Walking through the Wildflowers

This weekend as I wandered through a wildflower garden in downtown Seoul

I realized something about where I should make my home

It should be somewhere that is always warm enough for flowers to be blooming

Because what a difference in life

To be surrounded with beautiful blooms

Cherry Blossoms

I made a special trip out of town last weekend to visit a town that is famous for its cherry blossoms. These beautiful little flowers appear in an instant and are gone almost as quickly. We sure don't have any of these back in Alberta, I can tell you that much! I hope these photos can give you an idea of even a fraction of the beauty that surrounds...

Resuming Project 365... Mind the Gap!

Week 10: From the top...

So I started a project 365 (a picture a day for a year sort of thing) waaaaaaaaaaay back in September with the idea of learning some more about photography, and about taking time for something I enjoy at some point in my day. In November I got all overwhelmed with life and that than continue something I was really enjoying, I abandoned ship at Remembrance Day.

However, rather than throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater I'm just going to pick up where I left off beginning with April 1st... so here's the first weekend back at it!

65:365    Thursday 01APR10 – Little Sunburst

Hello Spring, nice to see you again! I have been wandering all over the neighbourhood looking for spring to pop out around the corner, and here is the first REAL little flower that I’ve found – bursting with sunshine. Welcome, Spring...

66:365     Friday 02APR10 – Looking Beyond

Korea is full of artwork at every turn, statues, paintings and the like. This is from a grouping of 3 that look to be from mythology, though I couldn’t find a plaque to know for sure. I loved the way he looks with the lines from the building for perspective in the background... frozen in eternal focus, forever looking beyond what is.

67:365     Saturday 03APR10 – Silver Lining

I thought about reconstructing this pile of shells a few times that I’ve walked by it, but this morning I noticed the sun shining off them and it made me think about things that seem like less than what they are... hidden beauties, silver linings... the reason I get out of bed every day – life is full of them!

68:365     Sunday 04APR10 – Sunny Wings

Another of the group of 3 from Friday, I just couldn’t take enough photos of these wings. The entire statue really, I'll add more in another post so you can see more of it for yourself, it's really beautiful no matter how many times I look at it. I’ll have to put more up on my flickr page, but this is my favourite so far. I love that on Easter Sunday this is the photo I happened upon for the day... beautiful sight...

Looking forward to cracking out the camera everyday again!!  :)

The Book and The Workshops

Well, there are 'focus' points in the book, that I think I can make a project out of (e.g. collection: favorite colour), but he also has a course within the book that covers chapters on portraits, kids & families, wedding bells, travel, action & the great outdoors, and found objects & subjects.

For example (much into his book, which I have not come near completing yet) Chris has a chapter on portraits, where he does a bit of a lecture, outlines with photos, gives incrdible examples and stories of how to make things work, and then he offers the first of the 'workshop assignments' in a (a) survey (b)shoot (c) share (d) review and respond format for each chapter. This one, portraits, asks you to do a survey (of Annie Leibovitz), shoot (6 assignments to try with your camera), share (photo show with friends/family or on the book site on Flickr), and review and respond (instructions in the book).

 

'Shoot' assignments (in the Portraits chapter) include:

1. Environmental
2. No Faces
3. Subjects you Admire
4. Object to Start Conversation
5. Prop with Subjects
6. Strangers in Same Context

To give you an idea of what an assignment looks like, this is an excerpt from the book...

To expand your people photography skills, do the following assignments. They are intentionally open ended so that you can modify them to best fit who you are.

1. Environmental: Create five unique "environmental" photographs of five coworkers or family members. By environmental I mean, compose the image so that the location and context are integral aspects of the photograph.

5. Prop with Subjects: Create 5 photographs of 5 different people with the same prop. Props help people relax, give them something to do, and draw out different personality traits. Here are a few prop ideas: vintage binoculars, cowboy hat, shovel, guitar, ladder. 

Survey: Throughout the book Chris has 'Guest Speakers," inspirational photographers who share their ideas on photography and good photographers, like Marc Riboud, Pete Turner, John Sexton, Douglas Kirkland, Elizabeth Messina, and Dan and Janine Patitucci.... what inspires you? what makes a photograph good? what character qualities should the photographer nurture? what is your advice for the aspiring photographer? The survey part of the assignments asks you to survey specific sites or artists or photographers with specific ideas in mind, very well guided within each chapter.
Shoot: After reviewing the book, I think that one a week for even PART of the actual assignments is far too time-pressured for me, and I am thinking now that maybe one per month might be more reasonable. That said though, the shoot part of the portraits assignment includes a total of 5+5+5+5+5+15 (40!!) shots to "submit," and that alone is going to take quite a lot of time! They don't get shorter either (don't take pictures and you don't learn, right!?)...

Share: If you're somewhere that you don't have access to a ready dinner-party of friends and family that you wish to share your shots with, the book (Visual Poetry) has a flickr group on the web, and he asks that you tag your photos with the approrpate assignment information (e.g. chapter 5, assignment #2, No Faces), and he is still interacting with people who are interested directly through the site!

Review & Respond: Things like "take some time to jot down a few notes. What worked? What didn't work? What could have been better? If you really want to grow, ask a close friend to help you objectively review each step of the assignment. Try to identify the qualities of the best and worst photographs. Then, work to define your style. How would you describe it in a few words - maybe authentic, edgy, and contemporary?"... After you have spent some time debriefing, close the chapter on what has been done and turn toward the future. At this stage I find it helpful to literally turn a page in my jouranl and start anew. Based on your review write out 3-5 goals (e.g. to get paid to do what I enjoy best; create a best-selling book; have the chance to meet and photograph inspiring people from all walks of life, etc.). Then write out some steps in order to begin your goal-based journey...

So that's basically what's outlined in his book... if you're up for buying a book, I would totally recommend it, it's the best photography book I've ever read (even though I'm not done yet)! If you want to come along on my journey I'll post the assignments as I'm working on them, but there is a LOT of great information in the book too!

Lastly (for now!) you can visit the author's website at http://www.chrisorwig.com/ for more from him... hope you enjoy!

Rekindling the Creative Fires

I was talking the other day about project 365 with a couple of different friends, and I have decided to reevaluate the terms of my self-imposed contract, and begin anew from where I left off with my project. Though for most the project is a 1 photo per day dialogue, with my project I will just have to attach the warning "Enjoy, but mind the gap!" I don't want to scrap it, though I have not been working on it since November, so I have tried to figure out what put it off my list of important things. My own sorrow and unhappiness caused me to give up the things that were making me happy... as if my own unhappiness needed to draw every ounce of gladness and colour out of me until everything was a dull blue gray... enough of that now, I begin again, starting anew, rekindling the fires of my creative self. I do so while I am in a somewhat tenuous place with myself, change running rampant throughout all courses of my life. I do so knowing that I might have days where 'it's not good enough', and there may be a blank space on the wall. I do so with love and kindness for myself, that I can learn to be more gentle, to broaden my expectations, and expand my horizons and learn from my creative mistakes. I know that art and creativity always bring me heaps of joy, happiness and excitement, I'm ready to have some of those things back in my life again!

As well, on the burner for sometime in March, I got the most amazing photography book for Christmas called "Visual Poetry," by Chris Orwig. It's a book I already adore for it's passion and instruction and pages of hopefulness. It's my plan to start a project (weekly? monthly?) whose length of time may depend on the difficulty at hand, but I plan to undertake a study of each chapter, each style, each area he addresses in the book. I'm really excited about it, and I have been thinking about it since Christmas, but I have just put it off and put it off, dousing my own flames, as it were. It's about time to get that home fire burning again, so stay tuned for the continuation of what was started and stalled... soon!