While on a run this week, I watched a woman take what must have been dozens of photos of the same weeping cherry, sunlight spilling through its blossoms. I paused and stood a ways away from her, waiting for a turn, and — after two minutes had lapsed, snapped the roughshod photo below (you can see the tail of her puppy in the bottom left corner) and decided to leave the tree to her. I felt a warmth towards this stranger and her determined capturing. On my return some six or seven minutes later, she was still there, but standing at a different angle, further across the street. I thought how lovely it was, to be possessed by beauty. To let it interrupt the flow of things. To fork time and look at it from every which-way. Again I left the tree to her.
Later I realized I had really been observing myself. Standing this way and that, looking for the right positioning in language.
I have been learning a new medium — photography, with a proper camera. I’m terrible at it. (Or, I remind myself, “I am not bad at this; I am learning to be good at it.”) But right now, I can take better-composed pictures with my iPhone. With my Canon, I must maneuver around new constraints. It is heavy and not always on my person, so the conditions for capture are different, and less spontaneous. And my lens has no zoom so I must physically move to get the right focus. I find myself so distracted by adjusting the white balance and toggling through the settings that I’m lucky to capture anything at all — let alone something interesting to look at. There are auto settings but I’m determined to really learn the tool, which mainly means pressing a lot of buttons and looking at the results. But I love the challenge of it, and even a so-so picture taken from my camera is so much richer in terms of color, detail, and especially bokeh, or the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas, than anything my iPhone can produce.
And anyhow it’s good creative practice. A reminder to get up and change position when I’m not doing justice to the subject. To be unafraid to throw it all out and start over from scratch. To be the woman at the foot of the weeping cherry. The subject needs nothing; I am the one who must change myself. Which, you know, is the secret of being a good noticer, and probably a good writer: to get as close as you can to the truth of things without manipulation.
P.S. A lot of my advice for writers is really advice about living more generally.
Sunday Shopping.
This week, I ordered myself this pareo for Florida to pair with my favorite one-piece (back in stock in a few colors but running out of sizes). I also splurged on this adorable Lewis set for my son — I couldn’t resist! The pattern is so charming and playful. Meanwhile, Dorsey sent me this CHIC and very different paracord necklace (I got in the marine / gold combo) and have been loving the way it looks layered with other daily necklaces, which lately has been the small gold heart ID from Dorsey, a Hart charm necklace (my exact charms, etc here), my Cartier love bracelet, this turquoise bracelet (great look for less here), and this heart toggle bracelet from Asha.
Final note: The Outset’s lip oasis, which has sold out 7x, was restocked! I just kicked a tube and reordered.
THIS SWIMSUIT IS ALWAYS SOLD OUT – GRAB NOW! // SARDINE NECKLACE // CHICEST PAREO ON THE EARTH (I BOUGHT FOR FLORIDA!) // RAFFIA BUCKET HAT (25% OFF WITH COSFRIEND) // LE BON MARCHE CARD HOLDER // DORSEY PARACORD NECKLACE // LEWIS HALF ZIP AND SHORTS FOR MY ON // CLARE VIVIER BAMBOO HANDLE BAG // THE OUTSET LIP OASIS // RAFFIA MARY JANES // A BOOK WITH A LOT OF BUZZ
Last but not least, a quick reminder that Amazon’s spring deals promotion ends tomorrow! I was actually pleased with the assortment of discounted finds this go around! All my picks here, or shop individually below. If you buy nothing else, you must try these glass skin masks while they are super-discounted!
CADENCE TRAVEL PODS // BEST MASKS FOR GLASS SKIN // SHARK COMPACT HAIR DRYER // BOGG BAG LOOKALIKE // STANLEY QUENCHER // BEST SLEEPING PILLOWS // ART CART // NEOPRENE COATED DUMBBELLS
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Kudos on learning a new medium. I am painfully derelict about taking photos. I consistently use the excuse of ‘be in the moment’ rather than photograph it and a ‘photo won’t do it justice anyway’ and while there is truth in those, I undoubtedly have a lot of ‘moments’ that I was so sure I would never forget, that I have indeed forgotten without a photograph to jog my memory. I was going through photos and videos on my computer recently and came across a video I took of my toddler son making my baby daughter laugh uncontrollably. It was a moment that I probably wouldn’t have remembered without the video and it is so deeply precious to me now, so I suppose I wish that I took more photos and videos when my kids were smaller and didn’t fall back on the excuses.
Colm Toibin’s Long Island is excellent, but the ending was unsatisfactory to me at least. The ‘prequel’ to this book – ‘Brooklyn’ (which was made into a movie with Saoirse Ronan) was better, in my opinion but both are powerful and really capture the immigrant experience by the description of a thousand little things (feeling a warm floor when you get out of bed in the morning in the US rather than a cold floor in Ireland, the way the wind feels different etc.)
Hi Deirdre! Thanks for these reflections. It feels like a true skill to know when to pick up the camera and when to stay in the moment!!
Thanks for your thoughts on the Toibin book!! I loved the movie adaptation of Brooklyn but never read the book. This is disinclining me from reading Long Island…
xx