Category Archives: Photography

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The Dress

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The Dress isn’t black and blue.  It’s white…or ivory…or champagne, with sequins, beads and sparkles, if you wish, and you only wear it once. 

bride and groom

Yesterday I went shopping with my 3 daughters for The Dress; my middle daughter is getting married in October. 

my daughters shopping

Nowadays, you start planning a year in advance.  In the 1930s and ’40s, war brides got proposed to and married within a few days before their husbands shipped out.  Times change, traditions evolve, and iconoclasts always do their own thing. 

feet

Marriage is not about the wedding, ultimately.  It’s about a vow between two people and how they live that out over time.  And no one can take that away from them legally, socially, or religiously.  You can make it into a right or a rite, but it’s a vow and a life that will be lived despite systemic impositions.   I celebrate that self-determination, that freely-willed commitment to working and learning and loving, united with a partner.  It’s a brave thing.  I don’t celebrate the consumerism so much.  I really don’t enjoy shopping, especially for clothing.  Me — I buy what I need at Goodwill, quickly and cheaply. Done.  What I do enjoy is watching my daughters be their inimitable selves, and taking pictures.  (That hasn’t changed in 30 years!) I brought my camera along and played observer…and I had a blast!

self portraitVisually, all the sparkle and white is a lot like winter. 

like winter

The mood yesterday was cheered by a significant thaw, sunshine and temperatures above freezing for the first time in months!  And it had been a month since I’d seen my kids.  No, not just ‘a‘ month – February.  A rather cruel month in some ways.  I crave the warmth of their smiles and hugs and laughter, and our togetherness.

stealth photographer in the dress shopBright, happy prettiness all around.  What fun!  Every wedding dress is lovely.

not the oneBut then comes The Dress, the one that makes a bride light up when she puts it on.  The Dress is Mount Everest.  Once you scale it and check it off the list, the accomplishment is elating.  Congratulations!  You have found The ONE!

This is the final picture…for now.  There’s hair and veil and shoes and more to conquer.  On her wedding day, my daughter will be absolutely radiant, I’m sure.  It’s going to be beautiful.  But I don’t know how many photos I’ll take that day.  I’ll be busy dancing! 

Thanks for coming along for the ride today!

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange You Glad?

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“When it’s cherry blossom time in Orange, New Jersey, we’ll make a peach of a pair!” (If you know me, you know that any prompt will lead to a song cue.  It’s how my brain is wired, for some reason.)

Nothing rhymes with orange, but lots of my favorite things go with orange: warmth, food, Fall. 

I hope your day is cozy and that you find many reasons to be glad you live in this wonderful world!

Orange you glad it’s photo challenge time?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Rule of Thirds

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I’ve been aware of this technique of thirds with a blurry bokeh background for maybe a year or two, and I’ve been working on it.  “Working” is a term I use loosely, because I don’t take pictures on any regular basis.  But it’s nice when I’m composing a shot that now I have some guidelines in my head to apply.  I would love to be able to say that I practice photography with some discipline.  I would love to be able to say that I practice meditation and exercise with discipline.  Sadly, I don’t.  But I really admire people who do.  Like Pablo Casals.  Here’s my favorite anecdote about him:

When Casals (then age 93) was asked why he continued to practice the cello three hours a day, he replied, “I’m beginning to notice some improvement.”

I suppose that his practice has something to do with him being alive at 93 as well.  Ya think?  Follow your bliss, photographers, and practice for your own well-being!

Rule of Thirds

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A Little Story About Loving Yourself

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If you’re puzzled by relationships…

might he be the one…and feel that perhaps something is missing in your life…

something's missing…and you’ve done the same thing over and over, hoping something different might result…

patternimagine what might happen if you simply followed your bliss and did what you love.

do what you loveA life may emerge that is not what you dreamed or expected or even what you may have been promised.  Still, it is actual and dynamic…and there you are, being yourself and still doing what you love.  That’s not a bad outcome, is it?

whole scene

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Symmetry

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Symmetry.  A very interesting concept.  Is it real or imagined?  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how consciousness operates, how we impose ideas, structures, and order on the world to make it more…manageable?  Less overwhelming?  I think of Alan Watts who proposed that the real world is “wiggly”.  More fluid, with less distinct boundaries than we tend to ascribe to it.  Still, I suppose there is a lot of seeming symmetry in nature. Botany identifies symmetry frequently, for example, in compound leaf structures which are often classified as symmetrical or alternating.  Do I have any photographs of a symmetrical leaf or flower?  No.  I don’t typically take architectural shots, either, and if I do, they’re off center on purpose.  I think that means I am looking for the harmony of imperfect, wiggly things….like the Yin and Yang.  That symbol seems symmetrical, but it’s really opposites in balance.  I like that.  Not that I don’t try to make things symmetrical in my life.  I have a very orderly, Western brain.  I’ve straightened pictures and lined up pillows compulsively for years.  But I’m trying to break out of that habit.   If I must impose symmetry in order to feel at peace, then I’m in for a lot of anxiety.  It makes more sense to accept the wiggly world as it is.  So here’s some man-made symmetry that I’ve photographed…imperfectly:

 


Symmetry

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

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What a great thing to contemplate: scale.  How overwhelming our lives become when our scale references are distorted!  For example, how imposing our thoughts can seem on the landscape of our lives.   My daughter gave me an illustration of this: imagine someone holding a large book in front of your face and asking you what you saw.  You’d see the book and maybe a bit of the room from your peripheral vision.  Now, if you moved the book to one side, you’d still see the book, but you’d also see more of the room.  It’s hard to make thoughts go away, but you can take them out of the forefront.  That’s what meditation is about — being aware of your thoughts, but not letting them dominate your view.   We make so many mountains out of mole hills in this culture.  There is so much OMG; like MSG, it can make us feel lousy.  Media hyper-activity and fear-mongering is like that, I think.  We need to dial down the lens, deflate our egos, maintain a humble perspective.  We are one leaf on a vast and robust tree of life.   We are beautiful; the tree is beautiful.  We are not greater than or less than the rest. 

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Scale

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Tickle Me Tuesday

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Could you use a little mirth today?  It’s February.  Yeah, I figured you could.  Imagine the fun a few randomly generated toots of music can make.  Unexpected, like a snort of laughter.  Gotta love it!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Depth

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My mother revealed to me a nickname that she had secretly assigned me when I was a young teen.  She thought of me as “The Waterstrider”.  Ever seen those long-legged bugs in a still puddle who are able to stroll the surface without ever breaking the tension that keeps them above water?  Here are a few:

water striders

My “Waterstrider” tendencies changed, my mother noted, after my sister and I were in a car accident and she was killed.  I turned 17 only three days later, and began to ask the Really Big, Serious Questions about life.  I began to search for Depth and Meaning, but mostly from only one perspective – Christianity.   When I was 45, my husband died in bed beside me early one Saturday morning.  My journey toward Depth was not over.   I decided to look from a different angle.  I needed a bigger perspective.

I discovered that there is so much more than I had ever noticed before.  Depth goes in different directions: up and down, inward and outward…indefinitely.  Maybe it was less overwhelming to be a Waterstrider, but it was also less genuine.  In the depths of the sea, there is reflected the vastness of the heavens.  In the solitude of a silent moment, there is the ageless Now.  In the recognition of something we “know”, there is the awareness of Mystery that we will never comprehend.  This might be what some people call “Wisdom” or “Maturity”.  I tend to think of it as simple Truth.  If you’re not afraid to go below the surface, you may discover the wonders of Depth.  It feels different.  It surrounds you, puts pressure on places that may not be used to bearing it.  But you may discover a strength and resiliency you didn’t know you had…at least I did.  Then that depth makes you feel buoyant and free…as if you were flying!

cranesTake up the challenge, friends.  Take a journey into Depth. 

(Thanks, Word Press, for a great theme!)

© 2015, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Depth

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Express Yourself

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What an invitation!  “Express Yourself” – squeeze yourself into a photograph or a gallery, squirting out the essence of your personality, your style, your philosophy, your vision.  This could be one messy catharsis!  Here goes:

What was THAT about?! 

Well, here is something I’ve been pondering lately: Eckhart Tolle’s profound revelation “I can’t live with myself any longer.”  In order to arrive at such a conclusion, he must have thought there was a difference between ‘I’ (the authentic and divine being) and ‘My Self’ (the false delusion we sometimes call ‘ego’).  Seeing the juxtaposition of these two ideas of a person leads me to recognize that there is a lot of falsity, of gibberish and nonsense that we superimpose on the experience of existence.  That veneer surrounds us and can build up, layer upon layer to stifling proportions.  And then, sometimes there’s a break through.  A simple, true observation of the wonder of existence that doesn’t explain everything, but stands in almost blinding clarity against the noise of culture. 

Anyway, my gallery illustrates how I am living astride this double existence.  I interact with people who are a complex combination of I/Self expressions, I deal with objects which are mostly complete gibberish but which many people value anyway, and I marvel at Nature and grieve our exploitation of its pure embodiment of Life.   

Hope you found this entertaining and thought-provoking.  I appreciate the invitation to share my view!

© 2015, essay and photograph, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved

Express Yourself