a body of work

"We release our 'stuckness' when we create. We reinvent our lives, tell new stories, and rebuild communities when we create.
We reclaim our esteem, our muse, and our hope when we create. Your body of work is everything you create, contribute, affect, and impact.”

― Pamela Slim

I am in the middle of putting together a photo book to mark 2024, and have been deep in reviewing photos. There were definitely times when I had slumps throughout the year, just shooting to shoot. But also times when I felt I was capturing just what I wanted, or maybe needed, to embrace.

While culling through photos I see where I have hardly taken any photos with my camera of my kids, but a couple hundred of my grandson. I noticed lots of photos of flowers and weeds, but not many of the dog this year, or food for that matter. I did not carry my camera with me everywhere, and instead used my phone.

I have given some thought into what it means to develop “a body of work”, and how my images are all over the map. It seems to somehow fit me however, even if it leaves me wondering what might happen if I were a bit more intent with my vision.

2024 will be remembered with a book full of diptychs, a project I dove into with gusto around mid year. I have shared a few here and there.

thank you

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart,
it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Thank you so much for dropping by and reading my musings, and putting up with my moods.
I wish you a beautiful Thanksgiving Day and hope you get to spend it with those you love.
I hope your table and your hearts are full.

strangers in the house

"In my lap I had my dear little pug, the smell of whose ears will always be sweeter to me than all the perfumes of Araby and the scent of heliotrope combined."

— Kathryn Davis (Versailles)

The pugs come for a bit of playtime. They run amok in the yard, while Baker watches. He is not curious or even interested in playing but rather just sits and watches, wanting them to just leave his space. I get this, as I am often the same way. Give me the quiet of the house or garden and I am a happy woman. Lately we have done a bit of upgrading to the house and there has been strangers in and out, working in my peaceful place. I am happy they are done.

After the pugs leave I watch as Baker checks out the new smells these two deposited in his yard. Later, as we are settled in to relax, he sleeps between us on the couch, relieved it is just the three of us once more.

***

what i am after

“The things we felt most are hardest to put into words. Hate is always easier to speak of than love.
How shall I make love go through the sieve of words and come out something besides a pulp?”

― Josephine W. Johnson, Now in November

I take photos of things I love, things that move me in some way or manner.
I am not always centered, or in a good place mentally, but I seek out the photo anyway.
My camera is not always set to deliver the sharpest image, or the best, in truth I am never after that.
What I am after is a way to capture the mood, the feelings, the awareness, and the love, that lies deep inside of me.

change

“It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed
from what you have always known.”

― Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

I make a list of things I would like to change. . .
habits I would like to break . . .
thoughts I would like to let go of . . .
I am not sure what is more frightening -
the possibility that I might be a tiny bit successful -
or the thought that I won’t -