52 Photos Project: Crop

The theme this week in

52 Photos Project

is "crop."

As in taking a photo

straight out of the camera

(or, in this case, with the saturation 

bumped a little to approximate

what I remember of the absolute

saturation of color,

the variety of blue to aquamarine,

the hazy blue of the distant sky,

Surfer © 2013 Meri Arnett-Kremian

and 

cropping it

to enhance the composition

by focusing in on a particular part

of the original.

Surfer © 2013 Meri Arnett-Kremian

Here, my goal was to focus in on the surfer,

showing a world in which the ocean,

its magnificent power, 

and the thrill of riding a wave successfully

are the only things on his mind.

In the moment.

Present.

52 Photos Project: Conversation

Conversation. . . 

a lively topic,

holding the possibility for 

creating or deepening connection,

solving problems,

choosing a destination,

popping the big question,

exploring the possibilities.

The most affirming conversations are ones that say

I love you,even still. . . 

after all these years.

52 Photos Project

52 Photos Project: Distance

52 Photos Project

Distance.

52 Photos Project: Light

52 Photos Project

Light.

Big things happening in Rome.
To be more specific,
in Vatican City.

52 Photos Project: Horizon

52 Photos Project

 This is an "iconic shot" I took

 from the restaurant in Musee d'Orsay

with Montmartre and Sacre Coeur

on the horizon.

I know. 

You've seen this view hundreds of times.

Everyone who's stood in that spot

with camera in hand

has seen the potential.

But it's the memory that counts. 

I treasure images from this memorable jaunt in Paris.

This particular trip, I was with my best friend

and my mother-in-law for over three weeks,

one of them spent soaking up Paris

from our home base in the Left Bank's

6th Arrondissement. 

My m-i-l, Jean, was a gifted artist

who'd come to her passion late in life,

after working for virtually all her working life

for the Illinois Central Railroad.

She loved the impressionists

and had seen work at museums in the U.S.

but never dreamed she'd go to Europe.

Her son, my husband, wanted to make that 

unimagined dream happen,

so he designated me as tour director

and provided the bankroll.

He wanted her to go,

but not with him.

It was left to me to broaden her horizon.

I will always be grateful to him for that,

because as it turns out,

we had three wonderful weeks together,

Jean and I (and Gail),

the last carefree weeks of Jean's life.

Shortly after returning home,

Jean was diagnosed with late-stage renal cancer

and died only a year later.

The marriage died 

about the same time,

though the cancer it suffered

was of a different form altogether.

But that's a different story.

52 Photos Project: Vintage

52 Photos Project

I tried to convince the shop owner 

to let me take her home

but it was a no go.

Sigh!

52 Photos Project: Harmony

Harmony.

That moment when you reach the still point

when your mind stops its chatter

the knowledge that everything is perfect as it is

just fills the vessel that is you.

The moment when things come together

in a moment of synchrony.

The moment when you're not grasping for change,

that instant when you accept that what is, is

and will be

until it changes.

That sense of being part of everything

and breathing in and out all the molecules of love.

52 Photos Project