Six years ago, my husband decided that he had heard me talk about taking up photography long enough. On Christmas Day he presented me with a trip to the Hill Country of Texas to shoot wildflowers the following April.
Between December and April, I acquired a new camera, a new computer, a couple mid-range lenses and some processing software that baffled me. Needless to say, when I left for Texas, I was quite convinced that I would fail miserably. My teachers and my fellow photographer/students had other ideas.
Towards the end of that week , my teacher and guide, Nancy Rotenberg, handed each student a small straw hat afixed with a big, yellow, silk flower. Nancy relayed a story about playwright, Jean Genet, who roamed the French countryside like a monk carrying with him only a single a begging bowl. Whatever someone placed in his bowl would be his nourishment for the day. Nancy queried the group, "what has nourished you today? What has filled your hat?" I do not recall how I answered her question, but I can tell you that the nourishment I received during that adventure set me on a path of creativity and pure love for my art.
And so, as the first image in my 365 project, I share with you my hat. It seems to me the only place to begin. I do not know what will nourish me as I look through my lens each and every day. But, what I do know is that my hat will never be empty. The abundance of a single image will more than sustain me.
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