Teaching Tools
Wow, taking photos in bright, high contrast light is a challenge. The farm doesn’t open to visitors until 9am, so I can’t take pictures during the beautiful soft light of early, early morning. I make the most of the situation. These morning walks are hands-down the best thing I do for myself. I am my best self during these photo walks—and often for the rest of the day. My most grounded. My most self-assured. My safest and most challenged at the same time. The best I can do with words is to say that I feel expansive.
Braehead Farm, Pumpkins | September 2025
I am happy taking the pictures, but then I am perplexed as to how to process them. What shall I do when much of the subject is dirt? When the scene is the deep nature of things and nature is often decaying and disordered, chaotic and cluttered. The subject is not clearly defined; it is up to me to direct the viewer’s eye to what and how I see.
I think a lot about how to see, in all of its meanings. I read a wonderful post by Nedra Glover Tawwab, What we Know Now: Showing Ourselves Grace for Past Decisons. I love her take on hindsight.
Hindsight is a gift, not a shaming tool, but we often use it as the latter. We tell ourselves that if we hadn’t ignored that red flag, or hadn’t listened to this person, or had listened to our gut, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in. Hindsight is not meant for us to beat ourselves up, it’s meant to offer us lessons. Hindsight provides us with information that we can use in the future, not give ourselves a hard time about the past. We don’t always make the best choices or listen to our own instincts. That’s a part of life . . . Past mistakes are teaching tools.
