Local Photographer's Art on Oprah's Blog–Inspirational

Local photographer, Kim Sallaway showed me a piece several months ago he had created.  When I saw it, I ached. Spiritually, it resonated with me.  Simply a picture of a crowd looking up at a woman, the joy in their faces lodged in my heart.  I could not forget it.

This morning,  I found out that the photo is on an Oprah blog written by yoga instructor and activist, Seane Corn.

Not only is Kim’s work featured but the post inspires me.  Please read it. There Corn explains how she used to angrily shout her ideas.

I was a terrible activist and [I exemplified] why activism is often ineffective and unsustainable. I wasn’t listening or seeing, and I was willingly fighting an opponent who was also deaf and blind.

I loved a good rally or protest, and afterward I always felt exhilarated and spent. I felt justified in my actions and couldn’t wait until the next demonstration and another opportunity to anger and humiliate my opponent. I believed I was trying to create change and that it took an aggressive voice willing to expose hypocrisy, at the expense of someone else’s feelings or beliefs, to accomplish that. It took me a long time, many years on the yoga mat and in therapy, to recognize that I was part of the problem….Fists held high, screaming out our agendas, both sides would push buttons and provoke. Each side feeling equally justified when the other eventually overreacted, affirming the beliefs that we/they were dangerous and exactly what was wrong with this world…

How can anything change when the true enemy is our lack of respect and an abusive need to make someone else wrong so that we can be right? There was no understanding in me to see that their passion and commitment was just as relevant as mine and that perhaps they even had something to teach me, if only I was open enough to listen. Instead, it was just a mutual spewing of ideals, with no resolve or truth, and certainly no love. We were just a bunch of wounded souls trying to push an agenda so that we didn’t actually have to deal with our own feelings. I imagine that it felt easier for us to change the world than to change ourselves….

As a journalist and blogger, Corn’s words ring in me. I struggle to write what I believe but not make villains out of people who feel differently.  Corn’s post is inspiration. Kim’s photo shows what we can achieve if we act on that inspiration.

Click on the photos to see joy upclose.

All Photo’s here are by Kim Sallaway.

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11 Comments
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Jen
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Jen
13 years ago

This is awesome, Kym. Thanks for sharing it.

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Kim Sallaway
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Kim Sallaway
13 years ago

Seane Corn is one of the most amazing communicators that I have ever had the opportunity and privilege to watch in action. She channeled the energy of 60,000 people. She made them active participants in a celebration of hope and kindness. I think that Seane is as genuine as it gets and I am really happy that you used your blog to bring attention to her and her work.
Seane is yoga instructor of rock stars and celebrities when she is in California. Her story is a good one. Google her.
Thank you also for sharing my photos with your readers. They were created during the most amazing few minutes of last years Power To The Peaceful concert, an annual free show staged in SF’s Golden Gate Park, produced by Michael Franti and his supporters. Joy and hope have the power to do a lot of good for people if the energy is focused properly.
Seane Corn focuses energy on a big scale, but it felt very individual and personal to have been a part of her yoga excursive, and to watch her teach and share what she knows.

Kim Sallaway
Guest
Kim Sallaway
13 years ago
Reply to  Kim Sallaway

Typo correction
I was glad to be part of her yoga excercise.

Kim Sallaway
Guest
Kim Sallaway
13 years ago

Seane Corn is one of the most amazing communicators that I have ever had the opportunity and privilege to watch in action. She channeled the energy of 60,000 people. She made them active participants in a celebration of hope and kindness. I think that Seane is as genuine as it gets and I am really happy that you used your blog to bring attention to her and her work.
Seane is yoga instructor of rock stars and celebrities when she is in California. Her story is a good one. Google her.
Thank you also for sharing my photos with your readers. They were created during the most amazing few minutes of last years Power To The Peaceful concert, an annual free show staged in SF’s Golden Gate Park, produced by Michael Franti and his supporters. Joy and hope have the power to do a lot of good for people if the energy is focused properly.
Seane Corn focuses energy on a big scale, but it felt very individual and personal to have been a part of her yoga excursive, and to watch her teach and share what she knows.

Kim Sallaway
Guest
Kim Sallaway
13 years ago
Reply to  Kim Sallaway

Typo correction
I was glad to be part of her yoga excercise.

tom
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tom
13 years ago

This is hard for me so I end up not going to protests and rallies. I know I should see the others point of view and respect them as human beings but I can’t. To me people who believe that killing children will keep us safe, that it is okay to drop bombs on civilians as we did in Japan and are doing now in our wars, people who think torture is okay and necessary, corporations that won’t spend 500,000 to buy the safety device to prevent oil spills in the gulf, walstreet banksters whose greed cause so much pain, I can’t seem to respect them or suppress my anger at them. I makes me wish there was such a thing as good and bad Karma. And if yoga puts a smile on the crowds faces while wishing god speed to our drones on their mission of death I am glad I don’t do it.

tom
Guest
tom
13 years ago

This is hard for me so I end up not going to protests and rallies. I know I should see the others point of view and respect them as human beings but I can’t. To me people who believe that killing children will keep us safe, that it is okay to drop bombs on civilians as we did in Japan and are doing now in our wars, people who think torture is okay and necessary, corporations that won’t spend 500,000 to buy the safety device to prevent oil spills in the gulf, walstreet banksters whose greed cause so much pain, I can’t seem to respect them or suppress my anger at them. I makes me wish there was such a thing as good and bad Karma. And if yoga puts a smile on the crowds faces while wishing god speed to our drones on their mission of death I am glad I don’t do it.

tj
Guest
tj
13 years ago

I could never get the photos to load, so I am commenting without the full effect, I think. Her idea of respect resonates with me and yet so does Tom’s righteous anger. I just wonder where the balance is. As a Christian we have the saying of “hate the sin, love the sinner”. Certainly bombing children is a sin, it sickens me, and yet behind that bomber (or in this case the administration calling the shots), is a person created in the image of God. That image is now smeared almost beyond recognition in most of us, but I think it is that part that we look to with respect and even sometimes we can reach beyond ourselves and look at them with love. That love can sometimes help the God image reappear more clearly.

tj
Guest
tj
13 years ago

I could never get the photos to load, so I am commenting without the full effect, I think. Her idea of respect resonates with me and yet so does Tom’s righteous anger. I just wonder where the balance is. As a Christian we have the saying of “hate the sin, love the sinner”. Certainly bombing children is a sin, it sickens me, and yet behind that bomber (or in this case the administration calling the shots), is a person created in the image of God. That image is now smeared almost beyond recognition in most of us, but I think it is that part that we look to with respect and even sometimes we can reach beyond ourselves and look at them with love. That love can sometimes help the God image reappear more clearly.