Always re-newing ...

The Brits talk of repairing things differently than we ... well, actually, they talk about EVERYTHING differently than we do. One of their verbiage "intriguities" that I love, is when they replace a part on a car motor for instance, they don't "replace" it, they "re-new" it. As in, "Anytime one removes the cylindre-head, one must re-new the gaskets before replacing the cylindre-head upon the motor-block."

Besides the cool "re" endings rather than our "er" spelling, "re-newing" has such a gentle, loving touch-sound to it. You're not junking an old part, you're lovingly re-creating or fondly improving the ... device? ... at hand.

And so these days, I am constantly re-newing so much ... from software to websites to even the way a professional views their business 'model' ... and my website has been getting a LOT of attention from me over the last few days.

My site is not only my personal professional presence on the web, it's also the test bed for the Haugen's Galleri brand that the wife and I share. I started it once upon a time, but it's nearly completely identified with Miriam these days. It's her home for her 'tribe', as she's discovering, built upon "mothering". Our "tribes" are so different, yet ... my experiments in web presence can be applied to bring hers along as well.

I've not completed all the changes I'm in the midst of trotting out on my Showit-based current site, yet I'm already working on the replacement for it. The 'nex-gen' sites we have will be based on WordPress. I'll be able to add a seamless connection to SmugMug galleries and online preview/sales that we will use for certain clients and events. It's a continual process, never ending.

Ah yes, re-newing my business model, web presence, and view of Life on a continual basis ...and the accompanying image is of model Kailey Glodt, one of my favorite subjects to photograph.
Neil

The lives of the created ...

Somehow, our creations often have lives of their own. Authors talk of this when they talk shop, how they fight with their characters time and time again. I think most of the time, the characters have the best interest of the story in mind, but that is not always apparent to the author, and so can be amazingly irritating. Fighting with characters who only live in your own mind, think about that ... just who do they think they are, anyway?

Of course, not all characters in stories play nice with their authors. In fact, I've wondered if that isn't the reason some characters get such spectacular endings to their personal tale! Still, I think it oft unwise to take your creator's angst out upon a poor character ... or, for a photographer, to forget to "finish" an image that just didn't quite somehow make it up to what we thought we saw at the moment of creation.

I had such a moment yesterday, when an image I'd originally created several months back just ... stopped me. I hadn't been thinking or stewing over it, and it was from a session with many standout images. There was no reason to even think about that image any more. Still, there was something about the image that gave me a feeling when going through that session looking for other images, that I'd not ... finished it right, somehow. It needed work. It could be so much more, it could be something if only I completed it.

And now, I have. What was there in this image was what was there all along, what somehow I think my eyes and brain could see from the moment I captured it. My mind apparently couldn't grasp the essential part because of attention to what were, in the end, extraneous details.

When I finally eliminated the non-essential and therefore extraneous details, a clear and interesting image appeared with an obvious "treatment" that it needed. And though it is wonderful to see it now, completed and at rest, I feel very silly I couldn't see this all along.

The block of stone needed to have the extraneous stone removed to become the statue it could be. The writer needed to find why her characters were unhappy. And I needed to find the essential elements of that image. In all three examples, there is a certain ... something, I'll call it life ... native to the created. And the creator needs to be attuned to what his creations ask of him in order to achieve the completed work.

Even a creator is wise not to dictate! I am grateful for having found the needs of that image. It is one of my favorites right now. And I am also grateful that, unlike for the author of written stories, my images don't actually argue with me inside my own head!