Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Blogging To Blog Is Not Blogging
I think so many of us hear over and over that we need to blog. It is how you are going to get found, how you advance your brand, how people will find you in this vast sea of content. Is this true?
I have to admit I blog because I feel maybe that is what I should do but I am not a word person I am a visual person. What I care about I see through the lens of a camera and want to share that more than I want to share my thoughts. Quite frankly I feel like my deep thoughts are for me to write down to learn more about who I am than to share with the world.
So why do we all blog when it is not something we enjoy? Well I am still wondering that myself. I like visual blogging along with a few thoughts, like what I am doing here. I suppose I like sharing what captures my interest in chance that maybe you enjoy what I see also. But I struggle to find deep words of wisdom to share to change the world. It is just not me.
My friend on the other hand blogs because she has something to share, and in the process she is discovering she is a writer and her words come from a place she can not describe. She shares her thoughts but more she is sharing somethings we all need to hear and give deep thought to. Here is a link to her blog. http://commonplacegrace.com
I like to share what I see in my world and what captures my attention. Maybe because I have worked so hard at learning to create more compelling photos and still study photography obsessively, but I love images and how they capture a split moment in time that would otherwise go unnoticed. I like to try to tell a story through vision rather than words.
So if my blog has more photos than inspiring words, it is because that is my passion, my gift, and my intention. To share moments in time, things I feel are beautiful, funny, interesting, and catch my eye for some reason.
For all you wonderful bloggers of words, keep moving us with your thoughts and inspirations and we visual story tellers will keep showing you what we see and hope you stop for just a moment and look.
So that being said, here are a few photos of the dogs being dogs having fun and doing what they love. Which by the way is the reason we are all here isn’t it?
Where Is Home ?
Homestead in Belgium
I have struggled with this question for many years, all my life actually. I was born in Joliet, Illinois and I my family lived there for three years before moving to another town about 10 miles away. This was a big move in the 50’s because back then most families put their roots down in the town where they were born and many even lived on the same street next to other family members. So for our family was making a big move. We lived in the house my parents bought for about 7 years. Then hard times hit. My father lost his job and they were forced to sell my mothers dream house which then resulted in years of renting and moving from house to house. My mom use to comment about how many times we moved when I was younger, I think we counted maybe 9 or 10 times in the same town. This situation did not change for me as an adult. I got married young and had four children, during that time we started in a small apartment, then our first house, then a bigger home suited for a growing family and then my dream of living in the country on mini farm. After the mini farm we moved due to a work transfer and built another home in the country where things settled down for about 15 years.
Life continued to be challenging after my children were raised and I found myself on my own. With constant moving being a continual theme in my life. I found myself in Montana, Wyoming, Florida, back to Montana and then a bold move to Belgium and now splitting my time between Belgium and Colorado. All in all since 1998 I have moved more than 20 times.
With every new place came the same question from the locals,”where are you from?” where do you live?’ “where is your home?” The answer was never simple.
But today I found my answer and a feeling of knowing where home is for me. I found it in a TED talk.
The speaker talks about having many of the same experiences I have and how he explains it put me a peace. You see people like me that live a non conventional lifestyles is becoming very common. Today many of us find ourselves in different states and countries far from where we were raised. The world is changing and apparently my life is more common then I thought. Your home is not where you think it is.
I highly recommend listening to this talk: TED talk Where is Home? It will open you up to a new way of looking at the place we call home. Now I have the simple answer to the question I am so asked often.
Dinner In a Bag or Cooked By a Chef?
I have been working on my business plan and organizing how my business is going to run. This is an overwhelming task that is taking hours and research and decisions on what my business will be in the future. I get afraid sometimes of all the photographers out there and all the new technology that comes out and trying to keep up with this crazy industry. I feel a lot like the horse in this image, worried about what is coming next
But today I came across a blog post from the Lesser Photographer http://alesserphotographer.com that set me at ease and made me feel good about the path I am going down. I realized that most of us are more than willing to pay extra for the experience of having dinner out where a highly skilled chef is in the kitchen looks after every detail to make it the meal special. The restaurant is clean and decorated and you feel comfortable just to relax and enjoy your meal as compared to going to a fast food drive up window and get your dinner in a bag with plastic forks. I can see I now the difference in the photographer that shoots and burns compared to the photographer that creates a business like the chef in a top restaurant. It is all about the experience and the quality of product and the price usually reflects what you will receive.
I Decided To Just Stop
At this time last week I was frustrated and confused. I had more questions than answers about my business and managing my life. I was pushing for the answers and pushing myself to do more, learn more, market more and on and on. I was trying to control my business and my life and it was driving me crazy.
Then I remembered the message in a book I had read last year called “Dying To Be Me” by Anita Moorjoni A book about being who you are and finding joy. Anita had witnessed her own death and came back with a strong message for all of us.
I decided to just stop and look for the joy in my life. I was not going to strive and worry and try to figure it all out.
After that decision I instantly felt relief. I went about my day doing what was only in front of me. It felt good to let go of what I was trying to make happen.
Then some amazing things started to happen. I went to my photography club competition and one of my photos won in my division. I later got an email from a client that wanted to buy two more prints for her home. I had invigorating conversations with my husband and close friends. I hosted a cocktail hour for some neighbors and had a wonderful time. A foot of snow fell, I love snow. Then on Sunday morning I could see out my window that the morning fog was coating everything in beautiful crystals. I grab my camera and drove to the lake and wildlife refugee near my home. It was a magical morning, a photographers dream. I was in natures playground of beauty. I could not take enough photographs. Although I should have brought my tripod, I was still just so enjoying the beauty and stillness of the morning.
I can not say how important it is to just live in joy. It’s time to quite spending our lives striving and fighting against things we can not control. Just let it unfold. Find the joy that is waiting for you in your life
Have a great week and experience the extraordinary.
There Are Differences Between Us
I was thinking this morning about all the differences between people who live remote and people who live in cities and towns. Besides the obvious of the size of our property or what type of transportation we drive there are some little things that get overlooked.
I suppose the first thing would be fashion or style. I am sure you in town folks think that many country people have no style, which I must say few of us do think about it much. We do not look forward to the latest fashion magazine, we are more interested in when the seed catalogs are going to arrive in our mailbox.
We could care less about designer jeans or the latest color, we shop your leftovers at the Goodwill store because most likely those jeans are going to get caught in barbed wire by the afternoon.
We do not have to decide between flats or heels today, more like rubber boots or work shoes.
Are meals do not look like they came out of a 5 star restaurant, they consist of meat, potatoes and vegetables dug out of the garden, a meal that can feed and satifiy a working man.
You will seldom see us in pet stores buying doggy coats, beds, or retractable leashes, our dog live outside, grow their own coats, and come when they are called. They also are quite talented at dodging an oncoming tractor or a kick from a flying horse hoof.
Our cats are just as beautiful as most, but have never seen a can of fancy feast, or have exotic cat toys, they eat what we give them and are always busy chasing the mice around the barn or stalking the birds at the bird feeder.
We seldom visit the dry cleaners, our clothes are usually hanging on the clothes line in the back yard, and we all love the person who invented permanent press material.
I know on occasion we run into you at a variety of events and we always try to dress up with what ever we have in our closet, and you can be sure we have checked to make sure our shoes have no manure on them when we enter a room. But we can feel your stares at our fashion choices and we have grown use to the snickers behind our backs. But then again we know what your thinking because we have had the same thoughts when you announce that you didn’t realize that milk and eggs did not come from the grocery store.
Here are some photos I took of some country people in Belgium enjoying a day together last fall.
The Country Road Is A Lifestyle
I am beginning my blog on “taking the back roads” because that is where I find most of my joy. Living, working, traveling, hiking, exploring, relaxing, are all the things I usually do when I am out in the country down a remote road of gravel, dirt or sand. My spirit lifts when I am here. It is just me and nature or I may have a companion like a dog, or horse along to keep me company but without breaking the silence that is such a part of why I am here. Just breathing in the warm breeze of that first spring day with the wind blowing ever so slight and smell of fresh grass from a new mowed hay-field fills the air ahhhhhh this is where I come alive, this is where I feel free and inspired. This is where I am inspired to take photographs.
There is more to taking the back roads than just taking photographs, it is a lifestyle. It is where I prefer to live and it enjoying all that comes from being away from the hectic life others live in cities. It is slower here, nothing needs to rush. Time just marches on without deadlines and meetings or shopping trips. It is just a place that is constant and alway available day after day enduring what ever the weather brings to its door step. Cold, snow, rain, ice, wind, heat, humidity, it is all the same to the road and the trees that grow on the side.
I have always enjoyed the people who live and work on these out-of-the-way back roads. They usually say what is on their minds in fewer words than most of us would have said at three. They see life for what it truly is and learned to live and grow with nature not against her. They provide the very things we all need first and usually are not interested in anything beyond that. They live simple, think simple,and stay simple. I find their silence addicting.
If you are someone who loves living on a back road, or someone who chooses to go there any chance you get, I invite you to follow my blog as I share with the stories and the photographs I take whenever I am down some country road or in a remote area. We are different from most, and we have a hard time understanding where the rest of the world is going, but as long as they keep our back roads alone everything will be alright.
Taking The Back Roads 