Sunday, November 25, 2012

Shadow and Light

Contrast
Noun: The state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association. 
Verb: Differ strikingly.

Photography is a good teacher about life. One of the most important concepts when you learn about in photography is contrast. How the interplay of shadow and light can make a photograph very exciting or very flat. And that one state is not always better then another.

This week was an interesting study in contrasts due to the holiday. On Thanksgiving I worked and had some patients who came in and were happy excited about the holiday. Not so much the story for a couple of others. In fact before eight am I had to make a protective services call. The other thing was the Black Friday shopping. Some of the patients/staff were making plans. For them it was about getting the perfect gift for a loved one. They went about it with an attitude of joy and fun. Contrast that with people who hurt other people in their rush to get what they wanted (thankfully they seem to be in the minority).

Life has been in contrast for me the last several weeks. The tone of my blog has not had as much light of late. I'm moving back towards it, but going back to work, losing yet another relationship, and the effects of the medication I am on has created some shadow.

The last paragraph of the creed I created for this blog several years ago sums it up:

I will continue to explore, photograph and live in the light while allowing myself to acknowledge the dark as it is vital for understanding oneself.

I will live my yes.

This week I am grateful for lessons in contrast and for the courage to try and live my life that way.

Sarah McLachlan, "In the Bleak Mid-Winter":

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