Finding a name for a new blog is the first challenge. In a few short words, this name will define me. I consider: Why am I doing this? What will I say? What is the point here? The mind darts around to many possibilities. There's the desire to protect my family's privacy and my own, though by putting myself out there on the internet, I suppose I have already made a decision to sacrifice this privacy to some extent. There's also a purpose, a mission--to share with others, to overcome the isolation of private life, to wade into the moving stream of the cyber family and add something positive. There's an inherent tension between the two impulses. Just as I sometimes want to speak out, I also want to hold my silence.
I love photography and admire photographs that give me a glimpse into the human family. For years, I photographed people from behind or hid behind trees to get a sideways view, but never full on. I was afraid of offending or scaring someone I didn't know. But I would look at photos that a friend took, of faces looking straight at the camera, and longed to make those shots too. So I asked her, how do you do it? And she said, I just ask and they say yes. So, I tried it, scared at first, but willing to change for the sake of getting more. And often, I was in situations where I did not speak the same language as my subject. Can I take your picture came out as pointing to my camera, with a question on my face. The nod and the smile gave permission.
This opened a new world and lessened uncertainty and insecurity within myself, as well as giving me courage to capture images outside of myself which warm me over and over as I view them.
So, I suppose that this blog is something like that--Wanting to keep it all inside, but wanting to let it out too. We'll see where this goes.