Ashly Stohl Photography

Be Happy

Heart

World Peace

Smiles Go A Long Way

Love Yourself

I love my neighborhood. It’s the neighborhood where my grandparents built a house when they came from Brooklyn in 1947, the same neighborhood where my dad and uncles were raised, the same neighborhood were I was raised, and where I now raise my children. It’s a small town right in the middle of Los Angeles.

Even after all these years, my neighborhood is full of surprises. In December, I found these messages written in the street not far from my house. What a nice surprise to find such positive messages on the road! Since today is Valentine’s day, I’m passing the love of my community along to you.

In combing through the pictures I made this year, I found this picture of my son jumping a creek in Park City, Utah, this summer. He is visually impaired, and a generally cautious guy, but that day, he felt compelled to jump across this tiny cold creek. It was a pretty brave act for him, because he can’t really see the other side. Maybe it wasn’t riding-into-battle brave, but it was definitely a lifetime-of-everyday-struggles kind of brave.

He’s tense – it’s not a carefree leap, because he’s not a carefree child. Most days he would have chosen not to leap the creek, but this day he did, and afterward walked around for a few minutes, puffed up with pride. Hopefully next time he will remember that feeling, and choose to leap again.

Like my son, but for different reasons, I was never a carefree kid. So when I see people struggle and fail and try again, or struggle and succeed, there is something I relate to, and something I respect. Looking through the pictures I made this year, it turns out that is what I have been photographing; struggle and play. When the two are together, the stakes are small; a wet sock or a skinned knee, and the rewards are huge.

Any of my accomplishments this year are a result of a little struggle and a little play. Here are some highlights:
-I showed my work at the ADC Contemporary Gallery at Bergamot Station, then afterward I took off my shoes and ran through the rain to make a high school reunion.
-Some friends were playing around and decided to start talking to each other in pictures. We struggled through the simultaneous launching of a show and a new website at the same time. It was totally worth it.
-I returned to Cuba, to watch my friends there struggle though their daily lives, and still have a blast skateboarding all over town.
-I even created a newspaper about the trip.
-My first portfolio review at the Medium Festival in San Diego. Nobody who has ever been to a portfolio review would deny the heady combination of struggle (nerves, re-editing your portfolio the night before) and play (road trip, drinks in the lobby, inspiration from photo legends and fellow photographers, new friends)

So what’s on the agenda for 2013? I have some ideas, but mostly, I want to play, even if I have to struggle. I want to take pictures just for the sake of taking pictures, even if they are a cliche, do not belong to a project, or even if they are (gasp!) not ART. I want to go back to Cuba and play with my friends there and make another newspaper about it. I want to ruin my kitchen counters developing film. I want to print more and learn more. I want to make new friends and keep the old. I want to be brave like my son and do stuff that is hard and fun so that at the end of the year, I can walk around puffed up with pride, even if I got my socks wet along the way.

And I will stroll the merry way
And jump the hedges first
And I will drink the clear
Clean water for to quench my thirst
And I shall watch the ferry-boats
And they’ll get high
On a bluer ocean
Against tomorrows sky
And I will never grow so old again
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain
Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
Hey, it’s me, Im dynamite
And I don’t know why
And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.
Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
My, my, my, my, my sweet thing

And I will raise my hand up
Into the night time sky
And count the stars
That’s shining in your eye
Just to dig it all and not to wonder
That’s just fine
And I’ll be satisfied
Not to read in between the lines
And I will walk and talk
In gardens all wet with rain
And I will never, ever, ever, ever
Grow so old again.
Oh sweet thing, sweet thing

-Van Morrison

We’ve covered a lot of ground this week on Six Shooters. How do you follow a sightless statue, a nearsighted girl, a summer siren, Bonnie, sans Clyde, and a green eyed monster? Here’s my follow:http://www.sixshootersonline.com/2012/11/24/2535/

How would you follow those images?