A Kaleidoscope of Resolutions
New Year’s Eve, 2017
Pt. Richmond, California
“A day is a span of time no one is wealthy enough to waste.” – from my son’s fortune cookie after our photo shoot
This year is the fourth year that I have photographed Christine Findley and her daughter. Each year I photograph them around Christmas. It has become our tradition. The first year, we met in Clayton, California on Christmas day. The last three years, we have met in the East Bay. I create a photo book and give it to them.
I am pretty sure that I get more out of our outings than I give. This year my son Mason joined us, and in the spirit of New Year’s Eve, I began creating resolutions.
I often look at the world through my camera. Some people question if I am missing out on something, but when look through my camera, it’s as if I am viewing the world through a kaleidoscope. I realize that it is not that way for many people, perhaps because they close one of their eyes or they don’t see in color, but it is for me… at least usually.
In the next year, I am going to keep looking.
On the way home, I asked Mason to tell me about his favorite experience of the day. He told me it was the few minutes we spent on the makeshift seesaw we found on a deserted beach. It was a good reminder that joy is often found in the simple things. We can please others and ourselves by listening to the things that make us happy. In the next year, I resolve to look for the seesaws on empty beaches.
When I thought we had finished, Christine’s daughter asked that we walk out to the end of park. We watched a sunset and took some of the best photos of the day. It was another reminder to look for beauty everywhere, even in unlikely places.
kaleidoscopes, seesaws, abandoned buildings.
I am including the blog post from 2015 and the fortune cookie picture above. The link to the photo gallery is at the top of this post.