Tag: ENVIRONMENT

A Photographer’s Least Favorite Thing to Do

A Photographer’s Least Favorite Thing to Do

Mountain Sunset taken with a group of friends from Asheville, NC. We were on a photog outing.
Mountain Sunset taken with a group of friends from Asheville, NC. We were on a photog outing.

I am celebrating a huge project that was finished just today. For many years I have attempted to sort and organize my photography library of thousands of images. The general work flow started with A and I usually quit by the time I got to D or E but those first few projects in my Aperture library were always neat and sorted. This time, however, I made it all the way through. It only took me three months of steady work to do it. I had to add an external RAID drive for additional storage since my D800 has files the size of buses. So all is well.

In celebration of this momentous occasion and in honor of what I love to do several images are included with comments. Over the past few days certain images have reminded me why I love photography as an art form and a way of communication. I hope you enjoy the images. And thanks for your interest and support….always. I feel the love.

When wild animals make contact with me I always feel so blessed...so fortunate...so joyful!
When wild animals make contact with me I always feel so blessed…so fortunate…so joyful!
Sometimes I think they are laughing at me....
Sometimes I think they are laughing at me….
Or playing peek-a-boo.
Or playing peek-a-boo.
Moments of nature's glory lead me to rapturous joy.
Moments of nature’s glory lead me to rapturous joy.
Or moments of intense stillness and inner quiet.
Or moments of intense stillness and inner quiet.
When the light and colors align and I happen to be there...magic happens!
When the light and colors align and I happen to be there…magic happens!
Of course sometimes you can't really take a bad photograph if you are alive and breathing and present enough to lift your camera and click the shutter...remembering to set the correct exposures....and lift the bottom jaw as it gapes from unimaginable beauty.
Of course sometimes you can’t really take a bad photograph if you are alive and breathing and present enough to lift your camera and click the shutter…remembering to set the correct exposures….and lift the bottom jaw as it gapes from unimaginable beauty.
One of my favorite experiences centers around children gaining experience in nature and learning about wildlife...like wolves for instance.
One of my favorite experiences centers around photographing children gaining experience in nature and learning about wildlife…like wolves for instance.
Water captivates me and my favorite images center around water...waterfalls...big water...underwater.
Water captivates me and my favorite images center around water…waterfalls…big water…underwater.
I revisit images and can describe my emotions, the lighting, the thoughts that came to mind from moments such as this....I am right there again.
I revisit images and can describe my emotions, the lighting, the thoughts that came to mind from moments such as this….I am right there again.
And while the image isn't great I wanted to capture the size of this old tree soul by standing on it and including my feet in the image. It was a profound experience.
While the image isn’t that special, the experience was.  I wanted to capture the size of this old tree soul by standing on it and including my feet in the frame. It was a profound experience.
My favorite images capture the soul, the spirit, of places and animals...and those of people lost in the creative process.
My favorite images capture the soul, the spirit, of places and animals…and those of people lost in the creative process.
While solo exploring the desert in Bonaire I took this self-portrait. It demonstrates perfectly how I feel when I'm there.
While solo exploring the desert in Bonaire I took this self-portrait. It demonstrates perfectly how I feel when I’m there.
My favorite people images this past year are of my daughter and son-in-law. My 'kids' bring a very special light to my life.
My favorite people images this past year are of my daughter and son-in-law. My ‘kids’ bring a very special light to my life.
I celebrate everything that is beautiful and right in this world...and hope we can add to the list of good things happening as we move through 2014.
I celebrate everything that is beautiful and right in this world…and hope we can add to the list of good things happening as we move through 2014.
And my favorite image of this past year (besides my kids)...this green sea turtle I met in Bonaire.
And my favorite image of this past year (besides my kids)…this green sea turtle I met in Bonaire.

So now I can get out and do what I love….photograph nature and people enjoying the creative process…and beauty. I like to celebrate beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change

Change

simonelipscomb (1)The sky was completely dark and I thought it must be 9pm. Time to curl up with a good book. Alas, it was merely 7.30 and once again the realization of seasonal change…. and change in general…. came to mind and became my meditation as I sat in my hammock swing on the back porch and listened.

The moon shone timidly through the grandmother oak’s massive branches and leaves as she spread her protective embrace over my home. Stars twinkled, bashful and fleeting in their dance through the sky. Change.. movement… cycles… rhythms.

Earlier today, as I worked to complete a book a friend and I are creating together, I was writing my part of the introduction. As I listened to my heart’s message I realized I have come to a point where I am letting go of feeling personally responsible for affecting change in other’s behaviors, specifically respecting the planet and each other. It’s rather arrogant to assume I could have that affect on others anyway. But I take the care of this beautiful planet seriously and somehow felt I was supposed to write,  share photographs and teach others in order to create positive change in their actions. When change wasn’t forthcoming I felt a sense of failure.

simonelipscomb (8)Perhaps I thought that if people understood and grasped the depth of passion and love I have for the planet they would be inspired to love and care for it as well. It was rather unrealistic to think my actions could change other’s behaviors when I struggle at times to change my own behaviors. It’s sort of like thinking that loving and expressing your love for another person will make them love you….that never works no matter how deep and profound your love is for them. Maybe it was the head-banging-against-the-wall frustration that helped me awaken to how worn out I felt by taking on this unrealistic, unreasonable responsibility. (My inner psychotherapist is clapping her hands!)

I want to be at peace and feel open to love and compassion. I can’t have those qualities of mind, of life, if I’m ‘failing miserably’ at changing the world. I see what’s happening in governments, to wild land, to wildlife, to children, to humanity….If this is still happening I must be failing at my job. Honestly, a part of me really thought that way. And I wonder if others who love the planet, put their energy into creating positive change and wish for global healing share that feeling of failure when things seem not to change.

simonelipscomb (6)I realize now that the real reason I’m here on Earth is simply to express the love and gratitude within for this amazing planet with endless varieties of life and to be in Communion with It. By mistakenly thinking I could actually change other’s behaviors by my actions, I put myself under major-stress and took it very personally when people didn’t care–recycle, drive more fuel-efficient vehicles, buy less stuff, turn from greed, stop polluting, use solar energy, love each other, love animals and on and on the list goes. (Gulp….my inner psychotherapist is nodding her head).

As I was writing my part of the introduction to the new book I wrote: “Sacred Marriage with the Divine through nature, through life, is the only significant goal that remains in my life.”

Nahoch Nah Chich cave in Mexico
Nahoch Nah Chich cave in Mexico

Seeking a clearer connection with Spirit, being a clear channel through which this Force can flow, is my only desire. Gone now is the intent to change the world for that only created a life of constant frustration…although I still dream of a better world for all life. I wish only to change myself, to open to love and light that is abundant and available always, with every breath.

As I finished editing this post, an owl landed nearby and begin hooting. Seems I’m not the only one celebrating this shift in perspective, this clarity of focus. May each of us find our own dance….and if we’re really lucky, find others who will dance with us.

 

Patience….Faith…Hope for the Planet

Patience….Faith…Hope for the Planet

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On the spiritual path it is said that once you have had an awakening it is impossible to forget what you know. In other words…you can’t really go back to sleep and pretend you don’t know the truth…I think the same is true of our environmental and social ills. But then they too are part of our spiritual path are they not? It’s all the same journey, no matter what label we attach to it.

800_0234I happened upon a Bill Moyers interview with Wendell Berry that helped me breathe–it felt like I had been holding my breath for months.

Berry reminded us to do what we can and to be realistic…we’re not going to fix something quickly. We have to have patience. He talked of being in an emergency situation and how that is the most difficult time to have patience and yet, with our planetary situation, patience is called for….faith, he said, is another word for patience.

The take-away from the interview between Moyers and Berry was this: keep doing whatever you can and do it as often as you can. Now is not the time to give up.

simonelipscombIt’s not easy. It can feel like a very lonely, isolated existence. Yet whatever each of us feels ‘called’ to do to make a difference contributes to positive momentum and resolution. Maintaining balance while committing oneself to the task is challenging…beyond belief challenging. But the alternative is giving up and that’s simply not an option.

For me, the only thing left is faith…a glimmer of hope…and love. And the greatest of these is love. Ultimately I believe it is love that will lead us forward into a better way of living with each other and the planet.

Joanna Macy lead our group to greater understanding of how to help our planet and each other at Rowe, MA
Joanna Macy lead our group to greater understanding of how to help our planet and each other at Rowe, MA
What is the Earth Worth to You?

What is the Earth Worth to You?

graffitiA few days ago I visited a high school classroom where I presented a program on recycling. The teacher sponsors recycling for the high school but when I asked the students how many recycled in their home nobody raised a hand. I was shocked. Usually there are at least a few recyclers.

After completing the presentation I followed up with this question: What would it take for you to care enough to take action? Blank faces stared back at me. I asked again and one student said somebody would have to pay him.

It felt like the air was kicked out of me. These past few months of wondering what was the root of the problem of our planet and it comes down to my worst suspicions: Greed. Is it true that people are unwilling to take action, even something as basic and simple as recycling, unless there is something in it for them?

simonelipscomb (8)What they can’t see the payoff for being a good steward is having a healthy life, a healthier planet. A future.

In a blog post from Bill Moyers dated yesterday he wrote that top climate scientists recently reported that the time for us to act to correct the downward spiral of environmental health of the planet is very small. The study stated that unless we make major changes within a decade it’s basically an accelerating scenario of a planet unable to support life as we know it. The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) warns, in this report, of an alarming escalation of climate impacts (droughts, floods, storms) but also shows that preventing climate chaos is still a possibility.

If my suspicions about human nature are true, as the high school class modeled, the majority of citizens think only in terms of monetary gain, not planetary stewardship. Somehow people must began to see that their direct actions of caring for the planet is the only way we have a viable future. Why are humans unable to remove the blinders that keep them from seeing the truth about what’s happening on the planet? What will it take to create the shift in consciousness necessary to make a positive difference? Do they care?

Recycling is so easy. I can’t imagine why people will not make the effort. Every time I see an aluminum can being tossed in the garbage I think…. 95% of the energy it takes to make an aluminum can can be saved by recycling that one. Or paper….28% of landfill waste is paper and cardboard…recyclable.  According to a report I read last week, almost 33% of food in the USA is thrown in the garbage. One-third! Can you imagine?? That’s enough food to insure almost everyone in the country had a meal but instead it goes to the dump. Plastics account for 13% of landfill waste….all recyclable and yet filling our landfills with trash that will be around for hundreds of years….or worse…our oceans.

tarballsshellImagine explorers visiting our planet after humans have driven our species to extinction…finding plastic bottles littering beaches, roadways. Can you imagine the conclusions these explorers might come to by what they see left behind? When they see how we treated the very ‘thing’ that sustains life for us.

How do we get people to care?

How do we get people to invest in their future by caring for the planet?

What will it take to create a shift in consciousness?

5forearth2 2 copyI can only do what feels right for me and pray that enough of us will care, will love our planet and our children…and future children…to be responsible, caring stewards. I wonder if we could start by taking 5 minutes a day to sit in stillness, in quiet, and ask what we can do to make a positive difference. I wonder….can we give the earth just 5 minutes of our day to listen?

 

 

The Yin and Yang of Energy Production

The Yin and Yang of Energy Production

simonelipscomb (8)The general tendency for humans is to not change until we are forced to…mainly because we don’t want to deal with the discomfort. Whether its emotional discomfort from facing our dysfunctional behaviors that negatively impact relationships with lovers, coworkers, and family or the physical, economical discomfort that comes from having to change the way we live on the planet….we don’t like to change.

It’s easier to continue in status quo rather than make changes necessary to become consumers of clean, renewable energy.

simonelipscomb (1)Our country as a whole is an example of this mentality. There has been definite progress toward positive change….recycling, re-using shopping bags, banning plastic bags, using less packaging, increased organic farming, vehicles that get better mileage…but politically and economically it is still big business to drill for oil offshore, frack for fossil fuels and use potentially deadly nuclear power. Very few in leadership positions will take the political risk to piss off the Big Oil Companies. It’s so much easier to be quiet, fill up offshore bank accounts and relax into a lifestyle that does nothing to help solve the problems our planet–and all people who reside here–are facing.

simonelipscomb (7)“There comes a moment in history when ignorance is no longer a forgivable offense….a moment when only wisdom has the power to absolve.” This quote from Dan Brown’s latest book summarizes my thoughts perfectly.

Ignoring a problem is NOT dealing with it.

simonelipscomb (4)There are two energy extremes that we know as Yin and Yang. The polarity of these different energies make up a whole, a balanced perspective. Yin energy is passive, receptive, deep, still, slow, quiet, feminine while Yang energy is active, expressive, aggressive, fiery, dominant, restless, producing, masculine. (Not to be confused with women and men or male and female).  An example however can be given using women and men and the expression of these energies.

A woman might have a vague idea about a problem she wants to solve so she might ponder ideas, kick around scenarios, write about it, compose poetry about it and mull over where a man might immediately take action to fix it…and fix it now! Both are ways to deal with issues and both can be valid….no doubt. So take the example a step further and take gender out of the equation…person A likes to mull it over, think about it, write about it and person B wants immediate fix-it action!

solar_cells_panels_array_monocrystalineWhen a country…or world leadership…tends to lean to one extreme or the other imbalance is experienced. Our need for immediate energy cannot be solved by shutting down all fossil fuel production today; however, we do need to implement renewable energy production NOW to help meet our needs in the near future. And as renewable energy production increases–wind, solar, wave–we need less fossil fuels….which makes our planet cleaner, greener and healthier. Balance.

  simonelipscomb (2)What if, in the 1970’s when the first buzz about fossil fuel issues began, we had fully implemented wind and solar energy production? How would our lives be different now….40 years later? How would our children’s lives be different? Our grandchildren’s lives? When is the right time to bring more Yin energy to our problems and ease up on the Yang way of dealing with life?

Now. Is. The. Time.

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