Tag Archives: beauty in the ordinary

Stopping

Feb
27
2015
by IBK | 3 Comments

©2014 IBKimage

 

On a recent trip to Brooklyn, NY this family of “parts” caught my eye while walking briskly down the sidewalk , arm in arm with two my own family members.  The middle child up in dad’s arms wears a ®Meineke Care Care Center shirt to let us know that …yes you’ve arrived at the place to have your car fixed. The clever metal sculptures comprised of old mufflers and other under-the- car parts, offered great delight and a pause on a windy cold November morning.

 

Often we’re so distracted with our lists, and goals or pleasing others that we  spend our energy on a busy life vs. a chosen life. I first heard the phrase a ‘stop doing list’ in a a newspaper article written by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great . In a course on creativity and innovation at Stanford Graduate School of Business, he was challenged by the teachers in what he called the “20-10 assignment”. You receive 2 phone calls: 1.”You’ve inherited $20 million no strings attached; 2.You have a terminal disease and have no more than 10 years to live. What would do do differently and, in particular, what would you stop doing? ” This was a major turning point in his life. The ‘stop doing list’ became … “a mechanism for disciplined thought about how to allocate the most precious of all resources: time.”

 

So what does this have to do with  today’s image?  Perhaps someone decided to stop throwing old parts away when they were fixing cars and start reassembling the parts to finally realize a dream of creating something. What do you want to stop that will release energy for starting or rediscovering something that is  authentically you.

 

My ‘stopping’ list in this new year included not judging myself for needing to pause after numerous transitions and several losses, including friends dying. Happily by ‘stopping’ I’m now ready to re-engage in one of my passions … offering insight and encouragement through life’s transitions…

IBK

Posted in Cropping, New Beginning, Seasons, Stopping, Waiting Also tagged , , |

Ah, Spring

Apr
11
2014
by IBK | 0 Comments

IBKimage ©2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, it seems to be spring more than just according to the calendar, and I hope that where you are , there are  surprises in your surroundings (or perhaps your hearts) that seemed so hidden during this especially long winter.  In my first spring here in Denver (2009) I was just learning how to use a digital  camera that I had purchased in 2008 when there were many transitions that were important to capture for later viewing: one son graduating from college, another getting married 2 weeks later, and a move to a new city after 40 years in another.

So, on a beautiful spring morning I walked down to Sloan’s Lake  about 15 minutes from my home and  began the 2 1/2 mile trail around the lake, camera in hand, looking for a picture “to take.”   Fortunately I didn’t find one, rather it found me.  Today’s image is one of five that someone carved on the trunks of large trees that had been cut down perhaps because of disease, but rather, I imagine, to make room for a new playground right next to it/them.

Wishing you delight and joy as you wander into a new season with it’s promises, perhaps also some pruning to make room for something yet to grow.

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in New Beginning, Pruning, Seasons Also tagged , , , |

A Different Perspective

Sep
26
2013
by IBK | 0 Comments

©IBKimage2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes all we need to gain some insight into something that perplexes,irritates,confuses,angers,hurts, and keeps us stuck, is to change our way of thinking about it or to change the way we view it.    Usually that does it, unless of course we want to hang on to our feelings and emotions  and “right or wrong ways” about it.

Today’s image was taken from a position below a bridge in downtown Denver vs. at eye level.  The sun blushed buildings partnered with the clouds to delight before another day turned into darkness.

IBK

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , |

Discovering the Grain

Sep
19
2013
by IBK | 0 Comments

©IBKimage 2012

 

My father was a German master cabinet maker.  New projects began with a trip to the small town lumber yard where we lived.  He would look through the various  offerings and then make a choice based on the end use , the hardness or softness, the straightness of the piece, the unique grain running through it and so on.  I would watch him draft a plan for the object ; measure, cut, plane, sand, smooth, file, turn, nail together, dovetail, glue, bore, chisel and numerous other processes to get the end result.  The best part of all was when it was all ready for finishing.  In photography we call it post processing. The intent is the same, to take a well crafted wooden article (or a well composed photo) and bring out the best from the raw material. In wood-working this is usually done by adding a stain to bring out the beauty of the unfinished grain. My father disliked covering up the grain with paint.  Today’s manufactured particle board has to be covered up since there’s no unique grain.

In the Biblical book of Proverbs  22:6 we are told to “train up a child in the way they should go and when old they will not depart from it.”  The lesson is that instead of conforming our children to our desires and dreams for them, we actually are encouraged to help them find and recognize their “bent” and then provide an environment for that to develop and to provide boundaries and correction when off the path.

As we mature, it is often hard to continue to honor that bent among the many novelties calling out for our attention.

Today’s image comes once again from the Queen City Architectural Salvage Yard here in Denver where the discarded  can be restored and transformed with love to once again delight in its bent.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , |

Mar
29
2013
by IBK | 2 Comments

©IBKimage 2012

 

When my oldest son was little I gave him a book that was in my toy consultant  sample packet.  The title:  “Little While Friends.”  He received it just before we went on a family road trip one summer where we explored three towns named Keystone in three states … among other things.  Stopping to climb rocks or while visiting a snake attraction, he would often find little while friends to interact with.  They didn’t have the same stature as friends from home or the familiarity and commitment of family, but it taught him early on that there are interesting people and sights all around that satisfy. Perhaps, like a beautiful mixed bouquet of flowers in a vase from the floral shop; they are precious because they are a fragile, time-limited treasures.

Now these little while friends don’t always have to be people … the beauty of nature in it distinct seasons, the gift of artists helping us enter into a place we hadn’t considered before; musicians stirring our souls; delight with new learning and new technologies that improve our daily living and help to restore in some manner what has been lost … but generally, it’s people we continually seem to say goodbye to; at airports and graduations, weddings and job changes, first day of school and retirement, and then a final ending whose tension we all live with confronted with so many “little while” choices, actions and engagements.

Our layered wall hanging in today’s image, by a fiber artist in Omaha, NE provided a little while delight on a restaurant wall, as a long time friend and I cherished precious time together over a meal,but more importantly it also reminds me that no matter how dark it might be, the light is thankfully always present. The story of death and resurrection, mourned and celebrated is thankfully” little while” and eternal.

IBK

 

 

Posted in Aging, Authenticity, Courage, Seasons, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , , , , , |

Winter Sentinel

Jan
25
2013
by IBK | 3 Comments

©IBKimage2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh you beautiful tree of winter standing tall above the alley as I open the garage door to quickly hop into my vehicle for a run to the local coffee shop for my first stop of several on this crisp, snowless, early morning.  Thankfully, my camera’s in the house, so I have a chance to reflect on this chance encounter of morning light illuminating your  branches while while I go back to retrieve it.  Ever so briefly, the moment is available and today, unlike  other times, I sense that it’s important to notice.  Thank you that I have to look up to appreciate your beauty and presence as you tower over the litter strewn alley and overflowing garbage dumpsters waiting to be emptied of the week’s castoffs.  A reminder that light returns after the darkest night and that success often comes from the attention to ordinary everyday acts committed to for a long period of time …  Theologian and author  Eugene Peterson speaks of a “long obedience in the same direction.”

 

Wishing you moments of illumination this week.

 

Your comments regarding last weeks post, as to what you’ve learned from your transitions, are still trickling in, so I’ll share some next week.

IBK

 

 

 

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , |

Dancing In The Moment

Nov
09
2012
by IBK | 2 Comments

© IBKimage 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are most anxious it seems when we think back to what was or forward to what will be.  Regrets  for actions taken or not taken;  fearful for actions to be taken and so on.  I’ve been reflecting a bit this week about why I love photography.  When I raise my camera to my eye and look through the view-finder I find that I enter a world of the present moment.  All yesterdays and tomorrows disappear and the focus is to capture ever so briefly a moment in time that allows me to repent of my  own efforts and be “graced” and humbled by what has been provided.  Many years ago I read a book entitled:  “Everyday Sacred” by Sue Bender.  In short, her thesis was to be open to the holiness of living in the everyday moments.  Seeing the familiar in a new light and searching for the beauty of the common is certainly one  way  that I love dancing.

 

Today’s image was discovered during a walk,  near a 400 year old house in Meldorf, Germany.  On my recent trip there I looked up to see the dancer in the side window of an artist’s residence and studio.

What music calls you to dance in the moment?  What might you let go off to start or continue dancing?

IBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Blessings, Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , , , , , , |

Everyday Delights

Jun
01
2012
by IBK | 1 Comment

©IBKimage2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Morning.  Yes I know it’s not Thursday evening nor have I made contact for three weeks.  I’ve been preparing for and have taken a two week hiking trip to Northern England, specifically an 84 mile hike along Hadrian’s Wall Path from east to west. My companions were 8 members of the Colorado Mountain Club .  With walks in London to lodging, train stations, tubes (subway) as well as our bed and breakfast lodging off trail, it was well over a hundred miles  in 10 days.  Even though I’ve completed the walk and the open blisters are healing and I’ve walked gently every day since coming home, I’m still astounded that I did “this”.

Time spent walking, away from the cacophony of modern noise and incessant marketing,allows one to reflect at many levels.  Walking through many pastures of  “moms” with spring lambs, seeing a brand new baby calf minutes after birth with the mother still laboring to deliver the afterbirth, listening to the sweet music of birds singing,  reawakens ones delight in the  beauty possible in every day.  The challenge is to remember to take intentional steps to experience that delight when we’re slogging through the ordinary.

Since coming home, I have become a morning person with the jet lag adjustment.  It’s been delightful but of course most of you reading this already know that.  My challenge to you is try the opposite of the familiar from time to time.

I’l have more to share in the coming weeks about “hiking the wall”.  Todays image is an example of  an everyday delight.  I took a few photos with my phone camera just to see how it worked and was delighted with the results.

IBK

Posted in Seasons Also tagged , , , , |

Another View

Dec
09
2011
by IBK | 1 Comment

©2011 IBKimage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My kitchen window sill always delights with its gift of autumn’s light in the late afternoon.  After a lesson on focusing and composition by a photo friend I was absolutely delighted with the technical accomplishment of shooting a shiny object in sunlight without overexposure and the bonus of seeing ordinary items in a new way.  It had been a long afternoon and  I started to put the camera away.  My teacher, a kind but hard taskmaster, said:  “its nice , but what else could you do?”  I didn’t want to change anything, but reluctantly shifted things around a bit to this …

 

 

©2011 IBKimage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several lessons that day but along with a more interesting image, I wondered what it would look like if we could perhaps view something or someone from a new perspective and see more than we thought was there?

IBK

 

 

 

 

Posted in Seeing In New Ways Also tagged , |