KB takes spectacular pictures:
Romping & Rolling in the Rockies
Creative Commons license.
Romping and Rolling in the Rockies
Creative Commons license.
To see the post and the pictures in better resolution, click on one of them. There are also two more pictures in the post.
I love KB’s photos, but these also tickled my funny bone. In a recent comment to Audra I mentioned a post I wrote in 2008, about one night/early morning I spend hours taking a picture of my teddy bear. The contrast between KB’s photos and mine is just too funny not to laugh.
That doesn’t mean my time was wasted. The post I wrote said
You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.
–Robin WilliamsI think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality….
–Joseph Campbell in “The Power of Myth”It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…let’s go exploring!
–Calvin to Hobbes
I hesitate to tell you how long I spent taking the above picture for last week’s post. I had the post written by a reasonable hour, and it could have been a nice conclusion to a productive day. All I needed was a simple illustration for the text.
Instead I took picture after picture, varying the lighting, pose and camera angle. From time to time I downloaded the pictures to my computer and noticed what resonated and what didn’t. When I first started getting involved, the “rational” part of my mind said, “This is crazy. The picture you have is plenty good enough. Just let it go and get a good night’s sleep.” And a soft inner voice replied, “Yes, what you say makes sense. It is crazy. I’m doing it anyway, and you can’t stop me.” Once I get in that situation I don’t fight myself. I open myself to the experience.
I ended up going to bed about 3 a.m.
Was that really the best use of my time? When babies lie in their crib experimenting with making sounds, is that a waste of their time? Or when they start exploring their hands and feet, being completely open to the miracle of movement, is that a waste of time? I think not. And I believe that feeling of fascination and discovery shouldn’t be reserved for children. I personally regard that state as sacred space, when one forgets about time and is completely immersed in the present moment. So what if I got to bed late and slept in the next morning? It was a small price to pay for feeding my soul. Sure it was crazy, and I agree with Robin Williams, we’re only given a little spark of madness. We mustn’t lose it.
What about you? Do you have a spark of madness that makes you feel more alive, that lets you slip into sacred space?
Rummuser wrote in a comment, “I call it being in the ‘flow’, and nothing else, as why reinvent the wheel?” I can understand why he asked that — I had written, “…when one forgets about time and is completely immersed in the present moment.” That’s the definition of flow, and I do that a lot on various projects. But here I was talking about something even more powerful, that sense of mystery and wonder, of deep resonance. Have you ever felt that? Was it when you were in the flow state, or listening to music, looking at art or nature, or…?
April 11, 2014
wonderful post.
it took me a long long time to just relax and ‘go with the flow’ as rummy says.
i was raised with the new england work ethic.
you must be doing something useful. you must be accomplishing something.
HOGWASH!
now i give myself permission to go with the flow and enjoy the moment.
whatever i’m doing in that moment! however ‘mad’ it is!!! LOL.
it was hard though. to get there. childhood indoctrination runs deep!
i love calvin and hobbes.
and…
YES! kb’s pictures are glorious. always.
My mother thought we should always be doing something useful. I’m afraid the idea never took with me. I was the lazy one in the family, always had my nose in a book. 😀
Rummuser has come a long way since then. What spark of madness? He is totally and stark raving mad now.
That sounds like fun. 😀
A wonderful post… I find that taking photos does that to me too. I lose all track of time, focused totally on the light and trying to make a beautiful picture and capture the soul of the animal who I’m photographing. It’s funny – in a former life, I was a scientist, designing experiments and analyzing data. You’d think that the art of photography and the scientific process would be very different. However, I’m here to tell you that they are not…
It sounds like you had lots of fun with your photo (which looks beautiful, by the way). I like how his nose is right in the middle but the rest of him is a little off-kilter. It makes the photo very interesting to the eye. I also like the sparkle in his eyes.
Thank you for the compliments on my photos! I am a relative novice so it means a lot to me! (If you want a laugh, look at the photos from the early days of my blog – terrible!)
“You’d think that the art of photography and the scientific process would be very different. However, I’m here to tell you that they are not…”
What exactly did you do? I majored in physics, decided not to get my Ph.D., and worked developing software for scientific research. I loved programming because it was interactive problem solving. Every day was Christmas, just like my life now.
As you know, I love your pictures!