liz song (beloved)

hello beautiful friends,,,

i haven't been sharing much of the Beloved work, (which is presently my primary photographic focus) because i'm saving it up for the official launch of the Beloved project at my platform class at WPPI this march. there are a lot of beautiful pieces to share, and i can't wait,,, but i have to, lol ;)

i did however want to share a few images from a recent Beloved session with my dear friend and gifted artist Liz Song. she is a most lovely person whose presence and work i truly believe will move worlds,,, you can follow her & her unique journey on twitter here.

there are currently three kinds of Beloved sessions - a) those that feature the connection between a couple in love b) those that feature the connection between a person and a loved one they have lost c) those that feature the connection within.

Liz's Collection is of the third variety. i have done several such 'solo' Beloved sessions with people interested in deepening, exploring and expressing their inner connection, and have found them uniquely beautiful.

i believe that all the work i've poured into Beloved over the past two years will be put to very good use. the sessions themselves have already been benefit enough, of course, but my hope is that this just represents the beginning. how beautiful it is for me to imagine a day when these kinds of sessions are being offered on a global field via inspired photographers around the world.

my speech at WPPI is geared to kick off that dream. i'll be sharing my findings so far, my vision, and the maps i hope many will use to discover their own beautiful journeys in this new frontier :)

many blessings,,,

jesh *

how the light gets in,,, (life)

there are cracks in everything, Leonard Cohen said,,, that's how the light gets in.

i loved that line the first time i heard it, but it has grown to mean even more to me as time passes.

the cracks in everything,,, yes, as much as we fear breaking, it is so often those breakings that become the openings we discover later we never could have flourished without.

i do not seek to be broken, but i recognize this body for what it is - a vehicle for expressing what otherwise is voiceless - and when this form becomes too frozen stiff to serve that purpose, its feet wooden, its jaw clenched tight, then it is the heat that quickens that returns me to the movement i was born to.

we are not this collection of burdens, bones, heavy weights of failures and fears,,, no. we are so much lighter than all of that. it is good to be reminded when we become lost in our heaviness, choking on the dust we stir by crawling in a body that was better made to be airborne.

if you feel heavy, it is not you that you feel, but all that lies upon you. take it off, my dear friends. you are so much better unbridled,,, and the glow you give, when you are free, is a gift to those who surround you in ways that cannot be measured.

if i fall a thousand times, i will rise a thousand and one. life is not a measurement of the depths to which we fall, or even the heights to which we rise, but the movement that exists in both, and the way it brings us to a blooming we can't find any other way.

with love,

jesh *