goodnight thoughts

last night i caught a few moments of the end of a show about the hudson river valley, about the river's iconic existence in american history and about the revitalization of the river through the efforts of groups of passionate environmentalists. one of the people who has been involved in the clean up of the river and in recording the river's place in history is pete seeger. in one of the segments i saw, he was speaking about recording the history of the river, and about reminding americans that the hudson river valley is a destination for vacations and beauty often overlooked. he said something along the lines of "photograpy is more likely to save the world than is politics". we can argue about the health and state of the environment for as long as we live; but capturing our wild places in photos and presenting them to anyone and everyone can create a movement to save, restore, and preserve these places, along with those seeped in history and man-made beauty.

over the course of the last year photography carved out a niche in my heart. i have always been one to carry a camera, recording moments mundane, laughable, memorable, and beautiful. i've always surrounded myself with the images i captured, in frames, taped to walls, and stored in computers. my photos bring to me the people and places i love. and in my most difficult times, some days they were what got me through. glimpses of where i had been and dreams of where i was headed would fill me up and move me along. i almost always had a camera at my side. sometimes i recorded my anger or sadness. i rarely, if ever, share those ones, and almost never look back at them. but i know they exist. there are others, too, of beaming smiles and strangers turned angels and family and friends whose tight-knitedness was put to ultimate tests. and the ones of the outdoors, of the little things i saw through my new eyes and wanted to save for myself.

princess lori and i have talked about how we seem to be overwhelmed by the beautiful things in our lives these days, especially our surroundings. i cannot believe that i wasn't seeing all these things before. but maybe i wasn't processing them the same way. there are moments when i need to pull the car over to soak it all in, times when i've gotten out in fields near home to watch the way the light settles over the hills and changes minute by minute. i spotted a blue heron in a foggy field just turning the first shades of autumn's brown. a brown oak leaf scuttling on the wind, just above a brown corn field, against a brilliant blue sky. countless geese flying overhead looking for a place to spend their evening have never before seemed so graceful. people can get caught in the mix as well. the best of the best seemingly floating over the barriers at cross practice. a small child napping on his dad's shoulder at the chili cookoff. laughter that settles deep down into my stomach and makes my face hurt. so many things are so beautiful and i've managed to capture them in my head and i can summon them up and they take my breath away.

i have been thinking about all of this since the tv show last night; and i guess my takeaway message is to not forget to stop to soak it all in. snapshots of an otherwise mundane day can make it all worthwhile when your head hits the pillow. sometimes it is so good to have your breath taken away. and sometimes what you need more than anything is an excuse to pull over and take it all in.