Kelly's Quotidian

So I had a cute conversation with my brother yesterday. I was telling him about my deliberations as to whether or not I consider myself a photographer. He chuckled and said that only I would sit around pondering such. I then corrected his assertion by explaining that I had told folks about my photography group having a *show* and that I had a couple of pictures in it. I could see that this conceptually became me “having my work on display at a gallery” and that I was being thought of as a photographer. I don’t really consider myself a photographer. I’m more of someone who takes pictures and occasionally gets lucky. But this all started me thinking about at what point would I consider myself any given “thing”. The act of doing a thing is so often the major requirement for classification. But I think that’s a bit too easy. Just cause someone does it, doesn’t mean classification is appropriate. We are so geared to judge/classify based on actions. Back to the photography, I enjoy the process very much. I always feel like there’s more to learn. The results never seem just right, which keeps me coming back for more:-) I’m not so process-bound as to not enjoy the pictures just in and of themselves though. I am constantly amazed by the talent and dedication of others. One of the pics I had in the show is below.

Picture of sunset at 2009 solstice

I went to a 50th birthday party last night.
This may not seem to be of note; which can be said of so much of life.
It was a party to celebrate the precious gift of life where moments and days are to be appreciated, not years. Our host has cancer and the ensuing hyper-focus on living before an anticipated end. There’s a terrible beauty in that. I go day after day, often in tedium, in the ambiguity of a distant and abstract end. I feel inspired by her pursuit of joy and merriment. I’d like to practice soaking in the moments of life more-even the dull and monotonous. Perhaps they wouldn’t be so if I walked into them realizing that they are of but a precious few. It seems daunting-trying to imbue meaning into the normalcy of my days. Maybe it’s about the striving to do so that’s important. I suspect this probably goes into a longstanding theme for me-the effort to be “present” in the moments that fill up my life. Seems silly easy when I write it down. But I’m also realizing I live my life on two levels-one that intellectually gets things and another that emotionally processes things. I hope they meet someday:-)

I’m back.

Seems my blog clock is about a year long.

Trials and tribulations have passed. Joys too.

I promise to try harder this time:-)