Tag : Travel
Life has been a bit of a blur lately. Work has kept me swirling as I try to keep my head above water. And although I have felt completely overwhelmed and behind, Tony and I had a long-awaited for trip booked where we headed south last week to meet up with some dear friends (who we see WAY too infrequently) in a new-to-all-of-us-city. Then, approximately six hours after returning home, I was at the hospital having eye surgery to correct some problems I’ve had as a result of complications from my follow-up treatment a few years ago. I told you, a BLUR, literally and figuratively.
So within the week, life has gone from this…
to this…
A blur, I’m telling you — full on shenanigans to fashionable hospital gowns and eyes covered with ice-packs. So as I rest up and tend to some TLC for my self, I’m thinking of all I have to share with you. I still want to update you on my favorite film from the True/False festival (I haven’t forgotten). Then I want to fill you in on the highlights from our trip to Nashville (although that photo above does sum it up quite well!). Last but perhaps most reverberating, I had a great — and difficult — opportunity appear that has allowed me to work a bit deeper with my word for the year, and I want to tell you all about that, too.
But for now, I’m going to soak in the tub. Eat some soup. Practice self-care.
I was recently interviewed by Margarita Tartakovsky who writes for PsychCentral and who has her own personal space on the internet where she writes and creates. Margarita was in the midst of writing a piece on creativity and self-doubt, and she wanted to get my take on these two important issues and how I’ve managed them in my own journey. I really enjoyed talking with Margarita about my process of embracing my creativity after many years of sitting on the creative sidelines. This interview came on the heels of my UPPERCASE column where I shared more about these very same self-doubt demons. Needless to say, self-doubt and the importance of pushing through the critical voices and negative beliefs we hear and carry is very resonant for me currently.
Margarita’s column on battling self-doubt regarding creativity is a great piece, sharing a variety of tips and perspectives culled from a number of creative women. I hope my words and the perspectives of others forging creative lives inspires you to move beyond the dreaming and wishing stage, and gets you diving in.
This weekend couldn’t come soon enough. Tony and I are headed back to our grad school haunts, Columbia, Missouri, to attend the True/False Film Festival. This weekend’s event marks the 10th anniversary of the documentary film festival that all started back in 2003 while we lived in Columbia to attend graduate school. We’ve attended every festival and this annual tradition is an important one for us. It allows us to visit a town we deeply love and miss, catch up with friends who still live in Columbia and with those who come back like us each year for T/F, and see amazing and thought-provoking films. And oh yeah, and eat lots of food from our favorite Columbia restaurants!
The weekend always feels a bit magical, like this illuminated tree that I photographed while attending the festival last year. It feels like a needed escape into a different world during the thick of winter. I’m realizing that my travel itch hasn’t been scratched in months and that this lack of trips to look forward to and take has been a big contributor to my funk and struggles during January and February. So, I’m grateful that this weekend of magic and escape is gearing up.
We are seeing 10 films, and I promise to share my thoughts on them when we return. Two films I’m most looking forward to seeing are Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington and Cutie and the Boxer. We saw Restrepo at the festival a few years ago and it remains one of my favorite documentaries. Tim Hetherington was one of the brave filmmakers of Restrepo and was killed over a year ago by a mortar blast in Libya. I am expecting this new film about Hetherington to be as impactful as Restrepo. On the total opposite end of the spectrum, I’m hoping to feel uplifted and inspired by the love story and creativity of Cutie and the Boxer. And that’s just two of the ten that await me this weekend.
I’m wishing I could transport myself to this spot. I’d like to be strolling through the Tuileries Garden, on my way to the Musée de l’Orangerie to see Monet’s water lilies. I wish I was chatting with Tony, talking about how good our morning croissants were at breakfast, and deciding to sit for a bit in these lovely green chairs. *sigh*
This is a good reminder for me to revisit my photos from our trip to France last summer. They have been sitting for far too long.
Laura! Finally visited her and Mike at their new house. I love my friends…
I’ve been searching for the words to tell you more about my trip to NYC a few weeks ago and about seeing my photograph hanging in the Impossible Project Gallery. I promised you I’d come back and tell you all about it. To be honest, I’m still struggling with describing my emotions and the experience of it all. It was surreal. And incredible. And overwhelming — in a good way.
Over the past few years, I have visited the Impossible Project NYC space two or three times. I’ve gotten the chance to meet some of the amazing people who work there (I’m talking about you, Anne, Frank, and Dave!), and I’ve seen a number of gallery shows that they have hosted in their gorgeous space on their impossibly tall walls. I’ve seen work exhibited there by some of my favorite instant photographers including Andrea Jenkins and Irene Nam. And in those times when I’ve visited and looked at the photography exhibited, I’ve whispered dreams to myself that maybe some day my photography might be hung on those walls.
And then, it happened.
When we came off the elevator (or the “hellevator” as it is known), and walked through the door, my photograph was one of the first I could see. And in that moment, it didn’t seem quite real. I felt a bit out of my body. My dear Tribe sisters were with me (so grateful for that) and I think they were able to be more present at first than I could be. So, I had to catch my breath and take my first real look. Thankfully, Melissa graciously captured photos as the experience unfolded.
The photo above reveals my happiness in the moment. It helps me see the pure joy I was feeling in seeing my self-portrait enlarged and framed, hanging on the gallery wall at the Impossible Project. In NYC! And then this photo, this is where it hit me. Really hit me. A dream realized.
I was filled with emotion. Tearful. Grateful. Humbled. Proud. Although I can’t quite articulate it in words, I was so aware of how much this means to me. Yes, I want to be a good photographer. But I really want to be a good great Polaroid and instant film photographer. To do this, I have been working hard and practicing my instant photography over the past few years. I have had many growing pains, but the process has been incredible and I’ve learned so much. I can see my growth as I look back over all the instant photos I’ve taken. I love my Polaroid cameras and everything about instant film and photography. And I adore the instant photography community. The Impossible Project makes instant photography — the very ability to still use our Polaroid cameras — and the fostering of that community exist today. So to see my own development and to be seen and acknowledged by the Impossible Project, to have “made it” on to their gallery wall, means more to me than I can adequately explain.
So thank you, Impossible Project. Thank you, Tribe sisters, for trekking to NYC to see this moment. Thank you, Melissa, for capturing this experience for me. Thank you Christy, my Mortal Muse sister, for coming and for taking the iPhone photo with both my photograph and me in it. Thank you, Universe, for all that you provide.
I’m eternally grateful. xoxo
Small pleasures of being back home in Maryland…
This is what family looks like…
Nephews, in their Christmas-finest…
