Photography 101: Bliss

In March 2014, I started my Living, Learning and Letting Go blog. Creating posts for the blog has without doubt been a major source of bliss for me. When I think of which post I associate most with the word bliss, Bastet Pixelventures: One Point Perspective photography challenge comes to mind.

When first I read her challenge on June 2, I had no idea what a one point perspective was. I read Bastet’s directions and also looked the phrase up on Wikipedia. Wikipedia says:

A one-point perspective drawing means that the drawing has a single vanishing point, usually (though not necessarily) directly opposite the viewer’s eye and usually (though not necessarily) on the horizon line. All lines parallel with the viewer’s line of sight recede to the horizon towards this vanishing point. This is the standard “receding railroad tracks” phenomenon.

Now I knew what it was, but what photo could I take? As I started on my morning meditation walk, ideas began to enter my mind. I knew I wanted it to be a useful photograph, i.e. something that had a purpose beyond my post. Next I thought of the PNW Litter Project I coordinate. I could take a photo that could not only be used for the challenge, but also in our monthly GreenFriends newsletter and for Litter Project promotion.

Soon thereafter, it dawned on me how I could accomplish my goal. I was so excited. As soon as I returned home, I set to work.

A main focus of the Litter Project is to pick up cigarette butts, the biggest form of litter in the world. The butts are so toxic to the earth and to our waterways, marine animals, birds, etc. To date we have picked up more than 225,000 butts. We send them to TerraCycle to be turned into plastic pallets.

My idea was to create a photo that shows the never ending nature of the problem. To do that, I placed 1375 cigarette butts in a straight line on a sidewalk near my home. It worked!

I definitely felt blissful while creating the imagery and when I saw the photograph!

Cigarette Butt Litter in One Point Perspective

Written for Photography 101: Bliss

The Beginning of a New Passion

During the last week of June 2011, I had a series of eye-opening experiences. As the week came to a close, I realized I also had a new direction in my life, the beginning of a new service project. How this project came about seemed almost mystical to me.

Some background first. Amma* has asked us for years to chant the Sri Lalitha Sahasranama** (also called archana) daily. While I have not been consistent in my chanting, I have had numerous powerful experiences when I have followed her direction to chant it daily. This was one of those times.

My normal practice is to read/chant the text while walking. I generally take one of four routes so that I know the terrain and can be focusing on the chant rather than my feet! This is what unfolded during those seven days in June 2011:

Day 1

I chanted the archana while walking the perimeter of the play yard in a grade school that is a block from my house. After reciting the first 850 lines, I started walking back home. A minute or two after leaving the school yard, I looked down at my feet and saw I was walking through an area of the sidewalk that was full of dog poop. I felt very irritated that the dog owner hadn’t cleaned it up and worried that I had stepped in the poop either coming or going from the play yard. Scowling, I continued on with the archana. Continue reading “The Beginning of a New Passion” →

Bastet’s Pixelventures: One Point Perspective

The most common form of litter in the world are cigarette butts. It is estimated that 4.5 trillion of the butts are tossed yearly.

Many people don’t realize that cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate tow, not cotton, and they can take decades to degrade.

Birds and animals eat these toxic items. Investigators in a San Diego State University study discovered that if you put fathead minnows and top smelt in a liter of water that also contains a single cigarette butt, half of the fish will die.

I decided I would answer this week’s Bastet’s Pixelventures challenge by creating a picture that shows the enormity of the cigarette butt litter problem. I did that by placing 1,375 butts in a single line on a sidewalk near my home.