Accidental Photographer

When I first began blogging, I was a huge chicken. I used Drew's pictures to compliment my pieces, feeling as though my naked writing needed a held hand before it could be left alone on the page. As I became more and more brave, my need to tell a complete story became severe and personal. His images no longer said what I needed to say and my words no longer needed his hand. It's was if this need to create something, to explore a side of me I've oppressed for so many years, won't be satisfied until I've tried it all.

I started thinking about images that would complement, complete, introduce, or set the tone for my stories. I started playing around with the camera, and even learned a thing or two about light and exposure. And I think I've taken a small handful of really amazing shots. To my surprise, I've also found it's a pretty kid friendly thing to do--so far. Sevi loves the camera and if I snap a couple of her and show them to her every once in a while, I can actually get lost in two hours and 100 pictures of a bowl of grapefruit. Much more than I can say for writing, wherein no matter what room she is in, with a single click of the keyboard she comes running and wants to play on the 'coputer' too.

The most ironic thing is, the other boho misfit has been trying to get me to take pictures with him for years and I could just never get into it. So now we play together sometimes and it's been a surprising match. I'm impressed how patient we both are with each other when we're snapping away at a little glass of tea for three hours well past our bedtime. We seem to be in this great stream lately where we finish each other's sentences, remember odd things the other wanted to do, and anticipate comments and actions. We are enjoying each other so much. And it pretty much beats the pants off of watching four hours of T.V. after work.

I guess it's all part of this shift we've taken as a family. You know when people talk about being 'mindful.' Hate to beat a dead horse, but it really boils down to simply paying attention. And once I paid attention to that, I'm finding it's pretty easy to do.