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Dear ,
Last week, in the Through and From the Lens course, one of the participants commented that I was fortunate to live in an area where there is so much beauty and, therefore, I can take great photographs.
I agree that I am blessed to live where I do with access to so much restorative beauty. On the other hand, my contention is that we can find beauty anywhere, in anything. It's simply a matter of opening our eyes and, sometimes, our minds and hearts. The day after the call, in my supermarket parking lot, I suddenly was caught by reflections in my car headlamps and hood. I started taking photos and ended up blogging on it with photos other than those above. See "Beauty is Every Where, in All Places."
An affirmation of this belief came in an email last year. I was moved and honored, to receive the following from subscriber Ewa Nartowska who lives in Poland:
"Actually as I said your photos inspired me to take these photographs focusing on details and avoiding ugly buildings, fences etc. I live in a beautiful medieval city but the district my flat is situated is not so beautiful, so I decided to cut out the beauty of urban ugliness. Instead of envying you that you live in that beautiful place in Florida :) I decided to transform the reality I see into something beautiful." {I bolded the last part.}
You can see some of Ewa's exquisite photography on FlickR and in her Picasa Albums.
TODAY'S PHOTOS -
As indicated above, today's Picture to Ponder featured photographs are reflections from different views in the headlamps of my silver-colored car. Some of the pinks are coming from an artist's neck pouch which I was wearing.
I'm really not all that sure what else was being reflected. It's simply sufficient for me to enjoy the shapes and patterns.
If you are enjoying the reflections photographs from last week and this, I have posted a few pages of more Philadelphia reflections, and different shadows and reflections series on my FlickR account.
SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES -
Ironically, I so take my car and what's around me for granted, that unless I'm consciously looking I don't see things. Thus, when I studied today's middle photo, I wasn't even sure from what part of the car the orange section was. Imagine my embarrassment when I went to my garage to check and saw the orange was the color of the lenses of the outer sections of the headlights on the front of my car!
I blushingly admit this here because I venture to say there are many things in your visual world to which you, too, are oblivious.
I therefore invite you to look around you and find at least two things that are in front of you most of the time that you could not describe if someone asked you to, because you rarely, if ever, pay attention to it/them.
What did you discover? Is there anything about what popped out for you that informs you about anything else in your life?
Lastly, are there people or situations in your life whom or which are receiving the same inattention from you, where if you "looked" you might find something that could make an empowering difference?
If you wish, I invite you to photograph what you saw, draw it, write about the experience, or simply let it go.
As always, have fun with this.
FOR ANY WANNA-BE BLOGGERS -
I don't know if the following fits for you, and I thought I would pass it on in the event that you are one who has been wanting to set up your own blog, but have gotten frustrated with the technical stuff. My friend Traci Knoppe has put together a very easy to understand and use 4-week ecourse, with simple step-by-step procedures. You can learn more at BEGINNER TO BLOGGER.
Start-Up Business Owners -
If you are a start-up business, or know of one, I also have a website, listing and describing other helpful businesses I know, use and recommend. See SOURCES FOR BUSINESS SUPPORT.
Reader's Comments are welcome.
To post them on the Photography and Transformation blog click on the small word "Comment" at the end of the post. A window will open, asking for your name, email address that will NOT be published, a URL if you have - Your name will be linked to that - and a box with space for you to "Leave a Reply" will be there to type in your response. Then remember to click on "Submit."
If posting on a blog is not your style, please continue to send your comments directly to me. Learning what you are experiencing means a lot. It is part of the reward, for me, of publishing Picture to Ponder.
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Inspirationally,
Sheila
sheila[a]picturetoponder.com
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© 2005-09 Sheila Finkelstein
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