by successfulbob | art books, book review, inspiration, photography education
Eat Pray Love
I feel like I’m catching up with an old very good friend who’s been away adventuring. You know, the friend when you first met felt like you’d known each other forever? The friend who’s been away for years but you sit down and begin chatting and it’s like you were never apart and just pick up the conversation where you left off.
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia – by Elizabeth Gilbert
I don’t normally share my personal reading material on the blog but I’m making an exception here because I think you will enjoy this book, find a new friend, and share thoughts with someone who’s art is in creating pictures of environments and stories with words.
Meet my new friend Elizabeth Gilbert.
I met Liz (figuratively) while listening to an interview with her on NPR about her book, Eat, Pray, Love. That night I asked my wife to order up a copy for my Kindle. I just knew immediately that I would enjoy it. I think you will too.
Shared Words from the Book
During the radio interview Liz read a couple passages from her book. I’d like to share a taste of her writing style so you can get excited and find a new friend, if you haven’t already.
“The amount of pleasure this eating and speaking brought to me was inestimable, and yet so simple. I passed a few hours once in the middle of an October night that might look like nothing so much to the outside observer, but which I will always count amongst the happiest in my life. I found a market near my apartment, only a few streets over from me, which I’d somehow never noticed before. There I approached a tiny vegetable stall with one Italian woman and her son selling a choice assortment of their produce – such as rich almost algae-green leaves of spinach, tomatoes so red and bloody they looked like a cow’s organs, and champagne-colored grapes with skins as tight as a showgirls leotard…
“I walked home to my apartment and soft-boiled a pair of fresh brown eggs for my lunch. I peeled the eggs and arranged them on my plate beside seven stalks of the asparagus (which were so slim and snappy, they didn’t need to be cooked at all). I put some olives on the plate, too, and the four knobs of goat cheese I’d picked up yesterday from the formaggia down the street, and two slices of pink, oily salmon. For dessert-a lovely peach, which the woman had given to me for free and which was still warm from the Roman sunlight. For the longest time I couldn’t even touch the food because it was such a masterpiece of lunch, a true expression of the art of making something out of nothing. Finally, when I had fully absorbed the prettiness of my meal, I went and sat in a patch of sunbeam on my clean wooden floor and ate every bite of it, with my fingers, while reading my daily newspaper article in Italian. Happiness inhabited my every molecule.”
From further in the book in the India section…
“The truth is, I don’t think I’m good at meditation. I know I’m out of practice with it, but honestly I was never good at it.I can’t seem to get my mind to hold still. I mentioned this once to an Indian monk, and he said, “It’s a pity that you are the only person in the history of the world to have this problem.” Then the monk quoted to me from the Bhagavad Gita, the most sacred ancient text of Yoga: “Oh Krishna, the mind is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding. I consider it as difficult to subdue as the wind.”…
“When I ask my mind to rest in stillness, it is astonishing how quickly it will turn (1) bored, (2) angry, (3) depressed, (4) anxious or (5) all of the above. Like most humanoids, I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the “monkey mind” – the thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit and howl.”
I hope you enjoy this read as much as I have. As this Sunday Photo/Art quote often explores a slightly different path to creativity, may this inspire you to better photography as I believe it has me… Well written words create pictures in the mind. I think having more pictures in your mind enables you to create better images.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | art books, photography books, photography education
I initially meant to name this post Rocky Nook E-Book Sale but I had a misspelling but I thought it would work since this is a Halloween sale with 40% off all E-Books through November 5th… Get in while the gettin’ is good!
E books 40% off…
I enjoy the quality of Rocky Nook Books.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you’ve read this far you get a bonus!! Rooky Nook just put out a Free E-Book on Flash terminology Download Here
by successfulbob | art books, fine art photography, photography - art quote, photography books, photography education
What are your goals when you make a photograph?
I came across this quote from Robert Farber (see his work here) and thought it was worth a share and some thinking on this Sunday morning.
“I try to create emotion through a mood, an appreciation for what’s there – something people walk by every day and don’t see.” Robert Farber
I don’t now that I have a concise thought like this about my photography.
I don’t have much more to say so I’ll end on this note and ask for your thoughts while I spend time thinking about my goals in creating images.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Here’s a link to some of Farber’s books, many of them quite reasonable, if you want to expand your photo library.
by successfulbob | art books, photography, photography books
Reminders.
New ideas.
Insight from another photographer who has excellent skills.
And, some pretty darn nice photography all wrapped up in a beautiful package.
I’m talking about Bruce Barnbaum’s book The Essence of Photography – Seeing and Creativity published by rockynook. Bruce starts with a narrative that in the beginning I felt was a little too ‘I’ centric. But, he was sharing information as he saw and experienced it trough his career and I actually enjoy seeing through his eyes this way.
Bruce’s book cover.
Bruce gives lots of information on creativity and getting out of your own way. Suggestions on how to be a great photographer are there for the picking. This is not light reading but get you gets you to examine your photography and creativity in-depth.
Here’s a quick sample paragraph from the book…
The Importance of Defining Your Expressive Goals
“Sometimes a photographer has an idea of what he wants to accomplish, but he doesn’t really know how to achieve that goal. Mapping out that pathway can be the most difficult part of the process. Prior to that, figuring out exactly what you want to say about about your subject matter – whether it’s the character of the person you want to bring out in a portrait, the forces in nature found in the sandstone walls of a slit canyon, or anything else -can also be challenging. This is where the combination of drawing upon your deepest interests and fully understanding the technical aspects of photography – digital or traditional – gives you the tools you need to accomplish your goals.”
From the rockynook site on what’s inside…
• Defining your own unique rhythm and approach as a photographer
• How to translate the scene in front of you to the final photograph
• The differences and similarities between how an amateur and a professional approach photography
• The differences between realism and abstraction, and the possibilities and limitations of each
• Learning to expand your own seeing and creativity through classes, workshops, and associating with other photographers
• Why the rules of composition should be ignored
• How to follow your passion
• When to listen to the critics and when to ignore them Here’s one particular passage I want to share with you…
Lots of inspiration for creativity. This will be a book I return to for a refresher on an ongoing basis.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – You can get Bruce’s The Essence of Photography on Amazon
by successfulbob | art books, fine art photography, photography, photography education
5 minutes
12 minutes
15 minutes
45 minutes
These are all times I have spent and will continue to spend studying individual works of art in museums.
OK, maybe the 45 minutes was a little extreme but it was a Monet at a museum in LaHauve, France and I did have a lunch break mixed in there.
Anyway I’ve also been studying art books on painting and color in order to enhance my visual knowledge and vocabulary. I think this is one you can jump into and enjoy if you would like to be a better photographer. It’s called the The Artist’s Eyes by Michael F. Marmor and James G. Raven.
The Artist’s Eyes – Vision and the History of Art book cover.
The Artist’s Eyes goes into detail of how the eye works in receiving and interpreting light, shadow and color in forming images which helps us to understand why art looks the way it does. A handy thought don’t you think?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | art books, photography, photography - art quote, photography books, photography education
I’m reading a book.
Actually I’m reading several as I tend to do. But the one that pertains to today’s Photo/Art Quote is Inspiration on Photography, Train your mind to make great art a habit by Brooke Shaden is the title and while I haven’t gotten too far I’ve already found new ways to think about my art and creation in making images. So I thought I’d grab a quote from Brooke for today.
“Creativity, just like inspiration needs to be examined and nurtured.” Brooke Shaden
Brooke has hit the nail on the head with this one line. How do you come up with your ideas? Where are they from? What turns you on? And, even more important how do you act upon your thoughts and inspiration? How many times have you had a wonderful idea then delayed on the follow-through and never made the image? Shaden shares lots of ideas how you can get a handle on your creativity.
Lots of photographers I talk with feel they are not creative when they try to see their work verses another. Try not to compare. Think of it this way. You are watching someones fully edited and scored motion picture to your raw footage.
Inspect your ideas. Expand on them. Go shoot. Learn. Fail. Shoot again. Small successes lead to bigger ones. Work it. But work it with thought and a plan.
And, by the way it wouldn’t hurt to get Brooke’s book to help you think about inspiration in a new way. I’ll be doing a more detailed review of the book after I finish reading it. I can tell you right now that this is one that has already earned a permanent place on my photography reference bookshelf.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
