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being oneself
December 2008 
The Joy of Cutting Up
Posted on Jan 3rd, 2008
by 
Traveling Alchemist
Traveling Alchemist
New Year's Eve I had a ball - no, wait, I was at a ball...
For the first time in a very long time "Grace" showed up...she's my alter ego, and she's a bit of a tart, and mouthy. Doc didn't like her very much - she is very playful, and over the top, sometimes...
I went to the community New Year celebration where a DJ played a lot of familiar tunes, and I hung out with some friends - our table was the loudest and raunchiest - and I know we had more fun than anyone else there! We joked, danced, laughed a LOT, and played. Yes, there was alcohol present, and for a couple of us maybe too much down the hatch. No one got out of hand, though, or was totally out of control. Myself, I was conservative, but to see some of the pictures taken, you would think that maybe I really was over the top!
Anyway, it was a good thing. I didn't care about being respectable, or liked, or 'out of line' in another's view. It was just plain fun.
And today I was cutting up in another way - and remembering the joy of creating a project. The community photo club is sponsoring a photo contest in about a week. The deadline for submission was today. So I put together a 'presentation' - crude as it was...and I had a good time doing it. Measuring the poster board, and cutting out the opening to frame my photo was fun. I hadn't done anything like it since I was in grad school, in the architecture studio in 1995. I used my drawing tools, my scale, my Xacto knife...oh how good it felt! I'm a novice at creating prints of photos - I have a lot to learn. I'm not thrilled with how the printer applied the color to my photo paper. Never-the-less I decided to participate in something I enjoy,and I put forth the effort to submit a favorite photo - one that I'm proud of. Again, it doesn't matter whether I get a vote or not, whether someone else likes the photo or not. It was something I created, and gave to the community, just because.
Note: The image is the photo I mounted for the exhibit. It was taken in October while I was on a camping trip near Patagonia, AZ - taken in the morning as the sun backlit the web, next to my truck. I call it WWW (Web Within Web).
For the first time in a very long time "Grace" showed up...she's my alter ego, and she's a bit of a tart, and mouthy. Doc didn't like her very much - she is very playful, and over the top, sometimes...
I went to the community New Year celebration where a DJ played a lot of familiar tunes, and I hung out with some friends - our table was the loudest and raunchiest - and I know we had more fun than anyone else there! We joked, danced, laughed a LOT, and played. Yes, there was alcohol present, and for a couple of us maybe too much down the hatch. No one got out of hand, though, or was totally out of control. Myself, I was conservative, but to see some of the pictures taken, you would think that maybe I really was over the top!
Anyway, it was a good thing. I didn't care about being respectable, or liked, or 'out of line' in another's view. It was just plain fun.
And today I was cutting up in another way - and remembering the joy of creating a project. The community photo club is sponsoring a photo contest in about a week. The deadline for submission was today. So I put together a 'presentation' - crude as it was...and I had a good time doing it. Measuring the poster board, and cutting out the opening to frame my photo was fun. I hadn't done anything like it since I was in grad school, in the architecture studio in 1995. I used my drawing tools, my scale, my Xacto knife...oh how good it felt! I'm a novice at creating prints of photos - I have a lot to learn. I'm not thrilled with how the printer applied the color to my photo paper. Never-the-less I decided to participate in something I enjoy,and I put forth the effort to submit a favorite photo - one that I'm proud of. Again, it doesn't matter whether I get a vote or not, whether someone else likes the photo or not. It was something I created, and gave to the community, just because.
Note: The image is the photo I mounted for the exhibit. It was taken in October while I was on a camping trip near Patagonia, AZ - taken in the morning as the sun backlit the web, next to my truck. I call it WWW (Web Within Web).
Access: Public
Gr8 photo- hope you win that contest!
And glad that the shadows aren't lengthening. Better to healthily let out the extremes of our personality than to suppress them.
Meenakshi, Grace was sedate compared to some other parts of herself!!! I think she's really the child that never played as a child…Her motto is “You're never to old to have a happy childhood!”
Here's to Grace….
If you're going to do something do it with great Joy in your heart!
How wonderful I love photography as well,but I too have been reluctant
to enter in photography contests,but perhaps the Universe sent me here
to read this on purpose. I love Grace's motto…I get gawked at a lot for laughing
and I'm not even drinking when I do it. I say let our inner child's be our outer
childs. :-)
I love the web within web photo!
It's great to hear that you had such a good time at the ball…it's aways good to come out and play with joy and laughter, and especially fun to do it with others who are having fun. I love to be at the table that's laughing the loudest.