Seeking Beauty

Sometimes when I am in a so-so or even a bad mood I would grab my camera and go on a picture hunt. Provided I have the time, of course. Usually I come back with at least one or two keepers, and also with more peace and quiet in my heart.

One day it dawned on my why that is. Our world is such a rich buffet of variety, and whenever I fail to see it's beauty, what would be more logical than to venture out with the deliberate intent to find it? The world has never disappointed me, even on a rainy day. (Thanks to the universe I now have a camera that won't have a nervous breakdown at the sight of a few drops.)

So is it my shifted attitude or the reward in pictures that restores the peace? Probably both since the pictures help me to focus on the magic and to block out everything unwanted. ;-)))

Labels & Judgements

Whenever I drive past the metro station I am awed by this beautiful peace of graffiti. To me this is like contemporary art and I have witnessed the artist once working on a "piece" in the middle of the city. No flashlight activities of unreadable gang signs that are quickly sprayed onto innocent walls, but the time-consuming work of a true master. So one day I finally stopped to take some pictures and was greeted by a surprise.

I was a bit shocked to find that some other "graffiter" would soil a "canvas" that has been occupied by one of their "lot". I thought there was something like an honor among thieves policy or some kind of respect. Obviously I was mistaken.

Then I realized how often we use labels and judgements in order to categorize our world. While both sprayings could be classified as graffiti one had a higher ranking in my perspective. Who knows, if the second spray can artist at work thought of the first one as a traitor of the underground movement. Maybe it was all about marking the territory or a totally random act of thoughtlessness and/or disrespect.

But it had me thinking about how much of our life experience is created by our point of view rather than the incident itself. If I had identified myself more with the second spraying, I wouldn't have felt sorry for the beauty of the first being besmirched. I might have even felt a sense of victory over the "conformist" who seemed to have been payed for his work by the authorities. Another proof that it's actually me who creates my experiences rather than the world surrounding me.