Solo
Laval, QC, August 2008
I'd like to continue this week's Thematic Photographic theme, watery, with a photo that suggests quiet. When I was a kid, just a few blocks away from where this photo was taken, I used to walk - often alone - to the bakery on Sunday mornings. My parents would give me money, and I was responsible for buying bagels and related fixings for brunch.
I'm old enough that I remember the walk down the main drag of our 'burb was a quiet one. The road, usually so busy during the week that I'd never be allowed to cross it on my own then, was nearly empty in this era before Sunday shopping and 24-hour groceries. I remember this as a quiet day when the world took a bit of a breather before diving back into the coming week.
Peeking over the edge of a deserted bridge over a small waterway and taking this picture in absolute silence brought those Sunday mornings right back to me. I kind of wish we had Sundays back the way they used to be.
Your turn: Seeking quiet amid the chaos of life. Please discuss.
One more thing: Written Inc. hosts two features each week where you get a chance to add to the chaos that is my online life. Click on the links below to begin your slide into my version of completely-legal-yet-immensely-fun blog-based debauchery:
Thematic Photographic
Caption This
I find quiet amid the chaos in a couple of areas of my life. The first is on the days I bike to work. In the mornings. I take a bike path for about 1/2 of the 9 mile trip. In the morning, it is quiet, hardly anyone on the path. Sometimes a turkey, a rabbit, or a deer. And that's about it. Very peaceful and reflective way to start my day.
ReplyDeleteThe other is Sunday morning. We live in a semi-rural area, and Sunday mornings are very quiet, especially before 7 AM. I like to go for morning jogs around 6AM, and I usually see no one. Again, a very reflective time for me.
One of the most beautifully tranquil scenes of my life is the nightly ritual of the bedtime tucking in of my little one. I simply cannot imagine living my life, even for one night, without the most beautiful sleepy eyed girl looking up at me from her bed to tell me good night. She has the most peaceful essence about her and it radiates from her pillow in my direction as I dim her light and blow her one last kiss.
ReplyDeleteI find quiet by taking the 6 mile drive up the canyon from my house and sitting next to the roaring river that pours down the valley. The rush and roar over the rocks creates a bubble of silence amid the violent clash of sounds.
ReplyDelete"Debauchery"?? Have I been missing the "real" themes all this time?
ReplyDeleteSo you were always an artist I see.
What I love about this shot is the very thing that some might say makes it "technically imperfect". I love that the subject is well off center, and that the majority of the photo is basically a blank canvas. If your feathered friend had been "properly" centered, this would not have been nearly so interesting a shot. And it probably would not have suggested the "quiet" that it speaks of.
Masterful work.
Nice composition...as always ;)
ReplyDeleteI seek quiet in my chaos daily by rocking my two year old in my favorite chair...walking down by our pond...or just closing the bedroom door to be alone for ten minutes. With three little ones, quiet solitude is hard to come by.
ReplyDeleteI cherish it.
This shot calms me. I love the dark water.