All the Poems I Never Wrote Course Through My Veins
October 12th, 2007 by matt
But they’re starting to come out…
Archive for October, 2007
Makes Me Cry
October 4th, 2007 by matt
One of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.
Silent House, by the Dixie Chicks.
If you’ve ever known someone with Alzheimer’s, been around someone with Alzheimer’s, loved someone with Alzheimer’s, you’ll understand. None of my family members have experienced this disease, but I’ve been around several people who have at the nursing home my family and I visit every week.
If you want to know what it’s like, listen to this song. Listen to the chords. Listen to the melody. Listen to the intensity, the cutting high pitches, the confused actions. Minor keys mixed with majors, diminished chords, beautiful voices.
If you have cable or satellite and get MTV High Definition, they’re running their Storytellers series featuring the Dixie Chicks right now, so try to catch it there. It’s beautiful cinematography and really cool to hear them talk about their songs. If you watch it you’ll learn what the line in this song means about the shredded pages of the book.
I listen to this song and I just cry.
Technorati Tags:
music, Dixie Chicks, Alzheimer’s, Silent House
Lessons Learned
October 3rd, 2007 by matt
I love swimming. I love to swim, having started in age group swimming at 9 and continuing through high school. I had the privilege of swimming in college at a division 1 program. I never did reach all my performance goals, but my love for the sport only grew over the years. I met some amazing people and made great friends as well through the sport.
I love to watch other people swim. The best swimmers art like artists as they move through the water, efficiently moving, finding just the right angle for their hands, just the right tilt of their heads, employing just the right strategy to both mentally and physically overcome their competition. It’s the most beautiful sport in the world to me.
After being out of the water for about 10 years after college, I started back swimming on a local master’s team about 3 years ago, and again love it. There’s nothing like walking out of the pool early in the morning after finishing a hard workout, ready to face the day, invigorated.
Each year the City of Richardson holds a corporate challenge - a sort of olympics for the corporate world, for companies who have offices in Richardson. For the last few years (since I started swimming again) I’ve competed in the swimming portion for my company.
I captured some interesting shots from Monday night’s event, but being in an indoor pool with relatively low lighting and a lot of action really pushed my D50 and 50mm f/1.8 lens to their limits. Consequently I couldn’t get too many good action shots, but I did get some decent portraits. (I’d really love that 80-200mm f/2.8 AF lens about now!).
You can see some of shots on Zooomr - I’ll be adding more over the next few days.
Technorati Tags:
swimming, city of richardson, richardson, corporate challenge, photography
Always Have Your Camera
October 2nd, 2007 by matt
I’m learning to bring my camera everywhere. I still don’t bring it quite everywhere, but I’m bringing it more and more places.
Sometimes I get discouraged and mad that I don’t have (make?) time to process all the photos I’ve taken, and so I decide to leave my camera at home. I get weary - literally - of a string of 4-5 hours-of-sleep nights when I choose to work on photos rather than rest. I get frustrated that I’m almost out of disk space, and while disks are cheap, I still don’t have the ability to get as much space as I really want (need?). I become exasperated when I just sit and listen to my MacBook Pro valiantly churn its disk for seconds and seconds and seconds, while it shows me the little spinning beach ball to remind me I’m pushing it right up to its limits, but can’t currently afford to get something more powerful.
Maybe if I punish my camera (or myself?) by leaving it at home and not taking beautiful pictures, I reason, it will become shamed and remorseful and decide to help me have more time, more disk space, more computer in the future.
Childish, but true.
If I had given in to the self-pity and frustration on Friday, however, I would not have been able to pull over on a side street and run back to capture this beautiful sunset on my way home.
And this image reminds me there is a Power greater than me who loves me and has a plan for me. One who is bigger than cameras, disks, computers and even time. I trust Him to help me take the next step.
And I’m going to try to keep my camera with me to document what He does.
Technorati Tags:
photography
