Dust in the Wind

I not only love Sarah Brightman's version of this song Dust in the Wind, but I really enjoy watching this video. YouTube shows this as the official video however the film quality doesn't seem to show the best resolution. Despite the quality of the video, the photography is breathtaking and inspirational. I especially love the interaction between the female and the horse. I also really enjoy the final scene when the girl jumps into the water. The set location showing rock formations in underwater caverns is breath taking. I would love to do location work for film and music videos. Half the fun of making images is scouting out the locations and coming up with the ideas. I'm sharing this with my process blog because it brings me inspiration.

Click on the link below to watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgUN8MmPN7Q

Meeting Ronaldo from New York on the day of the Moore Tornado

On our Road to Ruscha trip down old Route 66 we met many people that have touched our hearts and we will remember forever. One of those people is New Yorker Ronaldo Robledo, a retired NY firefighter who currently works as a social worker. He was staying at the same hotel as we were near Los Angeles, California and we began to talk in the hotel lobby over breakfast. My roommate on the trip Katie B who is from the same town as I, found out that not only was Ronaldo from the state of New York like my husband but was also from the Hudson Valley area where my family previously resided. The same day we met Ronaldo was an afternoon of great tragedy in my city of Moore, Oklahoma. An EF-5 tornado, the worst of the worst, had touched down, causing a path of destruction through housing developments and business areas including an elementary school and junior high.

My middle daughter is a junior high student and was still at school less than a mile from the ongoing tornado damage. My other two children were at my house taking shelter with my mother and husband but Destiney my 13 year-old was still at school where they had lost power. I heard the news and started getting calls from my oldest daughter Courtney about the tornado. Then Courtney told me she had lost contact on the phone when Destiney and heard one of the junior highs had been hit by the storm.

Some in our group from the University had gone to Universal Studios in Hollywood and this is where my horror began to unfold. Power was lost at my house, phone lines went down and then on top of all that, my phone ran out of power at the park. The others in my group went on a few rides as I tried to explain the severity of the moment and being 1500 miles away and helpless. I stood alone, paralyzed in the middle of hundreds of people passing by as they laughed and enjoyed their day as I just began to cry out. I cried out to God and prayed out loud. I bawled and moaned like a hurt animal and I know people began to look at me and wonder what was happening. I began thinking of going to LAX to fly home to my kids. All I could do was make a plan of quick return being so far away from my family. My stomach knotted and I began to feel nauseous as I ran around the park looking for an electric outlet to power my phone. I finally found one in the ladies room and I stood there crying and praying out loud.

Finally hours later, I received word that all my family had been reunited, my children and my sister’s family were uninjured. All of our houses were still standing. Even though I was born and have spent much of my life in Oklahoma, I was never as scared of a tornado until my sister completely lost her home to a tornado in May 2011. Now I understand from her loss to that tornado, how much damage can be caused and how easily a life can be lost. Our families had managed to escape this one, this time. However, the Friday after we returned on our trip, my house was hit by a tornado on a much smaller scale. We lost part of a roof, had water leaks, a brick support beam damaged, a tree fall partially on the house and leaving one side of the house impassible and on the other side of the yard part of the fence had been torn down. We were alive and these things can be repaired. After having friends loose their homes and lives on May 20th, I still don’t feel I have the right to complain one bit.

Long story short about Ronaldo from New York: he flew from California while he was relaxing on his vacation, to Oklahoma to volunteer his time at a relief center. Also, to find out what a small world this, when he arrived in Moore, Ronaldo was partnered with one of my dear friends Karen who volunteers with the Red Cross. Both Ronaldo and Karen worked together but did not know that they knew me until later. I think God brings people into our lives for a reason and during this trip both myself and Katie B from Moore, needed comforting and reassurance to get through the rest of the trip. Ronaldo was one of those guardian angels.

- Shelly Perkins on University of Oklahoma Road to Ruscha trip 2013

Tornado Hits Home

Tornado Hits Home and I’m in LA !!!

Every one in our group chose their activities for the day; many of us ran around town, went to the beach, some met up with family or friends from the area and my group went to Universal Studios. We went on the backlot studio tour and then rode several of the rides. While we were on the tour I started getting text messages about a tornado sitting less than a mile from my house. I am 1500 miles away from my kids and there was nothing I could do to help protect them or keep them safe from the impending danger which was about to envelope my city.

My family prepared to take cover as the tornado approached. My oldest daughter who is almost 21 was at our house with her little Maltese and my husband picked up my youngest 9 year old from the elementary school. My mother was also at our house, along with husband and our zoo of animals. However my 13 year old was at school taking shelter; had texted my oldest daughter that the power was out at the school and she was scared. Soon after, the phones also lost connections. What seemed like an eternity until I finally received a call from home that my family and animals were okay. The junior high decided it was now safe to release the kids from class and my husband and oldest daughter picked up my 13 year old. Finally everyone (except me) were reunited and home after the tornado.

There are a few moments in my life I’ve realized just how much I love my family, especially my children and couldn’t imagine life without them. Exploring Route 66 over the past ten days has made me think about slowing down and cherishing the everyday life and world around us we often take for granted. It seems many families are busy with work, school functions and sports practices and need a little time to reconnect. It’s been a great experience meeting others along our route, spending time with new found friends and making connections through a shared community on the road.
~ Shelly Perkins on University of Oklahoma Road to Ruscha Trip 2013

Be Still

Recently my family went on a trip to Hawaii. This was the third time I've been blessed to visit and I always feel like I grow closer to God both physically and spiritually. You can't be there and not feel like you're getting a glimpse into Heaven. God totally sent me there to get some answers.

If you know me personally, you know how crazy I am, I don't mean that I should be committed in a padded room, but I mean crazy with activities and the hustle and bustle of life. My family is always going here or there. We're blessed to have a great family, some great friends and people in our lives and able to go to the best church in my part of the world. With all those people we love, brings lots of activities. Lots of church activities, lots of lessons between band, dance, volleyball, gymnastics, scouts, you name it. With me it lots of college classes and lots of photography shoots and I'm always on the go.

I've been praying a lot lately about what's next in our lives. I've been thinking about when I graduate (yep, from OU with a Fine Arts degree), if I should get a "regular" job with a 9 to 5 work week with a regular paycheck and pension or if I should continue my passion in photography. I love my photography and I feel like God has given me this gift to see those things in the world which are beautiful. However, with the photography business comes the part of working for myself, having a job on commission, working for years without ever getting anything from social security when I'm old and in my rocker, no 401k's and no company picnics.

When I married my husband, Scott, we had to luxury of me being able to quit my job as a photographer in a studio, where I worked on a salary and commission, shooting portraits and weddings. I knew each week I would get a paycheck and it helped pay the bills and take care of my kids when I was a single mother. With Scott, I was able to continue in my passion for photography and make images and shoot portraits on my own time. I have been able to do the things I love. I was able to stay home with my girls. I was waiting for my husband when he'd come home from a trip and have dinner waiting for him. We were close but we were often far distances apart. Then my husband, who was an officer in the Air Force and pilot, got brain cancer. My world stopped.

Unless you've had a terminal illness hit your immediate, nuclear family, there is no way you will ever completely understand what I am saying. It will completely stop you in your tracks, overnight it will change your world.

Now being a Momma to three beautiful and bright girls, my main purpose in life is to give these girls spiritual guidance, help them to become self-reliant, protect them and care for them. That's it.

I love my husband and I'm happy to say he has so far beaten the original prognosis of only having months to live with this terminal brain cancer. However, I honestly can't help but wander what's on the horizon? I don't have the luxury of living in a little bubble while my husband hands over his paycheck and I hand out the money for bills. I can't help but wonder, what's next? I wonder what's next with his cancer? Is it going to come back? Is it going to be worse than before? Will I be able to continue helping him get better? Will I have enough money to pay for insurance and the doctor appointments? Will I still be able to pay for kid's college? Will I even have enough money for food and a place to live with my kids? These are things that people think about, when the reality of a terminal illness strikes. Before this happens, it's easy to plan for the future, when "we're old" and when "we're retired." So instead I just go and go and go and go. I go to school. I go to work. I go here. I go there. All the while, wondering what I should be doing and praying to God asking if I'm doing the right thing? Then I found this verse ~

Mark 4:39 King James Version (KJV) 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Sometimes when we are on our crazy roller coaster life, in search of the ole' mighty dollar, striving to be the best at whatever, or just trying to make a living but we can't find the answers we're searching for because we haven't slowed down to listen to God.

Peace.
Slow Down.
Peace.
Listen.
Peace.
Be Still.
Peace.
Okay God, I'm listening.


Shelly Perkins Photography www.shellyperkins.com