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.
An interesting thought for today’s Photo/Art Quote from Freeman Patterson. It’s not really something I’ve thought about much over the years. I guess as I’ve been exploring photography as more of an artistic endeavor verses a realistic process I would be attracted to this thought.
“The camera always points both ways. In expressing your subject. You also express yourself.” Freeman Patterson
I’m going to guess that this is the reason if you give ten photographers the same subject to photograph you will end up with ten different images. I also believe that the story given when the subject is presented to a photographer can have a huge impact on the final outcome.
Witness Canon giving six photographers the same person to photograph who told each photographer a different story about his life and got six VERY different photographs in return.
Canon video of six stories and six results. One subject.
Spend some time thinking about this and please share your thoughts. This is one of those things that fascinate me.
I was excited to receive a call while on vacation with my wife in New Mexico from PPA headquarters. They were calling to share the news that I was named to the Top Ten in the Illustrative Category. I learned I was eligible for a Grand Imaging Award. Unfortunately, I did not earn a GIA Award but I was named to the World Photographic Cup – Team USA It was quite and honor to have an image be recognized at that level.
A photo taken by a friend as I headed across the stage during the Grand Imaging Awards at the PPA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia last week.
Here’s a better look at the image. It was created using a macaw that I photographed at Sarasota Jungle Gardens in Florida. The bird was extracted from the scene and duplicated numerous times into a spiral nautilus composition. Texture, smoke, shadows and color layers were added to add more depth and dimension.
This is the final image.
Here is an earlier version on the way to the final.
Original capture – Tech info from original capture Lumix GX7Lumix Vario 35-100mm f2.8 1/250 sec f2.8 ISO 400
Conventions. If you aren’t getting out for face to face learning opportunities I feel you are missing out on a vital link to running a successful business. It’s true that there are many ways in this day and age to learn more photography, art and business skills via DVD’s, online learning with things like UTube, Linda.com and Kelby One etc… BUT, in my mind you are missing out on the personal connections and being exposed to new sights and sounds outside your normal working environment. That stimulation can be key to having wonderful breakthroughs in the art and science of running your business.
Here’s the view out the porthole of the plane on the way to Atlanta. Used the Lumix FZ1000 set to macro mode to get the camera close to focus on the rain trails running by my view…
On the tarmac waiting for liftoff in Phoenix, Arizona
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We are photographers but within our chosen medium we have many ways of bringing attention to our subjects. Composition, lighting, color, tone and contrast all plat a part. But if we examine our work a bit more in depth we will see we at, any one time, one of these tends to come forward more often than not in our images.
Which brings me to today’s Photo/Art Quote by prolific artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
“I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no other words for.” Georgia O’Keeffe
So may I suggest when creating your art you give thought to the idea, whether it be portrait, fine art or move to the forefront, your message in the creation of your images. I believe if you think with this in mind you will begin to see your creativity grow.
Found this chart on Design School a web site for creative graphic designers I think we as photographers face the same challenges and fears as any other creative does i any genre. I’ve also found when I’ve looked outside the traditional channels for getting creative about photography I find there is a whole world of ideas that we can apply. Here’s a great thought starter for jumping your creativity up a notch or three.
Find more awesome design content at designschool.canva.com
Put some, or all of these ideas, into play & you will find new and exciting things happening in your photographic life.
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
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Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
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Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia – by 
