the skies opened up in all their glory tonite over the southern Utah skies...
it’s been nothing less than sheer peace here... the vibration of mother earth.... the silence and formations of rock and sand, mixed with ancestral history.. no one in sight in a vast landscape that seems to go on forever....... gods country
feeling ever so grateful for this moment in time.. where so much has been going wrong in our world.. but in this moment everything feels so right.... i just want to hold onto this sacred time.. where everything seems to have meaning..
The Womb
i'm usually the one taking these kind of photos....but sometimes you just got to jump in.(literally) .be the muse and have someone else shoot you..... so thank you so so much my compadre’ and travel partner for colloborating with me so much on this journey
Betrayal
When They See Us... on Netflix...
A must see / this series on the Central Park Five....
I saw the documentary years ago, but this dramatic portrayal, is so painful to watch, creates such anger, betrayal and distrust..
the only minuscule redeeming thing is that they were Acquitted of all charges..(but it should have NEVER happened), and got some compensation.. but what can ever compensate for the life lost, the brutality and criminality on the part of the poilice, investigators..and prosectors...NOTHING!!! dispicable.....
And all the mothers , fathers,brothers and sisters, grandparents that helped nourish , and provide to the best of their ability loving homes, promises of futures.. families torn apart, left in disarray and anguish
and while it is 20 years later... we are on a backward slide..or maybe we never really progressed as much as we believed..... so much has not changed with the racial profiling of black men and youth..
Reforms to our criminal justice system should be an imperative for all
Eating out the Insides
when i was a little girl... my mother meticulously cut away the crusts of my sandwiches because she knew i would always eat out the insides, where the bread was soft and plump with tuna or peanut and jelly and leave the crust behind, just like this... on the edge of the plate
something about seeing this familiar image drew me right in.. initially i think it was the table cloth and plate making it more of a visual feast..just like the insides of a sandwich...the obvious tasty palatable part.... but what resonated was the crust left behind... .. to a repeated childhood memory 50+ years ago..
as an adult i look at it now.....symbolic of one of lifes many lessons.....that which we dont want to see or deal with..... the left overs....what’s left behind..... someone eating out the good of something.... the easy part...the insides... something more accessible... and yet what might be harder ..less tangible..taking more effort...and therefore more difficult to swallow... left over..........
what i know... is that it’s easy to enjoy and feast on all the good parts life has to offer.. but it’s often the mountains we climb... the seasons we must get through.. lifes curve balls that make us stronger...wiser.. more compassionate and decent.. we learn empathy... and develop character.......
Second Chance
she grabbed my attention once before.. hanging out the same window... as if that was her permanent place .. like a fixture watching the world go by......
quickly i raised my camera, asking to take her image so as not to miss her resolute composure, and the glint in her eyes, but she balked and, said “no" and i quickly put my camera down in complete respect...
then i came upon her again many months later , completely forgetting the last time , and of course my camera raised again..because i am drawn all over again...and she too again balked.. as neither had changed our position..... i said ok.. but you look so wonderful in that window... .and she acquiesced letting me shoot, me quickly grabbing some images before she began to pose and change her expressions... images i didn't want ,but continued shooting as she felt like a star and seemed so proud... and now was revelling in the attention..
when i am done she decides my skin is too dry from the sun.... and runs into the house to grab some special bottle of oils she says i must put on... and i do so returning the bottle , but she insists i must take it with me ...
i find it fascinating how connections are made..how we warm up to each other when we take down our guards.. just one human being to another...pure and simple...
i continue on my way......both of us with smiles...
when i see her again ..i'll try to bring her back one of the images..
A Moment of Light
I was driving around in the Semana Peninsula in 2015, in a total stupor, an other worldly fog...... i just had surgery after discovering i had cancer and would undergo chemotherapy in a week.. i was belligerent about that.. i knew it would save my life, but i had been in an internal war, because i saw it as posion.. (believe me i got over it once i understood---life or death)
i looked at everyone in front of me , lives looking jovial.. healthy... long flowing hair on women as i was expecting mine to fall out....
i put on my happy face.. grabbed each day with complete nina vigor; beach, sea , food, drink, camera camera camera....driving to get lost... my favorite of all favorites
it was one of those trips i had anticipated where there would be so much for me to shoot.. but it wasn't as rich for me as i expected... maybe because i was different.. my inner calibration was so off....
but in the country on some side road i fell into a short spanish conversation with this woman.. i loved the wildness of her white hair... it was just a moment. .a simple 20 minutes maybe.. but those minutes were precious... and gave me enough lift to find my smile and carry on...
that is what photography does for me.... why my love mostly, but not entirely rests with capturing the nuances of people...... observing them.. talking to them.. connecting the dots between daily lives....different realities... it makes one feel so supremely alive....
80 percent or more of my images i can remember the exact moment. i remember who i was talking to .. where i was.. not a fly by... it's like this grand family of mine in pictures.. because over the years you see the images.. current and past. and they become part of you...your history
"Photo - Nina Weinberg Doran. Her work has textures and contours that have a clear voice - a very human one. This photo really hit me - because of the many women that live in me - she is one of them.” Susanne Ramirez de Arellano”
The Power of Connection
when i think of my photography.. what has inspired me and got me hooked from the very beginning........ it's what i feel when i want to approach a subject...or have something in mind to shoot... i have always felt a beat inside my chest...excitement maybe.... like a sonar device beeping loudly..... telling me when I’m close to something hot that resonates for me
it usually begins with the power of connection. i feel something.. i see something out of the corner of my eye~ in another that i relate to.. that stirs me.. evokes some emotion.. interest..or peeks my curiosity... i just want to move in a little closer..observe....... to examine it... usually it's something small.. a nuance...
this also makes me realize that when people are not connecting.. relating.. there is a feeling of distance.. . ..isolation.. being unseen or unheard.. just invisible at times too...
i think a lot of the discord between people of different cultures.. religions.. political affiliations..... friends... lovers.... is that there are barriers within ourselves..from beliefs, state of mind, anger, unresolved issues....distortion, misinformation or lack of education...
we hold on tightly to our stance, sometimes without budging or knowing we are doing that..... unforgiving..... and yet.. we all just pretty much want the same things....to live a fulfilled peaceful life... in tandem with others....harmony.. peace.... Love.... and connection........
if we could just be more yielding.. open.. and push ourselves to see.. listen. observe.. to not go to our defaults..we’d all be better off......change is dependent on pushing for a new viewpoint.. a different lens ------first on ourselves....... and then on the world..
photography brings me closer to myself..my heart... my spirit.. what i believe.. feel... what i want to share... it brings me closer to others i might not have had the chance to meet or talk to...... and broadens my deeper sense of connection to the world at large.. if i can feel this peace.. and deepening connection within it only empowers me to form the same deep connections with others...it’s what makes me feel alive....
Life and Death in Guatemala
walking in the hot sun .... my feet are beginning to tire and kill me.......i've been up and down alleys... i decide to drive a bit to higher elevations ... then down..giving my feet a rest... when i notice i can not get by.. there is a gathering below........
so i leave a diff route, but not before i see what is going on... i thought a wedding. a fiesta of sorts.. but it was a funeral.. this is the third time i've experienced this.. .. each time a bit different from the last .......
the men are lined up in long aisles.... the women behind.. music is playing.. horns.. guitars... men at first carry the coffin. later the women....
i am following,. trying to keep up. so excited, my heart is pounding. this is what i live for....... .. im up and down on sidewalks, trying to keep pace.... even falling off one and almost dropping my camera.. falling into the crowd, where others caught me... but i made it.... continuing all the way up through horses carrying wood to the cemetery... a whole other incredible experience.
what a day... just a taste here.. more later.. these kinds of moments set me on fire.. alls well with the world. part of something greater. life and death in guatemala...
