Exploring metaphors in life . . . through the lens

by Kim

"Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle,
curved tunnels of leaf miners in the face of a leaf. We must somehow
take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe
what's going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into
the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise."
- Annie Dillard

Have you ever plugged your camera card into the hard drive only to be amazed, but not because your photos were earth shatteringly beautiful, but instead because there was an overwhelming common theme...in fact maybe even a pattern?

One that was just in your face as soon as all those little thumbnails popped up on the screen, even though you certainly didn't see it at the time you took them?

This wouldn't be the first time it's happened.....there have been doors, and windows and fences. Completely unplanned, and entirely spontaneous... all with important messages.

And perhaps, because life can be, on occasion so big,

and chaotic,

sometimes we need another way to look at it . . . even before we know we need to see it differently.

For about the last year and a half I've been exploring my images monthly (Photo-heart Connection), not with a technical eye, but with my heart. Exploring the elements, looking for metaphors that translate to my life. And this practice almost always helps me to better understand certain realities, or at the very least brings them to the forefront for some contemplation.

In these images I see the element of the long road as there have just been things, situations and circumstances that seem never ending, and long, very long.

Although can I say, I must have been a little a lot out of touch that day as I didn't recognize the pattern. Not only the long road, but that nearly every single one veered to the right with a few exceptions.

"The metaphor, then, is not simply a figure of speech. It is a habit of thought,
one we must develop in order to see. The habit of metaphor allows us to see
the large from the small, the pattern in chaos, that which is not expected, that
which is expected, in new ways. Metaphor allows us to see with eyes expanded
beyond the simply literal, the cataloguing of perceptions. Metaphor allows us to
see relationships. Ultimately, it is the relationships which constitute nature, not
collections of individual objects."
                                                     - Steven J. Meyers

Have you ever explored metaphors in your images and what have you found?