Are you someone who writes gratitude lists? Do they “work” for you? They haven’t been working for me, probably because I think they’re something that is all about me. Judge not, okay? It’s art we’re talking about.
The gratitude lists of mine were not sticking. The goodness of God was floating around, I was trying to catch it, to bottle it up, to chase it and it wasn’t landing.
“It’s like they have no weight,” someone patiently told me.
No weight.
No substance.
They just float and fly away —
Unattainable goodness, here one moment and forgotten the next.
“Why do you have to catch the goodness?”
Don’t know, so here’s some photos:
The first set is in black-and-white to play with the frantic and sharp-edged attempts to catch what’s elusive.
The second set is in color to embody a sense of freedom and release.
Thank you for viewing!
The AIR group pointed out some obvious patterns: my photographs thrive on direct light and texture — the two staples of anything I love and gravitate toward in photography.
The art works on me as much as I work on it. I learned a lot about how vain it is to capture God’s goodness in a bottle when I spent time sweeping up comforter feathers from the ground. They’re a mess, a slippery little mess - only at their best when they’re floating in air.
I made a short video to really capture the feathers flying about. Personally, I think the video drifts from the main vision/theme of this photo series, but it’s calming and pretty, the FPS is slow and my friend Chris made the music for it so have a look.
On the Side
A new class started this week! A God & humanity class focusing on an introduction to counseling. We get to read some books about the Trinity, and some books about gender with a little bit of Bavinck sprinkled in. The first lectures were about how we are not the main character of our Story and that all understanding of the Trinity is for doxological purposes.
On the side reads: Matthew B. Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft. Just started it and really enjoying it so far. I was first introduced to this book by Van Neistat’s “Spirited Man” video series on YouTube (the best videos on the internet, run don’t walk). The book is a NYT bestseller about the value of work told from a philosopher/mechanic voice. I love it.
I’ve also been reading The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller on audiobook on Spotify (it’s free!). The audiobook aspect has been nice for car rides and filling up some in between time. For years this book has been raved about by people and I appreciate most everything by Tim, so I’m excited to finish it.
I have interior design opinions now. There have been lots of photoshoots this month — particularly with interior designers. I’ve never payed more attention to detail in my life. I notice doorknobs and lampshades in a whole new way and can tell you if the wallpaper is just too busy or the right amount of chaos. I usually don’t shoot interiors/architecture but it’s been a stretch and delightful challenge to get perspective and light just right in such a technical way. Maybe I’ll share more on here about all the interiors work, suffice to say it’s been rewiring my brain a bit.
I wanna watch Poor Things. Eleven academy awards? Something must be going right!? Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I’ll see it for Emma and it shall hold us over until Dune 2.
That’s all for now, friends. Do good things and when you don’t know what to do — make good art.