Yesterday I went to our neighborhood laundromat for the first time.
During the little banter you do at the counter, I asked for the bathroom key, and as he handed it to me, the owner told me to look out for the ghost in there.
With a straight face.
The act of suggestion and creating an image in another mind is a powerful energetic exchange. If you only knew how your words really affect and create all around you!
You better believe I THOROUGHLY searched the room for anything out of the ordinary. This restroom was a little larger than a bathroom, and the motion control light at the door was at a distance from the seat.
You would have this picture playing in your head when the motion sensor turned the lights off while you were in the room.
He couldn’t know that when I was 11 and away at camp the counselor scared me with a story so bad I was afraid of bathroom mirrors for years.
But as a grown @$$ woman I sang, laughed, and twirled the key above my head all the while I was there – and in leaving, asked if there was a ghost or unwanted energy, to leave the building and go in peace.
When I returned the key, the owner asked me if anything had happened, and said.”when the light goes off. the ghost grabs you by the throat” and made the gesture.
Did he believe there was a ghost? Was this a game? I can only have my impression of the interaction: he had a serious expression through it all.
But it was transmuted this time by my intention not to play along. I thanked him for warning me about it so I was prepared.
Interesting watching his expression change. I think I spoiled his fun a little. Or exorcised the ghost. Both situations are ok with me.
Look at the stuff that scared you when you were a kid in the light of day. Look and keep looking to reduce the energetic ‘hold’ it has on you. No shame if you need to have a blanket to peek from! But see it, laugh at it, demystify it.
The image was a beautiful moment in the ceremony, deep within the photo, taken by a guest in the wedding party.
The groom is a photographer friend, and I know so well the axiom that “the shoemaker’s kids have no shoes,”
and how a photographer may sometimes never own any decent photos of their own important life events.
I saw another moment within the image – to be ‘brought out’ and brightened, so that it can be seen – and felt.
The difference between retouching and my creative ‘caress’ is that I use a quieter, more intuitive eye to see the newer photograph inside the original one, not just a cropping. I wrote another post about the technique in a June 6, 2020 post, Finding A Something More.
So happily honored to see that the bride posts this as her profile photo online. I wish Daphne and Jeff Happy Anniversary, and many dances together to come!
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives.
One of the most read posts I sent out on my WooWay personal newsletter mailing, called The Internet is Forever (Asterix) involved dealing with loss of the photographs I took for the Chicago Reader when the newspaper issues were digitized.
In this, I wrote about my discovery that examples of my early photography career with the Chicago Reader were no longer visible in their online archives…anywhere.
Due to size or intellectual property issues, they imported the articles, but did not include the photographs from earlier editions of the paper.
The email started with dealing with the reality of the situation – but at the end* celebrated the various soft and hard skills learned with the experience.
Fast forward nine months, and through the wonders of Instagram, I get a ‘ping’ from an artist group I photographed in 1992, updated in a Gossip Wolf column. (the article here.)
After I did a quiet appreciative happy dance, I decided to update the story. In addition to the pleasant surprise in being led to one of my photos, it was also a little reminder to me to give life’s irritations or obsessions up to the body’s wisdom, and let things happen as they will.
*Looking with the attitude that there is nothing to panic about or ‘fix’ is a mindset that allows for quiet personal wonder, delight, and awe, even within an ordinary day.
I found that by not fighting and resisting and replaying the memories accompanied by emotions that would suddenly float in and make themselves felt, they changed or would leave by themselves. No examining or selecting anything for further review, I stayed present with no judgement as to what came up, and it would just evaporate.
Practice presence in all different types of situations to have the grounded feeling of being inside your body. Feel the heat through your fingers, feel your toes against the floor, use your senses. Even if at times you conduct your day on autopilot, make time to connect with yourself through the day.
I invite you to subscribe to my ‘Woo Way’ newsletter for intuitive counterintuitive strategies to help sense the world around you at your best. The sign up link is here. I look forward to meeting you there.
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago photographer of peoples’ personal lives and celebrations. Contact her at perryportraitart@gmail.com or here. Thank you.
