Coldplay moves my soul. Listen to them.
Yesterday I came home to run some errands. I really enjoy coming home, especially on nice days because it is beautiful year round: small, cozy, home, nestled in the woods; It is the perfect escape. Well after relaxing I went up town to take care of my new business, selling prints in a shop downtown. I delivered my first sale, (quite a proud moment for me), and then headed off to tie up a loose end that had been on my mind for years.
About 2 years ago I took my first set of senior photos, a friend of mine who had asked me to. That was a great experience, she is beautiful and cooperative and it made it pretty hard to fail. 
We ended up driving around looking for good locations and towards the evening, a bit before golden hour, we drove past a house with a old white fence and barn. Both of us decided that it was a perfect place to get some shots but neither of us knew who lived there. So I walked up to the door, gave a knock, and we were greeted by an old guy who with some feigned reluctance said it was alright.
We walked around and set up some photos, he soon joined us and chatted the entire time. Well after we finished I promised that I would give him prints of the photos I had taken.
Now its been two years and I finally set off to find this place and deliver on my promise. I arrive, knock, and am greeted with a stare as he just points at me. “You’re dead meat” In my fashion I smile all goofy and then show him the photo and get invited inside. I end up staying to chat for a couple hours and am told that he has been asking around and making threats if he didn’t get a photo. This makes me like the guy, I love personality and it seems to becoming harder and harder to find. So I stayed and heard his stories, got to know him, and received some well intended threats; I got to thinking.
Hearing his life, his stories, I realized that I wanted to photograph that. Him, and with him his stories; I wanted to preserve that for some reason. And that is what photography is about, preserving something; Whether it is as simple as beauty or complex as the past of a person you preserve and share it. This goes along too with last weekend; A friend and I went to Cooper’s landing where I met another spirited older couple who shared their stories and talked of preserving. I don’t know what purpose it serves, if anything it will make my photography deeper, but I am drawn to the idea.
Along with that I began to think more of how the world removes us from our lives and creates this unsatisfying pseudo life. We create relationships that only matter in the context of making money, and spend most of our lives competing, in academics, sports, work, relationships. I don’t have time for the details of that here but simply, I am glad that my photography offers a connection back into my real life of community, real people, and memories.
I pulled some of my grandfather’s old textbooks out of his library tonight and curled up in a blanket with them, just glancing through them; What I found just sort of struck me. I had never really thought about it, or maybe I just haven’t comprehended it, but nearly everything I have been taught through this education system has been known for years, more than 50 at least, and in the context of mathematics hundreds of years is an applicable number!
To me this is a crazy idea that I have never thought about before; All this knowledge was new to me but I didn’t really think about it being entirely old hat. Even my college education. It is neat to think about in a way: things have changed so much (slide rules anyone?) but the important stuff is the same. I guess I am referring to general education fields as well… because things like DNA folding weren’t around 10 years ago.
I dunno, this has become a ramble.
By the way, one text I read was just a collection of mathematical formulas and I think there is a point you reach in your education where seeing the breadth of mathematics is very beneficial. So go pick up such a book and browse through. I was pleased to find that I had played around with a large majority of the text’s collection of formulas involving calculus. Thanks to my calc 3 teacher!
I live more vividly in my memories than I do in the present; More in my thoughts than I do in my senses, put another way.
I have been pondering a lot lately, realizing things like this. My mind is really interesting, I think anyway; It provides itself with many things to contemplate.
I don’t know much about the physiology of the brain but I am thinking that this is why:
The brain has many areas serving different functions, areas for your senses, spatial orientation, memory, etc. Each of these gets a different amount of use depending on what kind of person you are. I guess it would be comparable to a muscle, if you use it it grows, but it also atrophies if it isn’t exercised.
A great example that relates to what I am talking about is shown in a study i read about. In this study monks preformed a type of meditation, leaving their thoughts behind and just observing something, a flower, light, anything. As they continued this activity throughout their lives the area of the brain corresponding with digesting sensory information was much larger than those who did not.
By the way, if you have never tried meditation it is a great way to exercise the brain and relax. Keep in mind though, if you are older and trying to start, the portion of your brain required may have atrophied and it may take some time.
From personal experience this is true. I can live in my thoughts, visualize, work things through. This is definitely a result of many years of schooling, learning, making connections. There isn’t much sensory input you can get from sitting in class. The down side to this is that everything else blows by me. If it isn’t a theory or idea, say a sight or smell, I can be entirely oblivious to it.
Lately I have been trying to revive that part of my brain, sitting and just looking at things, noticing detail. It is much harder than it sounds, and if you don’t believe me then try it. But it causes me to wonder, is our education system taking away one of the most basic joys in life. The ability to experience our world. Other areas are affected as well: emotions, morals, memory, anything that makes you yourself.
This idea may be a basis of culture itself when you think about it. Entire communities and nations often follow the same systems, mainly education. How much does this mold the mind?