Sense or Senseless

I've been trying to figure out what to write for the ranch's 100th anniversary. In the process of trying to figure out how to put an enormous element of my life on to a small chunk of paper, I came across another revelation. It is not a novel revelation, but one that was strongly shown to me a couple days ago. It happened when I was watching my brothers learn how to run the sawmill. As I listened to their instructor explain the mechanics of everything, I again marveled at how arrogant our society has become, especially this generation.
We aren't the first civilization to do so, and undoubtedly, we won't be the last. I have long maintained that the greatest loss in most major conflicts throughout history was the loss of knowledge. The library at Alexandria, the decimation of cultures who had much more precise calendars than us, the understanding of how to build giant pyramids with only the simplest of machines...
And so here we sit, only now we don't decimate other cultures, we simply ignore history and those who can teach it to us. Sure, mom always said chicken soup would cure the flu, but we had to spend millions to PROVE it. It's no wonder we are having a crisis of faith today. We can't trust the common sense of our mothers and fathers. We need someone to "scientifically" prove it. I'm all for science. Don't get me wrong, but I'm also for using your brain! If someone can do the same work I do without a word processor, a chainsaw, or even a car. Maybe I should pay attention to them. I don't know. Maybe that's just me.
And that's the rant for today.

Artistic Stereotypes

I have heard it said that artists must undergo great pain to create great art. I have often found it foolish, however, at the present time I see the merit in it. I don't believe that pain is a requirement. Indeed, great works can be created through joy, hope, and love. For the artistic spirit, pain and stress can be a stimulus for creation, an outlet for our emotion that has nowhere else to go. Those who are reading this may point to faith, or counseling, or perhaps a cold beer. They do not understand the necessity for the artist to create, the absolute NEED to bring forth something from nothing. I believe in God. I know he will carry my burdens, but I also know that He has given me a gift. Through this gift I can release emotions to Him. As stress builds in my life, so does my need to create. I have a strong desire to simply go drop everything and work in the darkroom. Even if the prints don’t turn out, I have released that emotion. I see this as a way to honor this gift. It is from this that I agree in the statement that pain and art go hand in hand, but I do not believe it in the senseless way of those who believe they must starve and sit on the street. That is not for me. Stress can be a great stimulus to create, to let go, and enjoy life. And so here I sit, recalling so many phrases from a book I read years ago. Here is one such phrase: “If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.” -Rainer Maria Rilke, LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET

Update

Sorry it's been so long! For those few of you that keep track, I would like to announce that I am now showing in the Deerfield Gallery in Buffalo, Wyoming! New photos and thoughts coming soon!

One Man's Trash...2

So today I had yet another example of my previous post. I shot a whole roll of film of tree stumps, burnt tree stumps. They were the remnants of a slash pile left over from logging, the unusables. Even after they were destroyed, I found a use for them. One man's trash is another girl's treasure.

One Man's Trash...

I don't think elk are trash. I'd like to preface this entry with that. However, the amount of damage they cause can be extremely frustrating. A large herd eats a large amount of feed and can cause considerable damage to fence. Yet whenever we have family come visit, they ask about elk. Do we have any? Can they see them? On one hand elk are cool to see, on the other they are extremely expensive to deal with and provide little in return. Just a thought for today...

Digital

The majority of photos contained within the posts on this blog are nothing more than snapshots. Quite often I have similar negatives waiting to be printed, but for the sake of speed an illustration, I use the snapshots. For these snapshots I have Canon Elph. I love it. I can pack it while moving cows or riding a four wheeler. Nothing to it, but yesterday I was reminded of one more reason to love FILM. I got up on the mountain to take some before and after pictures of a fencing project, and you know what? My Elph was DEAD! Of course it was, nothing you can do when your battery is that dead. You can't pull out your hand meter and take the shot anyway. You can't even try to GUESS. You're dead in the water. And then... You have to find your charger when you get home!!! I suppose I could be organized, or I could just use my film camera. I love my film camera.

Ecclesiasties 3

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven..."

We expect certain parts of our lives to remain constant and others to change. However, even the most constant things change. This post contains a current photo of the same place shown in "All that Glitters" covered with brilliant flowers. For most of my life we had a large sandstone rock sat precariously balanced upon a sandstone column much narrower. We called it the "tippy rock." The rock never actually tipped back and forth, but it gave the appearance that it did. I even climbed on top of it a couple times. Not even a week after I expressed my desire to get a good shot of it, the tippy rock tipped. The large rock that set on top now sits in shambles at the base.

So many changes are occurring in my life right now. Sometimes I laugh and sometimes I cry. Some things were flowers; some were the tippy rock. Everything has a purpose. I sometimes struggle with what that purpose is, but I am looking forward with faith.

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…