Finding the gold
Finding the gold: When old prospectors would look for gold they would take large pan and grab up huge loads of gravel and sand, shaking it backwards and forwards to encourage the heavier gold to the bottom of the pan, at the same time the lighter materials which are worthless are worked up to the surface and swept away. This process is repeated until all that is left is the heaviest most valuable material.
My finding the gold project is inspired by this description, searching through the daily stuff of life that is ultimately worthless…the stress, the what ifs, the tantrums, the work nonsense,…and finding those valuable bits of my day, my week that are the moments i need to remember. The things that catch my eye and are just beautiful in their simplicity unbidden and untouched by the daily grind. Things that make me smile, even if sometimes that smile doesn’t linger and stay.
Some weeks it is harder to than others, sometimes the pan feels like it is only full of gravel and sand. There are weeks when its hard to keep going, searching through the detritus of this crazy, busy, frantic stage of life. Times when having time to catch you breathe seems impossible let alone stopping to look… but then you catch a glimpse, even in the darkest of darkness a small shard of gold can shine out and lift your spirits. Even if it is just one piece.
Can you find the gold in your day…?
Can you open your eyes?
I think i mentioned last week that i recently ran a mum’s photography workshop. Since then i have been thinking of new ways of explaining this thing we do when we try and capture the details of our day to day…
I have ideas for projects and things to pursue…ah if i could just find the time…
🙂
Meanwhile though..i thought id share a little trick i use to get my kids to look at me when im taking a picture (i have to say this rarely works anymore because my kids are SO used to it!) But give it a try.
Tell your kid you are going to play a counting game and they have to sit with their eyes closed and count to 3 or any number really..Not to high otherwise they are going to go off and get bored…BUT a number..i usually stick with three. Then tell them when you get to three i want you to open your eyes. I usually tell my kids things like ‘ah i bet you can’t do it..i bet you can’t keep them shut, i bet you’ll peek’ we all know how competitive kids are!!…
anyway get yourself ready, just above their eyeline and focus on their eyes and count…1…2….3…..click. Eyes open and looking straight at you…works pretty good on kids who won’t stay still!!
Here is my own Merida to demonstrate….
Here we are counting….compose your shot..focus..and…
boom..eyes wide open and with glasses that is particularly important!! She was talking to me as well FYI…but then she rarely stops doing that anyhoo…
why don’t you try it?
Finding the gold.
This week has been a bit of a marathon, working nights & day shifts whilst doing the whole school holiday juggling act. Some days its just about keeping your nose above the water.
I found this definition of gold mining and it struck me how sometimes we have to dig deep for the gold. Sometimes it settles to the bottom of your day and it just need to be shaken out of there.
“When the pan is submerged in the water and shaken, the gold gets sorted from the gravel and other material. As gold is much denser than rock, it quickly settles to the bottom of the pan.”
So i did a bit of shaking and here is what turned up.
