I'm traveling again and so my posting is disrupted. I'll just put up three photos from today:
From the morning:
From the afternoon:
And from the evening:
The story, linking the three, is both heart warming and it gives me hope for the future of the human race. But you'll have to pick it up tomorrow, when I return to Madison.
Just one P.S. and it is really a comment to this idea that comes up every now and then -- one that was posted on Ann's blog just yesterday: the idea is that I sugarcoat reality. That I leave out the gritty.
I feel the need to comment on this. You, Ocean readers, you know that I avoid taking photos of scummy side of life. It's not that I don't notice it, but I don't really highlight it. And that's deliberate. What I truly believe is that people are proud of their homes, their villages, their surroundings. You, the outsider, walk in, all high and mighty, with your camera and you think you've discovered the underbelly. But you haven't. They, the people who live there, know their underbelly. Your perception of what's wrong with their picture is only your own take on that world. So isn't it better to try and see what it is that works so well for the people who live elsewhere? Isn't it better to try to understand what it is that they're proud of? And to deliberately look for it, rather than to highlight what we find odd, or off-putting?
It could be that I am wrong to write in the way that I do. But actually, I find it very honest and real.
Until tomorrow then!
From the morning:
From the afternoon:
And from the evening:
The story, linking the three, is both heart warming and it gives me hope for the future of the human race. But you'll have to pick it up tomorrow, when I return to Madison.
Just one P.S. and it is really a comment to this idea that comes up every now and then -- one that was posted on Ann's blog just yesterday: the idea is that I sugarcoat reality. That I leave out the gritty.
I feel the need to comment on this. You, Ocean readers, you know that I avoid taking photos of scummy side of life. It's not that I don't notice it, but I don't really highlight it. And that's deliberate. What I truly believe is that people are proud of their homes, their villages, their surroundings. You, the outsider, walk in, all high and mighty, with your camera and you think you've discovered the underbelly. But you haven't. They, the people who live there, know their underbelly. Your perception of what's wrong with their picture is only your own take on that world. So isn't it better to try and see what it is that works so well for the people who live elsewhere? Isn't it better to try to understand what it is that they're proud of? And to deliberately look for it, rather than to highlight what we find odd, or off-putting?
It could be that I am wrong to write in the way that I do. But actually, I find it very honest and real.
Until tomorrow then!
Nina,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly. Part of the reason that I love your blog is that you show civility in life, wherever you travel. Please, keep emphasizing the positive side of life.
Regards,
Kerry in Calgary
Please continue to write in your honest, real and sensitive voice. That is one of the many reasons I love Ocean.
ReplyDeleteI have spent my life as an artist, using a camera or a brush to depict reality as seen through my eyes. I have met people all over the world, rich and poor, and the ones I remember most are the poor. Not because they were poor, but because they didn't act like they were poor. Several of the self-made wealthy people I know look back on their impoverished childhood with fondness and say a variation of "I didn't know we were poor." One family stands out especially. When I was a teenage counselor at Muscular Dystrophy Summer Camp, I met three campers from the same family who were severely disabled yet full of life and happiness. We became friends and after camp I was invited to their home in a poor black neighborhood in Detroit. Mrs. Miller greeted me at the door and invited me into her home to introduce me to the other seven children and their father. The tiny house overflowing with people was spotless, filled with laughter and love and generosity. And a humble dignity that only a truly centered person can possess. That visit had a profound impact on me. I had seen a monetarily poor family struggling to raise ten children — including three with MD — yet they were rich in all that really matters. Since that day I have looked for the beauty in everything.
Ugh, why did I click over to AA's blog? It's not a good place for me. Carry on, Nina, carry on.
ReplyDeleteI, too, appreciate your positive approach. Focusing on the negative (whether is it related to travel or to life or relationships) quickly morphs into complaining. Anyone who needs more of that in life can scroll through facebook.
ReplyDeleteNo complaints out of me, either, Nina. Love your style, your choices, and your photos - they are stunning to the Nth degree.
ReplyDeleteTo me, your blog-and its pictures-embody the "public" side of you: choosing to see the good amidst the grimy, gritty, hard parts of life. You see the beauty in the mundane, routine and ordinary. And on those times when you're able to travel outside the realm of normal, daily life, the stories you tell via pictures and words are ones I want to read. Welcome back, by the way.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want your photographs, in your blog, taken on your travels, or in your life, to reflect anything other than your views? My tongue I bite.
ReplyDeleteI rarely comment but I read your blog religiously. I found Ann's critique of you to be strangely personal and her argument to be bizarre -- don't travel b/c you don't want to see good things (or bad things)? And don't travel abroad, because, why? Anyway.
ReplyDeleteKeep doing what you're doing. You post attractive pictures from your life, and I for one, find it to be a breath of fresh air in a world full of bad news. There's a difference between purposely hiding the inevitably negative parts of life, and choosing to focus on the positive. Every blogger is a curator, and every blog has a theme (or it should) -- just because something doesn't appear on a given blog doesn't mean it's been omitted -- it means that that blogger has chosen to go a different route. So I don't think your blog is lacking anything.
I love your photos and stories, so please let the criticism roll off your back and keep doing what you're doing.
Just catching up after a few days away, and wow, I am puzzled by AA's post. I can say with certainty that the world needs more positive messages that we can find here on Ocean. Finding beauty in the everyday is a real gift. Thank you for an amazing blog, and keep at it!
ReplyDelete