A Day at the Park

These photos came to be taken when I decided to take my camera at the last minute to an outing with Minda and her family to White River Park after meditation this morning. I am amazed how this opportunity came about, another reminder that life has a life of itself.

The photo outing I took with Tony last Saturday was the first time I deliberately went driving in search of photos. It was also the first time I went shooting with someone. Shooting with someone was a new twist to the experience and I probably could not have asked for a better person to break the ice with than Tony who himself also likes photographs. In fact he is more of an artist than I am, having done art work long before I started testing my own art waters.

Today's shoot was another twist to a new twist. Until today I was in a kind of dessert for human photo subjects. The dearth gave me time to work on Photoshop tutorials but no matter that this gave me exciting windows into the promise of digital post-production with photos I missed the actual shoot. With Minda, Luz, Ken and Cody today I had a ready set of subjects. Why have I not thought of doing this before?

While Minda probably does not think of herself as a photographer, she did take photos during our afternoon-long outing. I guess most people have a sense of what makes a good photographs. Several times in the course of our little adventure, Minda came up with suggestions for photos that were on the nose, so to speak. She paints with oils and acrylics and enjoys art. In fact she was excited about the idea of learning to "paint" using Illustrator and a Wacom tablet and pen on the computer. Like Tony, she too probably has done more along the lines of art work than I have. In her photo albums, for instance, are series of her posing for photographs, something I did not know when I asked her to pose for me.
Having been single for many years I have gone about the business of creating my life on my own. With the right friends and companions, the business takes on a new dimension, as Tony remarked when he took some mint with the avocado cream I served him at lunch last Friday. A new dimension is exactly what the doctor would order, too.

I have known for a long time now that I am more productive as a photographer when I am extroverted. Then I can chat people up and the energy I radiate is contagious. Other people are sucked into its positive flow. I have also known that I am more extroverted when I am about with another person. It has simply eluded me till now to undertake my pursuit of duende, and pursuit of images in particular, in the company of others.

These last two weekends have been eye-openers. The work I need to do is still largely going to be solo and I do enjoy working alone. My thoughts are my favorite companions. But I have discovered, as I think other artists and writers in the past have done, deliberately or serendipitously as I have, that the company we keep adds layers of richness and possibilities to the art we do.