This might be an unusual perspective
but I think the magic in both music and photography happens in the “rest notes”.
As a toddler, I had a voracity for music, and as my mom recounts, I sang and sang and sang. At age 4, my musical journey began with Suzuki method piano lessons. It's an approach that is more of a lifestyle. For the next 8 years, I fell asleep at night listening to Chopin, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Schumann, etc. I practiced daily (sometimes begrudgingly), took weekly lessons with Mrs. Crosser, attended Blue Lake Fine Art camp, and still remember the stomach butterflies before a performance onstage at St. Cecilia music hall, hoping I could perfect the piece with a room full of watching peers, teachers, and sometimes judges.
In music, there are 7 note duration values: whole notes, half notes, eighth notes, etc. The unassuming but perhaps most interesting to me are the rest notes. The rest builds anticipation and drama, attention and musical depth. This can ignite tension to engage the listener.
In photography, the magic often happens in the rest notes too; the in-between moments that often go unnoticed but speak volumes at 1/200th of a second. As a professional observer, my goal is to uncover the spark in people or a situation that holds the irreplaceable and unrepeatable DNA. That energy is a powerful force!
10 year old me at a piano recital wearing a dress made by my grandma
