Announcing Rhapsody 365

Dear Friends, in a few days I intend to start a new creative project, entitled Rhapsody 365. You can follow that project here, on the Mighty Works Blog, on the Rhapsody 365 FB page,  and perhaps even Twitter. (in the form of a link.)

Over the last decades I have given myself to a handful of creative projects. I find I need the form as part of personal discipline, and as a way to coral creative energies that sometimes gush – but to no particular end. I know that the one year I joined with others in the Arkansas 365, I was able to produce more and better work than I would have in a decade of loose looking.



rhap·so·dy



1: an effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling.
"rhapsodies of praise"

2: (in ancient Greece) an epic poem, or part of it, of a suitable length for recitation at one time.
--

3: archaic : a miscellaneous collection

4: a musical composition of irregular form having an improvisatory character



What is different about this project?

Words are the new pictures.

It may take a thousand of them, but I hope to make Rhapsody 365 as much about the words as the photos. I know how to take pictures, I know far less about using words, that is what makes it both fresh and dangerous.

New Thematic territory

If you have followed my photography, you know I live-in and love natural world. I agree with Dr Georg Washing Carver who said: “ I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” My goal, then and now is to keep my tuner firmly set, and use my photography as a form of praise.

In 2001, when I obtained my first digital camera, I started something called The Mighty Works Project. First editions came in the form of a daily email. I sent it to my 20 friends, and my mother sent to her hundreds. The early MWP was as much about blessing my mom as anything else.

While I have never shied away from praising God in a public forum, I have tried to be mindful of people who may find that language strange. I am deeply aware that my friends come from many backgrounds, and bold religious expression doesn’t always play well. So I have worked the tone of moderation. I have used been general, rather than deeply personal or specific when using the language of religious devotion. With Rhapsody 365, I grant myself full permission to play less safe, and pursue any number of themes with less “moderation.” I figure my friends wince at the antics of religious fundamentalists will still be good for the ride, but be prepared for more forthright Holy Ghost ardor. I hope to delve into some poet-apologetics, and journal a more personal walk with God.

Beyond that, I hope to mine old journal writings and poems, and bring a whole new body of “odd thought” to the surface.

New Time framework.

I know 365 sounds a lot like a year, and Lord willing I will put out a post a day. But only if that doesn’t get in the way of my first duties to home, work, and life. So… if this 365 takes three years… so be it. I need the structure, but not the prison.

If you are not apart of the Rhapsody 365 Facebook page (Formerly the Mighty Works Project) please consider “liking”