My bright ideas just aren't panning out today. It started at work. I had a therapy client who pretty much refused to talk to me. I spent the first 20 minutes asking millions of questions trying to get somewhere, to no avail. I asked if he wanted to talk about anything at all, and he said no. I asked if he wanted to leave, and he said no. That left one option: sit in silence for the remainder of the session. So I told him so. Because, of course, that would teach him a lesson, right? He'd see that he was being irrational and wasteful, right? He'd begin to take responsibility for his treatment, right? Wrong. We sat in silence for 40 minutes. It was a long day, needless to say.
After work and dinner, of course, it was time for today's photo challenge. The theme was "favorite place," and I had given it some thought. I have a lot of favorite places in the world: the swing on my parents' back porch, the front porch of the old farm house I lived in in college... Look! A pattern! Porches. So I decided to photograph my favorite local porch, the one at the yacht club. I had it all composed in my head; I knew what angle I was going to shoot from and where I was going to position the rocking chair. When I got there, though, there were people everywhere. They were in the way of my intended shot, and I was too embarrassed to be moving furniture around for a picture in front of everyone anyway. I gave up and walked a couple of miles up and down the beach with my camera instead. I took a lot of pictures of egrets and the sunset and so forth, and it was a lot more enjoyable than that crowded porch. I decided that the beach itself is one of my favorite places, especially when I have my camera in hand. So I took a picture of a stranger who seems to agree.
I wanted to capture her looking through the viewfinder, but I didn't want her to spot me photo-stalking her, so this is all I could muster. I don't hate it. It might even be better than the porch picture I had in my head.
2 comments:
Let's look at your difficult client in a different way for just a minute...
Granted, I don't know the agency in which you work, or the clientele (although I want to say its adolescents), but... If it was a teenager, perhaps he was just treating you the way he treats everyone that he expects to push his boundaries, disrespect him, and not really listen once he does speak? I see it as a test where he is measuring your reactions to determine if you really are "safe." The way I see it, you (maybe even the first person to do so) respected his boundaries of not wanting to be forced to talk/act/do/etc. And, to channel Dr. Denney and "the work," it is so often something we can't see and sometimes don't even realize we're doing. Or maybe that wasn't the case at all...
Anyway, it sounded really frustrating, bu I appreciate the way you are keeping up with the photo challenge despite your hectic schedule! The topics (and your interpretations) are very unique :)
Thanks, Kari. I work with adults, but your interpretation still fits. I appreciate the encouragement!
Post a Comment