Slow Down!

“Our patience will achieve more than our force.”
~ Edmund Burke

i can’t emphasize enough how important this idea is. The masters of anything know it by way of experience.

This creation is a case in point. the balance point of the top rock was soooo fine (virtually invisible to the naked eye) that even the slightest breeze triggered collapse. i needed a gloveless right hand just to find the zero point, which was even still nearly imperceptible. also meaning barely enough time to cement my vision through the lens. I let myself become overwhelmed with frustration and forceful approach. and it collapsed again. and again. and again… as if sadistically antagonizing me.

so i decided to outsmart the storm, mucky snow conditions, and my own mind.

i paused.

stepped outside myself for a moment…

and breathed.

knowing myself and my own potential, i looked at the time to realize i had abundant (and therefore inconsequential) time before sundown to rebalance my headspace and exercise extreme patience. so i set the camera up in the right position and frame, moving slowly and highly calculated amidst heavier and heavier snowfall. essentially so i could click the shutter for a long exposure within seconds of letting go. tis also much more difficult to work around a baggy camera-cover in the heavy slushy snowfall. . . but patience paid off in the end. and not only that, all the angles and forms i wanted to highlight from each rock lined up better than all previous forceful attempts, as if the universe responded to my re-evaluation of self. the experience channeled my attention to the quoted text immediately, which had already been lingering in the back of my mind.

Lesson? SLOW DOWN no matter what! approach the challenge as if time didn’t exist. without expectations. same thing happened the day before. (previous creation took at least 4 hours to realize, but i stuck with it, regardless of the sun setting)

turned out that when i finished this attempt, all the breezes magically shut off. it was just silent snowfall in a winter wonderland, admiration of the colors and shapes, and also realizing my own potential amidst the most unlikely conditions. gravity glue strikes again!! :)) and this one lasted at least 10 times longer than all the other forced attempts.

those two top rocks are just so cute together. :)