21 Days to Midsummer

My friend, Ben Frankenberg started this genius project, inspiring me to do.... something. So after three weeks, this is what I've come up with. https://www.facebook.com/groups/355781547809823/

It’s hard to take in the passing of days sometimes. It’s harder still to think that in twenty-one days, picking up my camera daily felt like a hassle. Where has my ambition gone? Twenty-one pictures for twenty-one days. Simple. Like breathing through my lens as I’ve been doing for the last six years.

            Not as easy. But having twenty-one days to be inspired…. much easier. I wrote down all the things that I talk about daily, the people I think about, the concepts of art that cross my mind… and realized I couldn’t put it into three short weeks. Which is a good thing. I spent some time adding to a past body of work, Somewhere In Between, which was the secondary part of my senior showcase over a year ago. It’s work about loving, leaving and being lost in the transitory state of not having a home, or rather a person to share that home with. It’s work that I don’t know when it will be finished… until it is. Perhaps when I stop waking up in an empty bed with the dreams of people long gone.

             I drew out some sketches for a project I’ve been concepting for more than a year- making ball gowns out of recycled materials… Starbucks cards, shredded tires, pop tabs from sodas, records and so on. But again, that’s something so much bigger than right now… It’s something that is still in the baby steps stages of a three or more year project. Which is hard to explain to people… that kind of patience. Or insanity. Either one qualifies.

But I did take some pictures. I did take the time daily to try and remember why I started this photographer adventure years ago. And I was reminded that photography is like breathing for me. I may not actually take a picture every day, but I compose shots in my head, I file away color profiles, I drink in the beauty of my own eyes and how my lenses made of glass and plastic change how I see. I take the nuances of imagery, the subtle shadows and lines and details that thrill me, make my heart beat faster, and put everything together in my head to create perfect images that I hope will one day be created by my hands and hard work. And so I breathe.