a vast and beautiful sky spreads endlessly in varying shades of blue.
Trees dance as I pass, waving their leaves in rhythm to the erratic strings of Vivaldi.
The wind plays cheerfully with my hair as the afternoon sun warms my face.
My soul is free; my spirit soaring.
For this moment in time, my thoughts are my own.
I find myself giddy with the pure joy of it all.
Posted in Autumn, being myself, bipolar, blog, blogger, bloggess, contentment, convertible, creation, dreamer, free, from my heart, joy, life experiences, music, nature, Pentax, Pentaxian, Time, Trees, words, writer
Tagged contentment, convertible, gina minton kearns blog, Gina Minton Kearns Photography, happiness, joy, nature, thoughts, trees
much missed and cherished convertible is back.
She still makes noises and currently has no back seats, but she’s running.
I have missed my little car.
I mistreated her by making her pretend she was a Jeep, but she took it.
I will mistreat her again to get to the places I need to go and she, as she always has, will understand.
She knows me, my dreams and aspirations.
She understands my yearning to see and photograph.
I’m very happy to have her back and hope she knows how much I’ve missed her.
She’s mine; she was always meant to be mine.
I won’t trade her when I am finally able fulfill my lifelong dream and get a Jeep.
No, she’s safe here. She will always have a place in my heart (and in my driveway).
I’m pretty sure she knows that.
She took me to my falls many, many times.
She took me to the high places at Clingman’s Dome in the Smoky Mountains, where snow fell heavily in October.
She took me, in the pouring rain, to Hungry Mother Park in Marion, VA
She took me up and down Big Moccasin every day, stopping often so I could photograph my favorite trees.
She took me, more than once, to the Outer Banks of NC.
OBX again …
and again.
She took my girls with me many times …
many times.
Yes, I’m very happy to have her back.
Very happy, indeed.
Posted in artist, Autumn, being human, being myself, blessings, blog, blogger, bloggess, Bodie Island, child, childhood, cold, convertible, cool, creation, creative, cry, daydreamer, dreams, driving, emotion, Encouragement, faith, feelings, free, from my heart, happiness, happy, hope, humor, jeep, Life, life experiences, Lighthouse, Little Stony Falls, little things, memories, Mountains, Mountains in Springtime, nature, Nature Photographer, niece, OBX, October, Pentax, Pentaxian, photographer, Photography, PT Cruiser Convertible, ragtop, solitude, Southwest Virginia, Southwest Virginia Blogger, Southwest Virginia Photographer, through the eyes of the spirit, Time, trail shoots, Trees, Twitter, vertible, wanderlust, words, writer
Tagged #swva, blessings, convertible, driving, family, freedom, gina minton kearns blog, Gina Minton Kearns Photography, life, little stony falls, PTcruiser convertible, Southwest VA, top down
or nearly so, I am still sorting through my late husband’s things.
I should be past overpowering sadness by now.
I suppose I am, mostly.
But being a writer and photographer hinders that absolution.
Just when I begin to ascertain peace in my life, words intervene; I write about him and tear those nearly closed wounds open again.
It is as though he died this day, this moment, this hour.
Sadness seeps through the crevices the words carve.
Normal humans move forward, live their lives, make something of themselves from the shattered remains.
I want that, too.
But I’m a writer.
I’m a photographer.
I keep tearing those wounds, just as they’re healing, open.
I love writing about everything and photographing God’s perfect beauty; but it has a price.
I pay dearly through my words for they rip open wounds I’ve desperately attempted to close.
I bleed, painfully, and use photography to heal me.
Each image I capture stitches the brokenness and, simultaneously, pours remembrance on not quite yet healed hurts.
If one is not an artist of some kind, time will ease your pain.
For the rest of us, those with creative pieces in our soul, time simply laughs.
When the words, melodies and images are in our head and heart, there is little time can do.
What it can do is soon undone by what we are.
Sadness is my destiny, peace my hope.
And yet I write.
I photograph.
My hope is great.
My healing never really comes.
I have to ask myself if I would be willing to sacrifice my writing and photography for peace.
No, I answer.
I can live without peace.
To live without words and images would truly and altruistically destroy me.
That which brings me sadness will fuel my hope.
I am a writer and photographer.
Therein lies my hope.
Posted in afraid, alone, art, Autumn, becoming strong, being human, being myself, blessings, blog, blogger, bloggess, broken, brokenness, choices, courage, creation, creative, emotions, emptiness, Encouragement, feeling crazy, feelings, Freedom, from my heart, healing, human, Life, life experiences, meltdown, muician, music, Nature Photographer, pencil, Pentax, Pentaxian, photographer, Photography, pianist, poem, poetry, Sorrow and loss, Southwest Virginia, Southwest Virginia Blogger, Southwest Virginia Photographer, weirdness, words, writer
Tagged adapting, creative, different, feelings, gina minton kearns blog, Gina Minton Kearns Photography, loss of loved one, photograoher, writer
is an essential component of living in the South.
Without it, life would take an incomprehensible and irreversible turn.
Every few days, my mom says to me “we’re going to the funeral home”.
The “we” is she and my dad.
I never know what’s going on so, as far as I’m concerned, it could be a relative or close personal friend.
Tonight, it was the wife of a preacher I’ve never heard of.
I don’t take the paper myself and even if I did, I wouldn’t read every word of every obituary looking for familiar names so I’d have a reason to go to the funeral home.
When I was a kid, growing up on a dirt road miles off the “main road”, the obituaries were read on the radio.
You late forty and older crowd, who live or have lived in the South, know what I’m talking about.
There was one AM station on the radio that was only part static and most words could be understood.
First came the Pledge of Allegiance, then the obituaries followed by the madly popular “Swap Shop”.
Since there was only that one discernable station, everyone around our parts listened to it.
They swapped hogs and chickens for mule harnesses and tractor tires, then met at the funeral home to talk about it because someone they didn’t know, who was a relative of someone they hadn’t seen in years, had died.
Congregating at the funeral home; it’s a Southern thing, I suppose.
Or maybe it’s just a Southwest Virginia thing.
I think we’ll find, however, it’s broader than my little neck of the woods and call it a Southern thang.
Posted in AM radio, blog, blogger, bloggess, family, funeral home, obituaries, Southern thing, Southwest Virginia, Southwest Virginia Blogger, Southwest Virginia Photographer, Swap Shop, Time, weird stuff, words, writer
Tagged #tteots, a photographer's heart, blog, funeral home, gina minton kearns blog, Gina Minton Kearns Photography, obits, obituaries, South, Southern thing
convertible is, so I’m told, on the mend.
For six weeks, I’ve been without her.
Begging and borrowing vehicles on the fly.
Never knowing from one day to the next what I’ll be driving.
As much as I miss my car, I miss my Outer Banks bumper sticker, which I proudly displayed on my hood, more.
Pirate’s Paradise it proclaimed.
On my hood.
I miss that sticker nearly as much as I miss my car.
I want a Jeep, yes, but on my timeline.
And the OBX sticker is a dealbreaker.
I suppose the only thing (family not included) I love more than my car is the OBX.
I want that sticker, preferably still attached to my car.
Hope springs eternal, right?
And so it does.
Spring eternally, that is.
has expired.
I’m currently saving every penny to put down on a new vehicle as my beloved convertible has deserted me.
I suppose all the trips into the mountains, on roads she wasn’t made to travel didn’t help.
I never meant to abuse her, but she knew what I was about when she called my name.
At any rate, she is now disabled so another vehicle must be acquired.
I’m going for a Jeep. I know exactly what I want excepting the color.
Still working on that.
But, that has nothing to do with dishes.
Or so one would think.
I can’t afford a new vehicle and a replacement dishwasher.
I had dirty dishes, but I hand washed them.
I am currently in serious mountain trail withdrawal.
I suppose I can, when forced to, hand wash my dishes.
I don’t have to like it.
Considering, however, that Autumn is near, my priorities scatter.
Washing dishes is a small price to pay for being in the middle of creation as it undergoes its unimaginable metamorphosis.
I’m a photographer.
That doesn’t mean I can’t, if the need arises, be a dishwasher.
We do what needs to be done so we catch the shot.
Ansel would agree and, were it necessary, wash dishes; of that, I am certain.
Yep. Certain.
Posted in art, Beach, black and white photography, blog, blogger, bloggess, emotions, hiker, human, jeep, Life, life experiences, Nature Photographer, OBX, Outer Banks NC, Pentax, Pentaxian, Sagittarius, strong in body and mind, Time, trail shoots, Twitter, wanderlust, wildlife, words, writer
works in several directions.
It is easy to say poor, poor, pitiful me.
Wasn’t that a song? I think it was.
Warren Devon sang it. I think Terri Clark tried to sing it, but seriously?
Seriously?
It’s just as easy to say I am supremely blessed.
It’s, I suppose, a fine line.
That line between self-indulgent sorrowfulness and outright blessings.
I’ve never been any good at drawing lines.
I’ve lost good friends because drawing lines …
was a handicap.
Good friends.
Lost.
For good. For all times.
Because my line-drawing skills sucked like a wet-vac.
Those people, people I cared for very much, are no longer in my life because I didn’t conform to what they were looking for.
I wasn’t looking for anything other than friendship.
But, I think I had a vibe of some kind.
A sucker vibe.
I think of myself as strong and sufficient, but deep inside, I need approval; acceptance.
The people who pretended to know and understand me never understood that.
I find it plausible that others they prey on will find themselves in the same inexplicable, confusing place that I am in.
They ask for things, favors, jollies, but are Predators.
They have no real interest beyond their own control.
Yes. I know these people and am sorry for every thought they consumed.
I still think of them, more often than I want and wish they would leave my mind.
I wish to never think of them again, but strong personalities, people who use others for their own embodiment will always be out there.
Those of us who seek and thrive on acceptance will always be vulnerable to the likes of the JW’s
and DH’s in our lives.
Strength of character, knowledge of false friends and pure, unadulterated mistrust will sustain us.
Sad, but true.
Trust no-one.
That lesson I’ve learned.
It sucks to know you can’t trust the people you trusted.
While this is true for me, it isn’t such for everyone.
Follow your instincts.
Question your friends.
Trust few and investigate them thoroughly (hurting them be damned).
Trust your instincts. It’s rare that they will let you down, but sometimes it happens.
Little else matters.
But do not be deceived … people you ‘”trust” will use you.
If you believe nothing else, believe that.
Trust no-one.
This I learned the hard way and still, nearly every night, cry myself to sleep.
As my late husband would have said, be ashamed.
That’s all I have to say to J and D.
Be ashamed.
You know who you are.
It horrifies me that I cry for you.
Damn you both.
Posted in a strong body, blog, blogger, bloggess, broken, daydreamer, disappointment, dreams, from my heart, humor, hypomania, imagination, Life, life experiences, words
are remarkable.
Each of them brings me unspeakable joy.
Sophie, the oldest, was my first. I watched her being born and captured the first photograph of her.
She became, that photograph did, anyway, a greeting card.
Gracie, known to me as Gracie-Bell, was second. I didn’t witness her birth as she decided to create all kinds of drama.
She, like her older sister, is a drama queen.
Gracie has Down’s Syndrome but lives life as though it will end tomorrow. She’s a character and, as you may have imagined, a greeting card as well.
Life happens as it happens and as it does, I capture it.
It’s what I do.
My daughter, for instance, was a music education major. She’s chosen a different path, yet still found herself on a greeting card.
My dad, an inspiration to me though we often butted heads, is my mentor. Guess what? Yep, a greeting card.
Life happens.
In that life is magnificence.
Live.
Love.
Embrace.
Enjoy.
Time passes, life goes on, memories fade.
Enjoy each moment for there will come a time when nothing, except memories, remain.
Family. Friends. Creation. Life.
Nothing matters more.
Posted in becoming strong, being human, black and white photography, blessings, blog, chasing the light, creation, dad, daydreamer, emotions, Encouragement, from my heart, Gracie, Life, life experiences, niece, Pentaxian, photographer, Photography, Southwest Virginia Blogger, through the eyes of the spirit, Time, words, writer
Tagged blog, faith, gina minton kearns, greeting card universe, greeting cards, memories, nieces, Through the Eyes of the Spirit, words, writer
these days means little more to most people than having a phone or buying an expensive camera and setting it to full auto.
Taking what they get because an image is just an image, right?
I feel sick when I look at photographs that have been photoshopped into submission.
Jpeg files that leave little room for development because so much is lost.
I still shoot film quite often and develop my prints in a borrowed darkroom.
The possibilities of what an image can be are endless.
When I shoot digital, I shoot RAW.
I’m amazed how many digital “photographers” I come across who have no idea what RAW means.
Maybe it’s wrong, but I dismiss them immediately.
Getting lucky now and then doesn’t make one a photographer.
It makes them lucky and cowardly.
A true photographer realizes that yeah, once in a while, we get lucky, but knowing when and where to shoot is an art.
Up hours before sunrise.
Hiking miles in the dark.
Sunburned and thirsty, dirty, scraped, wet, exhausted and sometimes bleeding.
I will likely never be a “discovered photographer”, but being real is more important to me than faking it.
I feel the light, hear the wind, understand the rain.
As do my fellow photographers.
We see beyond the end of our lenses.
We are what we shoot.
And proudly, we work for our shots.
We are a dying breed, but at the end of the day, understand what it really means to be a photographer.
Posted in being myself, blog, from my heart, Life, life experiences, Lightroom, moon, nature, Nature Photographer, photographer, Photography, RAW, Time, trail shoots, words, writer
Tagged chasing light, developing film, film, gina minton kearns blog, Gina Minton Kearns Photography, images, light, Lightroom, photographer, photography, RAW
is sacred.
A thing that transcends space and time.
Or should.
But everyone knows that people come and go in our lives
It is part of the natural order.
Fate.
Luck.
Devine intervention.
I look at my own life and see a series of failures.
I was blindsided many times.
Left trying to find the individual pieces among the shattered remains.
Abandonment.
Divorce.
Death.
Trusting becomes more difficult with each betrayal.
But I’m glutton for punishment and keep trusting people.
I can’t help it.
I am an optimist.
And on some level, I suppose, a sucker.
But aren’t we all just that now and then.
Wounded.
Scarred.
Survivors.
Strength comes through trials.
Difficulties.
Impossibilities.
It comes at a price.
Sometimes, that price is steep.
But who am I if I’m not myself?
And who are you?
Something to think about.
Posted in afraid, alone, blog, blogger, choices, Encouragement, friends, from my heart, healing, human, Life, life experiences, peace, Pentax, Pentaxian, photographer, Photography, Southwest Virginia Blogger, strength, Time, words, writer
A Photographer's Heart 