Category Archives: Light Hunting

June 26, 2015

Be Your Own Light this Summer!

byolightwsite600

So many of us hide our light.

Hide from the camera.

Sure, we may shine in other ways, every single day.

But as soon as the camera comes near, we throw a blanket over our light…of old stories, of beliefs of what the photo is going to look like even before we take it. We don’t give our chance to see ourselves in a new light, from a new perspective.

That’s why I’ve decided to bring back the Be Your Own Light for a community session this summer.

Because I want to see you shine and not be afraid to stand in the light…in your life AND in front of the camera.

Standing in our light doesn’t mean we’re being vain.

It doesn’t mean we want to outshine anyone.

It’s not about that at all.

It’s a claiming of worthiness, a claiming of our right to be in that photo.

The Be Your Own Light, much like the Be Your Own Beloved class, is all about helping YOU let yourself shine. But the Be Your Own Light class is super fun because we also learn about light…literally!

Often I find that when folks might take a photo of themselves and not be able to see it with kindness…often it is that we might not be ‘lit’ well in the photo, that the natural light around us isn’t helping us shine.

So in this class, we learn about light and how to take photos that help us shine in a literal way as we build a relationship to light…but we’re also inviting ourselves into the frame each day with the light and stepping away from hiding into the shadows and letting ourselves stand in the light!

I also wanted to keep it at a summery, gentle price too so you can join in for this class for $39 for these 20 days of light & self-discovery.

Let yourself shine this summer!

February 25, 2015

Let Yourself Shine

lightws

We were sitting out on the fire escape high above the street with glasses full of red wine. She was a crone with long black hair and looked like the picturesque witchy woman, which she was. We were talking about the city we lived in and the way it has a strange energy to it.

“Don’t ever let them put a blanket over your light” she said.

I’ve thought about those words so many times over the years. Mostly once I left that city. Because, you know what, I had a blanket over my light.

She was so right. I don’t think it was anyone else who put it over me, or the city, I most definitely put it over myself. It was cozy and safe under there.

That blanket has stayed there for a long time. It was heavy, dark and definitely my safety zone. I walked the world with this blanket of fear, afraid to show my light, afraid that they’d tell me:

“Who are you to try to shine like that?”

“Who do you think you are?”

“Don’t try and show off. Just accept things as they are.”

“You aren’t good enough.”

I listened to those voices for a long time.

A LONG time.

Mediocrity was a comfortable place for me. Not letting my light shine was safe and not scary. I was protecting myself.

After a while it didn’t work anymore. Mediocrity is not enough. It was suffocating, sad and stagnant. I wanted more than that.

So I started to believe in myself again, believe that I had something to offer. I didn’t know what it was, especially since I had been hiding my light for so long.

For a long time I had 4 pages ripped out of a magazine taped to my apartment wall which contained these words:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

-Anais Nin

I would read that quote every day. I knew some day it would be worth the risk to blossom. Then the time came and I was wracked with fear.

I gathered up my courage and peeked out from underneath that blanket covering my light.

Hello?

Hello, hello, hello the world echoed.

Just in case that was just a coincidence, I tried again.

Hello?

Hello, hello, hello the world echoed back at me again.

Okay. It seemed pretty safe out there. Safe enough to stick my head out and see. It wasn’t as scary as I’d feared. I walked around with my head emerged, still having the blanket around me taking special care to keep my heart protected.

Slowly I let the blanket drift lower and let more of myself emerge. Eventually my heart was left exposed. It beat loudly, adrenaline pumping.

“Cover yourself…this is too much”.

“Are you crazy, I’m wildly exposed here” it said.

So my heart and I had a little conversation.

Dear Heart

Having a blanket over your light, suffocating your dreams, is not the love I want to give you. You are worth a better kind of self-love.

Just because I am letting my dreams emerge, it doesn’t mean that I won’t protect you.

Trust me.

Love,

Vivienne

It calmed to a regular heartbeat. Regulating and surprised itself by actually enjoying the sun shining down on it rather than being hidden in fear.

The blanket fell further until it wasn’t needed anymore.

I didn’t leave it behind though. Sometimes things are so scary to let emerge that they need blankets, they need to ease into existence rather than jump in full force.

Some days I still need to hide under it. To keep in touch with that part of me that is scared. Fear is an important part of the creative process. There have been times when I hide back under there for a while until it is time to emerge with a new idea or new dream.

It feels so intriguing to me that when I really think about it, my work now teaching self-portraiture e-courses is just this. It is about taking a medium that some people perceive as ‘vain’ and turning that on its head. My work is about helping people pull that blanket of fear off of themselves and giving them tools to allow themselves to shine. It is about creating a community that echos back at you ‘you are so wonderful’ loudly and clearly so you know you are not alone.

As well, sometimes people may try and put a blanket over you and so many of us are experts at putting blankets over our own light.

Just promise me that if you are indeed hiding your light like I have been…that some day when you are ready, you will lift up the corner of it and shout out “hello”. I will promise you that the world will echo back at you.

December 18, 2014

Getting through the Grey

gettingthroughthegrey

I don’t know about you, but where I live we are deep in the middle of the grey and rainy winter.

While I adore where I live, this part of the year gets tough.

When the days are so short and there is so little light to soak in during the day. Thankfully we’ve had a bit of sun here and there, but still…I feel like self-care is so pivotal right now and it’s been on my mind so much more.

Which is a big part of why I wanted to bring back the Self-Care Class this season. I’ll be sharing more about my own self-care tools with the class participants but one of my favourite tools is going for photo walks.

In the spring time I like to make a practice of going out for a photo walk in the last hour of the day as the sun starts to fall away. A few weeks ago when I realized that it was starting to get dark at around 4pm I decided that as many days as possible I was going to pause from my work (I usually work at home in the afternoons) and get out for a short photo walk at around 3pm.

Some days, especially when it’s raining, it has been as short as walking the half block to the alley way, to the path around my house and back. Which takes a total of about 2 minutes max.

Other days I’ll go a few blocks and sometimes even further.

Somedays I’ll come home with photos to post and other days I don’t. Cause to me photo walks aren’t just about getting photos. They are about making space to slow down, to notice, to feel engaged with the natural and human world. In this case I notice what light we do have as it is about to fall away. Even if there aren’t the rays of light that fall in the spring. Even if it is raining.

Because to tell you the truth. I didn’t fall in love with photography on a sunny day. It was a grey day when I jumped in a puddle and decided to try to take a photo of it with my new (now old school) flip phone with the super crappy camera and that moment when I felt myself fall in love with the potential to capture a moment.

It wasn’t the gorgeously radiant days only that helped this become a healing tool for me. It was a multitude of rainy days when I’d go out when the rain paused with my macro lens to capture the water droplets.

And while I sure do love a radiant sunny day for capturing a self-portrait, largely because of the way it enriches the story…the light isn’t the only thing that makes a photo shine. It is gifting ourselves with the space to tell our story. It is us that shines too.

So while I’m feeling that overwhelm of this season with so much less light, it’s the time that I need to come back to tools I’ve been using this whole time. It’s about opening my heart again and again to the ways that the camera can be self-care and how even these short photo walks fill my well.

If you’re interested in digging deeper into self-care this season and and want to know more about the Self-Care class, head on over here!

December 3, 2013

Unexpected Light

Yesterday I went over to the community garden in my neighbourhood to test out a few activities for the new class: The Rebel’s Guide to Falling in Love with Photography (which is going to pretty much be the most fun photography class ever). We’re going to stop our perfectionist side from limiting our photo adventures and have so much fun that we just can help but fall in love with photography!

It was truly so lovely to wander in the garden.

Sure, there are no flowers blooming and most of the leaves had fallen.

I think its so easy to assume that there is nothing to be inspired by now that it is the winter, the grey season here.

But this photo walk reminded me to expect the unexpected.

In a few months the unexpected might be new blossom bursting open.

Or another walk it might be an unexpected sculpture in the garden I hadn’t noticed before.

But today it was my favourite unexpected. The light.

It was late afternoon and as the sun fell it not only poured through the trees gorgeously, it ended up being a beautiful golden hue that led to a pink and blue sunset.

I think that is one of my favourite things about light. That you never know what might happen next. How quickly that ray of light will be gone, how much things change season to season and the way the light falls in one season is so different from the others.

Its that beautiful reminder to make the most of the moment before the light changes. To go for it. To pick up our cameras and take that shot.

To live in, and to capture the moment.

I’m mighty excited to share some of these activities I was testing out today in The Rebel’s Guide! Its a rare group session of a class that actually isn’t about self-portraiture, but I absolutely LOVE teaching these activities in person and really wanted to provide them to you so you can fall head over heels with photography in a playful & accessible class!

As well, if you’re craving to learn more about light, I have two self-paced classes about light: Light Hunters (which is all about different types of light) and Be Your Own Light (which merges the Light Hunters class with Be Your Own Beloved and invites you to learn about light AND let your light shine)!

I also want to invite you to just be open to the unexpected as you go about your journey today and of course, have your camera ready! You never know what light might cross your path and ask to be captured in your camera (and perhaps you might just want to add your light to the photo too)!

February 28, 2013

Let Your Light Shine

Evening nears and the light rays start pouring through the trees and landing on the ground.

I put on my favourite red mary janes and head outside with my camera

These light rays beckon me but I can’t come back in an hour to get this shot

This photo is all about now

It is an invitation to jump in

To practise bravery

Because in 10 minutes that light ray will have moved on.

This is the moment to decide.

Am I going to stand in the light?

So I do.

This has been a big part of my self-portrait journey since it began, seeking out beautiful light and daring myself to take a self-portrait in it. These are always my favourite selfies because light is magical and when we engage in it in this way, we get to be a part of the magic.

Be Your Own Beloved is coming to a close today and it is so bittersweet as I am deeply proud of the incredible images and heart work that have been manifested by the participants. It has been so beautiful! But #beyourownbeloved was actually the first in a series of affordable yet oh so powerful courses I have planned! The Be Your Own Courses are designed for anyone (yes, including total beginners) with any camera to explore self-portrait photography and through it dive deeper into seeing themselves with kindness through the lens.

So yes, while Be Your Own Light is about learning how to add magical light to your photos. We’ll be rockin’ the light flare, capturing those magical evening rays of light, we’ll be swooning over silhouettes in sunsets and I’ll be spilling all my favourite light tricks….I’ll even share some of the secrets of how I get magical light photos while living in a city that is grey and cloudy this season (you definitely don’t need to be in a sunny place or sunny season to take this class).

But its actually more than just light tricks:

It is also about creating space in your life to let your light shine, to not hide it.

It is about awakening your radiance.

It is about not hiding in the shadow.

It is about getting that sparkle back in your eyes.

It is about learning to let our light shine in our photos (and our lives).

Be Your Own Light starts Monday, so if you’re craving to continue (or to begin) your self-portrait journey or to get inspiration as you work through a self-portrait project, come join us for #beyourownlight. Or if you’ve been seeing those powerful #beyourownbeloved photos from your peers and craved to join in…maybe you were meant to come be a part of this class and let your light shine!