Moments That Stir the Heart {Maine Lifestyle Photographer}

Posted on January 27, 2010

There can be no great love than the one shared between a child and its parents. I had the privilege and honor to witness such love, and even better, to photograph some very tender moments.  It also gave me a chance to practice using textures and vintage actions.

When you have brought up kids, there are memories you store directly in your tear ducts.  ~Robert Brault

The Magic of Light {Maine Lifestyle Photographer}

Posted on January 18, 2010

I am continually awed by how light can either make or break a photograph. Yes, I have gone out with my camera on a cloudy day and the images captured were beautiful. They even glowed with a particular light found only on cloudy days.

What I love, however, is the sunlight that exists towards the end of the day or the first couple of hours after sunrise. “The golden hours.” The magic of light.

The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.  ~Vladimir Nabokov

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.  ~Aaron Rose

Reason and Passion {Maine Lifestyle Photographer}

Posted on January 13, 2010

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house.
Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both.

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows — then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.”
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky — then let your heart say in awe, “God moves in passion.”
And since you are a breath in God’s sphere, and a leaf in God’s forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.     – “On Reason and Passion” by Kahlil Gibran

Change is Beautiful {Maine Lifestyle Photographer}

Posted on January 8, 2010

I have felt scattered this week.  Too many directions to go in but I’m feeling directionless.  So many household things have fallen apart, needing my attention.  And yesterday, to top it all off, I went out to start my car and a tire was flat.  The end of the day resulted in two new tires.  I was supposed to pay bills with that money.  Oh well.  You can’t get there from here without a car in Maine!

I’ve been experimenting with different techniques for my photos.  The following image breaks my rules of grainy pictures.  But change is a beautiful thing and I love this image of my daughter, especially when processed like this.  In the near future, this one is going on my wall as a canvas gallery wrap.

The Shape of Creativity {Maine Lifestyle Photographer}

Posted on January 4, 2010

“If your creativity during the upcoming year could take shape—or if the space that accommodates it could take shape—what would it look like? Show us.”  Inspired by this post on Shutter Sisters.

This is an interesting way of looking at creativity – that it could have a shape. A physical form.

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative conception of creativeness (based on its etymology) is that it is simply the act of making something new. – Wikipedia

I don’t come up with New Year’s resolutions like many people do. This year I decided on a word to focus on. Soar. My creativity is entwined in this word. Its meaning is a guiding force for the way I proceed through my daily photographic endeavors.

Giving my creativity a shape has got me thinking. So I started to look through some of my images to see if any of them jumped out at me, announcing a physical presence.

This image volunteered. It is clearly a fence line, but beyond its borders lives mystery. Beauty. Light. Freedom. Infinity. Within its borders there is very little space. And it is limited. Familiar.

I envision myself soaring over the fence line. My creativity is clearly on the other side.