“And yes, a photograph's role can change. When the photograph is made, I only have an idea of it. When I look at the negative it starts to bring me back to that original idea, but it must be fleshed out in color or in tones of black and white before I can fully see it. Even then its meaning can change depending on what image is placed beside it. Images begin to speak to each other . . . . The more photographs that you make, the more opportunities they have to speak to each other. The more photographs that you make, the more they begin to fit together like a large puzzle. But it's a puzzle that can be put together in many different ways.” —Susan Worsham, Film Photo Award
{more film photographs}
On mottoes, mantras, and mission statements.
I love a good mission statement. In a few short sentences, an organization, group or family can set the tone for every interaction. This is the mission statement from the physical therapy practice I use and it’s a big part of why I chose them.
Our mission at Orthopedic Physical Therapy, Inc is to be a leader in the field of physical therapy by providing the highest quality of individual focused care. We strive to address the person as a whole when determining your dysfunction, so that we can help you reach your maximum functional ability, health, and happiness. We listen to you, care about you, and provide one-on-one patient to therapist sessions in order to optimize the health and well-being of our community; one patient at a time.
My mantra these days goes something like this. “Their path is not my path.” Or, “I know that kind of thing doesn’t work for me.” Versions of this mantra help me to stop comparison in its tracks. My goal is to respect the right of each person to make their own way. To meet each person where they are with love and compassion, and to expand that compassion to include myself.
My motto is always . . . with love and kindness. This motto brings along with it deep gratitude, but doesn’t exclude anger or outrage or resentment or even plain old irritability. It simply sets the bar high . . . for integrity and quality. And such a motto requires, as a corollary, forgiveness and fresh starts. It packs quite a punch with a few words.
To celebrate the completion of our project, Natural Histories, Susan and I spent a Friday together. Wandering through rural Virginia, stopping here and there, letting loose. The person who writes in this space is well-controlled and careful and mostly proper. She is sometimes a killjoy in her need to follow the rules. But the version of me that is most real is incredibly corny and funny and deeply sincere. Maybe even earnest. I’m so tired of trying to corral her. She is begging to be let loose, and maybe the time has come to embrace the complicated truth of who I am.
Dear Susie, Thank you for helping me to remember that I am capable of forgetting myself and having fun!
{photographs taken with Pentax K1000 35mm camera and Kodak Portra 400 film}
I am deep into a mission to try to limit my own tendency toward binary thinking. I see the way it is harmful to label things as good or bad, right or wrong. And now that I’ve seen it, it cannot be unseen. It’s everywhere.
I am learning from wise teachers, like Alan Levinovitz, associate professor of philosophy and religion at James Madison University. Sharing an excerpt from his essay, In Praise of Bewilderment.
“For those who find bewilderment terrifying, who value the integrity of their web of belief, I can only offer the reassurance of my own experience. There is, I admit, an initial shock to the system, like when you jump into a frigid lake. But the shock doesn’t last. It quickly gives way to relief, even comfort. You no longer need to exhaust yourself pretending to understand what you don’t or making pronouncements about questions that are above your pay grade. You can trade false simplicity for complicated truth. And the resulting worldview is more useful and more beautiful because it genuinely reflects reality. That’s why a synonym for bewilderment is wonder, which, at least for me, is not terrifying but exhilarating.”