Tag Archives: Learning

Changing Our Viewpoint

Jul
13
2017
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage2017

A lesson I keep learning from my photography is that if you can’t capture a desired image which the eye sees, you have to move yourself to account for  the camera’s limitation.  Similarly, by shifting  position one can make an image look like it’s taken in sunny Italy, when it’s less than a half of a mile from a busy part of Interstate 70 in Denver.  In today’s image we’re seeing a pump house along Berkley Lake near my home, where I often walk in the evening when the summer heat dissipates.

 

Walking around this lake has also given me an opportunity to see some stunning sunsets, without the interference of electrical wires ubiquitous  in the alleys in my older neighborhood.  There’s a point here I think that perhaps helps us when we are anticipating, in the midst of, or just having encountered a transition of some kind.  Shifting our perspective and choosing (or being forced to by circumstance) to view a situation in a new way, can fix our eyes and hearts to perhaps see new viewpoints that can … in the moment … or after a passage of time, bless in new ways.

IBK

Posted in Courage, Insight, Letting Go, Reframe Also tagged , |

In Walking Away, We Can Miss A Lot

Apr
07
2017
by IBK | 4 Comments

©IBKimage2013

 

I spent a long weekend in Brooklyn, New York where I visited my youngest son.  We walked, we talked, drank great coffee, ate ethnic food and talked about the times we find ourselves in. All too soon it was time to go. I took the subway to Penn Station in New York, and then the New Jersey Transit to the Newark Airport and then to my gate,and a two hour weather delay …

 

While waiting and on the subsequent 4 hour flight to Denver, I thought about the millions of people who maneuver in urban contexts for work, and school and play and worship, and how amazing it is that people from all different places generally get along pretty well. Several people had offered assistance as I carried my rolling bag up the subway exit steps; answered and confirmed directional inquiries; shared stories of being immigrants who opened a restaurant using their Palestinian grandmother’s recipes … and so on.  Our waitress on one of our last meals together in the city, was a puppeteer and singer, songwriter, from Maine, who went to school in Colorado and knew the brother of my son’s high school friend from Lincoln, NE.

 

Perhaps because of the density in a large urban area, there is a forced closeness in encountering people who are not like us, and yet in our daily actions, and hopes and dreams, we are exactly alike.  When we have the luxury of living with more space, we might be tempted to walk away to our own comfort and miss the blessing of new insights. Pity.

IBK

Posted in Blessings, Insight, Others Also tagged , , |

Changes

Oct
10
2014
by IBK | 1 Comment

 

©IBKimage@2013

 

 

Hello.  It’s been a couple of months since I’ve shared a word and image to offer insight and encouragement for life’s transitions.  I’ve actually had to learn to speak some of those words to myself as I’ve worked through some challenges regarding my health.  As I was making a routine left turn on a Sunday afternoon, my world started spinning…literally and now after a couple of months of vertigo incidents I am learning to live with the after affects of an acute vestibular event (probably a virus) that has damaged my left inner ear – the part dealing with balance.

 

It’s been a humbling experience to not be in control of your body movements; or to walk down the sidewalk looking as though one was inebriated; to realize that once again there is another loss to adjust to… and then you begin to understand – too slowly sadly – that there are all kinds provisions given that enter into this time of transition.  Family and friends providing comfort, encouragement, rides and arms for stability; a deeper prayer life not only for wellness but a deeper compassion for those who’ve lived with or are currently living with the reality of acute or chronic health challenges;  digging deep for a sense of humor in all of this; but mainly accepting that this is a new normal, and I will receive what I need when I need it and don’t have to force the timing.

 

Today’s image is usually seen as a  clear night shot of the colored lights in the fountains located at City Park with the downtown Denver skyline as a background.

After weeks of pushing myself to restart my blog, I realize that an abstract of reality  can be a gift to remind one of the essentials.

IBK

Posted in Blessings, Courage, New Beginning, Seasons Also tagged , , |

It’s Your Turn

Jan
18
2013
by IBK | 3 Comments

©IBKimage2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My purpose for writing this blog is to offer insight and encouragement during life’s transitions.   I know that many of you reading this blog have experienced many transitions this year.  You’ve moved; changed jobs; lost jobs; are looking for jobs; had babies, are expecting babies; had cancer; are recovering from cancer;  became grandparents, aunts, and uncles; bought homes; sold homes; got engaged, got married; ended relationships; found yourself; learned to live with a chronic illness ; made commitments, broken commitments; lost friends and family members; made new friends;  and so on.  In short you’ve been confronted with or have chosen to take a look at yourself in a new way because of these transitions.

As you can see in today’s image, I’ve been out in the field this week looking for images that tell a story about our transitions and how we “are in them”. I’d like you to finish this blog by sharing some insights about what you’ve learned in your own transitions.  A brief example:  I’ve learned that :  I don’t have to fill in the blanks and force the  answer but can wait to discover the answer when it comes.  My niece taught me just last week that:  “You don’t have to own that” … i.e. that’s not yours to do …

I will use some of your comments (pithy please) in next weeks blog to offer insight and encouragement.  (your identity will not be revealed)

IBK

 

 

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , |

Plan B

May
04
2012
by IBK | 1 Comment

©IBKimage2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I was in Washington, D.C. for a long weekend visit with my youngest son.  The trip had been planned to coincide with the peak season of the annual “Cherry Blossom Festival.”  It had been two years since I had experienced the delight of seeing the blossoms for the first time and at that time I was a relatively new photographer using a small Cannon “point and click” digital camera.  I couldn’t wait to use my now more sophisticated digital camera and to compare the presumably better pictures with the first attempt.

Well, nature intervened.  The blossoms were at peak season about 3 weeks before I arrived (peak season changes every year and I’d purchased my ticket) due to the very early spring in D.C.  I changed my focus and decided to only take my  I-Phone® and join the category of “iphoneographers” during my visit.  It takes a light touch and there were a a lot of new “how -to’s” , but what a delight to bring home about 75  images that were stored in a phone in a pocket of my jacket.  Amazing.

 

Today’s image comes from the front of an office building on “L” street in downtown Washington, D.C.  With the lens in the I -Phone®, a different angle, and the sunny morning light reflections, the  windows all look a bit different, and yet they were all identical.  The upper left window is the closest to what “the eye” saw.  Plan B (and C) often delight, if we can only move on from Plan A.

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Plan B Also tagged , , |