Sarah R. Bloom Photography

Haiga

This week I am honored to have been asked to share my photography paired with my haiku on the beautiful site Haiku by Two.

From Haiku by Two, "...haiga is the marriage of a haiku and an image. Traditionally, this would be a watercolor painting and a calligraphy haiku although today’s haiga are much more varied. But whatever the medium or approach, the image and the haiku work together for a complete affect."

Please join us over there to see a new haiga each day from me, as well as the daily haiku that alternate from Alison and Kelly, the founders of the site! There are also reviews, other guest posters, and invitations to submit your own haiku under a particular theme.

I give it up, I'm letting go

I had an amazing weekend with a friend I met through Flickr (yes, another). Drove to upstate New York to stay with Jennifer König and her husband Florian in their absolutely beautiful home. I was instantly comfortable and the home reminded me of a B&B—the coziest, friendliest, loveliest B&B you could ever stay in.

I got there on Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. In between I went exploring an abandoned mill (where of course I took self-portraits), ate the best burger(s) of my life (made by Flo), met up with some other Flickr peeps (Sunday) and felt that wonderful joy of truly connecting with another human being.

I did a lot of thinking about what we bring into our lives and the things we put out there into the universe. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, in fact. I spend a lot of wasted time on worrying over things I cannot control and fretting over what others think of me—I recognize that my insecurity (fear) will rule all my actions if I let it. It is a constant effort to resist that pull, and I see that so many of us have this fight inside us and it manifests differently for everyone.

I struggled to stop fear from ruling my life when I first got sober, but it continually and insidiously creeps back in. I’m making a conscious effort to let it go…let go the fear, let go other people’s behavior when they are reacting to fears…let it all go.

Working on this photo, these are the thoughts that came to me…release from the chains, release from the battle; I see that this image could be viewed as showing a weakness , but the light! The light is hope and freedom and release.

Release from the chains of fear. Freedom from myself.

I am free.

Good Fences Make Good NEIGHbors

The little girl I babysit now asks to come see the "horsies" who live not far from her. This horse always comes all the way across the yard to put his beautiful face right up to the fence and say hello. He's a sweetheart.

 

Preparations and Expectations

My Year in Pictures photo for yesterday, Wed. April 8th

As you may have heard, last night I was one of 4 artists to show and talk about my work for the First Person Arts Salon series. I decided to focus on the journey of my self-portrait story and began with my very first SP posted to the 365 Days group (no composition, no make-up, this-is-me kind of shot). I then talked about my progression as a photographer and a model, and the transformation into an artist. I showcased much of my first year's work and then highlights from the second year, followed by a "what I'm currently into" selection. Unfortunately we had a bit of a technical glitch and the SPs I saved for last because they were best, didn't get shown! LOL. But no matter...it went really well and I received lovely comments after.

I had great Flickr support and met some Flickr'ers I hadn't yet! Thanks to my friends Gwyn and Teri for coming out! And lovely to meet Chris, Andrea, and Albert.

I was so nervous about it! I went last, too, so I had plenty of time to get worked up. Heh. Once I started talking, I guess I sounded less nervous than I actually was. The other artists were amazing...a great collection of work by Ted Adams/Joseph Van Blunk, Samara O'Shea, and Collette Copeland.

I'll be writing a more thorough review of the evening in the next day or so here on the blog. I'm leaving in less than an hour for the East Coast Jewish exodus to Long Island for Passover Seder. :-)

Happy Pesach!

First Person Salon Tonight

I've been so nervous about this for no good reason, really. I've spoken in front of people before and I'm certainly not that shy! I just seem to get more and more addled as I get older. I'm terrified of either breaking into fits of hysterical laughter or uncontrollable sobbing. The first is to be preferred, obviously.

I'm showing and talking about my work--my love of the last few years. This should be easy, right?

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. Eep.

The Dream is Dead. Long Live the Dream!

Well, the dream assignment is dead, but the dream is not.

I was floored by the last-minute rallies in my support. When I first submitted the idea and started petitioning for votes, I didn’t expect to get very far. I’m not a very good self-promoter (most artists are not, which is why we get represented by someone who is good at it if we can afford it). I didn’t want to be a pest.

But people responded. People encouraged me and believed in me and there was lots of nodding in agreement and recognition going on. People felt the need for this dream. I got into the Top 20 and stayed there for almost two weeks, I think, with my highest position (that I saw) being 14!! I was astounded! I started to have hope that I had a chance. I got a bit less shy in the begging as I realized that time was running out and others would be stepping up their game. They stepped it up better than I, as I saw my numbers going up, up, up, yet my ranking slipping frustratingly down, down, down.

In the last week, I slipped out of the Top 20 completely and realized I needed serious help if I was going to make it to the next round. I had already had the absolutely marvelous Bonnie at The Shape of a Mother agree to promote me on her site (it was huge for me to even ask her, and I thank her so very much for the incredible gift she gave me); I had Andrew of First Person Arts (where I am presenting as one of the artists this Wednesday), not only promote me many times on Twitter, but also in the wonderful Salon Preview about me that he wrote.

I posted about it over and over again on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. I made a Facebook “Event” page for it. My parents got all their friends to vote. I upped my game in the last week and sent another mass email out to everyone I know, begging them to please vote if they hadn’t yet and to get others to vote. Many, many people promoted me on their Facebook pages and on Twitter. Cecily wrote about me several times then wrote a beautiful post almost entirely about me, begging her massive readership to vote, and they began to vote. I made a pledge to take a naked self-portrait every day for a week, posting every day. They voted. My lovely friend Sheryl wrote an absolutely kind post about me on Flickr and emailed some 250 people on my behalf.

In those last two days of voting I received about 300 votes! Yet it was not enough, still. My final count was 876 votes. My ranking?

-22-

Soooooo tantalizingly close!

Now, some people were very upset at this being a popularity contest. I understand that, but the terms of this were clear up front: if you weren’t prepared to beg for votes, then you weren’t going to get very far. I was amazed at how many people seemed to think that posting about it once would be enough, and that the sheer merit of their dream would make people flock to vote for it. Nobody is going to vote for something they can’t find! And they aren’t going to vote for something they don’t believe in. I discovered that having to actually register for the site was one of the worst things that could be asked of a person. ☺

I mean honestly, if just all those that call me a contact on Flickr had voted for me I would have stayed in the Top 20. If all of Cecily’s readers (hell, if half of her readers!) had voted for me, I would have been in the Top 5, but it doesn’t work that way. People had to care enough to take the time to vote. For me, so many more did care than I expected!

Honestly, I am thrilled! Yes, it is disappointing to get so close, but that was no guarantee I’d win, anyway. The top 20 (actually 23 as there were some ties in there) are now being reviewed by a panel of 8 judges, and only 1 will win the big prize. What I’m thrilled about are these things:

1.    I received an incredible amount of exposure to my work.
2.    I made new contacts and friends.
3.    I saw how much we all want this for each other—to see all women as beautiful.
4.    I now believe in this dream more than ever.
5.    I will pursue this.

I need to think about how I want to approach it, even though I know from experience that I should give it plenty of room to grow and develop as I proceed. Are there projects like this already? Certainly! Does that mean there shouldn’t be another? Absolutely not!

There is so much more work to be done.