Still Standing by Bodhi Smith

Jun 18, 2021

"still standing" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"embracing life's turbulences is easy as acknowledging that you're still standing after it's all said and done, still able to breath and take that next breath and enjoy life, still able to continue to make every moment count" ― bodhinku, still standing
     
"the only thing i know is this: i'm full of wounds and still standing on my feet" ― nikos kazantzakis
 
"you may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. in fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it and still be standing..." ― maya angelou 
 
"let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them"― rabindranath tagore
  
"in this time of crisis, he was amazed he was still standing, and really did not need to buy any extra supplies...he had everything he needed, his health, his doggie, his hope...the only thing he was missing was her..." ― bodhinku, the missing supply     
   
this is a classic song written by arguably the greatest songwriter of all time...it's from the mid 1980s, and it's so stubbornly optimistic about making it through and surviving the tough times that we all face in our lives, with a message that embracing life's turbulences is easy as acknowledging that you're "still standing" after it's all said and done, still able to breath and take that next breath and enjoy life, still able to continue to make every moment count...and considering the fact it is named the exactly same as my impression here today, plus with its lyrics of hope and faith in life, it's the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "i'm still standing" by elton john ... and the clip from the movie about elton john's life, rocketman:  taron egerton, i'm still standing (movie rocketman) ... (just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....

"you could never know what it's like. your blood like winter freezes just like ice, and there's a cold lonely light that shines from you. you'll wind up like the wreck you hide, behind that mask you use. and did you think this fool could never win? well look at me, i'm coming back again. i got a taste of love in a simple way, and if you need to know why i'm still standing, you just fade away...don't you know i'm still standing better than i ever did. looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid. i'm still standing after all this time, picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind. i'm still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah)...i'm still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah)...once i never could have hoped to win. you're starting down the road leaving me again. the threats you made were meant to cut me down, and if our love was just a circus, you'd be a clown by now. you know i'm still standing better than i ever did. looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid. i'm still standing after all this time, picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind. i'm still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah). i'm still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah). don't you know that I'm still standing better than i ever did. looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid. i'm still standing after all this time, picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind. i'm still standing (yeah, yeah, yeah)..." ― elton john, i'm still standing 
 
"sadness to me is the happiest time, when a shining city rises from the ruins of my drunken mind. those times when i'm still standing and silent as the earth, the thunder of my roar is heard across the universe" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"after all the hardships we face, always love is still standing there before us, it's people who walk away" ― bodhinku, still standing  
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MEANING
"my god, as mother nature and father time weather me unforgivingly, i can only hope i grow old so gracefully as this home has..." ― bodhinku, still standing
   
this homested is still standing despite all of the years of father time and the extreme weather of mother nature acting on it adversely. it's amazingly still standing despite the fact it has not been maintained, updated, refurbished, or repaired since the 1960's... 
 
it's a majestic symbol to me and others of how something that has fortitude which is based on a solid foundation can keep on standing still no matter what the hardships. how it can keep on going, even though it was abandoned for a new house...and though it has never been forgotten about in any way, it has still been left alone to still stand by itself with no one occupying it in the fields, left to to fend for itself and live out a lonely life without anyone inside it again...
 
this house has outlasted four generations already, and is well on its way to remaining standing through a fifth generation...so admirable, and so beautiful surrounded by the green farmlands in the rolling hills of the palouse of eastern washington...
 
embracing life's turbulences is easy as acknowledging that you're still standing after it's all said and done, still able to breath and take that next breath and enjoy life, still able to continue to make every moment count... 
 
my god, as mother nature and father time weather me unforgivingly, i can only hope i grow old so gracefully as this home has...
 
another tune to listen to from 2004, this song is easily one of my top five favorite songs of all time...it's one that i've always held true to my heart and soul for nearly the past twenty years. i loved to listen to it when i used to backcountry splitboard and i was climbing a mountain in deep snow and freezing cold, and needed to dig deep and persevere all the exhaustion and corresponding pain at high altitudes, to reach the top, still standing...and then ride down the north-face floating down through chutes of untouched powder and then glading across pristine snowfields (sign) ... boulevard of broken dreams by greenday ...(just click on the blue link to listen to the song) 

"i walk a lonely road, the only one that i have ever known. don't know where it goes, but it's only me, and i walk alone. i walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps and i'm the only one, and i walk alone. i walk alone, i walk alone, i walk alone and i walk a...my shadow's the only one that walks beside me. my shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. sometimes i wish someone up hill will find me, until then, i walk alone....i'm walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind, on the border line of the edge, and where i walk alone. read between the lines, what's fucked up and every thing's all right. check my vital signs to know i'm still alive, and i walk alone...i walk alone, i walk alone, i walk alone and I walk a...my shadow's the only one that walks beside me. my shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. sometimes I wish someone out there will find me, till then, i walk alone, i walk alone, i walk a....i walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps and i'm the only one, and i walk alone...my shadow's the only one that walks beside me. my shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. sometimes i wish someone out there will find me, till then i walk alone" ― greenday, boulevard of broken dreams
 
"she was a tornado that blew through his life, destroying everything he held dear. but when the skies cleared and she was all gone, he was still standing. he was still breathing and knew he needed his life devastated so he could move on and rebuild his world so much better... " ― bodhinku, still standing  
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"i'm still me, that's my only problem, but that's also my biggest gift (that i'm still me)" ― bodhinku, i'm still me 
 
pictured here is the old rustic house on the weber homestead in the rolling hills of the palouse farmlands in eastern washington state...this house was built in 1901 by the weber family on top of the old foundation and original oak tree supports of the log cabin first built on the property in 1863...
 
the land was earned by the weber family by participating in the national homestead act of 1863 which awarded 160 acres to farmers as a huge incentive to those who were willing to move westward and settle in and cultivate the newer parts of america at the time...
 
the webers still own the land, still own the original deed issued by the federal government through the homestead act in 1963...and they still actively farm the land, and they still reside on the property in a newer house (built in the 1960s) a few hundred meters away from the original homestead pictured here... 
 
karla weber, is the current resident of the property and the great grandaughter of her family members who built this house (and in which her grandfather was born). she is super kind and very forthcoming, and she truly only asks that visitors, especially photographers, respect the family wishes and do not trespass onto their property (without permission first) because foot traffic will trample the fields they have around the old homestead and take away from their livelihood of farming and result in lost money in the resulting damaged crops, some of which like chick peas and young wheat (growing in the picture) are very delicate...
 
so please abide by the erected ropes and signs and fences at the edges of her property and only photograph from the roads, and not from the fields around the house...you can get beautiful views of the house from all angles using various lenses from like a 24-70mm, and a 70mm-200mm, and a 200-500mm (the lenses i used)...please respect her wishes as she dislikes having to take action against all of the people who violate her simple wishes...
 
"when you cannot have exactly want you want, be happy with what you have, focus on the positive instead of what is not possible right now...persevere with hope and continue to dream, believe that one day you will finally have that which you have always wanted" ― bodhinku, persevere   
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
"never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about" ― winston s. churchill 
 
"the sunrise is an act of daring. to venture, to defy, to persevere, to be true to one's self, to grapple with destiny, to dismay calamity by not being afraid of it, to challenge now unrighteous powers and now victory run wild, to stand fast and hold firm, to remain still standing like the steady oak...these are the examples that the peoples need, the spark that electrifies them" ― victor hugo, les miserables  
 
“the wise remind themselves that ‘this too shall pass’ even when things are good; the foolish, only remind themselves of this when things are bad" ― mokokoma mokhonoana  
 
"no matter how heavy the challenges we face in our life, embrace optimism, perseverance, tenacity and courage. remain standing after all the storms pass. never lose faith and hope, never lose a generous heart who lives and breathes with a timeless love" ― angelica hopes, rhythm of a heart, music of a soul  
 
"i was dead, i came alive. i was tears, i became laughter. all because of love. when it arrived, my temporal life from then on changed to eternal...love said to me: you are not crazy enough, you don’t fit this house...so, i went and became crazy. crazy enough to be in chains. but love said: you are not intoxicated enough. you don’t fit the group...so, i went and got drunk. drunk enough to overflow with light-headedness. but love said: you are still too clever, filled with imagination and skepticism...so, i went and became gullible and in fright pulled away from it all. then love said: you are a candle attracting everyone gathering every one around you...i am no more a candle spreading light. i gather no more crowds and like smoke, i am all scattered now. but love said: you are a teacher. you are a head. and for everyone you are a leader...i am no more, not a teacher, not a leader. just a servant to your wishes. then love said: you already have your own wings. i will not give you more feathers. and then my heart pulled itself apart and filled to the brim with a new light overflowed with fresh life. now even the heavens are thankful that because of love i have become the giver of light" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
 
"sit, be still, and listen,
because you're drunk
and we're at
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"let her be, let her be in heart, spirit, body. let her be free. and let everything be love" ― bodhinku, let it be love    
 
this impression was captured in the rolling hills of the palouse farmlands in western washington state just as the sun was setting at 9:39pm, on june 8th, 2021...this composition is comprised entirely of one long exposure of the homestead surrounded by young wheat with the clouds overhead (f/11@33mm for 111 secs, iso-64)...
 
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects, saturate colors naturally, and balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter in my completed impressions...
 
and to get the effects and balance i was looking for in this composition (f/11@33mm for 111 secs, iso-64), i used two progreyusa filters...
 
first, a 3.0 nd progrey antarctica filter to bring the light in the image down 10 stops and permit for the long 1 minute and 51 second exposure which in turn creates this dreamy effect with motion blur smoothing of the clouds in the sky as the sun was setting and naturally saturating all the blues, greens, and pinks in the image...
 
combined with the second filter, a 0.9 gnd progrey aurora filter to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it...in this case, to stop down the much brighter light in the sky, the light of the setting sun, an extra three stops and help permit details in the shadows amongst all the wooden planks in the rustic homestead to come out better in the exposure... 
 
i also used the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filters and secure the filters to my nikon d850 with a nikon nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens ... 
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead with tripod, in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
 
"i do not want you to just be into my photography, instead, i'd much rather you take a journey into my pictures, and feel the impression i have created, feel it with all your senses" ― bodhinku, into my photography
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light whisper as they envelope you. see the melody and harmony that float about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary" ― bodhinku, my diary  
 
i leave you today wishing that bright joy 
and spiritual peace fill your life...
imploring you to make every moment count, 
no matter what, always and forever, 
for that is the only thing that truly matters...    
 
and above all else,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
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