Archive for April 12th, 2009
Monday Musings April 13
Sunday, April 12th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Today’s musing is from Belanna of Belanna at Odds
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Here is her muse:
Through the looking glass
I read Alice in Wonderland as a child and it was a wonderful tale of adventure. I studied Alice in Wonderland as part of my English Lit course in my late teens and through it learned to understand the structure of metaphor and allegory - somehow I expected that to destroy the magic of the story, but luckily it didn’t. I read it again a few years ago and what struck me was that as an adult, I have a deeper appreciation of both the innocent joy of the adventure, and at the same time the capacity to draw insight from the metaphors that Lewis Carrol wove into the fabric of the tale - and I still love it!
This came back to me with a bang today as I was playing with my digital camera - well I say mine, but I actually bought it as a Christmas pressie for my other half a couple of years ago, and while he lovese it, he’s still quite happy to let me ‘borrow’ it on occasion lol! Anyway, I was playing with the camera - playing because I certainly don’t regard myself as a photographer by any stretch of the imagination - when it occurred to me that the camera has become my personal version of the ‘Looking Glass’.
I mean, we live in a particularly beautiful part of the world - Vancouver Island off the sunshine west coast of Canada - and I never thought I’d ever grow to take that for granted. And yet, through the eye of the camera I’m learning to love the world around me all over again. It’s almost as if the camera forces me to actually ‘focus’ on what I’m seeing, if you’ll pardon the pun.
I am by nature a ‘big picture’ person, I love the sweeping vistas but I often miss the small stuff. My other half is very much the opposite, and I suppose that’s part of why we complement each other so well. But lately I’m noticing more of the detail because the camera is opening my eyes to things that have always been right under my nose.
I’m seeing intricate tracework in rocks, gloriously colour-washed petals, a never-ending spectrum of greens from deepest darkest forest to palest aqua, and the muted greys and blues of our peaceful patch of the ocean. And it’s as if I’ve stepped through the Looking Glass and found myself in a familiar and yet ever so subtly different version of the world. I remember Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory talking about images you can taste, and now I finally understand - there is such a freshness and intensity to what I’m seeing, a richness of colour that is almost tangible.
As a designer I find that both exciting and challenging - with so much inspiration around me, the difficulty lies in picking what to work with, and then doing it justice! But on a deeper, personal level, I’m finding that it brings me a joy and contentment I never suspected were possible. With all the turbulence in my life at the moment (something I suspect a lot of people are experiencing with the world the way it is!) it’s as if I’ve discovered an oasis of peace and tranquility on my doorstep – and it waits for me through the eye of my camera.
Now if only I could find the time to scrap some of it!