The Oquafenogaw

Cypress Knees by Beth Thompson

Early in the year 2012 I traveled to the Okefenokee Swamp with my mother, Glenda Goss. We took a 4 hour tour with a personal guide, Chip. While the waters were down, and we couldn’t go very far into the swamp, I was still able to take many pictures.

Blackened Trees against the Sky by Beth Thompson

Where Bartram Never Traveled:

William actually never made it into the Okefenokee Swamp. He explored the river St. Mary to its source, but didn’t explore its source. Perhaps it is a good thing, had he entered the swamp, and gone off on one of his excursions, he might never have been able to write Travels.

Why not?

A modern day guide decided to go to Bugaboo Island in the swamp. He applied for a camping permit, and was allowed to stay over night. He hiked into Bugaboo Island from his  campsite, bringing only a machete. And he couldn’t find his was back. He wandered about the swamp for 5 days. Eaten alive by mosquitoes, the only relief he could get at night was to lie down in shallow water, so that only half his body was available to the mosquitoes. With no food, and only stagnant swamp water to drink, he was being followed by vultures. He would pass out and wake up to vultures, waiting for him to weaken. He was finally rescued because he saw the Medivac helicopter land and made his way to it.

But Bartram didn’t have a helicopter.

Had Bartram lost his way in the Great Oquafenogaw, he might not have survived to write Travels.

Fire.

There had been a major forest fire the previous year, so much of what we saw, in the first part of our tour, was blackened trees against blue sky. To my surprise, the cypress are deciduous. Their leaves change color and fall with the seasons. Because the tips of the cypress were burned in the fire, they put out leaves closer to the trunk. In the winter, these leaves, or needles, turned brownish red, nature imitating the fire that swept through the swamp.

Gator Legs are Turtle Snacks

We learned that the young gators often loose a leg, or two, or three to the soft shelled turtles when they are napping in the sun.

Turtle in the Sun by Beth Thompson

Gortex.

We learned that the cellular structure of the plant Never-wet inspired the construction of gortex, which likewise repels waters.

Never-wet by Beth Thompson

In Search of the Daughters of the Sun

We looked everywhere for the Daughters of  the Sun. I think that the Great Spirit transformed them into birds to protect them from modern man.

We saw them as egrets:

And as Ibises:

And as Florida Sandhill Cranes:

Florida Sandhill Cranes by Beth Thompson

Looking to the Sun:

My camera, as ever, was drawn to the light:

In Search of the Daughters of the Sun by Beth Thompson

And may have even caught the Daughters in their true form:

The Daughters of the Sun by Beth Thompson

The Daughters in a Circle of Light:

Daughters of the Sun Circle of Light by Beth Thompson

And then they flew away as a flock of Ibis:

Let’s do the locomotion….

William Bartram’s awe and wonder at the locomotion of vines got me looking through my image files for pictures of that curling tendril he talks about. While I didn’t exactly find such a picture, I did discover that I have a thing for vines. I have created two Possible Perceptions out of pictures of vines. And vines show up again and again in my work. I love the way a vine’s loops and swirls and curves and swoops contrast with the straight, heaviness of a solid tree trunk. Vines often add curvy lines to my work where without them there would be none.

Panther Creek Possible Perception by Beth Thompson

Growth of vines as a metaphor….

I got to thinking about vines as a metaphor. I realized today that the Higher Power of my understanding doesn’t tell me what to do. Instead, She shows up as a longing, a desire, and proceeds to provide support for me to manifest my desires. So, a vine growing on the tree, the tree doesn’t tell the vine how to grow, how often to wrap itself around its truck, how high to reach. In fact, and you can’t talk about vines in the South without talking about kudzu, and kudzu may even kill a tree or a stand of trees in its quest for light, or pull a building down to the ground.

Kudzu Blossoming by Beth Thompson

The Quest for Light….

And the trees that the vines grow on, they simply support the vine’s desire for up, for light, for structure. But they don’t tell the vine to want these things, or tell the vine what to do.

And taking a further step back from the vine, to look at the tree. The earth and the sun may trigger the acorn to germinate, with a bit of help from the squirrels who buried it. But the tree’s quest for light, the taproot’s quest for water, that all belongs to the tree. Earth and Nature simply provide the structure, support, nutrients, and water for the acorn to become an oak.

Vine in the Oconee Forest by Beth Thompson

Earth, Water, and Sky….

And I realized my Higher Power may have given me the gift of creativity, but She doesn’t tell me how to use my creativity. When I do use it, She provides the support, the nutrients, the sunlight glancing off my glasses as I sit at the computer, the energy, the drive to create. But ultimately too, She gives me the power of choice, I can choose to write or photograph, to design a new pieces or simply edit a photoshoot. My Higher Power is a co-creator with me, just as the earth and the sun and water are with the tree. By themselves, Earth, Sun, and Water cannot create a tree. But without Earth, Sun and Water neither can an acorn create a tree. And without a vertical structure, such as a tree, a vine cannot climb.

Vine in the Forest by Beth Thompson

Are you the Vine or the Tree?

So, I started all this musing by asking myself if I was the vine or the tree. I realized that in regards to my Higher Power, I am the vine, leaning on the stability, solidity, and structure of the tree to carry me as I grow towards the light. But, sometimes in regards to my human relationships, I am the tree, allowing others to tag along in my upward growth, and sometimes being held back by their weight, because unlike my Higher Power, I am totally human, I am not a Goddess.

Panther Creek Vine Possible Perception by Beth Thompson

The Lesson of the Vine….

Understanding the lesson of the vine for me today allows me to see my relationships in a different light, both my relationship with a Power Greater than Myself, and my relationships to other people.  It’s a tangled thicket, and perhaps its time for me to cut though some of the vines to let my tree reach its full potential.  To hold each loved one gently in my palm and ask myself, is this relationship holding me back, or moving me forward? Where do I want to go next with this person? And gently release them. I think I will take some time with this over the next few weeks. Like the image below, the design of my life is still a work in progress….

Oconee Forest Vine Work in Progress by Beth Thompson

“Taste of it–how cool and animating–limpid as the morning dew”

That William drank the water caught in the pitcher plant–this is what stands out to me. And later on in this passage he remarks on the insects caught inside the pitcher plant: “…what quantities there are of them!” Did he, when drinking from the pitcher plant, tasting its waters, strain out the insects with his teeth? Yuck, yuck yuck! And even if he did so, the water inside the pitcher plant would likely contain dissolved insect guts, right? I guess he got some protein along with waters as limpid as the morning dew!

In search of Sarracenia:

To find Sarracenia to photograph, I asked my guide at the Okefenokee Swamp to take us to some. We went into some shallows in the swamp, and ran right up onto the pitcher plants. It was too swampy to get out of the boat, so I stood on the front of the boat to photograph them. The picture above gives a good sense of their habitat, swampy, with a ground full of peat.

Due to the season, January, most of the pitcher plants were shriveled and dried, but this one still has the coloring and fleshy-ness of a warmer season.

“But whether the insects…serve as aliment or support to these kind of plants, is doubtful.”

This last statement by William on the insect-catching pitcher plants is interesting to me, because he was, of course, wrong. Pitcher plants grow in nutrient poor soil, or not in soil at all, but in peat, and rely very much on the insects they catch for nutrients. (As did William, apparently, in drinking the waters).  In fact, the roots of the pitcher plants serve as anchors to support the plants, and don’t absorb many nutrients, as the soil they are in has few.

I played around with the image above to create a new piece. I liked using a close-up as a starting image, the results were different than in some of my other pieces, and pleasing.

On reading this passage, I knew immediately where to find mounds of sea shells left by early inhabitants of the coastal isles. My grandparents place! Skidaway Island!

Sea Shell Beds by Beth Thompson

On the way to the sea shell mounds I passed Juniperus Americana:

Juniperus has been the subject of one of my signature pieces: Cedar on the Marsh.

Cedar on the Marsh by Beth Thompson

I also walked beneath the majestic Corypha Palma:

I took a close-up of a young palm:

And finally reached the sea shell mounds, where live oaks (Quercus simpervirens) flourished:

Beth Thompson Photographing Sea Shell Mounds by Glenda Goss

I took several pictures of the sea shell mounds, beneath Quercus simpervirens….

Arm of Live Oak by Beth Thompson

Sea Shell Mounds by Beth Thompson

Shell Mound with Limb

Out of this last image I created another Possible Place:

]]> http://beththompsonphotography.com/2012/01/18/sea-shell-mounds-bartram-3/feed/ 0 http://beththompsonphotography.com/2012/01/10/divine-longings/ http://beththompsonphotography.com/2012/01/10/divine-longings/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:05:28 +0000 Beth http://beththompsonphotography.com/?p=1161 Continue reading →]]> Listen….

Please take a moment to listen to two opening paragraphs from William Bartram’s Travels (Opening by Trip Shakespeare, from song “The Slacks”):

God Issues:

To read, write, and respond to William I have to get comfortable with the idea of God. Which is an idea that at times I am not so comfortable with. To define the Creator, the Almighty (to use William’s words) is to limit it, whatever it is.

Trusting the Unseen:

But if I don’t define my Higher Power, I am challenged to put my trust in something that I can’t define, I can’t see, I can’t touch, even with words. My God, my Goddess is an indefinable feeling, something I experience. Its only through trusting enough to leave my house in the morning and head to work, to walk out the front door to see how my day unfolds, or even by ignoring how blocked I feel and putting words down on paper anyway, that I begin to see and feel the evidence of the

love

of my Higher Power in my life.

God’s Beard by Beth Thompson

Echoing through Centuries

I feel a resonance with William Bartram across the centuries, for like him; it is in the Wonder of Nature that I feel closest to God, where I find the most assurance of Divine Presence. Its for that reason that my primary focus in my photography is on the Works of Nature, and I feel that is the reason that William’s primary focus in his writing is also on the Works of Nature.

Listen….

Yesterday I opened up my Artist’s Way Daily Meditation Book and found the following reading:

Dance of Desire by Beth Thompson

I love the way Julia Cameron points out irrefutable evidence that there is a creative force in the world that goes beyond me, yet one I can participate in, one that supports me and nourishes me as a co-creator.

Lust for the Divine

Last month I received a call for art from Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta. The deadline is January 13, 2012. The call reads: “Show me lust.  Make me feel a passionate and overwhelming desire for something, anything.” I have chosen 5 images from my Possible Perception series, and called the cull: “Lust for the Divine.” I’ve pulled from that cull to illustrate this post. Enjoy!

The Perfect Thirst by Beth Thompson

I recently read Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg ( http://www.sayeverything.com/ )on the history of blogging, and while I was reading it, a friend loaned me the movie “Julie and Julia”. I didn’t make time for the movie, but Julie’s blog ( http://juliepowellbooks.com/blog.html ) was mentioned in the book. So I went back and rented the movie and watched it. Julie challenges herself to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s French Cooking recipe book in 365 days. Well, it was a success as a blog, a movie has been made about it, and Julie is now working as a writer and author.

Whose Musings?

So of course, as a nature and landscape photographer in the Southeastern United States, who loves to write and to read, what book could I use as my muse, to give some direction and inspiration to my writing and photography?

My Thing is the Southeast:

Well, a person cannot be even a highly amateur naturalist and environmentalist in the Southeast without hearing some mention of William Bartram. I first heard of him when I worked with the Upper Oconee Watershed Network, UOWN ( www.uown.org ). It was said that William traveled through this neck of the woods and wrote of the crystal clear waters of the Oconee.  Which just seemed impossible to me. As anyone who regularly observes and photographs the Oconee knows, the waters are anything but crystal clear. In fact, as my image Japanese River shows, the waters are more of an orangey-red brown color, especially after a heavy rain.

Japanese Screen River by Beth Thompson

During the drought, they are green. Just when did this William person travel to the Oconee River anyway?

Middle Oconee River in October by Beth Thompson

Bartram’s  Travels:

Never the less, in asking myself what book I could use to write about the nature and landscapes of the Southeast, William’s Travels came to mind. A trip to the library, and I had Francis Harper’s Naturalist Edition of William Bartram’s Travels in hand. It turns out William traveled to the Southeast in the 1700’s, prior to the Revolutionary War! That’s over 2 centuries ago! So I guess I will have to concede to William the crystal clear waters after all.

Crystal Clear Waters by Beth Thompson

Yes, I would like cheese with my whine!

As much as I would like to do a 365-day challenge with reading and responding to William’s book, with both writing and photography, I am reluctant to do so. One, what would the challenge be? To photograph every plant mentioned in the book? I think there are 50 or more mentioned in the first few pages of the introduction, all by Latin names, of which I am ignorant. Or should I challenge myself to photograph in his footsteps across the Southeast? Easy enough with one William Bartram trail head I spotted only 2 hours from here, but I would need at least 3 days to drive to and photograph the Okefenokee Swamp. Not to mention areas of North Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I don’t get that much free time from my job, or enough cash to make all those trips in a single year. And there’s also the not-so-small issue of my self-kindness practice. Do I really want to take on the pressure of retracing William’s every footstep over the course of a single year? Or researching hundreds of Latin names? While working at a completely unrelated job 30+ hours a week? I know, I know, Julie did it. But she had to eat dinner anyway!

Leap and the net will appear:

They say that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. So here’s my challenge: I will read and post a response to William’s Travels once a week for one year. That’s 52 posts in one year. A minimum of 52 images a year. I’ll keep going until I get to 52 posts, that’s my promise to you, my promise to myself. From translating a Latin plant name into a photograph and then into a Possible Perception or Fractal, to retracing William’s footsteps, to simply allowing his prose to inspire me to yet unknown adventures in photography and blogging, I take on this challenge.

So mote it be.

Magnolia grandiflora in Autumn by Beth Thompson

Spanish Moss on Live Oak Limb, Skidaway, Savannah, by Beth Thompson

Next the marsh itself caught my eye:

Moody Sky over Marsh, Skidaway, Savannah, by Beth Thompson

Neither image seemed quite like the one I was looking to work with however, so I kept digging though my files, and finally settled on this:

Spanish Moss, Sun shining through, Skidaway, Savannah by Beth Thompson

More Spanish moss growing on a live oak, but with much more dramatic lighting. Working on and off all day I managed to create a Possible Perception of Spanish moss, and it goes something like this:

Possible Perception 6019: Spanish Moss Perception by Beth Thompson

For a more detailed view of this most awesome Spanish Moss Perception, I suggest you click on the image. I know I am tooting my own horn here, but the magic of these images is that even I don’t quite know what the end result will be until I complete the image, and every time I complete one I am completely (no pun intended) amazed and astounded. It keeps it fresh and real and keeps me coming back to the design again and again.

This one is dedicated to Helen, you know who you are, and  you know why (or at least you can guess).

Love,

Beth

Winter Sky Grass Tree Fractal Photo by Beth Thompson

I start each morning with a gratitude list, at the end of my morning pages. But it becomes rote, I write stuff down without thinking about it. Like, “I’m grateful I woke up on time” on my day off. ????  On time for what? It’s my day off!

So today, when all of the United States is celebrating Thanksgiving, and I am killing time until I start making broccoli and cheese casserole and apple guacamole, and I am fully awake, I thought I might make a gratitude list.

1. I’m alive another day! Life is a blessing, when I stop to think about it.

2. Shelter, electricity, running water, clothes, food, all my most basic needs are met.

3. Books! I can read! Literacy!  I have a wealth of information and entertainment in my home. And if its not here: The Library!!!

4. Writing. My mastery and joy in the English language.

5. My computer and what I can do with it, blogging, creating abstract art, balancing my checkbook, getting deals in my email for all my favorite stores, coordinating visits with friends and loved ones.

Possible Place 6016: Dry Falls, Highlands, NC by Beth Thompson

6. My camera and my mastery of photography. The incredible zen of photography when it seems the camera is an extension of my body, naturally responding to my environment. And its possible because I am of sound body and mind too, I can walk, hike, crouch, squat, lift, turn, press the shutter button.

Autumn Kissing Tree by Beth Thompson

7. My puppy dog Luna. A dog will get you through times of no man better than a man will get you through times of no dog. In addition to falling asleep with her head on my stomach, she makes me laugh daily.

Luna and Beth: Self Portrait by Beth Thompson

8. My relationships, too many to list, but especially Suzanne, Denise, Christie, Mom, Dad, Joy, my grandparents Betty and Roy, Angie, James, Helen, Cate, Linda, Carol, Elizabeth, I could go on and on and on. And the folks at work, Shauna, Burns, and Holly, my work family.

9. A job in this economy, and one that actually uses my talents in photography and digital media! That I enjoy more days than not. (You have not truly lived until you’ve worked at a major retailer during the Christmas Season….)

10. The sense I have of great possibilities opening up just around the corner, perhaps its simply an optimistic outlook, or a result of making this list, but it feels good!

Got Gratitude? Tell me about it in the comments section!

]]> http://beththompsonphotography.com/2011/11/25/got-gratitude/feed/ 1 http://beththompsonphotography.com/2011/11/21/graphing-my-geography-part-4/ http://beththompsonphotography.com/2011/11/21/graphing-my-geography-part-4/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:20:50 +0000 Beth http://beththompsonphotography.com/?p=1039 Continue reading →]]> When I arrived back in Athens, I had no more rage, or even anger. I was humbled by the unconditional love my father showed me, allowing me to live with him despite the friction between his wife and I. He helped me get back onto my feet. I recall well the day I had a smidgen of road-rage at another driver—I was like “YES! I’m back!” I had relied heavily on my rage for energy. Despite my lack of drive, I found these yellow leaves on the back patio one day, and created the 4 of Wands from them and a photograph of the biggest Ginko I’ve ever seen, which grows in the Courtland Garden in the South Bronx.  I think this is the only new piece from this time period.

Four of Wands by Beth Thompson

Because of the severe financial stress I endured in NYC, I decided that the solution to my woes was Nursing School.  I applied to a local community college, took the pre-requisites, aced the test, and was accepted into the RN Nursing program. I found that I loved medicine. I could dig into the research on the human body, its systems, the interconnectedness of a disease in one part of the body to another, and write about it well. The department head told me I asked the most insightful questions she had ever heard from a senior student. But when it came to getting up into a stranger’s personal space to care for them I got the hibee-gibees!  I learned a valuable lesson, which is that I am not a nurse.

Moreover, I found myself sneaking time away from my studies in nursing to do art.

Six of Swords by Beth Thompson

My art became a guilty pleasure. Which just seemed all wrong to me. When I withdrew from the RN program a full time position came open at the Wal-Mart photo lab where I worked, and I jumped on it. Work full time and spend my extra hours doing my art? I was all about that. Never had my job seemed so attractive to me.  When I made my move, recommitting to myself as an artist, I realized something. I was finally back on the Path of Peace that my friend the labyrintista always talked about.

I met with my mother’s financial advisor, Todd Emily, who gave me this advice: When there is someone who makes good art and who also has a head for business, they usually make money. I took that as direction to learn about business. Much of which came down to marketing, at least at first.

Two years later I had a thriving art business and a full-time job. In other words, I was working 80 hours a week, every week.  Once again I had created a situation that I couldn’t sustain. Close friends were telling me repeatedly that I didn’t know how to relax, to nurture myself.

And they were right.

Computer geek that I am, one day I came home and googled self-nurture. And thus discovered the Comfort Café online, run by the Comfort Queen, Jennifer Louden. I joined and added the audio recordings, journal questions, and discussion boards to my 80-hour weeks. This put me over the top, and next thing I knew I was on leave of absence from work. What a blessing in disguise!

During this time I managed my health with meditation each morning. One morning I while I was sitting I thought about how I had marched for peace in NYC, and failed to bring peace to my country or the world. And I thought about how I had sought inner peace by learning self-nurturing and yet failed to find it. And I realized that my job is simply to seek peace, to do the work for peace. But actual peace, be it inner peace or outer peace, was up to a power greater than myself, and not my problem.

Reclaiming the Flag by Beth Thompson 2003

Uncertain how my money was going to sustain me after my sick pay was done, I applied for and received an emergency grant for artists from Change, Inc. One day I went to the mailbox to drop the checks for bills into the mail, representing the last of my money, and when I checked my mail, there was a check. I got the grant.

When I returned to work at the photo lab, I reduced my hours. In the following few years I have continued to learn about self-care and self-nurturing. I have learned to pace myself. I have learned that just because I have good self-care I don’t necessarily stay stress-free, but when I do get stressed out I know how to care for myself better.  I know how to make myself stop, smell the roses, and relax. And it’s ok that, even though I know how to do all that, I don’t do it all the time. I have learned to listen to my body and respond to its needs before I get seriously run down.

While I am still in Athens, I am strengthening my connection to Atlanta. (Read about my adventures at the Atlanta Celebrates Photography Portfolio Review here.) There are more opportunities in Atlanta for artists, and I love the energy of the city. I have had to learn to pace myself on my trips to Atlanta, so that I don’t get over-stimulated and need a day of rest following a trip.  I am especially delighted that it’s been several years since I got completely lost in Atlanta, which used to be part of every trip.

In Athens, I own a town home, conveniently located across from Bishop Park, which is a public arboretum, with a lovely collection of unusual trees.

Tree at Bishop Park by Beth Thompson 2011

My home is also centrally located; so much of Athens is highly accessible to me, a perfect mix between city and nature.   My home is my workspace and my retreat from the world. While other places still call to me geographically, at this time I plan to keep my town home as a home base, to return to over and over.

Read Graphing my Geography: Part 1

Read Graphing my Geography: Part 2

Read Graphing my Geography: Part 3

Dry Falls in Autumn by Beth Thompson

I am loving the Possible Perception of a Possible Place that came out of this photograph. The star in the center pointing at the bright fall colors in half circles on the edges, its asymmetry, which one has to look closely to detect. Bold and beautiful, yet subtle.

Possible Place 6016: Dry Falls, Highlands, NC by Beth Thompson, click image for larger view.