Sometimes, I just need to get out of the city, to take a weekend on the island and ignore the somewhat chaotic state of my life. So this weekend, I grabbed my computer and my camera and headed out to Vashon Island to spend a somewhat quiet weekend focusing on some projects that I just couldn’t seem to focus on while I was at my house, or even in the city, as I seemed to be getting distracted by everything else going on around me.
On saturday morning, I was up before the birds. Low tide was at 5:30 in the morning, and I decided that if I could get my butt up at that hour, I would make a jug of coffee and go down to a tiny inlet on the west side of Vashon and watch the sky, sea, and creatures wake up. And I made it. No one else seemed to be up that early but the gulls, and the morning quietness was well worth the early rise.
This afternoon it’s back to the city and the projects and distractions that await me, but I feel more ready to start checking things off my to-do list now that I have had a bit of a calm weekend to refocus. Another thing I realized this weekend, is that I don’t have to take myself so seriously when I am out shooting. I am just trying to bring a camera with me wherever I go just to shoot. The simple act of shooting may not result in any masterpieces, and hell, it may even result in a bunch of crap that I just end up tossing, but the act of shooting and looking through photos is inspiring more longer term project that I can take seriously. Plus, it’s reminding me how to see. So I’ll just keep being shutter happy for a while, at least while I let the serious projects marinate and come into fruition.
So, long-term, serious project these beach shots are surely not, but they are an exercise in the practice of looking.
Where We Art 