What Was Important
And the more pictures Novalee took and the more she developed, the more she wanted to learn about what she was doing. She studied photography magazines – Camera & Darkroom and the Photo Review. She made calls to photo labs in Sacramento, California, and wrote letters to Kodak in Rochester, New York. She asked Moses a thousand questions and remembered everything he said.
Forney brought her stacks of books and she read about Grodon Parks and William Henry Jackson. She studied the work of Dorothea Lange and Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams and Margaret Bourke-White.
Once, on a rare weekend off, she drove the Toyota to Tulsa and went to a photo exhibit, her first. She wandered the rooms and halls of the gallery and wrote pages of notes, then talked herself all the way home about what she had learned.
Then, after all the hours she spent learning…after hundreds of pictures, days and nights in a darkroom, questions about shutter speeds and sepia tones and light vibrations…after all that, Novalee discovered what was important to her about pictures of cats and children and merry-go-round horses…about girls in white dresses and old women tasting tea…about birthday dinners and anniversary kisses. What was important to her was knowing that at the moment she took a picture, she was seeing something in a way nobody else ever had.
Extract from the book Where the Heart is
By Billie Letts
All Rights Reserved.
New York: Warner, 2004, c1996
Call Number: English LET
Extract submitted by Camellia Tay
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Do you think it is important to understand the reason why you enjoy doing something very much? Why?
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June 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Of course. If not, then why do it? Plain and simple.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Wah – these are very interesting pieces – must get the book.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
You’ve got to be hooked on the thing you like first. Then you somehow figure out why you like it so much and why it becomes important to you is a natural process. Yah, but most times, we don’t know why we like somethin g- just do – like my girlfriend..haha
September 30th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Only when you understand why you are doing something then will you find meaning in things that you are doing or in life in general!
September 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Sometimes, there is no need to go into analysis-paralysis. Thinking so much till we hold back doing something – its about being spontaneous. On other occasions, esp in situations where we invest bulk of our time in something (like work), knowing the reason is important. Not the “reasons” given by others, but reasons we rationalised for ourselves
September 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Nope. It’s not really necessary to understand why. What’s more important is the enjoyment you get out of doing it than the reason behind your enjoyment. Cos’ there’s are just somethings you can explain. So why create more trouble for yourself to think of something that is unexplainable.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:57 am
work will always come first because when we grow up I will never ever will find a job cos no one will like to hire people who do not study when they are young
August 13th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Yes. By understanding the specific reasons why one likes something, one can rationally justify doing what one likes instead of merely doing it because one feels like it. The practical use of understanding why one likes something is that one can identify trends and patterns in what one likes so as to make it easier for that individual to find more similar activities they would enjoy. By identifying traits of that activity that they like, it would help them visualise a pattern among the things they like and from there they can extend the trend to find other similar enjoyable activities. This is somewhat the case for music. Each person likes a certain type of sound and musical element. Identifying what exactly in the music one likes shows one what to look for and streamlines their search for more music that they like.
Secondly, by understanding the core reason why one likes something, they would have a more tangible fact to base the justification of their interest in this activity on. This makes it easier for them to prove to themselves that their interest in the activity is not foolish or unfounded. This also then makes it easier for them to justify their passion to critics of their passion in that activity which would help to strengthen their bond with the activity.
Granted, over-emphasising the process of understanding why one likes something and stressing over it too much defeats the purpose of trying to enjoy the activity. If one ends up fretting over why they like doing that something too much, they might become averse to it. Worse, if they cannot realise why they like it so much, they may even end up finding it meaningless and give it up entirely. However, if one truly likes doing something, I believe their passion for it would still override such sentiments. At worst, they would just give up on rationalising their love and passion.