Get Down on your Knees

 

If you want to photograph a cat, get down on your knees. The same goes for photographing a child, or actually any person or object that's low to the ground. Yes, this is important when it comes to perspective but it's also about humility and the art of seeing life from someone else's point of view. 

True art involves shaking yourself out of your own complacency and experiencing the world in a new way. Different from your own. When you change your perspective you scramble up your senses and you are forced to let go of your own preconceived ideas. You will begin to observe things you might ordinarily overlook. The grass is wet on your bare knees. The cat approaches in silence. He has intelligent eyes and he knows where he's going. Your camera is clunky and you feel naked before the cat. Perhaps he knows that the dress you’re wearing hides uneven darts and amateurish facings. He knows you made it in your Singer Sewing Machine class and really had no idea what you were doing.

Creative Friends--the idea of humbling oneself--of getting down on your knees and getting close to the ground--seems to have gone out of style. Today we are all about standing in our power and breaking the glass ceilings. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But, I think there's an unexpected power in getting small, close to the ground, quietly listening and learning. 

Your assignment for this week is to get close to the ground. Be patient, open-minded, open-hearted. Resist the urge to chase the cat. Rather, let the cat come to you.

Love,

Jamie