Why Take Pictures?

 "Observation #1", MA, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley

Sometimes I ask myself the question: "Why do I take pictures?" I feel I have a responsibility to myself to check in and be honest to myself about something that has taken up a large chunk of my life and head space.

Like most of us, it's easy to live the day to day, week to week or for some of us paycheck to paycheck without reflecting upon a greater purpose in our lives. Sometimes, we start out with one goal and never consider that the goal that once suited us at 25 years old no longer suits us at 45. And many us us get stuck, stagnate and forget why we even decided to choose one road over another. Sometimes, we end up sitting at a desk in some cubicle with stale air and forget that we even had dreams. I haven't occupied a real desk but figuratively, I know what it feels like to just sit, sit, sit and sit.

As I approach my 45th birthday, I am becoming more aware that my dreams and goals have changed. Or better said, I know what matters to me most in this lifetime.

I still want to take pictures after 25 years of studying, consuming and making photographs.  However, the reasons have changed.

 "Observation #2", MA, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley

We can either adapt and change or we can chose to hold onto the past. Life gives you lessons in reality and if you listen well enough you can learn, adapt and make changes. I am in the process of trying to listen to my heart. And I find that often the heart and mind come into conflict. The mind will often generate words with great rational that will often drown out the simple and clear messages of the heart. This is why I began to mediate and take it very seriously.

These photographs were taken during this summer when I went to meditate on an ashram.

I took the following series of photographs during a walk with my girlfriend, Victoria in a wildlife sanctuary in Massachusetts. I remember feeling like an untainted and naive photo student as I observed and framed the pockets of algae, fallen branches, pine needles and other debris along the edge of the pond through the lens of my camera. I longed to make sense and order of nature's haphazard leftovers and tuck them in neatly and very pretty in a rectangular box.




 

"Observation #3", MA, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley

Victoria and walked ahead of me. When I caught up to her, she turned around and said, "Beasley you are out of your element. I never pictured you as a nature photographer." And neither did I. After, all the intense moments shared with various subjects over the years, I never thought I would be so satisfied and satiated looking through a lens at green murky water. No drama. No chaos. No anxiety coursing through my veins before hitting the shutter. Just the simple air popping sounds of gas bubbles floating to the surface of the pond and bursting open.

 "Observation #4", MA, Summer 2012. Juliana Beasley

August 10, 2012

The Reasons I Still Take Photographs:

I get to hang out with people who interest me. 

I get the chance to meet people I normally might not have the chance to meet.

I get the chance to connect with a subject either (or sometimes all) creatively, emotionally, and spiritually.

I get the opportunity to make pictures that can somehow touch others when they look at it.

I can tell a story that needs to be told.

I can focus my attention on my surroundings.

I have a keepsake and a record of a moment gone.