2018 | The One Word

There are many benefits to doing a 365 Day Photography Project. Words like perseverance, determined, focused, discipline, improved, all come to mind. But I have also discovered that I am so focused on getting that one great good photograph for the day that something has become lost. I have lost the ability to tell the story that a series of good photographs can convey.

Last week I put on my bravery bonnet and submitted this photograph to the FaceBook Group that goes with David duChemin's photography class - The Compelling Frame. This is what I wrote to accompany the photograph: 

"For the most part I have been happy to sit back and read what others post, enjoy their photography, occasionally comment and leave it there. You know the scary thing...sharing your own photography, yes I have been trying to avoid it. But, honestly how is that going to help my growth. This week, I took an idea from a challenge in another group I am in and went to the laundromat. I have wanted to do a personal project at a laundromat for the last two years. Monday I conquered fear and the curious looks from other laundromat patrons and took my camera out. First scary obstacle cleared, now the second...sharing a photo here."

I wasn't looking for feedback or praise. I simply wanted to push myself to start sharing in the group. But I got good feedback anyway, even from the instructor himself:

"Very geometric. Very isolated. I find it hard to give good feedback on this one because I don't know where you're at in the learning process, Sarah. If you're closer to the beginning this is an excellent exercise in geometry and in creating a clear subject. If you're further along then I'd like to see the whole series and see if there isn't something there with more story, or more of an emotional hook, or stronger conceptual contrasts, perhaps."

In his response was the WORD that had been hammering on my creative heart for the last few weeks - STORY. I knew exactly what he was talking about and I knew that I had let what made my photography compelling in 2016 slip away - the STORY. 

Once I opened my heart to the Word, I remembered the Adobe Spark stories that I did at the end of 2016, my favorite being the one titled Connections that I shot at our public library with my daughter. But that raised another question that I posed to David along with this photograph...

Question - Is it wrong to set the story up? 

The overwhelming response was: No, it isn't wrong to stage the story. Even when we frame a landscape photograph from our own perspective, we are skewing what we want people to see. 

Again David's response spoke to something deep inside me...

"I’m inclined to side with the masses on this one. I have no problem with setting the stage like this. Cinematographers do it all the time. Novelists put their characters where and how they want. I’ll say it again, where art is concerned: there ain’t no rules and there is no “should” except what you desire and what serves your intent."

It was the single sentence "Cinematographers do it all the time." 

That sentence gave the nod to something else that has been rumbling around in my head. An on-line course taught by Xanthe Berkeley called Make Films. I have a strong urge to explore film making. I feel the experience will contribute greatly to my ability to create stories. The course begins January 9, 2018. I haven't decided for sure yet, but I have written on my desk calendar on Tuesday, December 26 - Decide on Xanthe Film Class!

My One Word for 2018 is STORY...

Reclaim

My word for 2016 was Open. This word proved to be beneficial in the fact that I fell in love with the wide open landscape.

But you also have to be cautious when you pick a word like Open, because along with being open to good, you also have to be open to challenging things like change, loss, and frustration.

Being a bit more careful with my word choice for 2017. I have chosen RECLAIM as my word. I like reclaim, it is an action word and I am ready to reclaim some previous undertakings.

Reclaim health. I had two grandfathers and at least two great-grandfathers die from heart disease. One of my grandmothers had a stroke in her fifties and remained bedridden for almost thirty years. As I fast approach the half century mark it is time to be serious about my health, my diet and exercise.

Reclaim time. I need to get back to scheduled workdays. Working with purpose and passion. Make a schedule and stick to it. Make lists and cross things off.

Reclaim dreams. For more than a decade I have had a dream of one day leading small creative retreats. Gathering varying groups of women together to create, to share, to laugh, to cry. To photograph, to journal, to paint, to explore nature, to cook and share meals.

To see how these retreats are put together I need to attend a few first, see what I like, what I would change. I have my eye on one in particular Firefly Institute Photography Camp for Women in California mid-October. It is time to leap off that edge I have been teetering on for the past few years.

Reclaim Making. I bought a small red art journal the other day. I want to make with my hands again.

Reclaim space. In all reality we will be downsizing our house sometime in the next five years. Now is the time to get rid of the clutter, buy less, give more.

I hope that Reclaim is kinder to me than Open was, but no matter what happens in 2017, I am stronger because of being Open in 2016.

Have you chosen a word for 2017? I would love for you to tell me about it.

Hitching Up The Sidecar

The time has come to pick that one little word that I will attach to the year ahead just like I would attach a sidecar to a vintage BMW motorcycle. The year ahead will take off traveling at a high rate of speed just like that motorcycle, and then hopefully it will slow down to a reasonable cruising speed. All the while that sidecar is right there attached to the BMW keeping the exact same pace.

You may be curious what my one little word for 2015 is going to be. Hint - it isn't motorcycle or sidecar. I thought I had the perfect word all figured out at the beginning of November. It fit me to a tee or so I thought. It was going to be curious. But one day of writing at a local coffee shop completely changed the course for the entire year ahead. I eluded to this change in direction in the post The Wider View. I will be doing a year long photographic and writing study of nature's beautiful bodies of water. When I wrote that post the idea was still a little seed that had just been planted. Since that time the idea has rooted itself firmly in my head, my heart and my soul.

I have a notebook full of ideas for this project. I know in my heart it is the right time for this kind of work. Let me also state that I am horrible at sticking with year long projects. Not to be deterred by past failures, I have not only decided to take on this year long endeavor. I have also signed up for a year long class on making movies with Xanthe Berkeley called A Year of Creating Time Capsules. I have always wanted to take one of Xanthe's classes to learn how to make movies but the timing was never quite right before, now it is perfect. I want to incorporate short movies into my new project.

My word that I have chosen for 2015 is...Committed. I am committed to this project. I am committed to finally finishing a year long class. I am committed to documenting my photographic and writing growth. I am committed to putting a lot of my creative time and energy into this project. I will only be taking classes that in some way fit into the needs of the project. I plan on putting in 10-15 hours a week on some aspect of the project.

The best part is that this whole project will be housed in one place completely devoted to it. I am putting the finishing touches on a new Squarespace blog that will go live very soon - A Year Beside The Water.

For those of you who love the Coffee Shop Chronicles you needn't worry, those will continue here just as they have in the past. I hope to post two Chronicles a month. Other than that though most of my time will be spent on the new blog.

I see 2015 as a year of tremendous artistic growth for me. I am committed to this project and I am committed to investing in my future. So I am strapping on my leather motorcycle helmet, pulling on my vision correcting googles and revving up the engine, loading "committed" into the sidecar, and getting ready for the ride of my life.

Every Girl Needs an Anthem

Every Sunday there is a blog link up party hosted by Kathy at You'll Shoot Your Eye Out. The party is called Song-ography, an interpretation of the words of the featured weekly song incorporated into your photography. I do not participate in this party, not because I don't want to, but because I know my scheduled blogging party limitations.

A few of my friends do participate in this link up, so I get to read their lovely words and see their interpretation of the song. This week as I was reading my friend Nancy's post, something stirred inside me. I was moved by her words. I was also moved by the song. The song is Brave by Sara Bareilles.

First of all, she has a great name even if she is missing the "h". Second of all, I have heard the song before. First exposure coming from watching The Voice (one of my favorite TV shows). I have been exposed to a lot of new music by watching that show, hopefully that will help keep me hip for years to come. Having heard this song on the show before, I knew that I liked it, but obviously not enough to pursue looking up the artist on iTunes or downloading the album. That is until I read Nancy's post and really listened to the words.

BRAVE

"You can be amazing 

You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug

You can be an outcast

Or be the backlash or somebody's lack of love

Or you can start speaking up

Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do

When they settle 'neath your skin

Kept on the inside and no sunlight

Sometimes a shadow wins

But I wonder what would happen if you 

Say what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly I wanna see you be brave…"

You can read the rest of the lyrics here.

My word for 2014 is Courageous. I debated back and forth between Courageous and Brave. So I feel the perfect sidecar word to Courageous is Brave. Courageous is acting and Brave is a feeling inside. I want to feel Brave in my writing, in my photography, in everything that I do. So this song is going to be my Anthem for 2014.

Do you have a song that could be your Anthem? I would love to hear what it is.