“Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)
I feel I'm on the brink of something positive, life altering. Get a cup of coffee or something cold to drink. This might take a minute to read since I must explain why that quote is there and where I'm going with it. The other day I was at the book store and saw a book by Paulo Coelho and almost bought it. I knew it was the author of The Alchemist but I couldn't remember why it was so memorable. I haven't read The Alchemist, but knew there was a reason why it should be familiar.
Then yesterday, after I got my computer back on, I was looking for inspiration. I ended up going to Jennifer J. Parker's blog to see what she's been up to lately. And then later, I ended up on some other photographer's blog, who had a reference to The Little Prince.
Years ago, when I first met Jennifer, she was selling her studio and I interviewed her about her plans. Jennifer doesn't just sit there and answer questions. In fact, all I had to do was listen. She's quite the compelling storyteller and I was fascinated by all that she had to say. She talked about how The Little Prince and The Alchemist have played roles in her life decisions. The correlation between the books and things she's accomplished. At that time, I also had some decisions to make, but they weren't the ones I planned on, but I rolled with it. Three years later, again my work plans changed, partly something I wanted and yet, not a full transition. Again, I met with Jennifer for a story and she filled me in on the previous three years of her life.
She talked quite a bit about The Alchemist and how it seemed to be consistent in her life. A year or so went by and I ran into Jennifer again and of course, more changes of interest. This time she really used the word Serendipity and her words from that meeting have stayed with me. I always keep thinking about some of the things she's said and I try to use that in a directive motion for my life.
I know this all seems vague, but the idea is that so many people are always looking for the big picture when it's the smaller things that may set your life in motion. This morning I sat down and noticed I had a new Twitter follower.
What amazed me was that this Twitterer? "Light Stalking" has almost 10 followers and follows more than 10,000 people. That's not by chance and it's serendipitous to find that it's for photography tutorials, landscapes and such.
That's what I've always loved doing, always! Outdoor Photographer Magazine was the very first photography magazine I read, back in the late 80s.
But it takes a lot of money and equipment to be able to go shoot the big landscapes. Money because it takes time to travel. Well, working a regular full time job trying to make ends meet, I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, traveling to the Arches in Utah or other great vistas of America. That's OK. That day will come, hopefully next year's vacation.
Let me get back to where I'm going here. So I go and check out Light Stalking and click to one of the links which takes me to Wisconsin Weekend blog post on the Windy Pixel blog and there's that quote above, with a horse photo by Annie Elmer. I instantly have to write about this, before I've even read the blog entry.
Everyone who follows my blog and such know that I've been busy promoting my Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive book. Doing well, with several sales of it now. Everytime I read that quote I keep thinking of the history of this country and how it was founded by hard workers. The quote also kind of goes along with the photo session I did of MM at the Cooper's farm. That trip to the farm reminded me of how when I first started shooting "landscapes" they consisted of old barns around the country. I got away from that but lately have been wanting to do that again. A lot of this country's history has been dismantled or lost to Mother Nature. I've always wanted to capture it through my photography before it's gone. I also have an advantage as a writer to share its history.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except because I can't analyze the whole thing. I tend to do that, try to rip things apart until I have an answer. This isn't meant to be analyzed. Whatever will happen is just going to happen. The answers are there in front of my face and will be revealed when the time is right.
If you are wondering about a direction in your life, that's a first step to making your life better. My mom always said that you have to have something to show for your life. That doesn't mean "material things" but something of more intimate value. So leave this blog post with that for thought. It's Sunday and I wrote this entry in bits and pieces over the past two years, so forgive the thought process. It's still in motion! I may come back later and read this and think what was I thinking!!!
