Notes on a page have always been something that has eluded me. I remember when I was in seventh grade, my music teacher ask me to read some notes written on the board. I told her I couldn’t; I didn’t know how - I had never been taught. “Haven’t you taken music before?” “Yes” I said. “Everyone can read music!” she screamed.
After that I never had the patience to learn. But then again I was never given a reason to. This hasn’t stopped my love for listening to music. The variety of notes and they way a musician can intertwine them to make a song amazes me. I really wish I could play an instrument and be creative in that way. I wish I was taught the patience to learn.
Knowing is something that has to be taught and not expected. Patience is something that is learned – some are born with it, but most have to be taught.
Patience is what photography has taught me. I’ve had great teachers who instilled a sense of love and yearning for that perfect moment. Waiting for what Henri Cartier-Bresson called the “decisive moment” gives me a thrill that is hard to explain. It isn’t necessarily about capturing the moment – it’s about the search for that moment. I guess it would be something like what a musician experiences when he or she hits the notes just the way they had expected. Or trying something new and experiencing a tingling in the body that says you are on to something special.
This is what I love about photography. It gives me a reason to search and learn. It helps me feed the curiosity I have about everything around me. Notes on a sheet of paper are once again interesting. I still have no idea what they mean or say, but I now have the patience to learn.
