In December 1863, little more than a year after Roger Fenton retired from photography and sold his equipment, Julia Margaret Cameron received her first camera. It was a gift from her daughter and son-in-law, given with the words “It may amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude at Freshwater.” Cameron was forty-eight, a mother of six, and a deeply religious, well read, somewhat…

Title: Julia JacksonArtist: Julia Margaret Cameron (British, born India, Calcutta 1815–1879 Kalutara, Ceylon)Date: 1867Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negativeDimensions: 27.4 x 20.6 cm (10 13/16 x 8 1/8 in.) About the photograph: The effusive, eccentric associate of Carlyle, Herschel, Ruskin, Rossetti, and Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron earned the admiration of her eminent colleagues…

Well, it’s only the first video and I’m inspired already. I love hearing Camille Seaman talk about learning to see the trees as individual beings. And clouds, too: “When I look at that cloud I’m seeing Sally or Susie… I’m seeing a unique expression of being –in just a slightly different state than I am - and so when I’m looking at an iceberg I know I’m looking at a very ancient  soul.”

This brings tears to my eyes. It is what I feel when I’m doing the portraits of wild animals: my aim is to create portraits in which you can look into the animals’ eyes and see the soul of the world looking back at you. I have heard very few (if any) other photographers speak like this.

This segment is reminding me about what I love about photography. The past few months I've been watching lots of training videos about how to set up a photography business, set pricing, market yourself… There is certainly importance and value in that, but for me the heart of it—the reason I was drawn to photography in the first place—was being lost. This course—reconnecting with photography with the purpose of making a difference in the world— is bringing me back home. I am grateful for that. 

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While reading about Anne Wilkes Tucker I was excited to discover that WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath will be coming to the Annenberg in the spring, so I’ll get to see it. I’m interested not just as a photographer, but also as a peace educator. This kind of photography gives me an opportunity to bring my educator and photographer selves together. 

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While reading the article about Malcolm Daniel and seeing a 19th century photograph of a tree and some rocks, right away I thought about that individual tree, its being, its soul. I wonder if it is still alive today, 150 years later. If so, she must be a fine old oak by now. 

Some of my favorite quotes from Malcolm Daniel:

  “… I think photographs actually do have some sort of magical power over most [people]… there is something about a photograph - say, a photographic portrait - that is different than a painted portrait, no matter how beautiful.

… But even the most humble snapshot of somebody you love has a quality that is hard to explain… somehow you feel that picture has a quality of the soul there.”

There's somebody who says, "I would rather have the most humble picture of someone I dearly loved than the finest work of a great master." … there's a spiritual connection there.. It's just in the nature of photography…there is a feeling of authenticity and of connection. 

Speaking of his exhibits: “I think - I hope - that when people come to this, they are moved. Their lives change. Their actions change. The world becomes a better place…”

For me that’s what photography and my work as an educator is about: moving people, changing lives, changing actions, making the world a better place. 

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And.. snowflakes

Kenneth Libbrecht's snowflake book review led me to the video. My mouth dropped wide open. Good thing there weren't any flies around(!) I know I've heard about the individuality of snowflakes before but seeing them like this and knowing they’re photographs—it’s just staggering.