Senses of Beauty
This jaunty derby
was an essential part
of this young man’s daily outfit
for school for a time.
We artistic types recognize
what courage it takes and what it costs
to be so different in this world.
This tiny picture fragment from long ago
becomes a testament to childhood’s beautiful, original spirit.
Dorothy Perry documents childhood at all ages. Contact her to photograph a loved one here. Consider yourself a loved one, too.
Life, you can’t subdue me because I refuse to take your discipline too seriously.
When you try to hurt me, I laugh — and the laughter knows no pain.
I appreciate your joys wherever I find them;
your sorrows neither frighten nor discourage me,
for there is laughter in my soul.
Temporary defeat does not make me sad.
I simply set music to the words of defeat and turn it into a song.
Your tears are not for me, for I like laughter much better, and because I like it,
I use it as a substitute for grief and sorrow and pain and disappointment.
Life, you are a fickle trickster — don’t deny it.
You slipped the emotion of love into my heart
so that you might use it as a thorn with which to prick my soul —
but I learned to dodge your trap with laughter.
You tried to lure me with the desire for gold,
but I have fooled you by following the trail which leads to knowledge instead.
You induced me to build beautiful friendships —
then converted my friends to enemies so you may harden my heart,
but I sidestepped your figure on this by laughing off your attempts
and selecting new friends in my own way.
You caused men to cheat me at trade so I will become distrustful,
but I won again because I possess one precious asset which no man can steal —
it is the power to think my own thoughts and to be myself.
You threaten me with death, but to me death is nothing worse
than a long peaceful sleep, and sleep is the sweetest of human experiences
— excepting laughter.
You build a fire of hope in my heart, then sprinkle water on the flames,
but I can go you one better by rekindling the fire — and I laugh at you once more.
You have nothing that can lure me away from laughter,
and you are powerless to scare me into submission.
To a life of laughter, then, I raise my cup of cheer!
Laughing all the way, I celebrate your own Songs of Triumph in portrait form. Contact me here.
I am thinking of you all the time
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Love, Mom
I found this thought at the end of a letter
I wrote to my daughter years ago.
Intuition places these things in my way to contemplate,
and in this mindset, I see evidence of my behavior with my family,
with people I knew, and people I wanted to know.
My Gordian knot if some think it so, but a rich source of emotion
like the experienced Advisor in your ear in the shadows,
providing wise input as well.
Today I want to raise the counterintuitive idea
of seeing signs of your earlier self in these little ways,
to learn about yourself and your little ‘likes’
by being familiar with your internal body sensations for ‘yes’ happiness
and where you get your feelings of childlike delight
(mine is making snow angels!)
Enjoy what happens when you begin to treat yourself
as a person you care for,
find nice things for,
think with interest about,
enjoy time with,
and want to see succeed.
Dorothy Perry seeks to capture the energy of the Divine in photographing portraits and special occasion events. Contact her here.
Some people say.
“Living well is the best revenge.”
I feel that living well
is ‘mental’ before it becomes material.
Seeing vastness of abundance
(visually, spoken, or in emotional feeling)
in the early dreaming planning stages
of envisioning great feeling life
enriches the picture with the small details
that make whatever you create
just right for you.
Dorothy Perry loves being a cheerleader for intuitive awareness. Contact her for photography or intuitive readings here.
There is something glorious about saying, ” I created something that has my name on it.”
Not only your signature, but your standards.
The something you want to reflect your subtlety and style;
The thing that has your energy in it.
I am a photographer known for my attention to the feelings of things,
and early on, had lovely but shortlasted creative names like Dorothy Perry Portrait, Dance of Life and Double Happiness.
I also obsessed about fonts, but that is another story for another day.
Truly an airy and impractical soul, I did not learn about the value of domain names until I needed one: mine. Little did I know how hard it would be.
In those years, my name in combination with photography was taken off the board.
There are a number of Perry surnamed photographers as well as the other nice Dorothy Perrys living all over the United States,
and names that I desired were limited by others claiming all the variations of the names for profiles and screen names as well.
So now as I locate the threads everywhere to be rewoven back into my nest,
I will produce, post and control the quality of what I want to write here from my home base. THIS ONE.
The one that has my name on it.
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago photographer of peoples’ personal lives and celebrations. Questions or commissions through the Contact Page here.
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.
Contact her for commissioned work here. Thank you.
Anyone who knows me knows I love cartoons!
Some make me laugh, and some make me go “ahhh,” with tears in my eyes.
This cartoon is “Les Triplettes de Belleville,” by Sylvain Chomet. I saw this with a friend years ago in a Chicago theatre, and it remains one of the very few movies that I have viewed more than once.
It is a poetic animated story with very few spoken words. Imagine a plot that brings together cycling, a small family, and three quirky sisters who are part musicians, part muses, and, when necessary, molls familiar with the darker sides of Belleville/Parisian nightlife.
There are some picturing of rougher things of life, so it is not a movie for children, but perhaps saved for when they can appreciate it: the story, characters, and lovingly drawn details create a world that stays with you long after the cartoon is over.
The emotion of amusement also creates access to consciousness, a powerful way to allow the ‘firing of the synapses’ that lead to fresh new ideas and thought patterns.
Do you have any favorites that have this evergreen quality? I’d love to see them!
Keep laughing – watch cartoons!!
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago photographer capturing the closeness of todays’ urban families. Contact her here.
“I’m going to miss this show.”
This student used to come to the UIC African American Art Gallery
to do her home work and study along with other students:
making art, practicing yoga,
and on Finals week, even eating breakfast there!
For four months, 11 photographs in the AACC gallery
imbued the space with energy, serving as an artistic ‘power station’ –
and creating a room that felt really nice to rest in.
Alchemist and Photographer Dorothy Perry can be contacted here.
Today I want to send out good vibes
to the people who come up against the gatekeepers.
We have to live in your world sometimes,
but there is another world, more brightly lit.
(paraphrased from Tales From The Darkside, ha ha.)
Actual real-world people
choosing and buying things that are beautiful.
So, boys and girls, consider the source (even if they say they are ‘experts’)
and keep making your art anyway.
Keep refining – and keep making – your art
not just for the acclaim, but also to make money.
To teach yourself how to be a person who CAN:
become braver, learn new skills,
speak to strangers, get cooperation, meet deadlines.
Become a problem solver. Become a visionary for others.
Photography created these skills and this personality.
But it turned out it had to fit into my life in the right place.
Maybe you will always have it be the other job, as it is for me.
But keep art making in your life. ✨
This just seemed like yesterday.
You can’t stop them from growing;
but you can stop time.
The lazy afternoons of childhood
are preserved by the warmth of sunlight,
the immediacy of memory,
and joyous moments at play.
I specialize in personal photojournalism
made into photo stories and books.
Lets’ meet throughout Chicagoland
and great parks near you.
Dorothy Perry is a mom, grandmom, and artistic photographer of childhood in the Chicagoland area. Lets talk at perryportraitart@gmail.com or through the Contact Page here.
