Skip to main content

Practice makes perfect


I have realized over the past few years that practice does make perfect... or at least you get better at it. Whether you write, take pictures, snowshoe, or pray, the more you do it the better you get. Also, if you do it every day, even for just a short while, you get better.

Along with this, I realize that perfect scares people and makes people a little crazy. I think in art and life it is more important to be honest then perfect. People appreciate honesty way more then perfection. Perfection seems to stop people from doing anything. It was an epiphany for me when it hit that starting something new will always be messy and that is okay. An honest mess is better then trying to attain and sustain perfection. 

So to pull the two together. If you want to get better at something then try to do a little of it every day and don't be concerned with how good it looks up front. Practice honestly and you will get better as a by-product if nothing else.

I went almost five years without taking a serious picture. When I wanted to get back into it, i tried hard to not be who I was or to try and take that quality photograph. I do try and take at least one picture every day. I have gotten better but I am not the same person I was half a decade ago (thank Jesus) and the photographs take that into account. They may not be perfect but I do hope they are honest. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. SundanceFebruary 18, 2009 at 6:31 AM

    I liked a lot the way you write.
    I will pass often to see your news.
    Greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. HopeNovember 6, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    I know this was from ages ago, but I agree, Jolabreeze! Well said!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 21, 2013 at 3:03 PM

    practice makes proficient. perfection is ridiculous :P :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Colonial Gaze in Film: re-wathching Roland Joffé's "The Mission"

I thought I was so smart coming up with this idea after learning about the male gaze several years ago. Let us refresh our minds and re-examine the wiki defining "In  feminist theory , the  male gaze  is the act of depicting  women  and the  world , in the  visual arts  and in  literature , from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and  represents  women as  sexual objects  for the pleasure of the  heterosexual   male  viewer." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze. Last accessed July 22, 2021). There is an abundance of quality explanations and explorations on this topic from a variety of points of academic rigour. I personally will be using Mollie Bowman as a guide and model and inspiration. I need direction. Of course I will not be the first one to apply this technique to the ideas of a colonial gaze. This will be the first time that I have re-watched a film while critically reflect...
Post a Comment
Read more

Decolonizing Food

This year, I switched from a propane BBQ to charcoal grilling. I chose it because it is slow and it is an event. First, I build a little fire using twigs and paper I have gathered. Then I add my wood charcoal chunks. Finally, I spend the rest of the day cooking vegetables and meat. It gives me time to teach my kids, to thank the food itself, to talk with Creator and the other creatures that flit through our backyard space. Time and space and place. Relationship and gratitude.  My great grandfather trapped and showed us about cleaning and skinning. I have hunted and fished but not done so lately. Though our family has been practicing foraging or gathering. We grow grapes and harvest those. We gather dandelion greens and plantain. We make syrups and jellies from many of the edible flowers in our urban space. We even try to gather fruit from urban trees that is not being eaten by others. I would like to try an urban sugar bush project. You never take the first or the last. Y...
1 comment
Read more

A Decolonization Recipe (Part 2): Reading Lists

Here is the thing, I have read a lot of books on this journey. It is important to once again, situate my context of knowing and learning. I am settler-Acadian. I grew up along the Wolastoq and now live in Mi'kma'ki, the part now currently known as Nova Scotia. I am a treaty person with the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1725 forward. This journey is impossible without reading. I spent a lot of years reading almost exclusively from the voice of straight, white, men. I needed to spend a long time listening to different voices... decentering whiteness. Read indigenous authors. Read women authors.  In an effort for manageability, I have put some of these books in different pots. It doesn't mean they should always stay there. Also, this is not an exhaustive list. I am not sure if I could pinpoint the reason I chose these other than they are my regular "you may want to start with some of these" books when I am asked about reading lists. I haven't even mentioned th...
Post a Comment
Read more