A few years ago I bought a package of printable, blank puzzles. The idea was fun … the application wasn't.
The die that cut the board didn't meet and the paper was really porous and the screen printer couldn't jam enough ink into the cuts to make a really good, solid impression.
My visions of clever invitations to parties faded quickly. You know, get a puzzle in the mail, fit it together and, “Wahoo!”, you are on your way to a party!!!
However. These are things you just don't toss – maybe there would be a time when someone would want to hand paint them. Is there … someone? Is this the time?
Anyhow, the puzzles are what they are and they reminded me of a former business partner. For her, everything was about knowing and getting the puzzle pieces together and making them fit. There were a few times she tried to make them work with the mallet of will – rather than with patience and finesse. Bless her heart.
Any art is more than its parts. Writing is more than grammar, vocabulary and having the tools we want at hand. To be a writer, we must write. Hence, people with things to say find a means of expression. Graffiti, vulgar lyrics, primal screams and artistic expressions we may find offensive are ways people try to say what they feel. Radical expressions of earlier days seem tame by comparison and so will our wild and crazy music and art seem to future generations.
Sometimes it does take a critical mass of equipment – say for your photography, to get you out and taking pictures. The same is true for putting thoughts down on paper.
It is probably true that some several thousands of people are sitting around thinking that if they had a better typewriter or computer or additional software, they would write a better book or BLOG. The old, “I'll start exercising when I feel better thing.”
Maybe someone is thinking that a better camera or lens will make them a better photographer.
Tomorrow a couple of colleagues and I are going to look at this year's entries in a teen photo contest. I wish I could listen to each of them tell the story of how they came to take their photograph and what it means to them. We have to judge the images for what they are and the kids get some cool prizes.
If I could talk to them about life, art and puzzle pieces, I think today I would tell them to toss the pieces away and think of themselves as the critical piece that finishes the puzzle for many others.
By the way, the puzzle at the top is a single puzzle, scanned. All the pieces are there. Can you fit the pieces together? You might have to think a little more than you imagine.
But, after all, you are the piece that finishes the puzzle. © Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com
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