Friday, July 16, 2010

Vision






      It has been a remarkably hot and humid July. I confess that I haven't been handling the heat very well, this year. I keep asking everyone, "is it usually this hot?" They assure me it is but I'm not so sure. The very pleasant thing about Vermont is that, eventually, the weather changes. (Unlike California, in the summer, where it's hot and sunny with no rain for months at a time.) I know that I just have to hang on a little longer.

     In the meantime, I've had a tremendous struggle. Here I am, wanting to be a "photographer" - to just capture and share some of the beauty around me - and the light is as soft and beautiful as it could possibly be. Too many times, I've chosen a chair over a walk. This gorgeous evening, however, I couldn't resist the 7 minute drive in our air conditioned vehicle to chase this sunset from the vantage point of the dam. I had to help someone before I left, though, and wound up with a soft dusk instead.

     Honestly, these photos couldn't have been any clearer. This is a true representation of the hazy humidity. It feels as though you could scoop the air up in your hands and take a sip.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


     Anyway, about the view. When I first moved to Vermont, I found that I felt claustrophobic in my little town, nestled in the mountains. There didn't seem to be any wide open, flat spaces. Even the trees made me feel closed in - I couldn't see far because of them. I was used to the wide open spaces of the west. I mentioned this to a new friend of mine and she said that a friend of hers had told her, 


"Muriel, you need a good view at least once a week."


      In Vermont, when you climb to a vista, what you see is hill after hill after mountain range after mountain range stretching on and on. It's very good to know that there's so much beyond those hills and that my own life in this tiny town isn't the whole world. When I get my view, I have a sudden shocking realization that they don't cut me off - they are what's in between, what connects me to the outside. It's really the same with anything - the desert - the ocean - even "the other side of the tracks". These are really the connectors - not the dividers. My, it really gives one a feeling of Wanderlust!




 

     Well, I have to confess that a lot of lovely things have been coming my way. I got some money for my birthday and spent some of it on books. They came in the mail, yesterday. One was, Within the Frame: the Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin. I had seen this book at a large bookstore but didn't have the money to buy it at the moment. As I stood there reading, however, my heart was so incredibly moved. His words have an impact that is not for photography only. They moved me as a musician and as a woman with a beating heart, too. I've been on a 3 month search for it and, finally - finally - it's mine. As I was reading along, I read this about vision and connection:


Make Me Care
Shooting from the heart and telling the visual stories you love and care about is the first step in making your viewers care. If we do not tell stories in a way that people care about, we've failed. We've failed to create an image that connects on some level, failed to pull the viewer into the frame and show them something new. This doesn't mean we shoot only those things that others want to see. It means we shoot the things that move us in ways that will move others.

p.13 italics and bold added








     Maybe my images aren't quite living up to this ideal but it encourages me on. It makes me think about several things that I'm working on, right now: music, blogging, photography, gardening, yea, even how I make my home, and all the way through my spiritual life. With me, I want there to be a point. This definitely renews my vision - to connect. I just thought that his words are tremendously inspiring and wanted to share them with you. I hope that you all don't mind. Honestly, I hope that someone is resonating with this.







Funnily enough, this week's "The Creative Sunday's"  word is connect.


Here I was thinking of trains and tea rooms - all the while this thought and hope and struggle had been simmering in the back of my mind.



Well, that's me from the Vermont hills. Reaching out to you.

Katy


P.S. Oh, dearie me! I just thought of something. Do you remember that telephone slogan: "Reach out and touch someone"? =]




The Sunday Creative




16 comments:

  1. Hi, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Happy to discover another great blog. I will be visiting often!

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  2. hello,

    it's great when you read something and get that excited feeling of "that's it!" i know that for me, because of blogging, i am always reaching for my camera and just love getting that "that's it" shot. your photos are really lovely. thanks for sharing. :)

    happy weekend!

    xo
    elyse

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  3. The evening light is always so wonderful for taking photos! It is early Saturday morning and I am just getting ready to head out in the early morning light (very cloudy out) to see what I can find to take photos of. I probably won't drive too far this morning but sometimes the prettiest things are close to where we live!

    Hope you are having a lovely Saturday Katy!
    xo Catherine

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  4. Thank you Katy for a very lovely, moving post. I love your photos and can totally feel what you were trying to capture. I grew up in the part of Oregon that looks like Vermont. I will now be on the hunt for this book. Photography has become the by product of blogging for me. It really is about the photos and connecting with people like you--like minded people sharing the same passions.
    PS: The heat is getting to me too!

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  5. I get it! It's more than sky - X, grass - X, trees -X... Yep, they're all there. It's about really seeing, experiencing, connecting until it becomes a part of you. What a heart challenge to connect as often as possible to the things that are true and pure and good and beautiful, until they are reflected in all I do. Lovely post!

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  6. About the view, I think we almost all once shared your feelings and it is quite frustrating, isn't it ? but how clever and generous your vision is. You rightly reached to a conclusion that I shared.(connectors vs dividers).
    About DuChemin's (it is french !)words : I think they could apply to any form of art, don't you think ?

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  7. Blimey that David duChemin bloke is quite prosaic isn't he! I read your quote and thought to myself "I should co-co" ( roughly translated as, how absolutley spot on and terrificly observed, couldn't have said it better myself.")
    I was happy to hear about all the things in the way in Vermont too as it is a lot like that round here you know?

    Love Sarah x

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  8. That view was worth the drive - stunning.

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  9. thank you so much for your lovely comments on my photos, your blog is so great. I am new to blogging and yours is very inspiring and your pictures are great.

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  10. The first commandment for would-be writers is "Write what you know." I think the same can often be said for photographers -- shoot what you know, what you experience, what moves you...

    I love the reflections in the first image, the fence leading your eye inward in the second one, the way the bottom edge of the trees echoes the tops of the mountains in the third, and the almost abstract band of colors in the last one. Beautiful, Katy!

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  11. Good Morning, Dear-

    now finally- I was able to read your long and wonderful post :-)

    I know that feeling. We live outside the town- countrylike- up on a hill-and I love wide and flat land... I wish to live at the edge of the town- a few footsteps and you feel life... I grew up in the middle of a town- next to a park... I miss that.

    But I know- you do, like me- the best, to feel good :-)

    Your photos are great and I like it, that you wanna learn how to take good photos!

    Those photos are amazing- I like them- especially the last one- really perfect!

    Dear- I hope, you feel good. Now I have the baby here in the house- I miss it, to sleep long at the weekend- I feel so tired and stressed, cause it´s not easy to tell the little baby- go outside for making pipi (I think- you know, what I mean...)

    But baby will grow up and will use the grass someday ;-)

    A big hug to you, my dear friend- enjoy your book and learning to have good photos!

    Ines

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  12. Katy, this is another gorgeous post and I love that line - I think you DO need a good view once a week (Muriel)! Love it so much I think I will be saying it from now on. I come from a wide open part of Cornwall on the north coast and did struggle with the south I now live in with its beautiful coves and tree-lined river banks, but I find a trip onto moorland or home to the north soon puts it right. couldn't live anywhere else now, but we are lucky in Cornwall because moors, woods, wild coasts and gentle coves are all within easy reach. Something for everymood! x

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  13. A lovely post Katy and beautiful views. Thank you for your comments on my blog. That is such a lovely story about the marshmallow farm. They do wrap them here up too eventually, in pale green! You are so lucky to have owned a tea-room - love that cup. My dream - one day!

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  14. This is my first visit to your blog.
    I found you via "vignette design"
    Thank you for sharing such beauty.
    They beauty they show is very calming to
    me at a time when I need calm.
    God landscape is so breathtaking.
    I will be stopping by often.

    Kindly,
    CJ

    treehouse.queen18(atyahoodotcom)

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  15. Oh I long to see Vermont again . . . . . . . Gorgeous . . thank you for sharing Love
    Helen xx

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  16. These are four fantastic views to start my week with, Katy!
    Sending lots and lots of Dutch JOY your way for a happy Monday. xxx

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