A Winter's Day....

Ok there is great quote from Father Perrault in Lost Horizon that says, “Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! What unintelligent leadership! A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity crashing headlong against each other, compelled by an orgy of greed and brutality. The time must come, my friend, when this orgy will spend itself, when brutality and the lust for power must perish by its own sword. For when that day comes, the world must begin to look for a new life. And it is our hope that they may find it, a way of life based on one simple rule: Be kind.”

One of my all time favorite books and movies (yes, even the dismal 70’s musical version has some merit), Lost Horizon talks about a world where we should all be kind and what the future could be for us.  With the crisis over collective bargaining in WI that seems directed at certain groups not for the good of all, the shooting in Tucson not long ago, the turmoil in Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya, a dissertation about the New World Order is in order. But, not today.  Today I am going to talk about how a camera can give you an interesting perspective on life via the viewfinder.

President’s Day 2011 was a snow filled day.  While the world swirled all over with conflict and turmoil from Wisconsin to the Middle East to North Minneapolis, the snow swirled here as well. Dropping nearly 15 inches of the white stuff on the land where a spring melt took away at least that much.  Snow depth at our house can be measured by how much of St. Francis’ statue is exposed.  While the day took me to the Minute Clinic (an amazing idea and one worth its own blog) and Target,  I took some time in the late afternoon before making supper to take some pictures with my new SLR.

It’s been a great while since I took pictures for the sake of taking pictures. My older brother is a professional photographer with a great eye and much knowledge and  has always said I was blessed with a good eye.  On that affirmation (along with a few trips coming up), I bought a new SLR. I still have my old Canon AE1 which probably still takes great pictures. I used to love to just go and take pictures with it; yesterday, I did just that.

Driving back from taking Zach back to college after the Minute Clinic visit, I saw this great view of  a street in the town where I live.  The trees were landscaped so that they created a border for the street in the neighborhood. With the large snowflakes falling, it was this beautiful peaceful winter scene. I had to get my camera and come back.  I did just that and took several. I went farther down the road and experimented with the focus and the depth of field getting several views of the same thing.  Something we don’t take enough time to do in our real lives.  I shot a stark tree as the branches crept toward the gloaming. I captured three light posts that looked like alien periscopes rising out of the snow-covered park. I went quickly home, downloaded them and sat back and just relaxed in the peacefulness of the pictures.  It was sort of cool that way. I took one and played with it and messed with its light and shades, capturing an antique look in the same picture.  It’s been a really long time since I enjoyed just doing this electronic art. My friends, Mara and Kevin know about pictures and capturing everything.  My friend, Lisa who took a picture every day and launched them on facebook knows the way, and I, I put up the serene street scene and a picture of my dog (hey every guy has to have a dog).

Finding peaceful diversions to relax is a script for the busy world. Like Father Perrault, in my viewfinder, I can find that Shangri-La he is talking about and keep an archive of things for my future about my past. “So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind. Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time.  Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial.  For what it's worth it was worth all the while”

Smile! Click!

Keith