Inspiration Italienne

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Saturday night, I read an AP story about Rita Levi Montalcini, an Italian scientist who persevered in spite of the oppression of Mussolini's Fascist regime eventually winning a Nobel Prize. It seems that Ms. Montalcini, who just celebrated her 100th birthday, not only continues to work, but says her mind is sharper now than it was 80 years ago. You can read her inspiring story here. By the time I had read the brief article, I felt twenty years younger.

What the heck! I think I should buy some of those lenses that I am craving, after all. Who knows how much longer I will be doing this? I could be participating in SoFoBoBo for decades.

Simple Things

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I wouldn’t mind having a great deal of money to spend on luxuries—mostly the portion I spent on myself would go to camera equipment, but I find great pleasure in simple things. Long ago, The Husband learned that when we took walks together, we often came home with bundles of fascinating twigs, pieces of bark dropped by the trail, berries, grasses, interesting rocks, bouquets of “weeds”, or pine cones.

Did you know that unused file cabinet drawers make excellent storage places for dozens and dozens of pine cones? Yes. It’s the perfect solution when you run out of baskets or space on the mantel. To The Husband’s bewilderment, I probably have one of the finest collections of pine cones on the west coast. You just never know when you will want another and different size pine cone to add to a display.

Our latest collectible item is feathers. With all the beautiful hawks and a number of other birds here, it’s no surprise that we sometimes find a feather near the trail. The Husband, is always the one who spots the prize and, for my tastes, the gift ranks right up there with those pricey roses.

Recently, I mentioned that some days I may be just innocently passing through a room on my way to take care of some honorable chore—you know taking care of business, and bam! Suddenly, I’m reaching for a camera because the light is sweet—or just because I have found such pleasure in one of the simple things in our home, and for no real reason I want to record what I see.

Simple things for simple minds, I suppose.

Celebrating Inspiration

On Friday, thanks to David Ziser, I saw the video, "Celebrate What's Right With The World", and I wanted to pass on the inspiration. I hope you will spend the few minutes to view this uplifting piece by National Geographic photographer, DeWitt Jones.

Many times over the past year, I have run across words by other photographers that have deeply influenced me. This is one of those occasions. I confess that once in a while, I question my tastes in photography. I wonder whether I am attracted to images that are too simple and too romantic—you know, not edgy enough, not sophisticated enough. Mind you, I am not just talking about what I am drawn to photograph, but what I admire and what I aspire to—the images by other artists that touch me and make me want to reach far beyond what I am capable of now. From this point forward, when those questions and doubts arise, I will think about DeWitt Jones's philosophy: Celebrate What's Right With The World.

I saw this video of the famous horse rescue in the Netherlands quite some time ago, but wanted to see if it was still available. I found it and have posted it for you. It's a little over 7 minutes of inspiration. Either have a hanky nearby, or don't say I didn't warn you.

This video has been out for some time and I don't know how much longer it will be posted, so I hope you will see it.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7208904950568913763&q=horse+rescue+in+the+Netherlands