I see you

found via a tweet from my dear friend, who was actually retweeting this fire cracker.

What a great premise for a film.  What a great premise on life!  And Cafe Gratitude! Wow, what a place*.  Imagine your waiter/waitress coming up and asking you a question like that, and being genuinely interested in your answer!  Reading Frank's own introduction, it seems there isn't enough of this in life.  A place where people can go and be heard.  Because it would seem being listened to can create miracles.  Can be transformational.

I think that's what drew me to blogging intially, and something I was finding hard to seperate from my completely personal, and now, supposedly more businesslike, blog.   But it keeps getting clearer.  My voice, is my voice, and represents who I am.  My blog is my way of communiticating to people I know, don't know, hope to know -  and yes, some of them will be potential clients. But ultimately it's about connection.   My blog, my business, me.  I am looking to connect with people.  I know I have the option of having two blogs, but the nature of what I do is personal, and it is important to me that I am selected not just for the photographs I take but because of who I am too.   I want my clients to like me because I want to like them - and I'll be honest, it's hard to like people who don't like you :)  But anyhow, I digress...

In the beginning, I was just looking to be heard.  I guess I still am in many ways; in fact I think we all are in one way or another.  Just look at the phenomenon of Facebook and Twitter; we are all consicously, or not, looking to be seen.   Because to me, being heard and being seen, are the same thing.  You know like in Avatar, when what's-her-name says to the gorgeous Sam Worthington, "I see you." Hell yeah, Sam, I see you too ;)  But seriously, do you know what I mean?  For someone to fully see me, inside and out, they need to hear me.

At times I find  that difficult in day to day life.  We live in such fast paced times, at times it can leave us acting on automatic or neutral.  If not dashing from one thing to another, we just coast, trying to regain some energy before the dashing begins again.  Certainly for me, it seems sometimes I go from 0 to a 100mph with very little in between.

Interestingly enough this is something I am learning through photography.  To pause.  Listen.  And reflect.  Internally and externally, this is what I am trying to do.

* is there somewhere like this in the UK?