Ohio Field Trip - July 2009

Admittedly, I've taken quite a few "field trips" to my hometown (Cleveland, Ohio) and surrounding area. As I grow and change as a person, I find I get more and more out of these returns home. My relationships with each of my parents and my brother, who all live there, each become more nuanced with time. I have grown to appreciate them immensely, and the relationships are flourishing!
When I go "home" to Ohio, I like to do things I don't often make time for in my usual bustling city life. This recent trip, I baked cupcakes, and helped my mom plant new flowers and ground-covers in her garden. I always take lots of walks down the long, straight rural road on which my parents live, listening to the roosters crow, feeling the air on my skin, and watching the clouds move across the sky. It is the time when I remember most acutely to slow down, to just be.

This trip, I hosted a photo event at my parents' residence, featuring the delicious treats of Honey Hut ice cream. I also had the pleasure of photographing the senior pictures of my young friend Olivia - who I used to babysit when I was her age! And, I photographed my mother's friend Arthur, with his wife, in their home on the east side of the city. So, although I was soothed by the natural surroundings, and the somewhat slower pace, it was, indeed a working field trip this time. I got to see some of my cousins, their kids, and some of my mom's siblings. It is unusual for me to get to see so many of my relatives in a single weekend, and there was something deeply comforting about feeling part of a large family again. Not that I am ever not a part of it, but sometimes the chaotic, constant motion of city life distracts me from truly connecting with what it means to be part of my family.

Perhaps most special about this trip, was an evening visit with my Uncle David. He had twittered me (ah, modern family life!) a few months back to inquire as to when I might be home, and was sincerely interested in my life and my pursuits. David has always been a person I greatly admire - when I was young, he would tell me all about his travels to Egypt, and he is one of the smartest, most educated people I know. Not to mention, one of the kindest. It touched my heart that he had specially requested to see me at this time - you see, he is in a time of transition. He has accepted a prestigious position at a university in Austin, Texas, and will be soon relocating to a new life down south. In my experience, transitions are a time when we want to express our truths (perhaps prompted by a tangible time-frame in the otherwise never-ending-ness of "someday I will..."), and I could feel that David was recognizing the we way share a zest and curiosity for life. It felt wonderful to have someone point it out to me.


It was hard to leave the beautiful, long summer days in Ohio, where it doesn't get dark until close to 10 p.m. in early July. My parents nurtured me with their constant loving support, helping with my shoot, and doing everything they could to make sure I was comfortable and happy. It dawned on me, they have always done this. I am deeply loved.

I wonder if everything that happened had to happen for me to have this sink in. If I had to go off to college, to move to New York City, to start my own business, to travel, to see the world, to study, to explore spiritual practices, to read about psychotherapy - and keep checking back in with what was truly my "home," the place I came from, the people who believed in me the most - in order to finally arrive at the place where I could feel the love that has been there from the very start.

I just want to say thanks to my family, the whole, big lot of them, for being the wonderful, kind, loving souls that they are, and for supporting me, even when you thought I was crazy.

To view photos from some of the portrait sessions in Ohio (as well as other recent shoots), please visit my online proofing gallery at http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/sloboda/gallery-list.

Pasadena Field Trip

My friends Jerilyn and Peter got married this year, on the 4th of July, and I was fortunate enough to be their pre- and post- wedding event photographer (I got to attend the wedding as a guest!). It had been four years since I was last in California, to shoot the wedding of my brilliant graphic designers, Tracey and Nat Bolton (who did www.sarahsloboda.com). Previously, I had spent a great deal of time there, in my short-lived career in television, whilst helping to produce the 2005 People's Choice Awards. It was interesting to reflect on that time of my life, as I saw some familiar sights, and some new ones. All in all, I was so happy to be back in California!

I love the sagebrush scent on the desert air, and cool breeze near the ocean. I love driving around, through twists and turns and over and through the mountains. It was a lot of fun being there. I stayed (and worked) in Pasadena, and also had a chance to hit the beach and a fish taco stand in Malibu, as well as pay a visit to one of my favorite places on earth - The Getty Center, high atop a hill overlooking LA. After 6 solid weeks of rain in New York, the remarkably clear sky in southern California was an absolute godsend.

Below are several of the photos I took on this trip. Soon, I will post the highlights from Jerilyn & Peter's wedding weekend, and you will be able to find their gallery on this page: http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/sloboda/gallery-list

All of the photos in this post were shot on color film, using a Voigtlander make rangefinder camera:

Green Website Adventure Tour

My brilliant friend Julie saw my last blog post, featuring a guest blogger, and she asked if I would consider allowing her to do the same. I am happy to oblige!

Julie Gabrielli is an innovative architect, and huge proponent of the green movement in her city of residence, Baltimore, Maryland. She was a writing student of mine during my spring course, "Writing from Your True Voice," and reciprocally, I was her student in her class entitled, "Your Eco BluePrint."

Julie and I share a passion for wanting to inspire people both through our creative work, and through our belief in making the world a better place. I have learned so much from her, and have felt that she is a mirror for my own career trajectory, as I strive to incorporate more and more of what truly grounds and inspires me, into the completed artistic work I share with others.

Below is a description of Julie's upcoming Green Website Adventure Tour, which will help participants explore various measurements of waste and sustainability - making it apparent what changes would be best suited to you as an individual, should you want to increase your environmental awareness and improve your habits. The breadth of Julie's knowledge is truly phenomenal, and I highly recommend experiencing her teachings for yourself.

The Green Website Adventure Tour - by Julie Gabrielli:

Green websites can be categorized based on the cycle of Awareness, Conservation, and Restoration. Most sites are very strong in one area, and this helps to prioritize what you are looking for.

• Awareness is opening to possibility, increasing consciousness, creativity, arts, meditation, education, and daydreaming. Awareness’s mantra is: "Yesterday: ignorance; tomorrow: negligence."

• Conservation means putting on the brakes, slowing down, using less. Conservation’s mantra is: "Being less bad." (Don’t knock it! This is a very important step that cannot be skipped.)

• Restoration is when we rebuild, repair damaged ecosystems, advocate for social justice. Restoration’s mantra is: "We are good for the earth."

This cycle has no beginning and no end. You can enter it at any point, and each action leads to a deepening of the others. For instance, planting trees is a restorative act that can lead to a great appreciation for the cycles and mystery of nature, which in turn fosters greater awareness.

The idea for focused learning on how to strategically use green websites came out of GOforChange’s recent program, Your EcoBlueprint, which is now available from as a home study course. The Green Website Adventure Tour is a 5-week program that begins on July 15, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. To find out more and to register, visit the GOforChange website.

Psuedo-Guest-Blog - A Sweet Story

Barry Lauterwasser is an incredible inspiration to me - he created and maintains a blog called Positive Economic News - which is his way of countering the preponderance of negativity in mainstream media, by featuring ONLY, you guessed it, positive economic news.

I first connected with Barry at the end of February, right as the stock market's dramatic dip was reaching it's low-point. I live in New York City, and the energetic decrease in the community was palpable. This was in the beginning of a broad campaign I was expanding as a writing and creative coach, primarily focused on my intention to spread optimism.

Needless to say, Barry and I hit it off very well, as our missions to be a voice of positive influence in our communities are aligned and overlapping in many ways. I was thrilled when he spontaneously emailed me this story. As a writing coach, I was struck by the unique, poetic tone, and immediately asked Barry if I could share.

Here it is:

Just a few feet from my office window sits a Robin's nest. She built it a few months ago in a pine tree positioned on the corner of our house. I watched her labor each day as piece by piece she assembled her home. And now I see three little heads poking up as she brings them food. In the morning while I sip my coffee I stand at the window, occasionally whistling to her (I do and excellent bird call). She has never seemed to fear me. She just sits there and stares, sometimes cocking her head as if to say "what in the world, dude...." and I think "well what would I think if while sipping my coffee looking out the window a bird started talking to me saying 'my oil drippings are ripe with adventure.'"

Anyway, she's been an inspiring story for me as I see how simple her life is, not knowing if she's acting on instinct, or if she thinks of me as a protector, and nuisance (much as my kids do), and how she's doing as a mom. Is she overwhelmed? I don't know. We assume many things about other species, when in fact we KNOW very little, because really we either want to cage them and observe them, run them off, or eat them...

I love life, I love the opportunity to live life, and I think I'm doing pretty well at finding my chi and balancing it. Still...have you ever found yourself wanting to be a Robin?

-Barry Lauterwasser

Thank you, Barry! I love the way you captured your stream-of-consciousness in this message. Whether or not you had intended a work of creative writing when you composed that email, it seems you've ended up with just that. That's one thing I love about life: how creativity simply pops up when least expected, when we allow ourselves to be inspired.

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Summer in the City

I just stepped in off the fire escape, where I was watching the twilight fade to black in its barely-perceptible, summery way. From the third floor, I could see all around the courtyard of this block of brownstones, of which my home is a part.

The building next door has been vacant for awhile, as the tenants moved out, and the building was sold to new owners. The small yard behind it is a jungle of green - trees and weeds, and big-leafed plants that have sprung up effortlessly. At the back of the yard is a fence, and set of low-hanging wires. Climbing the fence and sprawling over the wires, is a honeysuckle plant, and tonight from my metal cage of a perch, I got the slightest hint of the flowery fragrance dancing on the breeze, which was utterly subtle.

The soft feel of the air on my skin, and the fading pink light (at precisely what moment, I wonder, does it turn to purple-y blue?) reminded me of my childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, knowing that that change of light is the indication that I'm pushing my limits on how late I should be out roller-skating, bike-riding, turning cartwheels on people's lawns, as I try to squeeze every last morsel of fun out of the evening as it becomes night.

In the summer (and in general, actually, as I got older), my parents were lax about a bedtime, and so I knew it would get locked inside, apart from the neighborhood kids, and into some kind of night-time adventure with my siblings in the basement my father had finished for us, and turned into a playroom. Perhaps we would record one of our infamous "radio shows" into the cassette recorder, or make up choreography to Madonna videos we had taped off the TV.

Summer evenings feel this way to me - like I want to stay outside for that one last moment, to see if I can squeeze a little more delight into the day before I turn inside to dinner, a book, a movie, whatever entertainment I can find - which will hold all that much more pleasure if I know I used every last moment of the day as best I could. Tonight, I breathed in the distant, gentle scent of honeysuckle, which also grew on a fence near a parking lot where I used to ride my bike as I child, and was comforted. I wondered if this moment was unique, or if I am always carrying this desire inside to return to my childhood.

Refractions

One late afternoon, the large crystal vase sitting on my table caught the window light, just so, and created an amazing display of refracted light on the wall behind it.

These are a series of photos I shot:






I loved seeing the way the light shot forth in sprays as the sun shone upon the glass. It was fascinating to see the deliberateness with which the light was fragmented - how much a simple piece of curved crystal could accomplish in terms of altering incoming light. It made me ponder our perceptions, and the way the lens through which we peer has everything to do with what we perceive. This simple glass vase completely refabricated the way I experienced sunlight on that particular afternoon.

Your Life is Important.

On Friday, I was walking over the Williamsburg Bridge, listening to some beautiful piano music on my iPod, and thinking about the way myself, and other small business owners that I know, have wanted to keep our clients' spirits up in the midst of the economic recession by focusing on the positive. We share thoughts of optimism and thriving, and try to uphold a sense of expansion for the clients we would like to serve at this time - to stand in a place of abundance, and allow that to attract to us the clients who are ready to have us serve them.

The wind was soft and beautiful on the bridge, the sun was shining, and I could see movement all around me - people walking and riding bikes past me on the walkway, cars and trucks below, and the East River below that; cars on FDR drive and so many building housing so much commerce in the distance. I have always loved New York from this perspective - the sheer mass of so much going on at once has always been a beacon of what humans are capable of.

In that moment, I asked myself, "In the midst of all this financial worry, what am I, and my clients, truly longing to hear?" Was it "to thrive" or "be optimistic"? Actually, no. On a deeper level, I could feel that I needed more reassurance before I could find the strength to embrace positive action - I needed my fears to be acknowledged first and foremost. What I needed to be reminded of, and I am here to remind all of my readers is this:


In light of actual change in income, savings, or net worth, or even just the all-too-tangible threat of any of these things, people are now reconsidering what is important in life. Perhaps you have been brought to question your need for certain possessions, or desires. Perhaps you are considering changing career paths. While all of this change and uncertainty can be very exciting - it is also natural to feel ungrounded and insecure in the face of potential change.

As a community, we are being asked to stretch right now - to consider ideas and options we never have before. We live in one of the most abundant, developed, quality-enhanced times on the planet, and are on the brink of even greater break-throughs. Naturally, this would feel like a threat to our egos and psyches, whose cooperation would help bring drive and determination to the deeper calling of our hearts and souls. To foster that cooperation, I suggest that each of us take time to remember that as an individual, "your life is important." It really does make a difference to this planet if you follow your dreams, if you allow your creations to come forth.

Perhaps you don't need as many expensive pedicures as you thought, or perhaps you have to put off purchasing that new car, and of course, in being forced to come up against the limits of your current financial situation, you would feel defeated on some level. But it is not for naught - this is an opportunity to go deeper, to consider what is truly valuable. Start by trying to connect with the idea that your life is IMPORTANT. Define importance for yourself. Then, you will have your own standard of measure by which to decide where to direct your time, energy, and money. By acknowledging your own importance, you will enable it to grow.

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