Threaded on Etsy

Many thanks to rikrak for choosing to share one of my photos in this recent article on the Etsy Blog:

The Collectors: Handmade Pincushions

A Fresh Perspective

I am very excited to be heading out of town in a couple of weeks.  As open as I am to seeing photographic opportunities absolutely everywhere, it is refreshing to head to a spot I haven't been to in a number of years to get the creative juices flowing.

We're going to Halifax for a work conference for my husband.  We actually used to live there, so I'm very familiar with it, and have many potential spots in mind to head with my camera.  I'm just crossing my fingers that the weather will cooperate! 

And Then I Spilled the Milk

or, "What pictures don't tell us"

My daughter's 6th birthday was about a week ago; my father's (her Papa) turned 65 two days later.  We celebrated family-style with her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Camera ready, she and her Papa blew out the candles for a picture-perfect moment.

And then I knocked over a glass, onto my sister and everything on her lap.

After the mess was cleaned up and everyone was happily devouring chocolate cake, it made me think:  What are the stories that pictures don't tell us?  Are there tears following the ripping open of gifts, screaming children fighting over the candies, parents grumbling about the mess?

In a word, yes.

We don't really capture those moments, though, do we?  I suppose it's because we want the happy ones, but do they tell the true story?  Unlikely.  Then again, who would want to sit with their grandchildren, recalling the fights at the dinner table? 

I am lucky.  I have more happy memories than not.  Maybe that's why I have so many photos.  Maybe that's why many of us take so many - we want to freeze those moments when life is good.  It feels good to look back at those pictures, to share them with family and friends.  Life has its fair share of sadness and unhappy instances (we have only to look at the latest news story for them); maybe that's why we tend toward smiles in portraits. 

Later, we want to remember laughter and love, accomplishments and adventures.

I know I do.

And Speaking of Stories...

...This wonderfully old dictionary made for many interesting compositions.  With a blackened cover and curled pages, what was once a plain Webster's Dictionary became (for me, anyway) a subject just waiting to be turned into photographs. 

I allowed the bright sunlight to filter through the pages, contrasting the age and dust.  Instead of becoming tossed and forgotten, now these pages are inspiration.  The words held within are stories waiting to be told, poems to be written, and songs to be sung.

What Stories Have Been Told?

stories forgotten

love letters longingly sent

fingertips clacking on the keys

tears wept for joy and grief

dried among the letters