into the experience and the ordinary became extraordinary and lovely.

Light Sparkles

Second Presbyterian Church-Indianapolis, IN

 How much do you see?  Do you let yourself see when circumstances change or let yourself and your plans become altered when you look and see and feel and experience what you encounter?  Do you let your expectations be altered?  What do you see?  What do you allow yourself to see?  How will your day change today because of it?

With Childlike Wonder

A few days ago my granddaughter greeted me in the early morning by saying, “Gramma, look at the sunrise; it is beautiful and the colors are so pretty!”  I came over to look and exclaimed, “It is beautiful!”  Then she said to me, “Gramma you should take a picture.”  I said, “By the time I get my clothes on and my camera, the colors will be gone.”  With unmatched enthusiasm and determination, she says to me, “May I use your little camera to take a picture?”  I said, “Yes, if you take it through the window.”  (It was near freezing and she was in light pajamas.)   So she snapped about 6 pictures.  With a wry smile, she turns around, gives me the camera and I set it aside until I could upload them onto my computer.  But she doesn’t stop there; she is looking at the light on the wall.  “Gramma!”  with enthusiasm, “Look at the light, it is orange!”  She was speaking of the light on the front room wall.  Soon it turns peach and then yellow and all the while she is exclaiming to me the virtues of her new found discovery.   We talked a little bit about why the light is different colors, not that she might fully understand this yet, but to plant seeds of knowledge.  But she encapsulated a perfect way to greet a day.

Just Think What You'd have Missed!

After I sat for a while and thought about this exchange, I could not help but be reminded of the wonder and enchantment of her childlike curiosity.  The eagerness to learn and to seize the moments before it would escape them completely.  Do I approach my day with unbridled curiosity and seize the moments that are but fleeting?  Do I find I am ready when they present themselves to me and throw off the bowlines to all abandon?  Do I miss special moments because I’m not looking or if I am looking do I see, and if I see; am I motivated to preserve it either in my mind’s eye, with a sketch or through the lens?   It seemed so ordinary to me.   Yet, immersing ourselves in moments of childlike splendor should not be something as artists we left back in our childhood, but we should practice keeping ourselves aware and breathing in the things that are around us.  Who knows what awaits us tomorrow in this world?   Today, the storm clouds rolled in and the morning sun was hidden, a different sense of wonder today as the leaves ripple to the ground in the wind of the day.  I don’t know what tomorrow may bring in wonder or excitement, but I think I shall be prepared to breathe it all in and find a way to present those moments in a way I don’t want to forget and give others a glimpse of it too!

I believe as adults we still have those moments of sheer awe and amazement.  Probably too few.  It usually takes an unusual moment or experience.  I’m certain too few. 

My hike to Mt. LeConte was definitely one of those.  As I looked over the vast expanse of the mountains and the fall colors muted because of the atmosphere, kept me breathless and enthralled, almost motionless.  It was a feast for my eyes and health for my lungs.  It was a splendor that would not be matched.  The day was glorious in sunshine and brisk with the fall air, snow hovered in the shadows trying to keep from melting in the warmth of the sun as the day moved forward.  It was a wonderland and it was filled with incredible scenery and splendor!    

I think I will have you walk with me to the top and back down next time you stop by here.

Shoot from the Heart #photogs #togs

I grew up in a world where the current day “rules of photography” were an unknown, probably did not exist (at least not in art circles.) We learned to look, feel and produce from the heart; to see in our mind's eye first, then to move out in our specific medium to produce what our creative eye has seen.  We explored our inner souls and sought a way to express ourselves through the medium of our choosing.  We looked intently at our world; we framed things, watched light and color and saw shapes and forms.  We looked at how our world was put together and we studied the passing of our world around us. We learned how to see, how what we saw affected us and what we wanted to convey to others or produce for ourselves. We were taught freedom of expression.  Nothing was too outrageous and we learned to deal with our limitations by expanding our horizons or knowledge or we threw caution to the wind and stepped outside our comfort zones.  We learned to put our soul into what we did.  It is never an easy choice to do this; after all we bare ourselves for the world to see and leave ourselves open to rejection.  But there is also something to gain.  We gain respect.  We gain a freedom that only our souls can touch.  We gain a truth and loyalty to our soul.  We gain a unique expression.   

People may think we are a bit crazy; we have to be willing to let them.  Thankfully we are each a unique being with a unique expression.  Some of us love art, some do not.  Some see this kind of exploration as a waste of time when there are rules that exist.  Those who do not explore their soul take a risk that they will be producing just one more landscape that will be one that looks like every other one just with a different sunset, different water and different set of rocks instead of something that speaks to your own soul.  Or risk that they will produce one more portrait that doesn’t reach into the soul of their subject.  The elements or principles of art are not rules.  They are found everywhere in our world.  How we put them within the frame should reflect how we see and feel about that world.  Knowing our own response to these aspects of art helps us to create work that speaks not only from the heart but to the heart. It should evoke a response.  It could be as simple as wow or a joy at a treasure found or a unique perspective to a known world or as complex as a provocation to action.   If you try to live within rules or your perception that the only way to compose a frame is by someone whose decision that this is what makes a "nice" work you risk losing the elements that evoke a reaction and tie your own hands of creativity.  It is up to you to reach into the depth of yourself or your subject to show your perspective.  Be courageous.

In the Shadow of the Master

Remember art is completely subjective.  If we think that what we like or for that matter, may not like, and someone else will feel the same...it is time to think again.  The most wonderful thing about art is that there are people who will love what you do.   Be fearless.  Look at yourself.  Look at your world.  Breathe.  Then breathe again.  Take it in.  Then, create from the heart. 

As a photographer, it is time to shoot from the heart.  I think it will open a whole new realm for you as an artist.

Can you feel it?

Stop, inhale, exhale, relax, pause...can you feel it?  Do it again.

Pausing to really breathe and relax and take in your surroundings will help you to "feel" the place and activity that surrounds you.  It will add life to your work.  Don't just look, really see.  Pausing to breathe or take a deep breath makes you set your camera aside and be enthralled with what is about you and will better equip you to bring it to life in your photography.  If we always have our camera to our face, we miss so very much, not only for our photography but for our own souls.  So pause to breathe.


This is short.  Because I have been breathing.  Oh I have been taking photographs too, you will get a glimpse soon.  (I need to free up disk space on my computer!)  Just look, let your surroundings grab your soul, let your emotions flow and come through your work.

Reckless Abandon

Watch children in their reckless abandon.  This little girl made me think, why can't I just go out in the field and let myself go and dance.  She was there just enjoying herself, smiling, breathing and dancing.

Think about taking pictures for people who are together but can only take themselves, one at a time; smile and enjoy the pleasure of it.  Make a new friend.   At Shurijo Castle there was a group of about 10 students who were so excited to have a photograph of all of them together, glad I could help!  I think I took about 5 or 6 different photographs with as many different cameras of the group.  The smiles in return were all I needed.  It makes you stop and realize what a wonderful world we live in and the joy we can bring as a photographer to others, not only with our own work, but giving a helping hand.  It can also bring inspiration and a pleasant feeling to your own heart which will carry through to your work.  It somehow just makes life more enjoyable.


 So next time you are out making photographs...
              ...stop, inhale, exhale, relax, pause...can you feel it?  Now, do it again.