Quieting my soul….

My newest venture is teaching a Photography Portfolio Workshop at Chicago Botanic Gardens for eight weeks. Last Monday was the first class where I met a variety of talented aspiring nature photographers. I designed this class to help these individuals develop their own nature portfolio to show off. Each student has a theme or focus . They vary from, water, lines and textures, leaves ,fall flowers etc. They turned in their first assignment last night and I have already been blown away by the glory of nature and the talent of these students. They are each on their unique journey to express what they see to a camera lens. I feel humbled and privileged to help them in their next steps of this journey. My class is broken into two parts. First part, is technical instruction and critique, and the second hour is shooting time in the garden to develop their portfolio and complete their next assignment.

WhatI learned in the hour, was not mind blowing fine art, but was about myself……that my soul has not been quiet for quite some time and apparently does not know how. That morning started off with over preparation and plenty of time,but turned into traffic to the MAX, wrong turns,hurrying to my classroom, organizing my things and having 5 min before meeting the class. When the second hour of our time came to go out with our cameras and be inspired …. I found this hour WAY harder than the rest of my morning even compared to the stopped traffic on I-94. My iphone kept ringing, and buzzing with new emails. I just found my self listless, wandering and uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable to be silent, to be still, to let down and to just be.

My life for the last few months has been NUTS. Moving into this new space, painting, designing, advertising, efficiency, new sights, new everything!! Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining. It has been more than I could have dreamed up for myself, yet…. in that only one brief hour at the garden, I panicked in the presence of quiet.

I am looking forward to the next seven weeks of this class, to stretch me, inspire me and to quiet me. I am looking forward to Monday where I am once again uncomfortable in the quiet where I know is home for me, to get reacquainted with nature and with myself. Funny how for me they are so intertwined….

A few from my wandering….

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under business, fine art and tagged with flowers, green, peace, white. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.