I’ve been thinking much about the lifestyle I live, and how time is such a prominent variable in that lifestyle. You always here about the go, go, go pace of life, well, I want to live the slow, slow, slow pace of life.
I don’t want to live in the moment anymore, I want to live for the day.
I’m looking forward to more slow cooked meals, more time spent on cultivating friendships, more time in developing and taking photographs.
When I stop to think about all the photos I’ve taken, I can’t think of a shoot where I spent more than a few minutes in preparing the subject, or waiting for the light. I’d like to change that. I want to work on projects that take me days to shoot, where I think about how each object in the photo will make a difference, and what that difference will mean.
I want to work on projects that take me years to finish, simply to enjoy the process of making the project. I want to work on something that will take me fifty years to make, perhaps planting a garden in my backyard and waiting fifty years to see the trees finally be as tall as they can be.
I think it’s kind of like driving in a car. We can go seventy miles an hour driving down the freeway while we watch the blur outside of our window, or we can take a back road, go fifteen miles an hour, and roll down the windows as we feel the air brush against our face. I want more of those moments. I want to live for the day.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Amy // Feb 16, 2007 at 1:28 pm
You are beautiful. I want the slow, slow, pace with the cultivated friendships and the slow cooked meals, too.
Where do I sign?
2 Daniel // Feb 16, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Thanks for the comment, Amy ;-)
3 Jason // Feb 17, 2007 at 2:24 am
Such beautiful words. Why are we in such a hurry? Where are we going? Rush to work? Rush to eat lunch. Run here. Run there. We are missing all beauty of life that is around us.
Your last paragraph reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Robert Pirsig draws a comparison between the interstate and the back roads. When you drive the interstate, you are set on getting from A to B as fast as possible, life is a blur, the faces in the cars are with out emotion, robots. When you take the back roads, you slow down, enjoy the scenery, you smell the air, you take time to reflect.
Great post Daniel.
4 Daniel // Feb 18, 2007 at 1:34 am
“Your last paragraph reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”
Sweet. I’ll have to check that out on my next trip to Borders.
“When you take the back roads, you slow down, enjoy the scenery, you smell the air, you take time to reflect.”
I love taking the back roads, especially during the fall.
I’d like to start a project: Taking Back Time. I’m going to look at my planned activies for next week, and then I’m going to pick an activity where I’ll really take my time and enjoy it; I want to use time instead of time using me. Then, after we go through the process, I’m going to write a post about how it was different than my other activies. Hopefully, after awhile of doing this, I’ll be able to fill my life with the slow paced, methodical activies, instead of the run and gun style I normally do.
So here’s my list:
- Take my time in doing a photoshoot
- Take my time cooking and enjoying a dinner
- Take my time while sitting and enjoying a conversation with a friend.
I think I’m going to start the Take Back Time project with a photoshoot this weekend I have planned. I’ll let you know how it goes. Do you want to join me in the project, Jason? It would be fun to write about it. If you’d like to try it, you can post how it went here in the comments, or just put the link here if you want to write it someplace else.
- Daniel
5 Jason // Feb 19, 2007 at 2:04 am
Yes, count me in :)
6 Jamie // Feb 19, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Great post! It is soooo true! Life just passes by and we turn around and wonder where it went. So much pressure and So little time is the world’s mentality, but in all actuallity we have all the time in the world. After all… what are we living for???
7 Daniel // Feb 20, 2007 at 12:30 pm
“After all… what are we living for???”
I think you hit the nail on the head. I want to live!! I want to use time instead of time using me. I tried a little experiment with this with my last photoshoot, and I have to say, I think it made a big difference. I really enjoyed the shoot, and I think my photos came out better because I was enjoying the process.
I’ll post more on it later.
8 sarah // Mar 1, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Bingo Daniel. Something I think I have been craving without being able to articulate it. Glad the photo shoot went well. I need to try that myself.
I have this theory that when we take our time and stop living at such breakneck speeds that “down” time is used more worthily. At least in my case. Running around like a crazy person only results in me wasting time in a stupor in front of the tele, and wears me down physically (I’ve been sick for who knows how long). But I believe that by being more generous with with my time that I am more productive in terms of quality, rather than quanity. Including quality of life.
It’s about time I test this theory.
9 jenny // Mar 20, 2007 at 10:45 am
hi daniel! i have been catching up on your blog and i’m so impressed with all your work, i have been wanting to comment on each post about your stunning photos (wow!) :) but scroll scroll…i got to this one and had to say: you said it perfectly!
ps, your blog design is awesome!
10 Daniel // Mar 23, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hi Jenny,
I’m so glad you stopped by :-) And thank you for the kind comments. You’re such an adventurer. Every time I read your blog I ask my self a silent question, “are they going to make a movie about this woman?” So remember when they come out with your movie, I predicted it here first.
As for the blog design, I cannot accept your kind comment, for this blog design came from another person; it’s a wordpress template, and it is awesome.
Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.
dAniel
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