Category Archives: Seeing In New Ways

A Man and His Sons

Mar
01
2013
by IBK | 0 Comments

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February is a frequent  birthday month in our small family, including my own, so I gave myself a two week sabbatical from blogging.

I pinpoint the time that I became a photographer  to the  Spring of 2008, when I took my year old digital point and shoot camera to Seattle with me on a return visit to the neighborhood where I had lived for 2 plus years while attending graduate school as an  “over 50”, and more importantly  to reunite with friends from my time there.  My friend B. took my husband and I to a small Japanese garden  and it was really through her encouragement that I started to “see in new ways”.  She had such a wonderful sense of composition with her own photography, that I was inspired to keep going.

Several years ago I scanned all of our old film photos into the computer and today as I was reviewing some, I came across today’s image which I took on an old film camera , so a seed was perhaps planted then that finally sprouted in another season.  It was especially poignant since the guy in the red shorts turned 28 today.

I’m reminded of the beautiful lyrics of a song from the old musical, “Fiddler on the Roof; sunrise, sunset,swiftly flow the years, one season following another, laden with happiness and tears; …”    No matter how young or old we are, it matters that we are present in other peoples’ lives and that we engage with others in relationship.  My friend’s love and encouragement started a whole new way of seeing for me, and allowed me to share my words and images with you 5 years later.

Think of someone that had that effect on you and how it’s changed your life.

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also posted in Inspiration, Seasons, Uncategorized Tagged , , , , |

Winter Sentinel

Jan
25
2013
by IBK | 3 Comments

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Oh you beautiful tree of winter standing tall above the alley as I open the garage door to quickly hop into my vehicle for a run to the local coffee shop for my first stop of several on this crisp, snowless, early morning.  Thankfully, my camera’s in the house, so I have a chance to reflect on this chance encounter of morning light illuminating your  branches while while I go back to retrieve it.  Ever so briefly, the moment is available and today, unlike  other times, I sense that it’s important to notice.  Thank you that I have to look up to appreciate your beauty and presence as you tower over the litter strewn alley and overflowing garbage dumpsters waiting to be emptied of the week’s castoffs.  A reminder that light returns after the darkest night and that success often comes from the attention to ordinary everyday acts committed to for a long period of time …  Theologian and author  Eugene Peterson speaks of a “long obedience in the same direction.”

 

Wishing you moments of illumination this week.

 

Your comments regarding last weeks post, as to what you’ve learned from your transitions, are still trickling in, so I’ll share some next week.

IBK

 

 

 

 

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It’s Your Turn

Jan
18
2013
by IBK | 3 Comments

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My purpose for writing this blog is to offer insight and encouragement during life’s transitions.   I know that many of you reading this blog have experienced many transitions this year.  You’ve moved; changed jobs; lost jobs; are looking for jobs; had babies, are expecting babies; had cancer; are recovering from cancer;  became grandparents, aunts, and uncles; bought homes; sold homes; got engaged, got married; ended relationships; found yourself; learned to live with a chronic illness ; made commitments, broken commitments; lost friends and family members; made new friends;  and so on.  In short you’ve been confronted with or have chosen to take a look at yourself in a new way because of these transitions.

As you can see in today’s image, I’ve been out in the field this week looking for images that tell a story about our transitions and how we “are in them”. I’d like you to finish this blog by sharing some insights about what you’ve learned in your own transitions.  A brief example:  I’ve learned that :  I don’t have to fill in the blanks and force the  answer but can wait to discover the answer when it comes.  My niece taught me just last week that:  “You don’t have to own that” … i.e. that’s not yours to do …

I will use some of your comments (pithy please) in next weeks blog to offer insight and encouragement.  (your identity will not be revealed)

IBK

 

 

 

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Calm

Dec
13
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

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I have often driven myself into a frenzy because I have a “big” something to do.  A big project, a big presentation, a big deadline … and so on.  I remember the day that I took out the word “big” and  substituted a declarative sentence without the adjective.  It didn’t negate the scope of the project, but somehow it made it more manageable and gave me a calmer entree point into planning the execution of the task.

 

Perhaps we magnify our words to match the emotion we might have  about the thing that needs doing.  If we tend toward perfectionism, we know how “big” this might be;  if we’re in a  situation where we’re already doing some major projects, another assignment might “do us in”.  A phrase I often hear today is:  “I’m slammed”.  A translation from one who fits into the :  “back in the day” generation, I think that means, I’m backed against the wall and can’t do another thing or honor my or any other commitments

 

The geese in our image have flown in for the night for water, rest and renewal on a partially frozen lake.  Earlier in the week I had been frustrated about how poorly my pictures had turned out at the “big” night shoot downtown with a photography group.  I tripped over my tripod, couldn’t shoot the angle I wanted; forgot how to change settings  … but I learned a lot from others who generously shared solutions.  So after an hour of practice the next day in how to assemble my equipment, shoot a few practice shots, I made a quick trip to my neighborhood lake for a few pictures at sunset.

Wishing you some small moments of calm during a “big” time of year.

IBK

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Dancing In The Moment

Nov
09
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

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We are most anxious it seems when we think back to what was or forward to what will be.  Regrets  for actions taken or not taken;  fearful for actions to be taken and so on.  I’ve been reflecting a bit this week about why I love photography.  When I raise my camera to my eye and look through the view-finder I find that I enter a world of the present moment.  All yesterdays and tomorrows disappear and the focus is to capture ever so briefly a moment in time that allows me to repent of my  own efforts and be “graced” and humbled by what has been provided.  Many years ago I read a book entitled:  “Everyday Sacred” by Sue Bender.  In short, her thesis was to be open to the holiness of living in the everyday moments.  Seeing the familiar in a new light and searching for the beauty of the common is certainly one  way  that I love dancing.

 

Today’s image was discovered during a walk,  near a 400 year old house in Meldorf, Germany.  On my recent trip there I looked up to see the dancer in the side window of an artist’s residence and studio.

What music calls you to dance in the moment?  What might you let go off to start or continue dancing?

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also posted in Blessings Tagged , , , , , , , |

Gratitude

Aug
24
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

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Sometimes, but not often enough I “get over myself”and just relish the dance in the moment. Last week I joined a photography “Meetup” at the Denver Botanic Garden for a member’s only 7:00 a.m. entry before the general public admission at 9:00.  How delightful to be able to “capture” morning’s soft light offering and it’s cool breeze.  When I put the camera to my eye to frame a shot, all of the tensions of a hundred details attended to in the previous week, float away, and  the music of intentional seeing starts its tune.  Here a color, there a texture, water flowing, interesting patterns, butterflies landing,bees pollinating, reflections on the pond, water lilies opening on their own schedule …. and I’m released from mine.

 

Todays image could be cropped to capture only the most beautiful  strong proud “pick of the litter” (I live in Denver where there are almost as many dogs as flowers … I digress) and that’s where the focus usually is, but if you saw the image in full size you’d see the most beautiful light illuminating the bent stems of the drooping flower.  The flowers are still alive, but just not strong enough to stand upright.  A reminder perhaps that sometimes we have to take a leave of absence  from our, activities, challenges, schedules, burdens, losses, and incessant doings. A  garden to dance in and to wait, watch and listen as one season follows  another, one flower dies another shoots up new life.  Meanwhile the light shines in the darkness and the early morning light.  How divine.

 

IBK

Also posted in Aging, Letting Go Tagged , , , , , , |

Seek and Find

Jul
20
2012
by IBK | 0 Comments

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It has been 4 years this month since I moved to Denver and I sometimes take for granted what I was initially so delighted by.  Upon arriving here I would choose a different  street about every 2 weeks and mine it for treasure … here an Italian bakery; there a meat market , a place to drop off clothes for a non profit organization helping women rebuild their lives; oh, an electrical repair place; a library; a neighborhood nursery and garden center and so on. Once we become familiar with a place (or person), it is so easy to not see the uniqueness that delighted us in the first place.

Today’s image of the downtown Denver skyline was taken  five minutes away from my home in northwest Denver. I’ve been in the building next to where I took the shot and had driven by , but hadn’t seen the walking path where I set up my tripod to take this image.  Had I not signed up with the Front Range Photography “Meetup” group to “do a downtown night shoot”, I wouldn’t have  discovered this treasure.

In the midst of your routines this week, where could you intentionally “seek and find” something you might be taking for granted? Come on now, how about a treasure hunt?

IBK

 

 

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Jun
08
2012
by IBK | 1 Comment

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Two weeks ago today I awoke to early morning light and chirping birds outside of my ground floor, city bed and breakfast in Carlisle England. In the next two days we would walk the final miles  on the Hadrian’s Wall Path, and yet this particular morning I thought back to where the walk began – in Newcastle – at Wallsend . (Wall’s End ) In addition to touring the grounds and museum  of Segedunum, the most completely excavated Roman fort in Britain (circa 128 A.D.), lying at the eastern end of Hadrians Wall – and the beginning of our hike – we walked that first day along the river Tyne into Newcastle.

Today’s image is of the newest bridge crossing the river Tyne at Newcastle, a former shipbuilding colossus and world  coal provider, now trying to “repurpose” itself  as a smaller London Northeast and building Japanese cars for export all over Europe while now importing coal from China. Global is local or “Glocal” as one of my graduate school professors said.  Since there aren’t any major ships coming into this tidal river port now, the bridge is primarily opened for pleasure and excursion boat cruises.  It is a pedestrian bridge that connects two towns on the river, with a new modern art museum in an old granary and a regional entertainment venue (silver bubble in background) along the riverbank.  We were not there on the day they open the bridge for visitors, but imagine the front part opening up like the blinking of an eye.

Thoughts … Bridges can connect the old and the new; they can expose us to the unfamiliar of the familiar routine; they can inspire by the sheer beauty of their design and the skill needed to envision and create; they take us away from what we’ve known and found security in; they call us to new adventure, but only if we cross them and are open to the learning (often painful) along the way.

IBK

 

Also posted in New Beginning, Seasons Tagged , , |

Change It UP

Apr
27
2012
by IBK | 4 Comments

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Before moving to Denver , my hikes occurred on summer vacations. Yesterday  a friend and I went on a spring hike.  The trail started from a parking lot about 15 minutes from my house. Soon we were climbing higher and  proceeded up a series of switchbacks with a generally smooth path along with patches of rocky terrain. We hiked to the top, sat on rocks to eat our snack and then completed the loop of 4 miles back to the car.  I was home by lunch. OK, so what?

Well the rest of the story is that with minimal effort, I saw purple,teal,and fuchsia spring flowers that I had never seen before, hiked up the back of the well known Red Rocks Amphitheater, AND saw numerous nests of caterpillars in their silken  nursery tents  (see today’s image), resting  – perhaps after munching on their host plant’s leaves.  Take that you boring treadmill at the fitness center.

I had so much energy and a great attitude when I got home, that I planted most of my small backyard garden and added some new scented flowers by the front steps in anticipation of the rain which didn’t come until tonight.  Then I got to see the new plants dancing in the rain.  I would have missed this latest delight because I had planned to watch some T.V. after my big day … thankfully the cable was out and I had hours “to be”.

A personal note: Please pray for a young man name Ty who is in a major battle with his enemy, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also posted in Seasons Tagged , , , , |

Both-And

Apr
12
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

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Later today I hope be sitting by this tidal pool in Washington, D.C. surrounded by the Cherry Blossoms and “hanging out” with my youngest son.  As I was reviewing my pre-trip list I suddenly remembered that it was “blog night ” so I thought through how I would do that remotely and so on, until I realized that I could do a “blog morning.”  This was a reminder of a theme I have been noticing in my life during the last two weeks … I’m slowly experiencing some progress with “both-and” vs. “either or”.

As long as I can remember, I have had pre-trip reluctance; I’m excited about going and 24 hours or more before I start to enter the “I’ve got everything done, and I could now stay home mode.” The way I usually deal with that is to over-function by over packing, over-cleaning; over organizing  and so on (just in case I don’t make it home, other people would have to pay my bills, find my … and so on) … except today.

Full disclosure:  I haven’t vacuumed for 4 weeks; dusted for 3; but it’s ok to use the bathroom or eat in my kitchen “cause” those are spotless.  So you see, perhaps there are things in our lives we could approach from a both-and perspective that allows us to be a bit kinder with ourselves and subsequently others.  I’m going to keep noticing when both-and opportunities present themselves.  You?

IBK

Also posted in Letting Go Tagged , , |