““Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”” - J.R.R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings
As I head out the door on an adventure, here is a quote from my one of my favourite book(s) when I was a kid, Lord of the Rings
“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” – Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays with Morrie
I have been re-reading Tuesdays with Morrie recently and always find it such an inspiration. I think this is partly because I have a strong attachment to the situation I was in when I picked it up. I had just been robbed of all of my possessions, (including my cameras and 3 months worth of my work) in a crazy-ass knife-point robbery/mugging/kidnapping in Managua. Needless to say, I needed something to lift my spirits. The next day, after buying my bus ticket to Guatemala, I went to the one English bookstore in Managua and waded through a bunch of terrible English titles and finally landed on Tuesdays with Morrie. While reading on the 13-hour trip to Guatemala, I went through and underlined a lot of the inspiring parts in the book and although I had already been thinking a lot about some of the themes the book touches on, it was amazing to have it crystallized in such a simple and touching story.
Through reading it, I appreciated my family, friends, and the world around me so much more and managed to put the loss of my cameras and photos behind me.
I leave for Kenya tomorrow, but I wanted to throw this up before I take off. I had a big dinner party at my new apartment on Saturday and there was some interest from people asking for prints of these that I just put up on my walls. I spent most of Friday looking for a font that would work with an idea I had for some of my photos, and I am really happy how they worked out. If you are interested in either of these two, I’ll charge $40 bucks for a printed and mailed (or personally delivered) 12×18 print of it. $60 for the both of them. Email me at brettbeadle@gmail.com if you are interested.
Liam, Train Bridge, 2008.
Tristan & Victoria, Cannon Beach, 2009.
A rainy Sunday off to edit photos and drink coffee. I spent most of the day finding a bunch of new websites and blogs for visual inspiration, and I came across some random quotes that really exemplified some of my thoughts from the past while, especially the first. I had the Diane Arbus quote the other day, so I thought I would follow up with some others.
We all make our own set of rules in life.
If you should be so lucky.
Mistakes: the only way to learn.
With the advent of the Iphone, you can ignore everybody anywhere now. Awesome!
Speak. Create. Grow.