Another step

So I made some "business" cards for this thing I've started.  I say that in quotes as this isn't really a business but a project. Somehow I think that this might make it more official. Also now that I have spent some money I might actually have to do something!

But first maybe some inspiration. How does the internet define love? Lets ask Google!

Love (from dictionary.com)
–noun

1.a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

2.a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

3.sexual passion or desire.

 

–verb (used with object)

15.to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her.

16.to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).

17.to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music.

 

–verb (used without object)

21.to have love or affection for another person; be in love.

 

Well that is very dictionary like. So how about some quotes about love. Finding perspective of sorts.

 

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around." - Opening of Love Actually

 

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."
-Ingrid Bergman

"I believe that two people are connected at the heart, and it doesn't matter what you do, or who you are or where you live; there are no boundaries or barriers if two people are destined to be together." -  Julia Roberts

“When you are in love you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” - Dr. Seuss

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”- Mother Teresa 

 

“Love: the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” - Mark Twain

“Who, being loved, is poor?” – Oscar Wilde

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert A. Heinlein

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” - William Shakespeare

 

All good. All true. The next part of this whole thing is to find people to talk to and photograph. Have them tell me their stories of love. I have some ideas. My parents being one of the first stories I'd like to tell. Next a list of friends. Beyond that will hopefully be stories that are new to me.  

What is "Love Is......"?

So I had this idea a while ago and I thought that maybe I should actually get off my butt stop second guessing myself and actually do it. The blog is the first step.

The whole idea is to discover what love is.  What love can be defined as. There are so many people today that try to quantify love as something that is limited, something that has blinders. There are so very many people who yell and scream about what love can't be that I think there should be some shouting about what it can be or rather what it is. Love is many things. Love is the love of a mother and a child. A father and a child. Sibling love. Friend love. Pet love. Wow I really love sushi! I love how that tree looks in the moonlight. Love of people who strive to do good things. Love, unquantifiable love. Love just because you feel like loving something or someone.

I am not a religious person. I am not an atheist either. I have my beliefs and I am very comfortable in them. I have problems with organized religion. Many problems. But that does not mean I have a problem with people who find comfort in the ritual of religion. If it gives you comfort and makes you feel safe then good for you. My religion happens to be less ritualized. My churches are museums and forests and beaches, anywhere that inspires thought, creativity, connectivity and happiness. I used to define myself as a pagan, but that is still a definition. It is probably the closest kind of definition of my beliefs but not really. I think I will stay undefined from now on. Leaves things open minded and friendly to my thinking.

So what does this have to do with love? Love is other things. Romantic. Connecting. All consuming. Comfortable. Peaceful. Squishy. Funny. Balancing. The love that is between two people. Love is a person who makes a decision to connect another person and live their lives with that person.

Many religious people choose to define love as only between a man and a woman. They say that some love is a sin. That same sex love is evil and an abomination. That it puts the institution of marriage jeopardy. All the negative rhetoric is rather against the idea of love. I tell the kids in my preschool class, when they tattle on someone else in the room, to take care of themselves or rather to mind their own business. This is also what I say to these bigoted close minded folks. MIND YOUR OWN!!! If people just took this motto to heart there would probably be a whole lot less problems in the world. But the human population is not really capable of minding their own. In any way.

We live in a society were everyone has to know everyone's business. And everyone has an opinion on said business. We are a gossip society. Who is doing what, with who and why are they doing it? And that business is jettisoned across the internet with speed and gusto. Opinions fly around without regard of feelings and consequences. Saying something rude and tactless becomes a game of who can out do whom. It's ridiculous. Opinions can be shared in ways that are kinder. People can and should be kinder. I can be hopeful.

Alright. So again what does this all have to do with "Love is....."? Well, I want to show what love is to different people. Couples of every shape, size, gender, color, culture and age. There are so many stereotypes placed on love. I want to show that there are no stereotypes. There are and should not be rules on love. At it's essence love is pure and beautiful.

Part of this project is photography. I love unconventional portrait photography. I love portraits that show who people are in that one moment of vulnerability. The other part of this is having people tell their story. How they met and fell in love. How romantic or not romantic it was. All the funny and poignant, goofy and tearful, practical and faery tale stories that are out there. And also what they define romantic love as. There are so many kinds of love but for this project I am really only dealing with that one love. The one that is often joyful and satisfying. But also that love that can be controversial but shouldn't be. That should be connecting but is often dividing. That should be happy but sometimes causes pain. The stories of people that society says shouldn't love each other but they do anyway. Though I am not just looking for that controversial love. I am also looking for that everyday, seen everywhere love. Because love shouldn't be defined as one thing or another. Love just is. And that is as it should be.

So hopefully I will get this in gear and share some stories here. Where this is all going I really have no idea. Some of the best journeys have no plan just some vague ideas and a direction in which to place the first steps. It is the journey and not the destination. Wish me luck!