10 Questions

The last few classes before summer break were a whirlwind for me. The instructor wanted us to leave with one or two ideas for a summer project based on our "perspective". During the 10 week course, each class assignment was to bring us closer to knowing what we wanted to do for our project, and the last few weeks were a bit more intense.

We had to write the answers to 10 questions... Questions like:  Who are you? What inspires you most? What is your main character trait? What do you love about photography? What is the meaning of life? And more... We journaled our answers.

In the meantime, our photo assignment for the last week of class was to shoot at least one photo a day. I had to come back with 7 or 8 pictures that told "My Story". What would these 7-8 pictures say about me? The purpose was to analyze myself and my life in relation to photography in only a few shots. 

Here are my 8 photos I used:

I happened to be going to visit my son and his family, so I used my grandchildren to express what I believe is important to me in a couple of the pictures.  If you click on the photos, the title says a little bit about each photo. Basically, I used the 8 photos to represent what is important to me or permeates my day; The solitude of my morning runs, looking forward to the future, making sure to have fun, appreciating special relationships, intense focus (that's just who I am), relaxing and sharing, and peace of mind.  I didn't realize it at the time, but the journaling and this photo exercise just seemed to clarify my direction.

Back in class on the last day, we showed our pictures. We then, went through our journaling and picked out words and phrases that came up a lot. Some of mine were: family/children/husband, goals, purpose, independence, self sufficient, strong, lucky, happiness, give, love, a larger sense of being, hard work, planning, sacrifice... 

The time to reflect and decide was upon me.  I had to look back on the 10 weeks of class and decide. What was purposeful and meaningful to me, here and now. 

My project will be to add to my "Maxine" portfolio. It will be hard, as I expressed in my "Will I Turn Left?" blog. It is something I must do. I'm not sure why yet, but I will know once I progress down the road.

In addition to that project, I will plan to also continue to focus on seeing the world a bit differently through the lens.

It's going to a great summer!

~ Jody