Grasslands (Post 3 in which I abandon unrealistic weekly deadline)

Ok, so my life is too crazy to impose tight deadlines on myself this year.  I sometimes think that I can create more time by sheer will but when it comes down to it that just means no sleep.  Thus, I will move forward at a pace conducive to happiness and sleep.  I had a friend save all her pink muhly grass clippings for me to experiment with and I ended up creating a mini grassland in the boys' bedroom. Since I was having trouble deciding between these images I posted them both(Little Lion Man and Incandescent) along with some old photos in the grasslands of Ireland. Preferences? Thoughts? 

New:

Little Lion Man

Old:

Monolith(Taken in Ireland in 2007)

New:

Incandescent

Old:

Grazing(Taken in Ireland in 2007)

Vines (week 2)

I have always been interested in plants and the natural world.  With my studies in landscape architecture and a summer spent in Ireland I began to think more about the myths and cultural symbolism surrounding plants. Over the coming year I hope to revisit some of these ideas and to explore the intertwining of plants and life, drawing from and creating my own symbolism and myths.  My first attempt is below...

New: 

Untamed

Old:

Tangled (taken in Ireland in 2007)

52 Old, 52 New, 52 Weeks, So much to do! (Week 1)

As the new year was approaching I began thinking about starting a project in 2013 and thought I might do a photo a day and post it here.  Thankfully, my husband talked me out of it cautioning that not only would it be hard to sustain but he also pointed out that I would most likely end up with 365 loosely conceived and loosely tied images.  Considering this advice and how I work I thought that perhaps a weekly photo would be more appropriate and ultimately more likely to lead me into a new project. I need time to think, time to plan and time to play in my process.  Because I feel the need to move forward on many fronts this year, I decided that in addition to creating a photograph every week, I will also uncover a photo from my negative archives to scan and prepare for printing.  I will move forward with new ideas while finishing and pulling together old ideas.  We were busy with guests the first few weeks of the new year so I am just lauching myself into this project and I have 'Week One' images to share...


New:

Peaceful Place

Old:

Tuatha Dé Danann (taken in Ireland in 2007)

An Auspicious Beginning

A new year brings renewal.  As 2013 begins I am working to reaffirm my own meditation practice and renew my efforts to teach my children to meditate.  At the end of 2012 I was experiencing a lot of frustration and anger with my 3 year old and in an attempt to help him(and me) cope with his intense emotions I created a "mind in a jar." It is a jar filled with water, sand and dirt from our garden.  When the jar gets shaken up it represents a busy, uncontrolled mind full of emotion and anger.  As we sit and watch the particles slowly filter down to the bottom the water becomes clear again- this is a calm and peaceful mind.  When Rowan gets worked up and needs a break I send him to my meditation pillow to shake the jar and watch is settle, then I come in and we do 10 breaths together.  It has been great: he loves the whole process, it encourages me to catch him before he goes crazy and it allows us time together to sit, think and talk(granted this is usually while Connor climbs all over us).  Through this practice he has become interested in Medicine Buddha and I have found more patience.  The other day while we were watching the particles in the jar settle I noticed something swirling around with the dirt.  A seed had sprouted in the jar!  Buddhism often talks of planting seeds in the mind- if we practice compassion or other positive virtues we plant the seeds of good karma which will eventually sprout and grow.  The little sprout filled me with immense joy and hope and made me feel as though I were on the right path however circuitous it might be.  Today Rowan told me we should plant the seedling in our 'other jar' which is a terrarium.  I thought it was a wonderful idea, so he fished it out with a spoon and we dropped it in to the terrarium.  No matter what happens to the physical seedling I see it as an affirmation of our efforts and an auspicious beginning to 2013.

Creeping Along

I finally finished the post processing and editing this weekend of a series I am calling Omniscient Oaks. Now I just need to write my statement for the series...  It is a project shot in Orlando that I started on a foggy day in November 2009.  I stopped in Orlando on our Christmas travels in 2010 specifically to take more photos and I came out with a few good ones from that stop.  At the moment I have 24 photos but I think I still need to do a final edit.  Why is it so hard for me to come up with more than 12-18 photographs for a series?  Perhaps I am not a prolific enough shooter.  In any case here is one that will certainly make the final cut.  I hope to finish my new website sometime this month and once that is up the whole series will be posted there.

Amazement

I am continually amazed by my children.  I am amazed by the mess that such small creatures can create.  I am amazed by the noise and chaos that surrounds them.  I am amazed by how little time I have to do the things I used to take for granted like showering, cooking, thinking, talking to my husband.  But most of all I am amazed by how much I love them.  I couldn't conceive of loving anyone as much as I love Rowan, but somehow my heart expanded to allow just as much love for Connor. 

Smiles from the Subtle Mind

I love how newborn babies smile and laugh in their sleep.  I caught the tail end of one of Connor's smiles the other day.  As I watch him smile long before he knows how to in his waking mind I am reminded of a Buddhist teaching on the levels of mind. 

Buddhists teach there are three levels of mind or consciousness: gross, subtle and very subtle.  The gross mind is our waking mind; it is tied to and influenced by the body.  It experiences the senses as well as delusions such as anger and attachment.  The gross mind dissolves into the subtle mind when we die and its memories are not carried from life to life.  The subtle mind serves as a conduit from the senses to the very subtle mind.  The very subtle mind is the clear light of mind; it is a blissful mind free of delusions.  Through meditation we can tap into the very subtle mind and it is through this mind that enlightenment will ultimately be obtained.  It is also believed that our gross mind dissolves into the very subtle mind when we sleep.  It makes me happy to think that Connor, even though he doesn't know how to smile when awake, experiences the bliss of the clear light of mind while he sleeps.