Lynda SmithSchick: The Best is in Front of Me

Lynda SmithSchick: The Best is in Front of Me by Aline SmithsonAugust 13, 2017

©Lynda SmithSchick

Recently I have been hit by a series of losses and have spent some time in state of shock and sadness. I found this quiet and meditative project by Lynda SmithSchick as a beautiful tonic for the period when there is a disconnect between the roar of daily life and the inner self, where the blur of emotion pulls you inward, clouding over a life in sharp focus.

This project stems from from her own experience with a traumatic period in her life, when she too, was feeling the numbing sensation of potential loss. For her series, The Best is in Front of me, she uses cascading water as a metaphor for the emotional blur that obscures the beauty of behind it’s veil. But ironically, the veil has it’s own beauty and reality, and there is a comfort in appreciating whatever is in front of us.

Lynda SmithSchick was born and raised in Oklahoma, graduating from the University of Oklahoma in Interior Design and qualifying with the National Council for Interior Designer Qualification. Early on she was interested in photography and interior design, and remains intrigued with how she can apply the principles and elements of design in both the disciplines of photography & interior design. When Lynda and her husband moved to the Boston Mountains seeking a simpler lifestyle, her husband gave her a Nikon F to record and interpret their new surroundings. Since then she has photographed all over the United States and in the UK, Israel, and Mongolia. Lynda, her husband, Jack, and dog, Plush live in Oklahoma City where they own an architectural antiques business.

©Lynda SmithSchick

The Best is in Front of Me

As a riveting performance is lost to a sleeping audience, I was losing life’s best performances in front of me. Life had become out of focus during my beloved’s life-threatening illness. Distracting thoughts, like magnets, pulled my attention away from those balancing present moments that stand between us, the future and the past.

This photographic series began as I explored mindfulness, and started honing my awareness to, “The Art of Now, where life really lives”, (as Jay Dixit said). Proving the best was in front of me came from seeing cascading water that was irrigating a pasture. Ironically, second best was the picturesque landscape in the distance. I continue striving to focus on present moments with my mind and lens.