photo: Wallace G. Levison

It’s well known that one of our favorite visual themes is people leaping – an obvious metaphor for “taking a leap” into new territory, work, projects, endeavors that we might have thought fearful…life.

We came across an interesting trove recently on Retronaut, of New Yorkers in the 1890’s. Although there are some spectacular leaps…

photo: Wallace G. Levison

photo: Wallace G. Levison

photo: Wallace G. Levison

…we came across two images of young women standing on the edge of a diving board, pondering the leap…

photo: Wallace G. Levison

…wondering about the consequences perhaps, for stymied by fear…or perhaps…just waiting for the right moment…

photo: Wallace G. Levison

…which is not always when others (or we ourselves) think it should be.

Via Retronaut 

Related posts: jump! leap! (philippe halsman)
fly!  (merce cunningham)
‘the pleasures and terrors of levitation’ (aaron siskind)
how to fly
photo of the day: ‘leap into the void’

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

2 replies on “how do you know when to take the leap?

  1. Just today i found a beautiful notebook which had the following quote on the cover: “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.” (Margaret Shepherd).

    As you mentioned, timing is a very important issue . Although, i guess, life is able to adapt to our choices ~

    Greetings
    sahana

    ps . The picture of the man with the hat ‘ frog leaping’ would be nice as a big print; esp. when one gets in a mood.

  2. aah, even in past generations women cared not to get their hair wet. But agree to “walk the plank” for the photo. 🙂
    Cheers!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *