Shared this on my other socials but realised I forgot to post it here:
This is a major milestone for me! 1,010 monthly listeners. I know this number might not stay this way forever, but I'm thrilled to see I was able to go past the 1000 mark.
"Reflection" is an interesting action, to let your mind more or less run wild and hope something useful will stand at the end. (How wonderful that's often the case!) German philosopher Andreas Reckwitz argued that self-reflection is not necessarily something "natural," but a social practice like many others that was developed during the Renaissance and in its aftermath as people started to write and read and to construct stories and narratives about their lives. I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm a sucker for slightly-too-big social theories. At least the way ("Bullet") journals and Note-taking apps and diaries are marketed speaks to the theory that reflection indeed is a rather personal (solitary) practice based on writing.
This need not be so, though! First there is of course a conversational approach to reflection - a long walk with a friend along the shore during winter or around an autumn lake, for example, a mild summer evening on the balcony with one too much bottle of wine - pick your poison. (Even dinner at a meditation retreat or a therapy session might work if you prefer your friends not to know... whatever.)
And then there's photography! It's actually one of the things about photography I like most, the silent dialogue it allows with myself. While in normal times it is quickly directed outwards, towards people in the streets, birds in the air or the water in the sea, it took an inward-turn while I spent the two weeks in quarantine. "Reflection" here obtained a literal meaning, as I looked at my image on the screen of my camera or fixed my reflection in the window.
What role do images and photos play in your reflective practice? Are they the starting point of a habit of contemplation? Have you built rituals around them?
More filmmakers today should study Kurosawa (and other past masters). So many of today's films are so bland, so unimaginative in terms of the cinematic use of movement. Even the ones with lots of movement, that movement is all too often unimaginative and doesn't serve the narrative or the characters.
But I've got so many questions, now.. Why is Yasuo so old? Who are the people with the bird masks? What do they want? So many questions and no answers.
We love this photo of Jacob Freda from @missionplanmovie currently in post-production. We can't wait for you to meet his delightful and hilarious character! Photography by Katie Toon, Insta katietoon_stills