Aquatic peace
Atlanta, GA, January 2008 [Click to embiggen]
As I often do when things get a little nutty, I spend a little quality time with stuff I've created. Looking over old words and pictures seems to bring me a little bit of peace when all else fails.
I took this photo over our winter vacation, when we carted the little people to the Georgia Aquarium and turned them loose on the mostly unsuspecting water creatures. I remember what it felt like as I took this picture: I was surrounded by hundreds of people, peering into a huge watery world populated by countless fish. It was as chaotic, fast-moving a scene as you'll ever likely see - well, short of a downtown Shanghai street - and yet I still felt like I had found a little oasis of calm in the middle of it all. I heard nothing as I composed this...no voices, footsteps, whining kids (other people's kids, of course.) It was just me and the fish.
Weird. But participating in the arts is supposed to take us places and inspire us, right?
Your turn: Escaping through the lens or the pen. Please discuss.
One more thing: Thank you all for your heartfelt wishes following yesterday's post. When I share this with my parents, they'll doubtless be touched - as I have certainly been. I do not have any news to report beyond the fact that we continue to wait. I hope to have happier news to share in the days ahead. Watch this space...
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12 comments:
I love aquariums for that very reason--you fall into it, it's just the fish and the water and an incredible amount of beauty.
That may be one of the reasons I write. You can surround yourself with otherness; in his book "Misery" Stephen King called it "falling into the paper." When you get into it, you're not someone sitting there typing, there's all this stuff happening. The stuff is usually far more interesting than what's going on around me at the moment ;)
Hi from Michele!
Carmi, I think anyone with an artists soul creates to escape in one way or another.. Beautiful and thanks for sharing..
I do love to browse through my old files and pick up threads I have left.
I do hope your dad is soon on the mend. I'm wishing you a happy birthday and all the best.
Hi Carmi!
My thoughts are with and and your family. I am so sorry that your birthday has had a bit of gray. I do hope that you are well and that you have a joyful year...
Take care friend!
The last aquarium I visited was in Singapore, on a Sunday afternoon, and it was way too crowded with visitors for me to shut all the voices out. However, I found the jellyfish strangely mesmerising, and would have loved to linger and contemplate them.
It's a great photo (I love your Wordless Wednesday photo too - it's a compelling composition).
Michele sent me over to see how you and your dad are doing
Hi Carmi. I popped over to see your Aquarium picture.I love the colors in the underwater world. Looking through the glass reminds me of snorkeling in warmer places. We have one closer to us in Camden New Jersey. It is enjoyable enough, but not so much as the one in baltimore, which has been in existence much longer. Very different atmospheres. Baltimore is more spread out , so less noisy and crowded, and the exhibits are more involved. Camden is kind of like going to the zoo, only a lot of it is underwater. It is nice for younger children.
I love aquariums. I share your sense of peace when I visit them, but I also find that behind the camera. Somehow you enter another world and everything else goes into the background, a bit like being under water if you know what I mean?
Thanks for your constructive feedback on my photoblog. You truly have inspired me to take my photography further and although I know I am still not too far up the learning curve it is folk like you that provide encouragement.
I am still very much hoping for a positive news for you and your family. I know all too well what it is like to have a poorly parent (my mother was back in hospital last month). Take care.
Beautiful photo. It is odd how we can get some wrapped up in artistic work of some form or other. I used to when I did more writing but I kind of fell back away from it and got caught more in real life. I should step back into my fictional writes and see where it takes me.
Michele sent me!
Beautiful photo. there is something magical about water I think many people can lose themselves when watching and listening to it.
As to losing myself in writing, once I finally begin I lose myself for hours in a world of my own making - it's very therapeutic.
Beautiful photo! There is something almost hypnotic about aquariums. We are going on vacation in a few weeks, and will be taking the kids to an aquarium for the first time in years - I'm sure they don't remember the last time. I hope they can "step into" that world a little bit.
My prayers are with you and your father. (((hugs))) to you and your family!
BEAUTIFUL shot, Carmi! I've always found watching fish swimming, wether in an Acquarium or The Sea, us such a relaxing thing to do. The Colors alone, moving swiftly about, takes you to another world entirely.
I hope your father is a bit better today, my dear. Prayers are still forthcoming.
The older I get the more stuff I have to browse through. I don't always find treasures, though. I usually find cliches.
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