An Evening Stroll

How about you?

Have you been capturing evening light too?

I’d love to see some of your images if you feel like linking to them in the comments!

Inviting her into the Frame

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She grabs shame by the scruff.

Yet speaks to it kindly.

Telling it that it is not welcome here.

And it is time to leave.

 

It listens.

 

She walks with confidence, learned slowly but

Now impenetrable,

Not egotistic,

Just a knowing of what she is worth.

 

She is still soft. She always was.

Naivity combined with street smarts.

Whimsy that can’t be stepped on.

Her softness was never lost.

 

She doesn’t keep her truth quiet.

As complicated and intricate as it is

She has finally found the words

To speak it.

 

She has taken all the words and sideways glances

That she once took as truth and rewove

Them into a learning that life as she knows it

wouldn’t have happened without them.

 

Perhaps she won’t stop being angry, maybe she will.

But her anger reminds her of the importance of

self-love, self-care

And defining your own worth.

 

She is not yet who I am.

Or perhaps she is but that I just can’t yet see.

So I’ll keep on turning the camera on myself.

Inviting her into the frame.

***

This appeared this morning in response to a photo prompt I gave the Re-Writing the Story class yesterday.  I’m experiencing this class differently than I’ve ever experiences one of my classes before….needing to take my own advice that I’m giving to the participants.  I’m also so moved by their bravery, the way that they show up in their images and words in this class.  So grateful that I get to cheer on and witness people showing up for themselves, taking control of their self-image through the camera and in turn, I get to dig even deeper into my own process of showing up for myself.

The Re-Writing the Story class is no longer offered but was a pre-cursor to the Be Your Own Beloved E-Course which explores a similar theme of creating new stories of how we see ourselves.

Nextbyobeloved

When We are Playing

I love that quote.

Its true.  Playfulness pulls us away from the need for perfection, away from our worries and back into the experience of just being.

Rule-Free Photography starts tomorrow (and is only $29) and this class is full of playfulness.  While breaking the rules sounds rebellious, this class is really all about creating images playfully and outside the box and inviting ourselves to engage in photography in a really experiential and inquisitive way.

Its a beautiful 2 week dose of playfulness and now is the perfect time to join in!  We’re beginning to gather in the flickr group and classroom and I hope you’ll ponder joining in.

As well, Montage is beginning soon!  I’m sending out the pre-class PDF to the participants tomorrow (so excited to begin) and they will be invited to start gathering video for the course.  This session is sold out but there is another session coming up in August and the early bird price for the August session is only until the end of May!

Wishing you a playful day.

Making Beautiful Mistakes

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Some of my favourite photos I’ve taken were mistakes.

Were the result of trying something new.

Were shot without me looking through the viewfinder.

Were a mistake that made me smile and taught me something.

Were shots that feel like they have an extra doze of soul to them.

And resulted in discoveries that I now intentionally do in order to get images that are outside of the box.

I am so excited that a new session of Rule-Free Photography is starting.  I love the idea of a 2 week course, as last time we offered this class it felt like such an energizing length of time for a course. Long enough to feel super inspiring, but not so long that one get’s behind.  I’m thrilled we’re offering it again.

This is for the perfectionist in us who get caught up in what we are ‘supposed to know’ in photography.

This is for the photographer who’s camera is collecting dust on the shelf and need a dose of inspiration.

This is for those of us just beginning to explore photography.

This is for us right brain types who get dizzy with talk of aperture and shutter speed and just want to take photos.

This is for the left brain types who want to get a bit wild and free.

This is for those of us who feel stuck.

This is for those of us who stop and notice the beauty around you and would like some quirky ways to photograph it.

This is for you.

Um, and did you know it is only 29 bucks.  Let me tell you my friends, it is worth a lot more than that.  You really don’t want to miss this super affordable and mighty inspiring class.

Class starts Monday and I hope you’ll join me and other creatives folks.

You can sign up at the Live it to the Full site!

Have you ever taken a shot that was a beautiful mistake?  That didn’t come out the way you expected but allowed you to make some discoveries?  I’d love to hear about and see your beautiful mistakes!