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Walking around on the weekend. Visiting all the beautiful side streets. Wandering for hours on end with no plans. This is what my dream weekend looks like. When I put my headphones in, just putting on some background noise keeps me moving. Often, I find the best stores or restaurants when I get to wander. I will look for streets I’ve never been down and check them out.

Being able to put in your headphones, let the world disappear, and wander aimlessly is the most relaxing and chill thing I have ever done.

This image of Walking On Sunshine And A Red Headphone by Alfred Grupstra is what I look like to the rest of the world on the days when I get to wander around. It’s beautiful and calming with the warmth of a new world. The song Chilling by Popoi has the beat of the steps, but also the upbeat tone of a casual stroll without too much excitement or adventure. Just a sense to keep moving.

At first glance, this image creates the sense of a busy and crowded scene with lots of people and lots of noise. The audience might be focused mainly on the background because it is in focus, while the taxi is blurry. However, paired with the audio, I wanted to shift the focus back to the taxi and the person inside. The piano music creates a feeling of loneliness and melancholy. I imagine the audience looking through the lens of the one person inside the taxi, seeing the crowds outside passing in a blur. None of them paying are any attention to that one taxi, furthering this sense of loneliness. Additionally, the tempo of the music further emphasized the speed of the taxi as it’s passing all of these people in a blur. I imagine the person in the taxi looking out the window, trying to see the people on the streets but isn’t able to pick any one person out of the crowd.

This picture reminds me of when one of my cats was a kitten. She had been left in a box with 3 siblings on the doorstep of a veterinarian’s office. A friend of a friend worked in this office and somehow we ended up going to see these kittens on a very busy Saturday afternoon. We sat in the corner of the lobby and played with the kittens until my kids convinced me that the sleepy one should join our family. “He will be super cuddly, Mom!” Then the office staff sent us on our way. We had a cat, but no paperwork and no instructions. We never even saw the friend. I am not even sure anyone knew who we were. It was weird.

Despite what the vet told us, he was actually a she. And she was way younger than the vet said. She could not tolerate any solid food so we had lots of tiny accidents until we figured it out.

I think the audio of the kitten meowing enhances the picture. Monkey is a very quiet cat now, but when she was too young to take care of her basic needs, she made a lot of these sounds.

And the kicker? She never cuddles!

What in the world?
So many questions so many thoughts.
Unshakeable; Unbreakable..bending
round.
flat.
turmoil.
war.
UNITY.
America

I chose the picture of the flag because my first thought is wow beautiful, Freedom. Then my thoughts quickly change into all the hurt and the pain that the beautiful creation causes.Everything about the U.S. , the freedom, the diversity, the wealth, everything intrigues me. Why can’t we all just get along? Would that be too easy? Would that create too much power? So many questions! Are we really unshakeable? Solid? In all honesty is freedom really free? Lets stop and ponder the “American Dream”.

I chose the audio called Epic because it reminds me war almost like getting ready for a battle. It also reminds me of how such a beautiful creation can turn mysterious and violent in an instant. Peace, Unity, and Love to all!

Shown alone, this photo will illicit feelings of chaos.

Loud noises, feet moving across the hard floor, screaming babies, intercom announcements.

The long exposure in the bottom of the frame shows the movement of the people in the station. We can imagine them moving swiftly around each other, with a sort of organized chaos (hence the post title, “murmuration“.

But play the audio along with the image, your sense get slowed and you can see that there is a grace and smoothness to this image that gets shown only when you play the audio.

It’s comparable to murmuration in the idea that when we are inside of something (i.e. a mass of moving bodies) it feel hectic and disorderly, but when we are able to step back and view something from the outside we can finally see the order and the structure to the movements.