Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Exchanging a day of my life....
Durham Cathedral
So how was your weekend? Southern England is flooded with more rain than anyone can remember for July. For me though, I only heard of the flooding through the news bulletins, as although I would normally be in London and would have experienced day turning to night at 10.00am on Friday, I was hurtling north on an intercity train to Durham to attend a two day conference on photography.
I had swithered a long time before booking my place on the 'Light from Darkness' conference on Church photography, despite my 5 year interest in the subject and having devoted about 90% of my photographic output in this time to churches. As it turned out, I am very glad I did attend. We had specialist photographers from as far afield as Alabama USA, Ireland, Scotland and from all over England and presentations of photography of the highest level, but also displays of archival photographs by the likes of Fredrick Evans and others dating back 150 years.
But the weekend also provided plenty of time to visit Durham Cathedral. Indeed the conference was held within the Priors Hall of the 1,000 year old cathedral itself. It was a time to meet new acquaintances, make new friends, have time for quiet contemplation within the finest Norman Cathedral in all of England as well as be privileged with the chance to photograph within its walls where the activity is normally prohibited. I also enjoyed a number of riverside walks through the woods below the cathedral on its high rocky crag and was pleased to get a few atmospheric woodland pictures.
I also bought a few books from the Cathedral Book Shop and with them, a bookmark to keep the page. And on this bookmark is an inscription which I would like to reproduce here for you.
'This is The Beginning of a New Day'.
This is the beginning of a New Day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or grow in its light
and be of service to others,
But what I do with this day is important
because I have exchanged a day of
my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever.
I hope I will not regret the price
I paid for it.
I can honestly say without a second of hesitation, that my eventual choice to attend the Conference at Durham Cathedral on Church Photography was the best use of my time that I could possibly have made. I do not regret 'exchanging a day of my life' (or a whole weekend) for the experience. :-)
