Before I Die

On the way to a Photographers Meet-up last night for the book ‘This is East Van 2’ I’m thrilled to have a photo in (a self-portrait too…yahoo) I stopped by this art piece that I’d heard was up called “Before I Die”.  The above is a panoramic of the piece (its really quite big).

It was filled with dreams, plans, things people want to manifest while they are here on the planet.  It felt like most of the answers were straight from the heart and it was really incredible to see.  Below the board was chalk to add your own dream/plan to the list.

The Before I Die Project originated on the side of a house in New Orleans by the artist Candy Chang.  I had read about it when it was up in New Orleans and now it seems like you can get a kit to create one in your own city.  Amazing, isn’t it!

For those of you in Vancouver who would like to go see it, this is located at Georgia and Main in an alley (just around the corner from that intersection).  Definitely worth checking out!

For those of you elsewhere, have you seen one in your town/city yet?

And if you feel like sharing…what is one thing you’d at to this list if it was in front of you right now?

Here are a few close ups of some of the things people wrote:

The Box of Stories

The other day I pulled out that tin box from the back of the cupboard.  The one full of photos from back before it was the world of digital photography.

It was a peculiar yet beautiful half hour as I pulled the photos out and looked at each of them.  I found myself crying seeing people who aren’t with us anymore, laughing at other pictures of long ago.  It felt emotional and exhausting as I poured through them.

As I finished up, I thought about that box.  Quite honestly (and not in a self-depricating way) many of the photos were really not flattering and were photographically not very good.  As I had that thought, I listened to it and made a decision what my next thought would be.  Would it be that I sucked as a photographer growing up?  Would I let all of those feelings of insecurity that are still tied around my teenage years and the 20’s?  Not this time.

It made me think about how grateful I am that I discovered photography when I did.  I read so many people’s about page that starts with “I picked up a camera when I was 5 (or 9 or 11) took a picture and my world changed”.  That just isn’t my story.  There is no right or wrong time to discover photography and it is never to late.

Discovering photography as the shift from film to digital was the perfect timing for me.  Taking photos, waiting a week or more until that pouch of photos came back, just didn’t engage me in a way that I wanted to learn how to take better photos.

The accessibility of digital photography is really incredible isn’t it.  The way we can take a photo, look at it, and then right away ponder what we could do to take that photo a bit differently…that is what my brain needs to learn.  That experiential in the moment learning is really the only way it works for me.

The other big lesson I learned in that rollercoaster of emotions looking through that box of photos is that you find what you are looking for.  If I decided to look for the story of how I wasn’t good at photography before now, well, it was there and I could have easily taken that one on.  Or that story that has itself safety pinned to my heart that is all about not feeling beautiful or attractive growing up.  Well, there were photos in there that I could decide were proof of that story.

Instead I found on that told me a different story.  A different sort of proof.  One that made me look back and say, girl, you were beautiful.  One that has me smiling wide.  One that has my sister and I looking peaceful together.  That is the one that made it out of the box and is now on my fridge.  The one that whenever I’m struggling with those emotions of insecurity or remembering only the pain of teenagehood, that I can look her in the eye and tell her (me at probably around 16 or 17) that she is beautiful, just as she is.

Yes, it was on one image probably hundreds in that box. But it was the one I chose today.  The story I am choosing to prioritize over the ones that really don’t serve me and hold me back.

Its one of the ways I’m rewriting my story.

Speaking of that, the brand new Re-Writing the Story class is beginning next Monday!  We’re already gathered in the flickr group, introducing ourselves and beginning creative community.  I’ve also created an extra pre-class PDF to get us started.  There is still some room if you’d like to join in!

Rule-Free Photography is back!

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Back in March I ran a course called Rule-Free Photography hosted by Live it to the Full.   We spent 2 amazing weeks breaking the rules of what we think we should know/do/be as people who like to discover the world through a camera lens.  I was so energized by this class, by the way people responded to it and all of the gorgeous photos that were shared in the flickr group.  There was also something quite magical about the 2 week length of a course.  It was the perfect length of time to get energized about photography without being overwhelmed!

It was such a hit that we decided to bring it back….and its actually starting this month!

It runs from May 21st to June 1st and registration is now open.

Um, and did I mention that it was wickedly affordable and is only $29?   Its important to me to offer a variety of price points with my courses and this quite honestly is worth way more than its price!  It is a gorgeous dose of inspiration, it will help get that camera of yours off the shelf, will help you shake off perfectionism through playfulness and will give you a whole bunch of creative experiments to jump start your photographic adventuring!

You can find out more about the upcoming Rule-Free Photography class over at the Live it to the Full website!

Double Exposure Goodness this Weekend

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This weekend I’m doing a demo that if you’re local, I’d love for you to come join in!

It is hosted at one of the local art stores, Opus!

The demo is between 2-4 and of course I’ll be chatting about how to create double exposures through film, polaroid and digital techniques.  A “sit down and listen to me chat” is not really my style so I’ve created a demo in which you can be involved!

It will be kind of like a collaborative double exposure community experiment!  I’ll have a whole collection of cameras and film that have double exposure capabilities that we’ll be experimenting with.  Yes, you’ll be invited to take some photos with these camera and I’ll get them developed and share some of the results on the blog!

Feel free to bring your own camera that has double exposure capabilities, even if you haven’t tried double exposures on them and we can chat about how to double expose with your gear.

I’m creating a little zine of info for the workshop, so if you do plan to come, I’d love it if you could let me know so I have a sense of how many people to make zine’s for.  You could either let me know via the comments or join the facebook event page (and feel free to invite anyone here in Vancouver you think might be interested)!

Bringing our Stories into Focus

Is it time for you to create the space through self-portraits to let your story be told?

To un-invite the stories that don’t serve you and not let them be a part of your new relationship to your self-image?

To get quiet with the camera and listen for the new stories that want to be told?

Or to let one of those beautiful stories in the blur to come into focus? 

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