from the set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smartbrother/sets/72157594382832108/
this kid was bananas. and still had to be wearing pull-ups at the most.
he put the “boy” in bboy. i’ll have at least one more up shortly of this cat.
by my daughter
There’s this thing that people have, about imagery many times; that there’s a difference between taking pictures just for taking them and taking pictures “that mean something”.
I’ve been getting a bit of freedom from some revelations i’m having about our part in providing meaning. We have this thing as humans, thinking that there’s this ONE MAGIC MOMENT where everything JUST COMES TOGETHER IN LIFE. well it happens sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t. Most of the time, life happens, and we live it, and things become illuminated, one venture at a time. I used to stress a bit about my images meaning something. Well, i’m beginning to realize (yep no surprise: it wasn’t in One Grand Moment, although there was one moment that seemed to be more intense than the others, but i’m still making sense of this, bear with me:) that i’m free to exist, i’m free to simply obey God at every point possible, and, in the end, really only *he* provides the meaning to anything. period (for you nonbelievers out there, i propose that anytime you’re illuminated with meaning, or see anything “good”, that’s from God too…you just may not be able to recognize it as such (can you tell i’ve been reading Velvet Elvis lately? ;-) (can you tell by my free use of parenths i’ve dabbled in LISP? :)
A bit presumtuous of me to think that i’m changing someone’s life through my imagery–i’m to just do what i’m supposed to do, and yeah, “moments” will come, but many times, thing will appear plain. I think much of life appears plain ‘cos God’s showing us that it’s possible for *anyone* to do the “extraordinary”…because many times it’s through the accumulation of “normal” things that end up getting distilled into a story of a life that was “extraordinary”. Much of Christ’s life seemed to be “waiting”, or at least “living”…We definitely don’t have much record of a big chunk of his pre-ministry life. But when you read the story, does it seem extraordinary or what?
at any rate, what i’m trying to say is that i take pictures, and i don’t sweat, nor do i care if people think my subject matter, or what i capture is frivolous or not. In fact, i’m beginning to not care anymore. I’m shooting, but more importantly, trying to seek God in life…i’m satisfied with the extraordinary becoming a side effect of obedience.
The question of purpose in imagery (or hell, nearly everything else) has been batted about in various vocations since the beginning of time. Maybe it has a lot to do with people still missing the mark and trying to find meaning in what they do, instead of in reflecting the Creator? i mean that thing, reflecting the Creator, i would suppose, should be the CENTER, and the residual would be that meaning Just Happens, and the doing Just Happens…’cos you really can’t have a meeting with God and continue to just rest on your proverbial laurels.
well, at least that’s how i’m feeling today. ;-)
i love my spot on the back of the bus. i’m always among the first on, both ways (on the way back, i am the first back there), so i get my pick. except for when that one dude with the laptop takes my spot (he know who he is!) — in the back and to the right.
put on the hood and drift off to sleep.
[originally just posted on flickr, but hey this is long enough to blog.]
For Julius,
who was shot right around this area a few weeks back.
i don’t know this cat from adam (the guy pictured, or julius), and i happened upon this shot, while walking with rae a few weeks ago. I do remember however what happened, and when i heard it on the news, it seemed so surreal how it was reported. young dude gets shot, homeless man who shot him was questioned and released. seemed odd that this could have just happened, and that was that. i remember thinking that they seemed to treat this dude as if it was a Good Thing he was gone anyway.
There’s always that real, human element to some stuff you hear on the news–i was just particularly saddened; Julius seemed to be dealing with mental illness, and folk around him didn’t know how to recognize it or deal with it. I tend to make a point to talk to a lot of people just kind of "out there". It sometimes does become more of an "emotional burden" than I had initially planned on, but I tend to think that everyone has a bit of worth…
There are probably folk in your life, or around your life for whom you may feel that if they were just not around, it’d make life so much better "for the rest of us". Now, i’m never that cat to tell people what would make the world a better place (only thing i know that can make "things" better is Christ, other than that, i’m a bit of a fatalist as far as where our planet’s going :) but i do know from experience that on an individual basis, it can help to deal with someone as they’re worth a little something (well, because they are:). You may at *least* delay the inevitable downfall of another by a little bit, and at the most, inspire another to inspire others…
