I’m working on a new portrait. The main character is in a crowded city, so the amount of detail is extraordinary. People, buildings, reflections, restaurants. After working for hours, one’s eyes can begin to play tricks. Everything becomes just shapes. It’s hard to differentiate one from another. It’s then that I have to take a photo and regard the image as a whole. I was struggling the other day because I was working on a woman in the background — there were so many shaded lines to her jacket. My hand was going through the motions, but it wasn’t quite making sense. After I took the photo, it was so clear. “Oh, it’s a puffer jacket!” It was no longer a problem at all, only puffs — light and pillowy puffs.

I’m not proud of it, but I can get caught up in the details in real life as well. The he saids and she dids of it all. The monotonous shapes of discontent. I remind myself again, as if it were the first time, and then once again — Step back! “Look,” I tell my heart, it’s only little puffs, you can handle that, you can handle this.”

I suppose it may sound silly, but most of the time, that’s my goal, to get there — where my problems turn into puffs. Today, may I, we, step back for a minute, and all find the way.