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Attraction

Have you ever watched a movie or studied a painting that just seems to speak to you but you're not quite sure what it's saying? Every so often, isn't there a certain un-articulated attraction to something, some object, some image, or some person, the full meaning of which is not revealed until much later in your life?

Like the photograph above, there are times when I am drawn toward certain subjects and themes in my photography. I recall very clearly about 10 years ago when I was drawn toward taking photos of flowers behind fences. At the time, I had no idea why they seemed to pull at my consciousness. In retrospect it's clear to me that I was in a pretty dark place in my life, and like a mirror, these images were being reflected back to me, resonating with some deeper emotions that my conscious awareness just wasn't grasping at the time. It's almost as if my subconscious were sending me a visual message to the future, saying in silence: "You really can't comprehend why you're drawn to me, can you? But you are drawn nonetheless, and you will record this theme for some future date when you will see more clearly than you do now." I haven't quite allowed the meaning of the above photo to enter into my consciousness, but I am drawn to it much like the flowers behind fences which beckoned me a decade earlier. I suppose if I sat down and began to write, the richer meaning would somehow reveal itself. Perhaps that is why I am not a writer and I prefer the slower percolation of images to rise in my consciousness rather than the battering ram of the written word. That's the problem with words: they get to the point much too quickly. Unless of course you're reading poetry and the metaphors waft in the air like scarves from the proverbial Dance of the Seven Veils. Much more pleasant and alluring, and attractive.

What could be ...

Although it is not even Thanksgiving week, I am thinking ahead to a new year. Perhaps I am weary of the roller coaster we've been riding since the depths of the recession and the election of Barak Obama. The photo above is the site of an old bridge, and one yet to come. I am looking forward to that new bridge and the need it will call attention to: a new trail along the stream. I want these new connections in my life. They keep me feeling alive and a part of the living breathing ecosystem known as Nine Mile Run. This urban strean and wetland ecsystem should be THRIVING, not merely surviving

The State of the Watershed

The State of the Watershed

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Returning

... to a self-focus, with imagination ... balance between needs and self-direction and the demands and expectations of others and the outer environment ... work, play and love ...