The Lion & The Butterfly
The Lion & The Butterfly made its way into the world at the tail end of the pandemic. The world was starting to open up again. Freedom was in the air which included the ability to share space again with other people.
I remember many conversations commenting on our time in solitude, and while there are a multitudes of gray in here, I found that most people fell into two camps:
- Camp Survive
- Camp Thrive
Camp Survive - This camp struggled. Struggled with the time behind closed doors. Struggled with the fear of being outdoors, with the fate of the world. Loss of jobs. Loss of loved ones. There was a pervading sense of loneliness. In some cases, substance abuse. Divorce. Depression.
Camp Thrive - This camp found people welcoming time to themselves and/or spending more time with their families, which isn't always easy while wearing multiple hats. Some bought campers and spent time in nature. Others learned a new language or how to play a musical instrument. Some remodeled their homes. Some created really amazing artwork. I even know one woman who opened her business in the middle of the pandemic.
I'm not saying that that time didn't suck...it did. And, it absolutely was possible to join either camp on any given day. I know I did. However, those who looked at that time as a gift, made the best of it and perhaps even came out of it all the better.
There are two sides to every coin. That glass is either half empty or half full. We get to decide which way to look at it and that makes all the difference in the world.
“A positive outlook to life is like the sun that dispels darkness, a gloomy outlook to life is like darkness that descends on the day.”
~
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Behind the Scenes - The Lion & The Butterfly
For this piece, like many others during the pandemic, I dove back into my stock pile of photographs from the previous years and aimed to bring the outside world in...in whatever way I could. I searched for the perfect photographs of animals, mainly from different trips to zoos across the country, and inserted them into a gorgeous chateau from the South of France. In this case, both photographs were from trips almost 10 years earlier.
Proof that being a photographic pack rat is totally worth it. Never mind my external hard drive space.
This place was rich with gold...the natural lighting was enough to bring tears to my eyes...which it did. The elegant rooms, massively tall ceilings, old world feel and that staircase. What's not to love.
The lion cub came from the Washington DC zoo. This little one was running around on a tree branch while his siblings played below.
There are certain rules to making my work believable. Perspective is one of them. I consider it totally serendipitous to have a photograph of a lion cub that so perfectly fit the grand staircase of the chateau. Perhaps it was that gift of time from the pandemic that enabled me to search through my photo library like an archeological dig to find and put two and two together. Either way, I'll take it!
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