Riding the Waves

Wind surfers don't try to tame the power of the ocean. They learn how to use that power to achieve their goals. We can do the same thing when we encounter obstacles, whether it be weather, difficult people or business issues. We need to analyze the situation to see if there's some way to turn the problems into avenues to success.

When my husband and I were in Kauai a few months ago, we spent part of our last day there watching wind surfers. We watched these guys fly into the air, come down on their feet and continue to ride the waves. They were absolutely remarkable! My primary challenge was to catch the leaps into the air, while still keeping the sense of what was guiding their actions. There had to be a trade-off sometimes between taking a close-up shot & the sense of place shot that included the parachute that was pulling them. I ended up taking a lot of both, so I could document the power of the waves & the skill of the men who were riding them.

Art or not art - that is the question

"Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in memorable form - or else it is not art." Jacques Barzun

I included two pictures today to make a point about how art is different depending on who is viewing it. Do you consider the first picture art or is it just an unusual photo that has been manipulated by the photographer? What about the second image? Is it art with the filter applied to give it a slight painterly effect? Would it have been art if a filter wasn't used to enhance it? The quote above says art distills sensation & gives it enhanced meaning. Do either of these pictures meet that criteria? Art is an unusual subject because, as we've discussed here before, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." I'd be interested to hear your comments so, as always, please feel free to leave them.

Live Every Minute

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Mahatma Gandhi

My mom didn't live as if she was going to die the next day, but she certainly learned as if she was going to live forever. She was constantly reading, listening to informational shows on the radio, watching documentaries on TV, etc. She started emailing when she was close to 80 and was still making greeting cards, on the computer, for friends who needed a cheerful note, when she was 83 years old. She wasn't content to just sit and watch the world go by. She was constantly absorbing knowledge and sharing that knowledge with others. And, most importantly, she didn't merely exist for the 84 years that she was on this earth. She lived every minute of it.