Speaking on the phone with a friend while driving to walk on Duxbury Beach I explained that despite the semester's end nearing, I had yet to tell students of my imminent retirement.
"I don't know how to tell them," I exclaimed.
"Make a sculpture that expresses your feelings and see if they can figure what you are trying to say."
His suggestion got me thinking. Since I had my camera with me, I wrote down a list of the feelings I wanted to express and the endeavored to create visual expressions of the ideas.
Let me know how I did.
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It proved a healthy challenge to visual portray the concepts. I reflected that I always assigned my students this very task, to visually communicate ideas without words. It's hard!
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While the process became a therapeutic method to grapple with the sadness of the ending and the excitement of a beginning, I ultimately decided that I would not show the images to my students.
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1. I was concerned that if they did not figure out what I was trying to say it would be embarrassing for all of us.
2. More importantly, after students presented their final projects, I did not want to make the last moments of class all about me.
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My friend Benjamin Swett recently published a book of his essays and photographs: The Picture Not Taken.
I am in the opposite position.
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John Nordell is a photographer, educator and curator. He blogs about the creative process at johnnordell.com Instagram: @john.nordell
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