 May 12, 2009, at 2:13 pm 
This is a stream-of-consciousness writing exercise from one of the books on writing that I am reading. I really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share.
Here are one hundred things I love, in no particular order:
- kitties
- purring
- hugs
- the sound of the ocean
- sun on my face
- sand in my toes
- finding the zone on my yoga mat
- getting lost in a good book
- breakfast
- the rhythmic beat of a hard rain
- the smell of the woods after a good rain
- fog
- bookstores
- furry creatures
- the click of a camera shutter, but only when it’s my camera
- sunrise
- an open afternoon
- falling in love
- first kisses
- butterflies in the stomach
- possibilities
- magic
- driftwood
- decadent chocolate desserts
- cupcakes
Continue reading 100 Things »
May 4, 2009, at 11:35 am 
I’ve been blogging now for about 18 months, but I still feel like a newbie. I’m still figuring out what it is I want to write about, to tell you about. Like with everything I do, I want to put my best foot forward and be the best blogger I can be. To help me find my path, I’ve been reading a lot from other blogs, blogs that draw me in to the author’s world. Blogs that are authentic and inspirational. And now I’d like to share these blogs with you.
I’m not going to tell you too much about the blogs; they really speak for themselves anyway, and I want to give you the opportunity to discover them as I did – with no preconceived notions.
- Ink on my fingers – written by Susannah, a writer and photographer in the UK.
- Little Purple Cow Productions – by Stephanie C. Roberts, this is a beautiful photoblog with almost daily tidbits of insight.
- Gypsy Girl’s Guide – Alessandra de Souza writes about writing, photography and living the gypsy lifestyle.
- Swirly Girl – by Christine Mason Miller, a writer and artist.
- Windsweeping – by Holly. She doesn’t update often but I love what she writes when she does.
Do you have a blog that you love to read, that inspires you?
May 1, 2009, at 3:30 pm 
I started this week off with a case of, well, frankly, I don’t know what it was. A virus of some sort, the kind that gives you a nasty headache, vertigo, nausea and exhaustion. It forced me to slow down, and this slowing down let me tap into my creativity a bit more. I ultimately got more done creatively than I’ve been getting done on a weekly basis, in part because I couldn’t run around doing errands and in part because thinking hurt, so over thinking was out of the question. I’ve always heard that getting sick is the body’s way of telling me I’m doing too much. I apparently need that reminder a lot.
Yesterday I took a walk on the street that I live on, but I walked on the other side. That little action of crossing the street provided me with a whole new world to photograph. All it took was a small change of perspective for me to see the world in a whole new way. I found a beautiful flowering tree, a little stand of dandelions and a really quaint alley that I probably shouldn’t have been in (I think it was private property, oops!). These were all things I’d walked past many times before but never bothered to pay attention to. All I had to do was to slow down and open my eyes to a new perspective.
April 28, 2009, at 7:17 pm 
Last week Thursday and Friday were beautiful days here, sunny and in the 80s. On Friday I headed down to Lake Calhoun with my camera and watched the tall grass near the water blowing in the soft breeze, the buoys bobbing up and down gently in the water and the little children playing on the swings near the beach. But it was this dandelion that I passed on my way back from the lake that I found the most inspiring. It had planted itself in the tiny amount of dirt between the sidewalk and the retaining wall of the adjacent house and had succeeded in sending up not one but two flowers so early in the season, even though we’re really low on rain this spring. We call them weeds, and we look down on them, working to root them out of our yards, frowning on their ability to disrupt our plans for perfect lawns and sidewalks. But I have to admire their tenacity and persistence. They persevere in the harshest conditions and are never afraid of disrupting the status quo. Their little yellow faces shine right back into the face of adversity. Yes, this is exactly the kind of inspiration I need right now.
Note: This is a cropped version of the photo I took that day. You can see the full photo on Flickr.
February 16, 2009, at 6:30 pm 
The more I learn about lighting theory, the more I notice lighting and it’s influence on what I see. I notice the color of the natural light, and how it changes throughout the day. I notice how light elucidates texture when the sun is low on the horizon, and often hides it when the sun is high in the sky. And I notice how lighting can play with emotions, not just in photography but also in my life – the way that the sun popping out from behind a cloud can illuminate a room and life my spirits at the same time.
Every day I’m learning a little bit more, and seeing a little bit more. The door to the world is open, and every day the world is new again. It’s up to us to see it as new, and to explore.
February 2, 2009, at 1:33 pm 
I hate to admit it, but my photography has leveled off. I have a decent grasp of the use of depth of field, how to make artistic use of long shutter speeds and how to get an accurate exposure. But I know I still have a lot to learn if I want to reach my full potential as a photographer. While I know that time behind the camera is the best teacher, I’m not learning if I’m just going through the same thoughts and actions each time I shoot. But what to do differently? What’s the best way to grow as a photographer?
The answer is not an easy one as everyone learns differently. Maybe you are a visual learner, or maybe you learn best by doing. Maybe you like to work on your own at your own pace, or maybe you prefer a group learning environment or need a team environment to get motivated. Here are a few ideas to get you going, with a little something for everyone:
Take a Class: This is probably the most obvious option, and can be the most expensive. But there is a lot to gain from taking a class, especially if that class is out of your comfort zone. Classes that have a number of sessions can help to keep you on task, with assignments focused specifically on learning the task at hand. Also, a group environment can be very inspirational as each photographer in the class is coming from their own background and experiences and may have different ideas or ways of approaching things. You’re not only learning from the instructor but also the other students. If you choose to take a class, do some research to make sure the class will match your expectations. If possible, talk to the teacher or even others that have taken the class. You’ll get the most out of a class if it’s at the right level for you.
Read a Book: If you work well on your own and can stay on task as a home study student, this is a great option for you. It can take a bit of work to sift through the countless tomes on photography to find the right book for you, but that work can pay off with a lot of lessons for only a little bit of money. If you go this route. make sure to try out the exercises in the book. They will reinforce the lesson and you may learn a bit about your own shooting habits in the process.
Join a Club: Clubs often offer educational events for a lot less than a formal class. These are often in the form of single workshops which give you the chance to learn without the commitment of going to class each week. Also, many clubs have social shooting events which give you a chance to shoot with others, trying your new skills and learning from the other shooters. These events are a great place to gather ideas for your own work. Club members can often recommend books and classes that have worked for them, if you’re thinking options 1 or 2 sound good to you.
Browse the Net: Yes, this is a danger zone for a lot of people, myself included. It can be easy to get sucked into the endless articles and blogs and find yourself at cuteoverload.com looking at kittens when you’re supposed to be learning. But there is a lot of information on the net, from blogs like this or those I’ve listed in the blogroll. Into lighting? Visit Strobist. Need inspiration? Check out Flickr.
Analyze Work You Like: Spend sometime studying photographs you like. Why is the lighting right? What makes the composition work? How is the photographer using color? There is a lot to learn form the work of others that can help your work improve.
Analyze Your Own Work: Even if you’re taking a class or receiving critiques from your photo club, it really helps to analyze your own work. Looking at past work can help you to see how far you’ve come, and also where your weaknesses lie. You may also pick up on patterns. Maybe you always put your subject in the lower right quadrant of the frame, or you always shoot at the same aperture. Finding your comfort zone is the first step in moving out of it. There’s a good chance that the answer to the question “What is my next step?” is right there in your photos.
So what am I doing to take my photography to the next level? All of the above. I’m taking two classes and supplementing them with my own reading, plus I’m keeping up with my photography club. I’m active on Flickr and I shoot every day, which gives me a lot of photography (my own and others) to study. My challenge is to push myself out of my comfort zone and to spend time on my own working with the techniques I’m learning. Little by little, I’m getting there.
January 29, 2009, at 6:20 pm 
While I’ve seen many winters before, this year, as I’m taking pictures and spending more time really looking at winter, I’m struck by the sparseness. Everywhere the branches are bare, the lakes are frozen expanses of empty white snow, the walking and biking paths devoid of people. The is a lot of beauty in the sparseness if one can get bundled up enough to enjoy it. I think when I moved to Minnesota I was so shocked at how cold the winters were that I forgot how pretty it was when the world is blanketed in white and the city sounds are muffled by the snow. So I’m setting a goal for myself for the next couple of months – I will look for that winter beauty, noticing the intricate forms that the branches of the oak trees make, or the winter feathers of the little birds that frequent those trees.
January 22, 2009, at 9:36 am 
There are days when I just don’t feel creative. I feel like everything I shoot is the same, and I’ll never come up with a shot that’s fresh and new. But I’ve made a commitment, so I have to shoot something. Tuesday was one of those days. I let the day go by without taking one photograph, and then realized at 5pm that I’d lost my light and needed to find a photo. So I started hunting around the house, going to my fallbacks – photographing the cat and the dog, and food. Nothing felt fresh.
After taking a number of photos I loaded the best shots on to my computer and took another look. I had a couple that would work as safety shots, and this helped me relax. I remembered that I needed to change my perspective, but laying down and looking up wasn’t going to do the trick. There was nothing new in the house, but there was surely something that could be looked at with new eyes. So I looked for something in the house that maybe could be looked at from a new angle or perspective, and I found my husband’s typewriter. It sits alone on a small table that I found at an antique store, in the corner of the dining room. My husband found it at a yard sale a few years ago, and we know nothing about it’s history. I’d like to think there’s a story in there. So I made this photograph, and it’s one of my favorites of the year so far.
When I took my first photography class, the teacher reminded us that what makes a photograph is not what you photograph, it’s how you do it. I’ve found this hard to remember when I’m not feeling creative, as I tend to over think things a bit. But the lesson here for me is to open my eyes and tap into the curious soul inside me. Interesting viewpoints can be found in the mundane, we just have to look.
November 17, 2008, at 3:51 pm 
This morning I went out and bought a book.
I drove out to the Barnes and Noble at The Galleria with the intention of buying the book Light: Science and Magic, which provides instruction in lighting for photography. I’d checked online and I knew they had it in stock. I found my book, but stayed to browse some of the other photography books on the shelves, and my mood started to change. I became very contemplative and present in the book browsing, lost in the pictures and the book synopses. This has happened to me before – it’s why I like going to bookstores, actually – and so felt as if I was digging into a big bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese; comforting and fulfilling at the same time. After some time I found the book A Year of Mornings. This book of photography came out of a blog project where the two women author-photographers, both living in cities named Portland but on opposite sides of the country, each took one picture every weekday morning for a year. When viewed together the pictures often seemed to complement each other, as if there was some connection between them even though the women did not discuss the pictures before shooting them. Sometimes the colors seemed to go together, and on some mornings they each took a picture of the same items. I was also struck by the beauty of such simple items, a cup of coffee or half-eaten grapefruit, a flower in a vase or an unmade bed. Looking at the pictures reminded me that to find beauty in the everyday I must be present in the moment and open to the possibilities.
Somehow this time of year I always come upon this realization. Sometimes it’s through the beauty of the first snow, or a something that happens in my yoga practice. Sometimes it just comes out of the rush that is the holiday season; the visiting of family and friends, the bustling of shopping, decorating and baking, and this strange need to feel jolly in what is ultimately the darkest time of the year. This time of year always makes me feel like I need to slow down, and being present is my way of slowing things down. This year the feeling has taken me a bit by surprise as I haven’t been working, and thus in theory I shouldn’t feel so rushed. But still, I’ve needed the reminder, to remember to get on my yoga mat, to enjoy my breakfast and my brisk walk each morning with Cooper. To notice the little things, like the way Storm joins me in the bathroom each morning with a purr, and the way the sun fills the living room on clear winter days. As the year comes to an end I need to make the most of my time off from work as I’m sure the new year will bring with it a new job that will take up most of my time, and I will have to work harder to find the good stuff.
So I left the bookstore without the book I planned to purchase, but with my own copy of A Year of Mornings and a nice dose of inspiration. I’ve been trying to take at least one “keeper” picture each day in preparation for a 365 project on flickr that I was planning to start formally in 2009. I’ve had a block with my photography as I feel like I have nothing interesting to say or shoot, that I need a theme outside of myself to make things interesting for others. But I’ve been reminded of a purpose – find something each day that interests or inspires me, or that tells a story. Simple, right? Well, it probably won’t be, as I know from others who’ve gone down the path. But I know it will be worth the effort.
Addendum: A Year of Evenings is currently in progress at the 3191 blog. The pics are beautiful!
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