Hot Pink Penguins and Plant Monsters: how I see the world
a photo essay
Today I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
I picked up the camera I’ve had for almost three years and took it on a morning adventure. Let me be clear. I have no clue what I’m doing. My roommate Jeremiah Warren is a professional photographer who is very good at his work. My other roommate Jason Yarborough is a vlogger who also knows what’s up. My other (but far from least) roommate Samantha White is an artist/graphic designer who can size up beauty and tells you what fits where with a casual ease that causes envy in those who know her.
I’m the writer in the family. So remember that when you look at these images. I don’t know what I’m doing, guys. I just went out noticing the things I generally notice and looking for stories. Jesse told me I was a storyteller and so it made sense.
So here we go, loves. Here are the stories I found today. I hope you find the wonder in them that I do…
Hello, humans. This is me. I wear that necklace every single day. It has a lion on it. That’s a long, long story. I also look at that sentence on my mirror every morning. It keeps me going.
These are herbs Sam planted from little tiny seeds. They sit on the porch of the Handsome House and greet us every morning and evening with their bright cheery pots and hopeful heads. I have every faith that this fall they’ll season our meals and remind us of warm nights and the conversations had over their growing leaves.
The Handsome House gets all the best light, but this is my favorite window. It spans the length of the living room and under it I place my first piece of furniture I owned since my divorce. An ottoman. There’s always someone curled up on it — usually Lucy, Jeremiah, or I, soaking up the good light.
Salt. Strong flavors are something I lean into. I thought about this as I savored my bagel and it almost overwhelmed me. It was too salty but I loved it. I loved how TOO salty it was. That’s what I enjoyed.
Our feelings are manifest in every movement of our body. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we don’t know. But it’s there. The question. The confidence. The relaxation. Every word spoken and unspoken reflected in the rest of you.
Proper Bagel. That’s the name. And it is.
It was perfect and so was the sun and the giant stargazing rock. Okay. It wasn’t completely perfect. There was a tiny colony of ants who happened to have a made their city right under where I laid my bagel but I managed to salvage most of it. *Most* of it.
I don’t know what his name is but I imagine it was something like Francisco and he had a whole group of buddies he was chasing around the trees. He looked directly into my eyes before I took this and gave me a bit of a chill. Look, squirrels are no joke. This one is clearly wise and knows some sh*t.
This is a cool mural on one of the walls in 12South or maybe it’s just a bicycle repair shop. Frankly, I don’t know. Also I’ve never used frankly in a sentence. But as I was looking at it, I wondered what it would be like to shoot images as a private eye so I took this one through the branches of bush. I like the feel of it. Voyeuresque and vivid.
Keep your shadow with you at all times. Peter Pan had a terrible time with his. Sewing yours back on seems like such a pain. So take a pic every once in awhile to remember it’s there.
Perfectly bespeckled and quite dirty. I’m not sure what the purpose of this cone was but it made a delightful picture. I see beauty in the juxtaposition of thing. Splatter with the clean lines of the pavement.
I don’t know what these two guys mean or where they came from but how delightful are they. I happened on them outside of the hot yoga studio and I can only guess that they are a charming way of telling a passing covert secret agent that they can find shelter and an armory in the hidden subbasement behind the very real yoga studio.
If you do not see the shadow of the plant monster growing up out of the ground coming to eat us, then we clearly live in different worlds. I suppose you’re going to tell me you see a lamppost. Pfft.
We make the world beautiful. We take all of the bits and pieces of it and paint it with our mind. It is up to us to turn it into something grand.
And one day, beauty will overtake all of the things we have tried to create. Nature will undo our doings. She will laugh in the face of our declarations and the gentle tendrils of her strength with push out our arrogance.
Come home and tell your stories. Jeremiah will try and tell you how to take his picture. Don’t listen. Just take a picture of the story that is happening. You’ll figure out how to take pictures eventually. No pressure, bro. This is a fun thing. It is not a job.
Imperfection is okay. Things don’t have to be exactly right at all times. Remember this. And you don’t have to write that down. Just live it.
Lucy posed for me. She is majestic and loving and learning how to be still. Just like me. We are quite similar. But also she got skunked this week and if that isn’t a metaphor for where I am in life at this moment…well, anyway, yes…basically same.
Adventuring is exhausting. You should take naps when you are tired. I hope you have a place you’ve built just for you.
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