Pattern Break

Breaking patterns, creating new opportunities, connecting with the world,
with people
differently...
all requires a reset. Stepping out of your comfortable way of doing things, trying something you've never done before, doing something
new.

This week I took 'Facial Expressions,' a visual journaling workshop in Taos, New Mexico with Orly Avineri.



As a graphic designer, and a photographer, I create visual images. But I do so with equipment and a computer.

In the workshop I have reconnected with writing, hand writing, as well as creating with my hands.

Rediscovering handwork such as cutting, pasting, stitching, & painting has opened up rusty hinged doors of expression that are freeing and childlike.

I teeter on a threshold of exploration, new beginnings.





Artwork & words by Terry Rowe, photography available at www.terryrowe.photography.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Sunflowers and Death

Winding down a long weekend, a tough work week looming.

Sunday began with the bright promise of an early morning visit to McKee-Beshers Wildlife Refuge in Maryland to photograph in the fields of sunflowers. The weather was cool and clear, lovely for an almost August day. We got in early enough to enjoy long periods of silence with the flowers. We left as the crowds started to arrive with their loud voices and selfie sticks.

A rush home to attend the memorial viewing of a friend's wife. Death's timing is hardly ever good.

This day was bracketed by life and death, and now as it closes I'm lead to try and make sense of it, but I cannot. The bright morning with sunflowers stretching to the sun, and with the evening, time to mark the passing of a life. Light to dark, life to death.

This is a passage all living things must take - still, if I could have a wish it would be to return loved ones to those who miss them, to make broken hearts whole.

Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Idioms and Thoughts

It's a gray, rainy, almost chilly spring day. It is spring so the birds are noisy, there are flowers, and green things are greening. But it is also gray, and all my weekend plans - which involved being outdoors - have been cancelled or altered because of the rain. So the gray rain has started my thoughts down a darker path.

I was thinking of a phrase, "Happy enough" that I heard on the Netflix series, 'Grace and Frankie.' Grace (Jane Fonda) uses it when her husband Robert (Martin Sheen) asks her how she felt about their marriage after he has just asked her for a divorce. Happy enough. I've never wanted happy enough - which is evident by the way my life has evolved. I've wanted happy or not, good not bad, all in or all out.

The next phrase, maybe even a counter-point to 'happy enough' is 'better than nothing.' While I've often rejected 'happy enough' I found myself, yesterday, flipping out the 'better than nothing' phrase. I had planned to send the entire day with a beloved friend, but work and life got in the way and our day turned into a few hours. I said, well a few hours with you is 'better than nothing.' Which actually is not true - nothing is nothing - it's a void that can turn into a sorrowful well.

A few hours with a loved friend can be wonderful, as long as the focus is on present - not on the missing hours or the unknown future.

Better than nothing, far, far better. Because we never know how much time we have to spend with those we love, so even a few hours can be precious.

Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Week 13 of 2017 - A Photograph a Day - Project 365

The thirteenth week of 2017, the 365 photograph a day project. Started the week off with a day trip to Hoopers Islands in Dorchester County in Maryland, among the sites visited was an abandoned cemetery being reclaimed by the Chesapeake Bay. The rest of the week was split between work & home. This week saw the close of the first quarter of 2017 and the first day of the second quarter.


Gravesite of an 1812 war veteran. Anchor of Hope Cemetery, Hoopers Island, Dorchester Co., MD

Day 85 03-26-2017

Day 86 03-27-2017

A dark, wet, and dreary day brightened by cherry blossoms.

Day 87 03-28-2017

A Washington commuter

Day 88 03-29-2017

Spools of string & ribbon, collection in a ceramic bowl

Day 89 03-30-2017

Every parcel of my being 
is in full bloom. ~ Rumi

Daffodil

Day 89 03-31-2017

Tomatoes on the sideboard.

Day 90 04-01-2017

Spool of velvet ribbon





















Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Twelfth Week of 2017 - A Photograph a Day - Project 365

March continues to bluster and blow, hot and cold. Fickle with no commitment to winter or spring. Still, hope lives, and spring peeks out where it can.

Day 78 03-19-2017

You must not blame me 
if I do talk to the clouds. 
~Henry David Thoreau

Day 79 03-20-2017

 "...of the fiction"

What is fiction and what is truth for you, in your life?

Day 80 03-21-2017

Tulips, promise that
spring will come

Day 80 03-21-2017

Day 81 03-22-2017

A pre-dawn walk in the park,
there a child's bike,
left behind.

Day 82 03-23-2017

In spite of the cruelty of a late March freeze, some of the cherry blossoms bloom with glory. A promise that even the hardest of times will pass, and
beauty will shine.

Day 83 03-24-2017

A rain-splattered door after a cold, wet start to the day the sunshine beacons. And the dog's reflection shows his wistful desire to be out playing in the mud.

Day 84 03-25-2017

Three pears on the windowsill


















Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.

Eleventh Week of 2017 - A Photograph a Day - Project 365

The eleventh week of the year, weather jumps from bitter cold to teasing warmth, the capriciousness of spring. Torn between longing to be out and about, capturing the change that spring brings to the landscape, and the desire to huddle inside, warm, waiting for sunshine and warm breezes.

Day 71 03-12-2017

Whenever sorrow comes, 

be kind to it.
For God has placed a pearl 

in sorrow’s hand.
~ Rumi

 

Day 72 03-13-2017

Snow and bitter cold threaten the blooming daffodils, 
so I cut bouquets to brighten 
the dark night.

Day 72 03-13-2017

Day 73 03-14-2017

Freezing cold temperatures,
freezing rain and snow coat
theblooming cherry blossoms
with ice. Some will survive, many will not - making those that survive all the more precious.

Day 74 03-15-2017

Bitter cold northern winds, sparrows huddle sparrows huddle in the fold of a cement wall for warmth.

Day 75 03-16-2017

Tulips in the snow. 
March is a cruel cruel month.

Day 76 03-17-2017

The only daffodils to survive the freeze were the ones I cut for the house. Bright faces holding back the cold.

Day 76 03-17-2017

Day 77 03-18-2017

Let the journey begin. iphoneography
























Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

Week 7, 2017 Project 365, A Photograph a Day

The seventh week of 2017, a photograph a day, every day. Some days I know exactly what I wish to photograph, to show, to say...other days an image, a thought is revealed as I go about my day.

Like life, the work of creating is sometimes clear and sometimes a struggle. Following is the past week's work.

Day 43 02-12-2017

"Burnt Offerings,"
a burnt rose lies in the
paper ashes of words.

Day 44 02-13-2017

Linens on the line,
laundry day

Day 45 02-14-2017

Shop window,
Valentine's Day,
Mount Vernon Avenue,
Del Ray Neighborhood,
Alexandria, Virginia

Day 46 02-15-2017

A wing of the Capitol,
Washington, DC

Day 47 02-16-2017

Feather as book mark

Day 48 02-17-2017

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet. ~Rumi

Sunset sky, Tidal Basin, Washington, DC

Day 49 02-18-2017

Not on Duty

Beach, Wildwood, New Jersey



















Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

2017 Project 365, A Photograph a Day, Week 6

The sixth week of 2017, in first full February week, encompassed an ordinary week. Some photos came from me living my life, some from photo walks, others were set up. Each day presented a new challenge, a new opportunity to see.

Porch / Day 36 02/05/2017

The week started off warm enough to spend several hours porch sitting. Feet up with a good book, dreaming of spring and summer.

Birch Bark / Day 37 02/06/2017

Focus on the bark of a birch tree,
all intriguing texture.

Graffiti / Day 38 02/07/2017

Graffiti under a bridge by the Potomac River.

Swoosh / Day 39 02/08/2017

Playing around with effects of shooting with an iPhone in the dark. The green swoosh was a surprise, hoping I can duplicate the result.

Snow Moon / Day 40 02/09/2017

Driving home after a long day at work, the Snow Moon rides with me. I stop to capture it as the setting sun colors the clouds.

Blue jay feather / Day 41 02/10/2017

A found blue jay feather laid out on a window sill in the morning sun.

Street art, Carytown, Richmond / Day 42 02-11-2017

 A late afternoon ride to Richmond, visiting an artist friend at her trunk show, this street mural caught my eye.




















Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

2017 365 Project, Week Five

The fifth week of the year, moving in to February and closer to spring. The days swing warm to cold, but each day bring a little more light. Please enjoy the images from this week.

Morning light on winter grasses /
Day 29 / 01-29-2017

Gargoyle, Rayburn House Office Building /
Day 30 / 01-30-2017

Dulles Airport, sky watching & day dreaming /
Day 31 01-31-2017

On the porch /
Day 32 02-01-2017

Cabinet detail /
Day 33  02-02-2017

Coloring book to add some zen to the end of a hard week /
Day 34 02-03-2017

Conservatory, Lewis Ginter Garden, Richmond, Virginia /
Day 35 02-04-2017

Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

Eight Years, A Photograph a Day

For eight years I've taken a photograph a day. I picked a day, January 18, and collected the photos from each of those years. Following are the shots from eight January 18s.  

Loudoun County, January 18, 2010

Ice storm, Alexandria, January 18, 2011

Madonna and child, January 18, 2012

Abstract face from a girder in DC, January 18, 2013

Windowsill, a collection of feathers, January 18, 2014

Lichen from Chapel Hill, NC woods, January 18, 2015

VW, road trip, January 18, 2016

Yard chair, Alexandria, Virginia, January 18, 2017

Photography & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

Thank you for your interest in this work.