Category Archives: Self-Portrait
Once again, I traveled light during the 3-day holiday weekend. I’m talking camera gear, not clothing. We decided to road trip to Tahoe. Our place was fantastic and the weather was even better; I’m convinced that Tahoe’s summers are much more reliably gorgeous than its winters. I brought just my Panasonic GF1 with a 20mm f/1.7 prime lens, a flash, and a battery charger. I thought that I would eventually miss not being able to zoom with a compact camera, but so far, not at all. The 20mm lens is incredibly fast, captures great images, and I just zoom on foot! Here are a handful of favorites.
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Aw, beautiful people. And great, great shots.
K.
In moments of self-awareness, I can acknowledge that one of the reasons why I gravitated so strongly to photography is that I love to remember. In moments of self-honesty, however, I can also admit that not all of my remembering is good for me. I can’t remember (har har) what set this train of thought into motion last fall, but I have been thinking about this in the context of lots of things going on in my life since then. Lots of questions come up. When do I transition from fondly reminiscing about the past to mentally setting up house in it? When does trying to reference a lesson learned transition into reliving and wallowing in a negative experience? How often is history rewritten in my head? Does it all keep me from moving forward? And, of course…why? I made a list of what comes up for me when I think about the past. Ideas about myself, my childhood, my relationships. There are plenty of dark spaces in those thoughts. However, this series is meant to depict associations that are mostly joyful for me, although I have both positive and negative associations with them all. I’m hopeful that this exercise might provide a segue into examining the shadowy corners.
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LOVE this series. LOVE.
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love love love the mouthpiece. i have, to this day, never heard you play. but i love that you love to remember, as i do too. and i’ve asked myself similar questions. it’s hard for me to know where that line is between remembering and regressing, and i find that on any given day, the same memory might affect me completely differently. sometimes that memory is easy, just factual history, while other days it’s heavy with emotion. i think my emotional response to a memory, especially one that isn’t consistently light and fun, largely reflects what else is going on in my life, and the danger for me is when i let my current thoughts/situation influence my perception of the so-called reality of the memory. suddenly i fail to see all the shadows, and focus only on that tiny glint of sun that at the time didn’t offer any light, warmth, or life. but in my altered perception, i’ve glorified it.
without our memory, our lives lose meaning. so even though remembering can sometimes keep us in a rut, i’d rather wallow in a memory than have nothing in my memory at all. and one thing is certain – everything changes, so the wallowing simply cannot be interminable.
i think you’re very self-aware. and very vunderwool.
After two weeks of locomotion across frosty Switzerland and Italy, these pics are what we have to show for it. A great trip, and well worth the cold I got along the way. This is also the first time I’m posting images from the Panasonic GF-1 that I used on the mountain. The pics of the Matterhorn, among others, were taken with the GF-1. GREAT quality in a relatively compact body. Love it.
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[…] Digital Camera magazine published another of my images this month. It’s an image taken from my last big vacation. We went snowboarding (Serene skied…poor thing) in Zermatt, Switzerland. What a fantastic trip. If you want to relive it as much as I do, click here to see my full post from the trip. […]
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holy amazing eye of talent, dana. finally got to these… love love love them. every one is beautiful. and everyone is beautiful. my faves are 4, 6, 16, 22, and of course 37.
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over the top GORGEOUS!!!
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Beautiful photos!!!
I was able to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday and had a chance to see a bunch of family. My niece Jordan, who I thought was actually shy…is NOT! She never got tired of posing for the camera, losing to me at thumb wrestling, or being the only clue-giver in charades. It was great to see my uncle Kenneth, who is 60 but looks all of 45. And my grandparents reminded me that they met when they were just weeks old (they were neighbors). I think they can count the time that they’ve been apart in their entire lives in months. I also finally built in some extra time during the drive to my mom’s house to photograph some of the great scenery along the way. As sleepy as the town of Deale, MD is, it can also be absolutely beautiful.
Mom’s
Uncle Kenneth & Jordan
Jordan struggled to keep the camera/grip/flash steady and got a pretty nice shot in the process.
Granddad, still as sharp as a tack. We can always count on him to stay out on the porch until we turn the corner onto Gwynns Falls. I love that he has all the signs of a grandfather: belt + suspenders, zip-up sweater, eyeglasses in the shirt pocket (and a cell phone).
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I love this man….
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Awesome, Dana. Love this!
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