Fragments: Pieces of Life

Its Fall here in the midwest and I’ve been feeling more lately. Things always feel more saturated in the Fall, as though the richness of the colors bleeds into life. ;)

Mostly its my over active emotional personality. I’ve not been posting much, and the photos have trickled to a halt. This is because photoblogish type material has been in short supply. You would think this kind of season would awaken my creative energies, and you would be right. But in a perverse turn of events, my creative energies have taken me right straight away from by blog.

I’m working on a print photography essay, which I am tentatively calling Vertical Landscapes. It has consumed much of my photographic time. I may post samples online, though I don’t think I will post them in the blog’s photo stream. They need to be experienced as a set, not serially. I’ll think of something. I am hoping to co-opt my churches basement and show them for a week or so, just for the fun of putting on the event. This will happen sometime in early spring, around April or May.

The essay itself is a series of architectural photos of Downtown Saint Louis, taken from the point of view of a tourist. The idea behind the essay, and the thing I want to convey has to do with what it feels like to look up. Urban spaces don’t often have the expansive vistas of the pastoral landscapes, but they are beautiful and can inspire the same kind of awe and appreciation for time. A great deal of rich detail is often missed by people in downtown areas because they don’t take time to look up. Gargoyles and intricate stone work abound in such places.

One of the things I discovered while taking the photos was the way my perspective of large objects changed. I used to see big buildings in small pieces, scanning to take in the whole, but never really looking at the entire structure all at once. Because I was aiming often to get the entire building in the frame, I began to see the buildings as whole objects planted on the ground.

In addition to the essay, I have been working on two or three poems, which I probably won’t finish for some time. They seem to indicate long stories and I’m not good at long stories, I’m not even really that good at narrative at all. I don’t want to ruin them, so I’m taking it as slow as necessary. I apologize if I’ve got your hopes up. Email me if you’d like to see the unfinished pieces.

In other news, work has been busier lately. I felt it necessary to devote more energy to my job as a whole and because of that I’ve had less desire and passion to spend on this website. I regret this very much, but it is a necessary part of life I suppose. The good news is that work is going very well. I received a significant raise this year, one that finally rectified a pay imbalance that has been outstanding for a couple years.

My pastor and his wife are in Spain for the next couple weeks and I am filling in for pastor on wed nights (two sermons of 20 min duration) and for Sunday School. I feel a bit of pressure. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to preach on the week after next. My topic for this wed has to do with Faith. I feel a bit intimidated by the subject and the relative importance of the responsibility of not making doctrinal mistakes in the pulpit. Preaching to the congregation is a bit more difficult than preaching to the nursing home because the subjects are usually more complicated. ;) On a happier note, I am honored for the opportunity and a little excited.

Oh, I cleaned my apartment yesterday. First Monday in a while that I’ve been able to devote the whole day to house related chores. I’m pretty sure I’ve developed allergies in the last few years. In the course of cleaning and stirring up dust and what not, I was sneezing a good deal more than I used to. I think I am going to have to make an appointment and get tested to find out which allergies I have.

Ok, I think I’ve rambled on enough.

Cheers!