Limited by TjThorne

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I had been listening to a song recently, one that I have been listening to for almost 20 years now. At the beginning of the track they have a sample from the movie ‘The Sheltering Sky’:

“Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don’t know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It’s that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don’t know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

Chew on that for a bit.

I think often about how much of life is.. forgettable. And I don’t really mean it in a bad way. I just mean.. it’s life, ya know? Driving here and there, standing in lines, sitting on our couch, on our computers, on-the-clock at your day job, and just….. bleh.

I also think sometimes about how awesome.. and scary it would be to be able to retrieve ANY statistic about your life:
How many pounds of ice cream have I eaten in my life?
How many times have I sneezed?
How much money have I spent in my whole life?
How many hours have I spent browsing Facebook?
How many hours have I used the restroom on-the-job? (Quick do some math to find out approximately how much money I’ve been paid to use the restroom…)

Or….

How many times have I told my son I loved him?
How many times have I clicked a camera shutter?
How many times have I felt at home?
How many hikes have I been on?
How many leaves have I touched?
How many streams have I stepped in?

That’s my thing about landscape and nature photography: It helps me remember. I have been to Abiqua falls more times than I can count. But I remember two excursions the most. I remember the feelings.. both physical and emotional. I remember who I was with and the journeys on the way. And I remember those experiences so profoundly because I came back with a photo.

Super special internet high-five if you know the song I’m talking about. 🙂

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Shine by tulatop

This one’s best viewed on black.

Abiqua Falls · Abiqua Creek · Scotts Mills · Oregon · USA

Click here to purchase a print and to read the full drawn-out story, including tech info.

But the real reason I’m posting a photo here again after saying a few months ago I’d never post another photo here again isn’t for my benefit…it’s for yours. And it’s not some egotistical thing about how my photography might inspire you…it’s about who inspires me, and who I hope might inspire you in turn.

Don’t know anything about Jeff Swanson? Or what it means to “Jeff it and be there”? Read my narrative for If Tomorrow Never Comes and hopefully you’ll understand…maybe even change your perspective a little on what it means to really live.

Every time I land on this page (and for whatever reason, that happens quite a lot), my heart aches the same way it did the day I found out he’d died. But it’s a good ache…a life-affirming one that lets me know that that four-chambered thing is still pounding inside my chest, pumping blood throughout my body, infusing me with abilities I have no right taking for granted.

I know there are a million and a half causes and campaigns you could take up out there in the real world, but if you’re so inclined, I’d ask that you check out and chip in to the Melanoma Research Foundation, or you can visit this memorial website generously hosted as a donation by SmugMug in Jeff’s honor.

I have to be transparent in saying that I largely left 500px because all too often it was about silly and petty competition. I return in hopes of reminding people that that’s not what art is about, as far as I know. Art’s about transmitting ideas…about connecting…one soul to another. Art’s about humanity. And life’s about living. Jeff Swanson helps reminds me of both those things.

All that said, I’ll go back to laying low here now, but you can still find me and follow me on Facebook. Please be good to one another out there.

Peace.

2la

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