pauses&clicks

Serene Reflections: A City Remembers

Posted by pausesandclicks on 09/09/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: And Jesus Wept, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Bombing, Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, refections, reflecting pool, weekly photo challenge: mirror. 7 Comments

I ended last week’s post with a photo of the Washington Monument, mirrored in the reflecting pool that lies between the monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

That reflecting pool brings to mind another city and another body of water, one that is a very integral part of a very different memorial.

The Oklahoma City Bombing took place twenty one years ago but the citizens of that city remember the day as if no years have gone by between then and now. If you lived there at that moment, at 9:03 on April 19, 1995, you were forever changed.

Oklahoma City was forever changed.

Seeing Life A Frame At A Time

Posted by pausesandclicks on 09/02/2016

Posted in: art, Why I Make Pictures. Tagged: blue skies, Hirshhorn Museum, Honor Guard, National Mall, reflecting pool, sunflower, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Washington DC, Washington Monument, weekly photo challenge: frame. 6 Comments

Long before this week’s photo challenge I started seeing life through a frame.

Being a photographer will do that to you, perhaps not always in a good way, because often I tend to not pay attention to the “big” picture when I’m experiencing something. Instead, my photo mind is always framing what’s happening and thinking about the image that will result, as opposed to simply being in the moment.

I had the privilege of observing an Honor Flight this week and since I really was there to document the experience for a friend and her dad, I felt I was justified in seeing it all through my lens. I also added this week’s photo challenge into the day by looking for frames within my frame.

This is what I came up with throughout my day in Washington, DC.

A perfectly blue sky above me as I exited the Metro:

A group of Veterans framed by Honor Guard Sentinels at the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery:

When Everything Comes Together

Posted by pausesandclicks on 08/25/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: American flag, clouds, coffee, early morning light, Good Morning America, morning routine, reflections, weekly photo challenge: rare. 10 Comments

I have a very established routine in the morning.

My husband rises early, feeds and walks the dog, and makes the coffee while I’m still trying to convince myself to open my eyes to think about starting my day. Eventually I venture downstairs, pour my coffee, and settle into the couch with my friends from Good Morning America, hoping said husband doesn’t try to talk to me until that cup of coffee is gone.

It’s a rare occurrence when I’m up early enough to have already walked the dog by the time the sun has crested the tree line near my home but that’s exactly what happened this past week when my dog-walker/coffee-maker was gone on a business trip.

This was my reward as I headed back down the driveway with Xav.

Fun In The Sun

Posted by pausesandclicks on 08/18/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: beating the heat, fairfax corners, fun in the sun, splash pad, water play, weekly photo challenge: fun. 5 Comments

During these lazy, hot, humid, dog days of summer,

I’m convinced this is the only sane way to have fun.

And that’s all I have to say about this subject!

On The Morning After

Posted by pausesandclicks on 08/11/2016

Posted in: Faith, Military Life, Uncategorized. Tagged: army, faith, family, funerals, grief, Kenneth Kowalski, military honors, sorrow, Taps, the flag, the salute, weekly photo challenge: morning. 11 Comments

There’s sunset the night before……

Sunset the night of July 27th, the night of Ken’s death. Photo credit to Jeanne Garman.

and then there’s the stark reality of the morning after.

On the morning after, you wake up and for the first ten seconds your sleepy subconscious tells you this is just an ordinary day like all others.

Until you remember.

Of Railroad Tracks And Things That Disappear

Posted by pausesandclicks on 08/05/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: california, cantor arts center, first united methodist church, palo alto, perspective, stanford university, train tracks, weekly photo challenge: narrow. 3 Comments

When I was in grade school I learned how to draw perspective using the tried and true “railroad tracks lined with telephone poles” method of drawing.

That intrigued me.

None of it actually made sense. My eyes played tricks on me, making me believe that two lines eventually converged and the space between them got narrow, as they receded into the distance, yet I knew that wasn’t reality. I knew in my rational brain that no matter how far I walked along those tracks, I would never find the point where they converged.

2000 Days

Posted by pausesandclicks on 07/24/2016

Posted in: art, Why I Make Pictures. Tagged: another move, APauseAClickAFrozenMoment, art as connector, Instagram A Day, Instagram Project, julannek, new job, the gift of art, weekly photo challenge: cherry on top. 25 Comments

I passed a milestone this past week when I posted my 2000th Instagram.

What started out as a way of forcing myself to notice my surroundings has turned into so much more. For five years now, one day at a time, I’ve looked for, recorded, and then posted a daily image. It’s become an ingrained way of life for me.

Several years into the project I started printing the images and keeping a stack of them with me, which has added a dimension that has expanded my world immensely. People often look at me with suspicion when I ask if I may give them something but when I explain that it’s a gift, a little piece of my art that they may take with no strings attached, most of them eagerly search through the photos.

Some people know immediately which one they want. Others pull out their favorites, narrowing them down and looking at them again before they choose.

Almost always, I hear stories…..why a certain image speaks to them, what memory it invokes or who it might remind them of. One of the very first ones I gave away was to an exceptionally helpful bus driver in Paris, dressed in a suit, who told me he wanted to stop his bus in the middle of the street and show everyone his picture! He obviously didn’t have time to choose his own photo so I randomly grabbed one from my stash and this particular image has proven to be one of the most popular ones in my collection.

A pharmacist in Wisconsin, after choosing a photo of pocket watches, showed me an extensive collection of watches that he keeps at the store.

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On a trip to Europe a few years ago I left Instagrams with a cheesemaker in Belgium…..

a calligrapher in Poland…..

and a group of delightful sisters in Switzerland. In the case of Sister Gielia, an artist herself, the images bridged the gap between our two languages.

My sister-in-law is a big fan of this particular Instagram but every time I give it to her she finds someone to give it away to. I love that she meets people who will relate to the message, and passes it on, so now I keep her supplied with a stack of them.

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When I was wondering around DC a few months ago I made an Instagram of a haiku about spring rain and posted it with the hashtag #goldentrianglehaiku.” Turns out that haiku was written by a woman in Bulgaria and it was the first time she had seen a photograph of her poetry, on a street in a country so very far away and so very different from her own. We’re now friends on Facebook.

So you see, I started out using Instagrams to help me see the world, but what has happened is they have also brought me closer to the people who inhabit that world.

That result, in Cajun terms, is the lagniappe. To a baker it’s the icing on the cake. To a kid in an ice cream parlor it’s the cherry on top of the sundae. To this photographer and member of the human race, it’s all of those things rolled into one.

Art is a connector.

Here are a few favorites from the last five years:

Barksdale AFB

And if I may, let me add another cherry to the top of this story. When I started this project I lived at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Turns out, on the one year anniversary of his retirement ceremony from the Air Force, my husband accepted an offer for a full time job and it takes us right back to where the project started, in the Shreveport/Bosssier City area of Louisiana. I’ll miss the four seasons I have here in Virginia and snow will be something I have to travel to find, but this move does get us much, much closer to our grandchildren. Can’t argue with that!

To read more about how and why my Instagram project started, click here.

To visit my Instagram Facebook Page go here.

If you wish, you many follow me on Instagram under the name julannek.

You have my gratitude for visiting.

It’s The Steps, Not The Miles

Posted by pausesandclicks on 07/21/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: prayer, summer mornings, walking, walking the dog, weekly photo challenge: details. 4 Comments

Sun dapples the footpath, an unexpected cool breeze stirs the tired leaves of July, and all around me is the low buzz of the woods in summer as nature stretches into a new day.

It’s another morning in Virginia and I’m venturing out on my daily walk. This is the part of the day that sets the tone, the part of the day that clears my head and centers me. My rosary is in one hand, Xavier by my side, and classical music plays in my ears. This is when the cacophony of the world recedes and I notice the details of not just my inner life, but of the world around me.

Kindred Spirit

Posted by pausesandclicks on 07/14/2016

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: beachwalk, family time, family vacation, kindred spirit mailbox, kindred spirits, pristine beach, sunset beach, weekly photo challenge: look up. 11 Comments

Every now and then the universe gives you a gift.

It’s a well-known fact that I’m not a beach person but this week I’m at the beach.

I came for the family time. I came because there are over twenty of my husband’s family members here, gathered into three houses, all enjoying each other’s company in a little quiet beach town. Almost everyone here is an in-law to me, but for simplicity purposes I’m going to do away with that title. I married into this family 39 years ago, so “in-law” doesn’t quite do the love any justice.

I came for early morning coffee conversations with my sisters, for evenings out on a deck, that overlooks the ocean, little ones running around with sand covered feet. I came for the wine enjoyed with nieces that used to be way too young to join us but who are now “adulting” quite nicely. I came for the fellowship that accompanies shared meals with brothers and with Mom and Dad.

And I came for walks on the sand.

My very first morning here I noticed an outcropping of rocks way out on the beach strand and decided to walk there. When I’m home I pray while I’m out walking and the day before, my travel day, I hadn’t done that, a most unusual occurrence for me. I had some catching up to do, so the distance was welcome.

I was headed for that little strip of darkness you see on the horizon of this photo. It was mid-day but this end of the beach was almost deserted and I was alone with my thoughts. For most of my walk I was concentrating, being aware of where my feet were landing, not wanting to stumble in an unusually deep tide pool, or step on an errant jagged seashell. My eyes were either looking down or looking out at the ocean.

Except for that one moment when I happened to look up towards the dunes and saw this.

Who the heck puts a mailbox out on the beach? And look, the flag is up. How could I not go up there to open it?

As I approached, the first thing I noticed was the writing on the side.

There had to be a story here and I was not disappointed.

The mailbox was stuffed full of journals and pens.

With the thoughtful addition of a pair of reading glasses because really, how many of us have those with us out on a relatively deserted beach?

I spent a bit of time with the contents of the journals but didn’t have a camera with me, so returned with my son and his fiancé a few days later to share it with them and to leave my own message, along with a few Instagrams. And to document, because that’s what I do.

As it turns out, the Kindred Spirit Mailbox has been in existence for 34 years now and is quite famous in Sunset Beach.

But on the day I found it, I knew nothing of its existence, and it felt like the world had simply deemed to reward me for being on that beach and for looking up towards that dune.