Light Diffused
Retrievable Affection
by Shelley Dennis on 07/08/11
My golden retriever, Harley, has been front and center in my thoughts this week. His health has become precarious of late, but at 12 years old, he still crawls out of bed every morning with one thought on his mind..."How can I please Shelley today?"
He is a big boy - about 95 pounds - but his heart is even bigger. He just wants to be near me. I thought it would end with "puppy-dom," but Harley still follows me from room to room, always looking to see if I am looking at him. He just wants to be loved and to love...and isn't that what we're all looking for?
I look at the light in Harley's big brown eyes and see the simplicity of life at its finest. As has been often stated, 'Dog' is 'God' spelled backwards, and I can see why. God has brought dogs into our lives for quiet instruction, unconditional love, and companionship (in my humble opinion). My golden is a constant example of how my Heavenly Father wants me to pattern my life, and as a human, I fail on a daily basis. But just like Harley, if I am repentant, God calls me back for a "treat," a wonderful, renewed relationship with Him.
After a week of worry about my buddy's ailments, I once again set the goal to try and live my life more like Harley lives his...bounding into with all the gusto I can give it, while not looking for anything more than love from those I love.
Passions Aflame
by Shelley Dennis on 06/07/11
I'm enjoying Samuel Taylor Coleridge this morning...an enjoyable habit from English Lit class in college:
"All thoughts, all passions, all delights, whatever stirs this mortal frame, all are but ministers of love, and feed his sacred flame."
Capturing a great image moves my soul like nothing else. Have you found your passion yet?
Now here's my favorite insight from Mr. Coleridge:
"No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor."
If my age onset (I hope) scatterbrained disorganization is an indication of lack of humor, I'm sunk, because it is my fervent belief that "no life is worth living without laughter." What will I do?
I must add a tremendous note of gratitude to Baylor Professor Ann Miller for instilling her love of poetry to an otherwise literature-impoverished college sophomore. She is forever missed on campus, but I'm sure is quoting William Blake in heaven: "I dreamt a dream! What can it mean? And that I was a maiden queen, guarded by an angel mild; witless woe, was neer beguil'd!"
View Finder On Life
by Shelley Dennis on 06/02/11
Light has become very important to me. Don't get me wrong - it has always been essential to my photography, but in my daily grind through life, I realize how light defines the hard edges of my world, how it softens my outlook and sometimes draws a stark line of contrast to my choices and actions.
In creating this blog, I hope to stop momentarily and contemplate on how seeing life through a camera has opened my vision to viewing more than just a picture. Maybe my life can take on the focus that my artwork does.
