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Meet The Author & Photographer
Prudence Kohl
One life fully lived
needs no elaboration.
It is its own explanation.
Life begins one step beyond
your comfort zones.
When you cross the Rubicon,
the size of your raft
is not as important
as the size of your
determination.
If you believe as I do, that a person’s integrity and credibility are best measured by the experiences he or she has endured, then you will enjoy the following synopsis of my life adventures. Mother’s vision for my future was that I should become a concert pianist. I studied piano from age three to 18. It was then I realized my hopes and dreams were not compatible with Mother’s vision. I wanted to follow my own bliss, even if I didn't know what bliss meant . Mother was not amused.
Most of the young men I was infatuated with were infatuated with me because I was their image of a perfect wife. Or so they told me. It wasn't the wife word that scared me, it was that "perfect" part. If there's one absolute truth I've learned over all my years it's this -- there is absolutely no place for perfect in a dynamic relationship!
Surviving 18 years of formal schooling made me a master of “data dump” — don’t think, just regurgitate what your teachers tell you. It wasn’t until I became a teacher that I realized one must struggle to make sure formal education doesn't interfere with learning. One is a process. The other is a miracle.
I have walked into the valley of death with those I loved most in life. Helped them go into transition. Laid them gently in their graves. I learned to live in peace with their legacies and memories. Death taught me the deeper message behind the words “carpe diem”— seize the day.
There was a time when I measured the validity of my numerous achievements by the number of plaques, degrees, certificates, and awards displayed on my walls. Now I measure the validity of who I am by how brightly my light shines so others might find their way.
Whatever I have pursued, I pursued it with all my heart. Sometimes I won the race, sometimes I lost. That’s what being fully alive is all about. On my journey beyond my garden wall, I have been frustrated, abandoned, reclaimed, and challenged so many times, I've learned how to tear down the barriers of my own self-imposed limitations.
My reward for living fully and passionately was recovery of the life I was born to live. My joy is to help others achieve this same reward.
As for my photographic abilities, I confess there are others more technically proficient than I. All of the master prints in Hole in the Garden Wall were taken with two 25-year-old Pentax 35mm Spotmatic cameras with no automatic anything except an in-camera light meter. I develop black and white prints in my own custom-designed darkroom. Alone with only my imagination and negatives, it is within the darkroom that my creative voice takes flight.
My greatest asset as a photographer is an innate gift for composition. Every picture is composed within the viewfinder. I rarely ever crop a print before or after developing it. Each time I speak to camera clubs or judge their competitions, I offer this simple piece of advice: don’t just shoot a picture; photograph what you feel about what you see. This is one more dimension of my singular belief — if you want people to think, first get them to feel.
All verses but three in Hole in the Garden Wall are original, inspired by those exceptional people who crossed my life’s path and moved me with their strength, wisdom, and humanity. The words are written in the language of the story-teller, orchestrated for the ear, not the eye. Their musicality is best appreciated when read aloud.
Regarding my “visual thought” process, I am often asked which comes first, the words or the image? If I have a very strong intuitive sense for a message I want to deliver, the words usually appear first. If the message remains subliminal, I compose the image first which then draws the words out of my imagination. On rare occasions, the words and image happen simultaneously.
With the combined power of words and images, I can imply, allude, and weave multiple metaphorical layers into any composition of my choosing. Which is why almost every book plate master print and verse combination in Hole in the Garden Wall expresses much more than what is revealed at first or even second glance.
Thank you for this chance to share my thoughts with you.
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