Project 365 d-170

     Sitting there with all my family tonight at my daughters softball game with my camera in hand. Mostly because I wanted to photograph her, but also keenly aware that images sometimes jump out at you like pesky siblings hiding in a dark closet. Burn out was what I was really feeling as I sat there robotically cheering her and her team on. The half way point of Project 365 was getting close, and I wandered if it was just a good idea to stop then. Then I could lick my wounds and do something with the good images that didn't exist before this project. After all, six months of photographing everyday was a great accomplishment, but then I should have called it Project 182.5. Plus, what about all those people who were following along? What would they think? Maybe it shouldn't matter what anyone would think, all they had to do was visually follow along. All that I knew was that I was tired and wanted desperately to quit for fear that the pressure would rob me of the desire to photograph outside of this project. "Way to go girls!", I shouted from my stupor as the thought of what I dearly love being the very thing that could destroy the thing I love. I shuttered at the possibility as all of this was rolling around in my mind.

     Have you ever been driving down the road and suddenly realize you didn't remember the last mile or so? Like you suddenly snapped out of a deep trance, but knew that you were just mentally operating on two unique levels of conscience. This was how I felt when suddenly I saw the silhouetted participants cast in deep, dark shadows on the concession stand wall. They had been there more or less since then the game started and only changed with each batter. The condiments were sitting on the window ledge and helped unite these two worlds coming together. This alternate reality hiding right in front of me just waiting to be discovered. It was the kind of image that I was looking for. It was the kind of image I needed. Deep relief is what I was feeling as I knew that I didn't have to go hunting for an image. My mood was now light as I relished in meeting another day's deadline, and my soul was now full. It was time to fill something else too. A trip to the concession stand for a reward. Pushing back the thought that another day was only a few hours away; I sat back and enjoyed a hot dog. "Wraay ta gu gulls!", I mumbled. It was the best I could do with a mouth full of hot dog.

Happy Shooting.