Image & post, copyrighted: Leisa A. Hammett. My Best Shot Monday.
Morning, frozen, wakes for me
Resistant am I
Sky artistry my reward
****
Spring is around the corner. Or so says the calendar. I have one more love affair with winter post besides this one that I'm scrambling to kick out here before the birth of Winter's cousin….A version of this photo of Western Lake, Grayton Beach, Fla. appeared here. Each morning, frozen–both earth and I–my mom taxi heads to high school. Minutes from home, I pass two sections of park, including steep forested hills, a pond, a meadow. I yearn to photograph them as I pass them in awe, my soul absorbing their beauty. By the time I return, the show is mostly over or I must rush to work. So, this photo from fall break must suffice to illustrate the canvas of color I drive into each chilly morning. Our trip to Grayton was greeted with a cold snap. The morning we left, steaming coffee mugs gathered for arsenal, we ventured here as the fog caressed the water before morphing into the palette of sky.
This is stunningly beautiful. What a glorious morning drive.
I do have a glorious morning drive, but this is not part of it! Thank you.
the layers of this are amazing. Great shot.
That is an awesome photo!
Thank you, JoLyn & Shab! Since I didn’t have a photo of steaming Willow Pond, I reached back into fall vacation for this cool morning picture. I’ve actually had it critiqued as that I’ve over sharpened the trees. Agree. And then the middle island would have been better shot if I had shown the end of it. I’m asked: where does it go. Still, I love it, too. It was magical.
This is beautiful, Leisa. Maybe I ought to ask you to do photos for Journeying Through the Days sometime. You have a gift for seeing the world through an artist’s eyes.
Anne, you probably don’t know I packed my paint brushes after my portfolio-based Arts High School and went off to Carson-Newman College where I met you….Thirty-three years later, I’m just really beginning to really unpack them. Long, somewhat emotionally painful story involving well-intentioned parents….Photography was the only overtly artistic endeavor I engaged in for years and the only art class I allowed myself to take in college. In fact, going along with the practical track I allowed myself to be scolded into I had to take photography as a part of my communications curriculum. All that said, I have no regrets with my career track and am even grateful for the intentions of my parents, though I am still trying to reclaim my artist’s soul that was buried and lost for so long.
That said, I’ve spent 30 years of my career also working alongside some extremely talented photographers. So, I know to be humble. But, also, I say: thank you.
Leisa, this post gives me a prod as a parent to encourage my children’s talents and not be overly concerned with the practicality of their college major. I’ve always considered the maxim “Follow your bliss” to be true; it is so important to spend your life doing something you enjoy, not just choosing a career where you can make money. Thanks for the reminder. And yes, I knew you were artistic, but I didn’t know you had gone to a portfolio-based arts high school. Wow!
Thank you, Anne. Always good to see you here! I love that my words moved you in this manner. I am an adult and I have learned that now it’s up to me to deal. Blaming is of no use but to create toxicity. But, I can tell you that lack of parental support for my passions was a great challenge in my life that I’m still overcoming the effects of. Again, no blame. My dear parents did the best that they could given their own set of skills, limitations, culture and parenting. To this day I am utterly amazed when I see a parent or someone who has been parented in a way that encourages and not discourages their artistic essence! I have a post that I’ve drafted on this that I need to publish here. Meantime, look for a post on 3/24, here that will address what parents can do. It’s a TED talk. I warn readers to turn up the volume and go file or do the dishes, but make the effort to hear the expert (Temple Grandin. Her advice is generic and applicable in this case.) Also, I write about some of my experience in this post here: http://leisahammett.typepad.com/the_journey_with_grace/2009/12/the-original-toughest-critic.html 🙂