Calm In The Chaos

The evening before last I took Mason and his friend to Urban Air, an epic indoor trampoline and Everything Else park. If you take a look at their website, you’ll see that it is bright, colorful, busy, tactile, and in your face. And to go there is to feel it and hear it, too – it was packed on a cold Friday night. Several birthday parties, families, so.many.people. This is not what I would choose for myself but I was happy to take the kids for some time together. So, I created my own calm in the chaos.

Chaos

Both Mason and his friend are 14, so picking something to do can sometimes be difficult. “What do you want to do?”, “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” Repeat repeat repeat. This sounded fun for both of them so I signed up fast – yes! Let’s go! I had taken Willa here before and she loved it so I knew they would make it fun for themselves. Also, I was well-prepared for what I was walking in to. As an adult that would prefer a quiet evening at home, being prepared for chaos helps a lot.

Calm

So, I brought a camera with a Lensbaby art lens. I knew two 14 year olds would not want me to come play with them so I would be free to make art. I put on the Sweet 35 before we left, knowing that I’d be able to bend the light there into interesting shapes. This is a fully manual lens system so I’d also get extra opportunity to slow down and get into my photography flow, creating my calm.

Calm in the Chaos

It turned out to be way more fun than I imagined. There were so many opportunities to separate myself mentally from the chaos and be in my zen photographer calm. The brightly colored lights yielded wildly out of gamut images that I can’t bring myself to fully correct – it is the chaos in visible form, not to be muted. Kids bumping into me as I took images of whatever piqued my interest, completely contrasted to what sparked theirs. This was my perfect evening out with teenagers – you do your thing and I’ll do mine.

Future Calm in the Chaos

I’m going to bring a camera with me more often. If I can find the calm in the chaos at Urban Air, I’m certain I can find it anywhere. Purposeful art is my calm.

All images © 2021 Carey Martin, offerings for Project 31.

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