Grace of India

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Saturday, October 16, 2010 | 5 photos

I am a 38 year old elementary school teacher who quit her job to go traveling this year to hopefully break a habit of working without balance. In other words, I was headed towards burnout. Upon reflection, I've realized that it will be difficult for me to create space and time in my life for activities other than work, if I do not have activities I truly wish to engage in. Photography has been a vacation hobby for many years and I have been thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to experiment full time with it now. Perhaps it will evolve into a career change. However, I must admit that the perfectionism which is another ingredient for my unhealthy work habits has attached itself to the quest for creating truly great photographs. I am a master at finding fault with my photos. And I am haunted by the daily missed photos: the one I couldn't turn my camera on fast enough to catch out of the bus window, the one that a motorcycle drove through, and the one where she closed her eyes and I didn't notice until the evening review of the day's shots. Beyond these daily challenges that make catching one special image so difficult, I also feel limited by my lack of technical knowledge. I have never taken a photography class and I would very much welcome the amazing learning opportunity this scholarship provides. I have also long been inspired by projects that use photography as a means for self-empowering disadvantaged people. There are many different paths this scholarship could lead me to take. As for these photographs, India is a country of 1,139,964,932 people (2008) and all of the challenges that creates. However, I was impressed by the peace, patience, and beauty that I saw standing out in stark contrast to the pollution and crowds. These photos are thus an exploration of what I would call grace.