Fascinations, Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my latest fascinations is mail boxes! ("Letter boxes" for those of you in the UK.) These are disappearing around the US too, just like parking meters. Replaced by safer and more efficient shared post boxes, these are a bit of life that is going away. I remember the excitement as a child, of putting up that flag when the box had mail and seeing it down later in the day after the postman had come. I would run to see what had arrived in the mail. It's sad, I don't even have one in front of my house now. We walk up the street with a key to see what arrived, and it's usually junk. Bills don't even come anymore, they are sent via email.

Mail boxes are a symbol of so much else disappearing too, personal mail and the written letter. We all love to get mail but how often do we send it? Not so often. That's why the Liberate Your Art postcard swap was so much fun for many of us. For a little while, we got fun mail!

In honor of little-used mail boxes everywhere, let's all send a postcard or a letter or a note to someone we care about today. I've got my pen out now! Won't you join me?



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What's going on around The Kat Eye View of the World...

• The current Exploring with a Camera theme is Process of Elimination. Check out the post and explore with us.
• Do you want to deepen the connection between your heart and soul and your photography? Registration for the fall series of the Find Your Eye e-course is open! Visit here for more info.
• You can subscribe to the Kat Eye News to stay up-to-date on all the happenings.

Finding Color and Space

From scooter love yesterday to Burano love today. I am sharing "color" today, in honor of the wonderful Rachael Taylor who has featured me on her blog. Rachael is a surface pattern designer I met at the Do What You Love Retreat in May. Her work is beautiful and simple, and she loves bright colors, just like me. Stop by and visit her blog here to see me featured, and stick around to see her work. You will find something you love, I guarantee it. My favorite is this orange bag, which I brought home with me from the retreat. I'm so excited that it arrived with my goods from Italy, and I can start using it again. Orange Power!

I'm celebrating negative space on Mortal Muses today, so thought I would share some "space" here too. Have you stopped by and visited Mortal Muses lately? There's been a lot of change! We celebrated our first year at the beginning of August and now have five lovely new muses bringing their beautiful images and words your way. I have always loved how having nine different people working together creates a place of such beauty and diversity, and that has not changed. I hope you will join us there.

PS - Don't miss the giveaway on yesterday's post, there is still time to enter.

The Possibilities of Emptiness

What do you see in this image? Maybe you see the empty room, and wonder what will go there. Maybe you see the red wall. Maybe you see the tree beyond the window, the world outside. To me, this room is not empty, it's full of possibilities. Welcome to my studio. The Kat Eye Studio. Like a blank canvas, what will exist here is what I will create.

Kat Eye Studio has become real in more ways than one with my move home. First I have this room, what should be a "formal living room" is my physical studio, where my creative space will be. It has the best light in the house with the only south facing window, and it's a nice big space. I've also officially created Kat Eye Studio, LLC as a registered business to offer my classes and whatever else I get inspired to do. I'm so excited to make the "studio" I've been dreaming of real in multiple ways!

This room is going to morph and change over time. During my assignment in Italy I've carefully thought through how I want to use this space for my creative endeavors, and now I get to execute the plan. The final incarnation is going to take a while to get to. I already plan to repaint the wall, and know what furniture I want to go here. The room is currently full of random bits and pieces as we get settled into our house, as you might expect.

But a studio is not much use if you don't use it, and this week I took steps to move it beyond just a computer and storage room into a truly creative space. I painted! With a borrowed easel, a purchased drop cloth, the painting supplies I brought from Italy in my suitcase and a table and lamp in storage I've cobbled together the start of my painting space. I can't tell you how great it felt to turn on the new Matt Nathanson CD (love his music!) and get messy with paint.

Here's a pic of what I've got in progress. The blue canvas is the one I started this week (I was in a blue mood) and the other two were started in Italy before the move. I'm just adding layers right now, and am interested to see where these go. I don't have any intention with painting right now, other than to find joy in the process. Happy Paint Party Friday! I'm back!!

Today I thought I would leave you with what I have going on "in the Studio" (I've been dying to say that for some time now, can you tell?):

• Reflections in Glass is the current Exploring with a Camera theme and I'm loving the images being shared! I find reflections complex and interesting and worth seeking out.
• Are you signed up for Superhero Summer Camp? If not, consider if it's time to do something good for yourself. We have almost 400 participants - yay! If you're signed up already, let me know what you think of it so far.
• We have a wonderful group of people joining my July-August Find Your Eye series of classes. I'm so excited! Registration is open for the next week, and class starts August 24.
• The Liberate Your Art postcard swap is bringing new mail to my mailbox every day. It's quite amazing to see! If you missed my post Monday, head over to see a bit of the art that's been arriving at my house. In the next two weeks that art will be liberated all over the world. So much fun!

Have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend all!

Creeping Along

I found this snail on a windowsill in Ravenna, creeping along going nowhere. He made me smile, with his fake flowers happily blooming regardless of the weather. I also liked the repetition of shape, in the tea pot just barely visible in the window. Have you ever noticed the similarity in shape between a teapot and a snail? I hadn't, until this photo. Thanks to my camera and the awareness it gives me, I now have this little tidbit filed away in my brain. As of today, you do too.

Yesterday's post, I noticed, was my 600th post on my blog! Wow. I don't know why that number strikes me, it just seems BIG. So I decided to celebrate that milestone by posting a photo of a snail planter full of fake flowers. The appropriate celebration of 600 posts, don't you know. All the blogging milestone books say so.

But seriously, instead, how about giving away a few things today? That seems appropriate too! Here are the winners of my LAST giveaway from Italy. There were 49 entries, and numbers were drawn by using the random number generator from random.org:
#13 - Kristen of K. Laudick Photos wins the lens cleaning cloth from Ravenna
#48 - Pam from Utah wins one of the sets of notecards from Florence
#20 - Diana of Diana Mulder Mixed Media Artist wins the other set of notecards from Florence
#23 - Jo of Jo Murray - Art wins the postcards
I'll be contacting you all for your addresses. Give your congrats to all of them!

Thanks so much for all of your support and participation here at The Kat Eye View of the World. Who knew that this little blog that I started to keep family updated about what was going on with us in Italy would end up with 600 posts. Well, 601 today. Amazing.

Feeling the Fear

Sometimes, as we travel through life, it may seem that we are the only ones with problems. The only ones who feel fear. We may read the stories of these big successes, people we admire, and think, There's no way they feel like I do. We tend to look at the outward positive things and tell ourselves a story, when we can't see the fears that are inside of someone else.

I feel fear. As I start to dream big, after the creative retreat I attended a couple of weeks ago, my fears are growing to match. I recognize now that my fears have accompanied me on every step of this creative journey. Fear of sharing my work. Fear of putting my honest self out here on the blog. Fear of trying something new. The only way I've grown is to face the fear and move past it.

The bigger the steps we take on our creative journey, the bigger our fears become. Last winter, as I was getting ready to start my first run of the Find Your Eye class, I was assailed with an attack of, "Who do you think you are?"  Who did I think I was, to create a class and put it out there to the general public. To think I had something to contribute to the conversation, since I don't have a photography degree or years of professional experience under my belt. Luckily, it was too late - the class was being advertised, people were registered - I was committed and couldn't quit. It didn't mean I felt those fears any less, however.

We all feel fear. Fear of rejection, ridicule, failure, hurt. Maybe even fear of success. Fear is there to protect us, to keep us from getting hurt. Everyone has doubts and insecurities. The face we put out to the world may be a brave one, but I guarantee there is some fear going on inside. We are not alone in this. While it may be a comfort to know others feel fear too, it doesn't make it easier to deal with our own fears.

The only way I personally know how to deal with fear is to acknowledge it. If I can define the fear, understand where it is coming from, I can make a plan to deal with it and move ahead anyway. If I can name it, I'm less likely to let it stop me. The fear doesn't actually go away, I just carry it along for the ride. I think of it as having a conversation with my fear, "Hello there Mr. Fear. I see you lurking there. I see what you are trying to do. Thanks for trying to protect me, but this time I'm not going to listen to you. We are moving ahead anyway. You can come along with me and see how this turns out." Somehow, that helps. But believe me, it's not comfortable, to carry this fear along. It would be easier to run away in the other direction.

Now, as I get ready to hit the submit button on this post, the little voice of fear is talking in my head. Should I admit my fears publicly? Won't this just look weak? Maybe it will to some of you, but to others, it might bring a sigh of relief. You aren't alone.

What do you do when faced with fear? How do you recognize and address it? Move past it? Please leave a comment, and today let's help each other deal with fear.

Looking Closer

A small reflection of the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) in Florence, reflected in a window of the Museum of the History of Science. At first glance, you might only see the window, the buildings and the river. You have to look closer to see the reflection of the bridge.

I haven't shown you many pictures of our weekend in Florence, I've suddenly and completely been distracted by the flowers in the park. I must admit, I'm distracted by not only flowers, but a lot of other projects such as getting my newsletter launched, prepping for my next series of Find Your Eye courses, and putting the finishing touches on the Liberate Your Art postcard swap so I can announce the details. I can't forget the time I spend on other things going on in my life, like planning out our move back to the US (plane reservations are made, final apartment walkthrough scheduled), and visiting Greece next week. Oh yeah, and the occasional soccer game with my son or with my nose buried in a book.

Sometimes I wonder where my "free" time goes, but then I look at the list - just a partial list - and I know. My time goes into things I love to do. The results of those things are not always as immediate and visible as promptly edited photos showing up on the blog, but they are real just the same. So while I don't have a lot of photos from Florence to show you, I'm reminded today that sometimes I need to look beyond the visible and obvious marks of accomplishment. Sometimes I need to look a bit closer, maybe change my angle and see my time in reflection this way, to find that sense of achievement I seem to crave. And take a deep breath, because then it seems like a lot more than I thought at first glance.

How about you, do you like to be able to call something done, to check things off of the list? How do you personally count something as an accomplishment if it's not clearly visible?

News Flash - Postcard Swap, Birds for Japan and Superheros

I interrupt today's regularly scheduled blog post to bring you some interesting news. What do postcards, birds and superheros have in common? They are all on my blog today - read on to find out why!

Introducing the Liberate your Art Postcard Swap


Today I'm announcing the "Liberate your Art" Postcard Swap I'll be hosting this summer! Many of us have an artistic practice - whether it be photography, mixed media, painting, beading, papercrafting, ceramics, you name it - but we don't always share our craft with the rest of the world in a physical form. So I'm going to encourage you to "Liberate your Art" from the online world through a postcard swap! Is there anything better than getting artistic, creative snail mail in your post box? I don't think so!

Here's how it will work:
1. Have five postcard prints made of your original artwork. These could be photographs you've taken, prints of your painted or mixed media work, or images of 3D artwork. You can use five different images or five of the same image. The only requirement is that they be postcard-size prints of your original work (no layered or 3D artwork as part of this swap).
2. Mail the postcards to me in the US along with your address and return postage in July. (Signup and mailing details will be provided later, along with how non-US participants can provide return postage.)
3. You will receive five postcards back in the mail from other artists from around the world.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Though the swap won't take place until July after I return to the US, I'm telling you this now so that you can get started on your postcard prints. You may want to create them yourself at home, or you may want to order them from an online source. I've had great luck with moo.com and have a 20% off discount code for new customers if you order by 30 March - that's tomorrow (use this code: BK67DT). There are many other options for printing postcards, let me know what services you recommend and if you come across any discounts I'll share them in future updates.

More details and sign up will be available in the near future. Until then, start planning your postcards and get ready to Liberate your Art this summer!


Help Japan 1000 Birds Project

UK-based Japanese ceramics artist Makiko Hastings has a wonderful project going on to help Japan. She is creating and selling one thousand of these delightful little ceramic birds to raise money. All are unique, numbered and handmade by Maki. You can find out how to participate and help her help Japan on her blog, shin shin.

I have a special connection to Maki, since I had the opportunity to meet her when we visited England last summer. We met for breakfast and both were a bit nervous to meet someone from the online world. It seemed a bit weird at first, but we knew we had a love of art in common and quickly fell into conversation. I enjoyed talking with Maki and hearing the story of how she came to England from Japan and her dreams of being a ceramic artist. Since then, I've enjoyed following her adventures and her beautiful artwork on her blog.

Maki and me at the "posh" Betty's Tea Room in York

I hope you'll support Maki's efforts to help Japan. We have three of these special little birds winging their way to us in Italy - I can see a group of three photo in my mind's eye already!

Are you a Superhero?

If you are ready to put on your cape and change the world with your creative ideas, my friend Jenny Shih is here to help you. She's a business coach for creative entrepreneurs, and I can't begin to express to you how enthusiastic she is about this job! Even though I haven't ever been "officially" coached by her, she's given me more helpful ideas than I can count, just in casual conversation. She's got it all - great ideas, great strategies and great heart. 

If you have a creative idea and are looking for some help to make your business a reality, or to help your existing business grow, she's the woman to help you become the superhero you were meant to be. Take a look at her fun video below and then stop by her site, jennyshih.com, to see how she can help you with your plans to change the world.

Put on Your Cape, It's Time to Save the World from Jenny Shih on Vimeo.

(Today's image is from a back alley in Dubrovnik, Croatia.)

Exploring with a Camera: Square Format

Composed

Happy Thursday! Welcome to Exploring with a Camera day, my favorite day of the week. Today we're going to learn about composing with a Square Format. At the end of the post there is a link up, for you to share your images using a square format. If you want a chance for your Square Format image to be featured here on the blog next week, you can also place your photo in the Exploring with a Camera Flickr group.

I got the idea for playing around with Square Format from the book 150 Photographic Projects for Art Students by John Easterby. I haven't used this format before, so I picked up another book that has become my "encyclopedia" for composition, The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman, and looked at the traditional compositions for a square format. With a little bit of information in my head to guide my eye, I was off and exploring Square Format.

Let's see what I learned...

Getting it Square

Unless your main camera is your cell phone, chances are you don't have a square format camera. The typical frame format for digital SLR cameras is 3:2. This means that the length is longer than the height of the frame by one third. A standard size in this format is a 4x6 print. For point-and-shoot cameras the typical frame format is 4:3, where the length is longer than the height by only one quarter. It is closer to square but still not quite the same.

The first step of this exercise is getting a square format. You can always crop the photo into a square format in post-processing. This can teach you a lot, but it doesn't help you to play around with composition at the time of taking the photo so you can make real-time corrections.

What the 150 Photographic Projects book suggests is creating a "pseudo" square format camera by blocking off part of the LCD screen so that you view only a square. Since I intensely dislike using the "live view" mode for composing with the LCD on my dSLR, I decided to modify my point-and-shoot camera (aka my "little camera"). This turned out great, because I was able to leave my little camera in this format for several weeks, even taking it on our vacation to Sicily, while not interfering with my normal photographic process using my primary dSLR camera.

To modify the LCD screen, I just taped a piece of computer paper over the LCD screen as shown below. I used computer paper because I wanted to have a similar color to the rest of the camera, to give a visually consistent border on the frame. Computer paper was not thick enough to block the light coming through the LCD, so I slipped a small piece of dark cardstock behind the taped computer paper and it worked beautifully.

I keep my camera set on center spot for focusing, so I just focus and recomposed as needed, like I do normally. With this minor modification, I was ready to go. My 9-year-old son, observing this little exercise, would occasionally take his camera and put a finger over the edge of the LCD as he composed saying, "Square Format!" In a pinch, that works too!

What follows are some of the compositions I explored. You'll see a caption below each photo. "Cropped" means that the photo was created using the standard format frame for the camera and then a square format composition was explored using cropping in post-processing. "Composed" means that the photo was composed using my modified-LCD-screen as shown above. I still had to crop in post-processing to make the image a true square format, but the composition was decided in-camera.

Random


With the even sides, a square format is very static. This makes it a good candidate for "random" composition, where the eye takes in the whole at one time. This image of oranges on the tree from Sorrento was a good candidate for square format. There wasn't a clear "focal point" with these oranges, it was more about the light,  shape and color of them on the tree.

Cropped

Another image I would consider to have random composition is this mountain scene from the Alps just north of where we live. There is no clear focal point in this image either, it is of the scene - sun, mountains, light, shadow - and square format works well. I actually needed to crop this one, since there was part of someone's head on the right hand side. I was in line for the gondola down the mountain and couldn't get a full frame image unobstructed. A square format crop allowed me to make this image something useful rather than throw it away.

Cropped

Concentric


With it's even sides, square format provides the unique opportunity to nest a circle in the square. Coming across a pretty door in Cefalù, Sicily, I captured one of the elements carved in wood using square format.

Composed

This door design from Erice, Sicily, captures another circle in the square. This falls into both the concentric and centered composition categories.

Composed

What other circles can you think of that would be great to capture in square format? Flowers, something like a Gerbera daisy, come to my mind.

Centered

With square format, you can get a good effect with centering your focal point, something that doesn't work as well in rectangular formats.  This best capture of this window in Venice using square format was centered.

Composed

The ancient Greek Temple of Concord, found in the Valley of the Temples in Sicily, is front and center in this image. It's all about the temple here!

Composed

With square format, you can also put the horizon on the center line with good effect, unlike a rectangular format. I saw some great examples of this by American photographer Harry Callahan when I visited an exhibit of his work in Paris. Here is one of his images as an example.

Photo by Harry Callahan

Diagonal


Just like in rectangular format, diagonal lines can be very interesting compositions. The image below of Murano glass displayed in Venice is an example of both diagonal and centered composition. The thing I noticed when playing around with cropping diagonal images is that you need a different angle on the diagonal line to work in square format. If an image was composed with a diagonal line for a rectangular format, there is a good chance it is at a wrong angle to just crop into square format. In the case of this image, I had played around with different angles and happened to have one that worked for square format.

Cropped

Off-Centered


With more rectangular subjects, I found that the subject needed to be off-center using square format. A centered image works with a square or circular subject, but not so well for a person or a tree. Cropping this self-portrait of me in Venice solved the problem of too much wall on either side. Normally, I would have taken this in a vertical orientation, but you can't really do that when you set your camera on a step. Square format solved my composition problem.

Cropped

The tree-in-the-field image below from Parco di Monza is influenced by the Rule of Thirds. It works with square format too!

Composed

Balance


Ultimately, what it all comes down to in any composition, regardless of format, is balance. The elements have to be balanced within the frame for a pleasing image. The lead-in image, another scene from the town of Cefalù, Sicily, is a good example of a square format image that doesn't follow any of the specific compositions described above, but balances the elements of color and shape into an interesting photo.

This balcony with the interesting ceramic pots in Taormina, Sicily was another square format image where the composition was derived by balancing the elements of color and line.

Composed

So, how about you, do you have any experience with square format? If not, I encourage you to explore along with me here. Go through your archive and see if there are any images where a square format crop would work well. Modify your camera for a few days to create a "square format" and see what you find. Come back here to link in and share your findings with the rest of us. It will be interesting to see all of the takes on square format that you link in for this theme!

Choosing your Context

Meet Stevie, my cat. You don't see him much on my blog because he's hard to photograph. He's either sleeping buried under a pile of blankets or moving non-stop following us around. If I see Stevie in an interesting spot or in good light and leave the room to get my camera, it is likely he follows me as I leave the room. Occasionally I get a good photo of him, like this one yesterday when I already had my camera in hand for other reasons. I got two shots, and then he was gone.

Yesterday I talked about context, and how photographers, or any artists really, choose the context they share in their art. Nothing is a reproduction of reality, it is always influenced by the artists point of view and what they wish to convey.

This photo is no exception. I could have focused in tighter on Stevie, but I wanted the context available around him. It is not just a portrait of Stevie, it is also a portrait of Stevie in our apartment in Italy. The green pot shows one of the colors of our kitchen, the radiator shows how we get our heat. The windows are typical Italian - simple glass and wood frame, with the turn handle to open. There are no screens on the window but you can see the wood bar, which we've guessed is to prevent small children or things on the window sill from spilling out the window when it is opened. Stevie sits on the window sill, made of marble. All of these things tell more of the story, not only "who" but "where" Stevie is.

I find it interesting to think about this concept of context. Some of the context in my photographs comes from split second decision making, some of it comes later with cropping and post-processing. How, and when, do you decide the context in your art?

Waiting

The night is so quiet and still, you almost have to hold your breath for fear of making a ripple in the water and ruining the scene. The lone gondolier on duty rests silently in his craft. He has nothing to do, other than wait for customers to appear for a midnight gondola ride. His daydreams and night dreams drift off into infinity like the reflections in the water. Just waiting. Someone will come.

Guess what? The creative space I was feeling yesterday was perfect. A friend asked me for some design help, and I happen to have this creative time free. I love how things work out. Now I have a fun new project, something completely different to do for a little while. I can help her out before getting back to my own ideas, and will be refreshed for the change of activity.

I was just waiting, like the gondolier, and the right thing appeared...

Do you find yourself waiting? Do you take the time to pause and breathe, and see what comes along?

London Photowalk: The Report

Have you ever met an online friend in person? If you haven't, I encourage you to try it. You might be a little nervous about how it is going to work out, but you will likely discover that your online friendship and interests translate into real life meetings naturally. That's been my experience anyway, and I've now met quite a few of my online friends in person as we travel around Europe.

The London photowalk was a great way to meet a few photography friends at once. Justine, Laura and Christine joined Kirstin and I for a few hours of walking and talking last Sunday. I'm thinking we should call them phototalks, because we talked about photos more than we took photos. It was chilly so we popped into a cafe for some hot chocolate for a while, and later finished up with lunch.

A few hours with some fellow friends who love photography was heaven. We talked about cameras and classes and what we love to shoot. We talked about our families and kids and jobs and current events. They already started talking about where to go for future photowalks, and I'm sad I won't be there!

Below are a few of my favorite images from the photowalk. I'm happy to have these images, but I'm even happier that I now have a real world connection with more of these wonderful women photographers. Justine, Laura, Christine, Kirstin - thank you all for coming! Links to their photos can be found below.

We met at the Greenwich train station and started through some of the old brick houses. I wonder what's up in this attic?

The Greenwich Circus is beautiful, I love all of the shades of brown.

Along the way we found some nice color, and texture. Justine had fun peeking in to see what was behind this broken window.

Christine must have been attracted to the brick buildings too, stop by her blog post here to see her photos.

We stopped to talk equipment now and then, it was fun to see what everyone had. We had quite a variety among the five of us. Below Justine and Laura admire Kirstin's tiny Lumix.  Kirstin has another photo of us talking cameras on Flickr here (scroll down to the comments below her photo).

We climbed to the top of the hill in the park (not sure which one it was!) to the Royal Observatory. I enjoyed the mpressive views of the city and another wonderful English sky.

But the best part of the Royal Observatory was visiting the Meridian line. Greenwich Mean Time ring a bell for anyone? Thanks to Kirstin for capturing the moment for me.

One of the things I wanted to learn from Kirstin was flare - she's a master! Thankfully the sun decided to appear for a few brief moments for some instruction. I think I figured out my big problem - I need to learn to use the Live View mode on my camera because I need to shoot into the sun. Below is an image straight out of my camera using live view, I didn't even know how to focus in this mode at the moment I took it. I kind of like the tilty-out-of-focus-odd-composition though, as a memory if nothing else.

We ended up at the naval college, which is where many movies are filmed since it still looks like the 19th century with no stoplights, etc. Gulliver's Travels and The King's Speech are two recent films that had scenes shot here. My favorite part was this collonade. I loved how the light was streaming through, and the light/dark contrast of the columns. Laura has another image of this same location on her blog here, Justine's is here, and Kirstin took one of all of us shooting this area that is really fun (linked above).

We stopped for lunch after this and then went our separate ways, although we'll stay connected online. Another great day, bringing my online connections into the real world.

So, where shall I go photowalking next?

Castle Views

A craggy castle on the tip of a peninsula, guarding against intruders to a land of days gone by. This castle is in Sirmione on Lake Garda, an hour and a half drive from our home here in Northern Italy. Yesterday afternoon we took a little day trip out to this town, exploring a new part of this beautiful country. Besides this wonderful castle, there is a nice pedestrian town with wonderful lake views, natural hot springs, roman ruins and the most frigid wind coming off of the lake. A perfect afternoon for some of the best gelato I've had in a while!

I love these old castles. They are so solid, so real, even today. You can tell that life was not easy in the days these castles were needed. Bare stone rooms, small spaces, dangerous stairways. The majority of the inhabitants worked long hours in difficult conditions, lived in cramped spaces without much reward other than food, shelter and protection from invading forces.

This vision is so different than our idealized version of castles with turrets and princesses with flowing dresses. I find I like the reality of these solid places better than the gilded rooms of kings and queens later in history. There is something honest and true that resonates in the bare stone, coming through the centuries to speak to me in this age. Do you feel it too?

Lessons from Abroad: Find a Regular Practice

Lessons from Abroad: Find a Regular Practice

[Today's post is the second part of a five part series. The first article was published here.]

In the last post I talked about how changing up your schedule can help free up your creative energy to find your purpose and passion. Today I’m going to explore the next key element I’ve learned during my time in Italy: Find a Regular Practice.

In many personal development books I’ve read, the idea of a “daily practice” is somehow incorporated. One of the first ones I encountered was in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, where the “morning pages” are a crucial part of her process. Over time I’ve noticed almost every personal growth or spiritual philosophy incorporates and encourages some form of contemplative activity on a regular basis.

I have started and stopped different daily practices depending on the books I’m reading or the programs I’m following. Over time though, with trial and error, I have settled in to three main things that work for me as part of a regular practice: Inspirational reading, journaling and walking. These three items are complementary and work together for me to keep me balanced and centered, as well as open and ready to receive ideas. They help keep me in touch with my intuition and those messages from my authentic self.

I don’t have a regimented schedule with my practice. In fact, that’s why I say “regular practice” and not “daily practice” in the title. Here’s what my practice looks like:

Most mornings of the week I will get up and get my cup of tea (I guess we can add “tea” in as part of the practice), and then sit down to read something that I’m interested in. This is not fiction reading – it could be essays, part of a book on creativity, something on personal development. I have a number of books in progress sitting next to me, and I’ll pick up whichever one strikes me. I read a few pages and then I journal for a little while. Sometimes the journaling is on what I’ve read, sometimes it is on a problem that is on my mind, sometimes it’s just random ideas I want to capture. Once I start to write, I write until I feel done. That could be one paragraph or several pages, depending on what’s coming. Later in the morning (that morning creative time I talked about before!) I will often go for a walk or jog, with no music to distract me, in the park near my home.

I don’t do all of these every day – in fact most mornings I do 1 or 2 of the 3 – but over time I engage regularly in all of these activities.

This group of practices combine in an amazing way for me. It’s as if I get creative fuel, raw ideas, from the reading. The journaling helps me clear out the blockages in my brain and my emotions from daily life, which creates the space in myself for new ideas to be generated. With that open space and creative fuel available, the walk becomes where I receive the resulting messages and ideas. Sometimes the reading sparks an idea that I subsequently write about in my journal, which leads to making a connection or discovery about myself. Sometimes something I’ve written about in my journal or something I’ve read will sit in my mind and I’ll mull it over, and it comes out as some new idea during a walk – possibly days later. It is amazing how many creative ideas, how many realizations that have led me to my passion and purpose, have come to me during these walks. I now keep a small notebook with me at all times, just to capture the ideas.

I also find, in the process of all of this amazing idea generation and self discovery, I gain perspective on my life in general. I’m able to let go of the damaging focus on stressful situations. I am able to disconnect from the things that previously would wrap me up – preventing sleep, contributing to bad moods, generally coloring my life negatively. I can see problems with a new view.

There is nothing new in the ideas of a regular practice, or the activities that comprise my practice. As mentioned above, many personal or spiritual development programs have incorporated these elements, time and time again. They all have a plan - if you do it this way, on this frequency, you will reap these rewards. While that is probably true for the creator or author of the program, I think part of this key is that each of us has to find what works for us. If we follow a regimented plan that doesn’t really connect with us, even if we see some initial benefit we won’t sustain it long term.

One of the most important elements of defining a practice is occasionally losing the practice – falling off the wagon, stopping it, letting it dribble away. It may seem counter-intuitive, but these are actually very important occasions for really integrating and owning your own practice. It’s through the losing of it, and seeing the results of losing it in our selves – how we feel, how we interact, how it affects our lives – that we become truly committed. For me, it’s taken time – starting and stopping and restarting again – to finally come to the point that I learn to choose the practice over the other things that compete for my time.

That’s not to say that I don’t skip it sometimes for an extended period. Vacations, business trips, certain busy times come along for a week or two. But during these times I know they are coming, consciously prepare myself and make the choice to skip it, and then make the choice to come back to it when that brief time is over. I’ve found that for me, a week or so of skipping isn’t damaging. I can remain centered and grounded and can come back to it. Beyond two weeks, however, and I start to lose some essential pieces of myself, my connection to my core. I now recognize this change and am not willing to lose my practice anymore. It’s a wonderful feeling – to make the choice based on what’s best for me.

Here are my ideas about how you can apply this key concept of “Find a Regular Practice” to your life too:

• Start experimenting with some different practices. These could be similar to mine, or they could be other practices like running, yoga, meditating, creating art, etc. You might already have something that you’ve started and stopped over time.
• When you find one that makes you feel good – when you are done you feel refreshed, revived, centered, clear – stick with that one for a while. Note how you feel when you do it, and when you don’t do it. Experiment with different times of the day, tap into the peak of your energy cycle as discussed in Change up Your Schedule for maximum impact.
• Start with one practice at a time, don’t go overboard trying to start two or three new things. You will probably give them all up if you do that! My practice has evolved over time to these three, but I didn’t start out with all three. I started with the journaling, eventually added the reading and latest the walking. I’ve done them all off and on but have recognized over time how they work together.
• Don’t follow someone else’s regimented schedule. Maybe start out with suggestions, but experiment, shift, tailor your practice to yourself. We all have different needs, consider any defined practices a starting place. It’s like a buffet, you get to pick and choose what you want to incorporate into your life. There will be people who swear by their schedule, their program – because it works for them. Remember you have to find what works for you.
• When you have let the practice go, and realize that you have let extraordinary circumstances or even everyday life run you over, be kind to yourself. Notice how you feel without it, contrast that with how you felt when you were regularly practicing. Decide if the practice is something you want in your life or not, if it’s worth it to you to make the changes to incorporate the practice as a regular part of your schedule. It’s a choice, it’s up to you. Don’t judge yourself or place unnecessary rules on yourself, be honest and true to the answers you find within.

When you do these things, when you find a regular practice that truly works for you, I can guarantee you won’t want to let it go. The connection that you gain to your true self, your center, becomes vital. The clarity that you will find, the ability to be open and listen to what your authentic self has to say, will help you to discover your passion and purpose better than any other prescribed method around.

(Photo is from Murten, Switzerland)

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Yesterday my fellow muse Suki asked a question to the Mortal Muses, "If you did a 365, what did you learn this year by doing it?" Initially, I dismissed the question because I didn't do a 365. (For those of you who don't know, a "365" is where you take a photo every day, for an entire year.) But then I realized that I do my own sort of daily photography practice, if a bit different.

A little over a year ago, in November 2009, I started posting a photo a day here on the blog. Up to that point my blogging had been sporadic, and I didn't have much focus. I had all of these great pictures from our travels, but it was so overwhelming to think of editing and posting many of them to tell the stories. I wasn't interested in writing about our daily lives or travels. Sorting through, editing and picking one favorite photo a day, however, was doable. I decided to try that.

This simple little decision has had a profound impact on me. Today I found myself journaling this in answer to Suki's question, on what this simple daily practice has given me:

• The discovery that photography is art. And I am an artist. I've been able to claim that title, grow confident in myself as an artist. Along with seeing myself as an artist, I see my work as art.
• Finding my "eye," the portrayal of the world around me that is all my own. I can see it, own it as mine. There is huge confidence and satisfaction that comes with that. 
• The discovery that photography is a passion for me. I love being in the moment. Finding the evidence of life - beauty, joy, love, happiness, even imperfection - all around me in the smallest of things.
• I've become deeply aware of my art and creativity as an extension of my soul. It links to something at the core of my being, unlike anything else I've ever experienced.
• The discovery that I can share this passion, this confidence and wonderful self-awareness I've gained, with others through writing on my blog and now with my Find Your Eye course. My "corporate world" skills are not completely unrelated to my passion, they can directly translate into great things in my creative, artistic life.
• I've found that I'm a writer. I enjoy writing, like communicating ideas via words, having a conversation with others online. Combining words with photos has been an incredible source of creativity for me.
• I've learned that following my heart - whether it's in taking a photo, writing a blog post, taking a course of action - is never, ever wrong. It has always led to good things, even if everyone around me is not immediately happy about it. Following your heart is not about making other people happy. 
• I've found an amazing community of people here on the internet - through the blogs I read, the people who read mine and comment, Mortal Muses, other groups and challenges I've participated in. I've found people who have similar interests and passions and challenge me in such positive ways. Those connections are incredible. I look forward to forming more of them, more interaction, more friendships as I continue on.

It's good to take a moment, look back and see all of the gifts I've been given through this one step. I don't think it matters whether you specifically do a 365 or post a photo a day or write three pages every morning or whatever it might be. I don't think it even matters that it is every single day (I certainly haven't done that here!). What matters is that you find a regular practice that you learn and grow from, and you stick to it long enough to see the benefits.

I can't stop doing this now, posting a photo and some words most days on my blog. I would lose some important, integral piece of myself. This practice, for me, is a gift that keeps on giving.

Today's 9 Muses Musing challenge is GIVING. Stop by and leave a comment or link up to win the giveaway.
Tomorrow is my challenge day for 9 Muses Musing, and it's LIGHTS. I know, big surprise! Get those holiday light photos tonight if you can - I have a great giveaway you won't want to miss!!

Shall we Play a Game?

Something to do, on these cold and rainy winter days, like today. I recently learned to play chess, from my son. I enjoy it, even though I'm not very good. This photo from Marksburg castle in the Rhine River Valley, reminds me that this is a game that has been played for centuries. I can imagine the people of medieval times in this nook in the hall, concentrating and passing the time with a game on a long winter's day. (Although in my imagination I'm guessing the people are much cleaner than they actually were.)

Today I will say to my son, "Shall we play a game?"

Enjoy your Sunday!

Perfection

I am musing on the theme Thankful over at Mortal Muses today, but I also wanted to share the same photo here on my blog with a little bit more of the story, and why it inspired me to write that post. This photo is from Torcello, one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon. Our first visit to this island was on this most recent trip, it's a short vaporetto (boat) ride across from Burano, but I was always so focused on the colors of Burano we never took the time to go. It is the first island that was settled in the lagoon and also one of the least visited. It boasted a nice walk along a canal, a couple of bridges, two churches and several souveneir vendors getting ready to pack it up for the season and offering great prices.

It also had this fabulous building. Dare I say it - the perfect building to photograph. I enjoyed capturing it from several angles but when I reviewed the images in my computer, I was just completely overjoyed with this one. It is perfect, to me. For some reason, it just has the meeting of texture and composition and place that I love. This one sings. It is my eye. I knew when I saw the building and photographed it I would capture something interesting, but did not expect the reaction I had to this one.

I don't know that anyone else will see it the same way as I do. It doesn't really matter, because this photo illustrates why I love this art form. The fusion of vision and moment and experience that begins with the seeing, continues through the capturing, strengthens in the review and then is completed by sharing the end result with all of you here. There is magic in this process. I love it all.

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The third of my "Lessons from Abroad" article series is posted on the Rising Sun Coaching blog. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Can I Resist?

I'm having a heck of time this month. You see, I'm a joiner. And there are all of these things to join in November, just calling to me! But I'm trying to resist, because I have a busy month that includes a lot of personal projects I want to do, instead of joining something that doesn't get me closer to my goals and dreams.

It started with Art Every Day Month, which looks so fun. I mean, I create most every day anyway in some way, this is right up my alley. But I'm resisting, because I don't want to focus my creative inspiration and efforts just to meet a self-imposed deadline every day when I have so much else going on.

Then there is NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, which inspires you to write a post every day on your blog for the month of November. Hey, I do that most of the time anyway! But not committing this month, which includes visitors and travel and the busiest, longest work week of my entire year.

Along the way I ran into 30 Days of Gratitude. What a wonderful way to uplift and celebrate the month of November, than to be grateful, for 30 days? But then that focuses me on one specific topic... and again a whole 30 days of commitment to it. Can't do it.

On my internet wanderings I bumped into Digital Detox, which sounds like a wonderful week long little way to simplify your life if you want to participate, and then November in Black and White. Hey, I love black and white photography. But wait, that would commit me to a whole month of it. Right now, when I have other things I'm focusing on. OK, so no.

Thank goodness I don't have any idead for a novel, or NaNoWriMo would be calling to me too.

I hadn't realized that I was such a joiner until I find myself struggling to resist joining in to all of these things. The communities they create are so fun. The things you gain by doing these activities is so worthy. As I read some of my favorite blogs I feel like I'm looking longingly into the windows of people at a party and I'm outside in the cold. But I remind myself, no, I can't put myself through this right now. Because for me, what's worse than being outside looking in? Joining something and then not being able to follow through. I beat myself up, because I committed to something, darn it, I should follow through. Instead, I'm choosing to stay sane this month, without adding extra pressure.

So to satisfy those urges to join, I've decided to create KaNoJoMo - doesn't that sound fabulous? It stands for Kat's Non-Joining Month. This month, I am not going to join or commit to anything that is not on my personal priority list. I am going to resist, walk away, focus on my own stuff in the limited time I have available. I'll just wave at everyone else through the window as I walk by, give them a thumbs up to let them know I support what they are doing.

Want to join me? Haha - I tricked you! You can't join me! That's the idea, no joining. It's a personal decision, one you can make too. No monthly or weekly or daily challenges or commitments to other projects if that is not right for you. Only commitments you make to yourself. You don't need to announce it to the world (as, ironically, I am doing), you just have to make a personal choice.  You don't need permission from anyone else but you, and you don't have to apologize to anyone for not joining.

Week 1 of KaNoJoMo is already over, and I survived without joining anything. Whew. Only 3 more weeks to go...

Today's photo is from Saturday evening in Venice. *Sigh* I love Venice. Still.

The Beauty of Reality

Yesterday we took a day trip to Bologna, a two and a half hour drive south of where we live. It's been a while since we've taken just a day trip, somewhere near by. We all enjoyed it - seeing someplace new, and then coming home to our own beds and another day of the weekend left to play around.

It was wonderful for me, to get out and shoot someplace completely new again. It's been a while since I've done that since I travelled to the US and then have been focusing on fall in the park lately. Loving every minute of that too, but this was refreshing. It was also amazing to me to notice how differently I see now, as compared to, say, a year ago. Back then, I would have never have "seen" this image. It would have been part of the alley I walked by, with lots of elements I avoid... graffiti, dumpsters, street signs, windows with bars. I mean, where are the flowers, the doorstep beauty? But I love this. This is back-alley Bologna. This is real life, with it's imperfections but worthy of capture anyway.

I think this is just another step along my journey. As I accept the imperfections in myself, I find I am able to accept them in the world around me. Apparently, that also means I am not always seeing just the lovely textures in the places we visit - but the reality of dumpsters and street signs. Finding interest in those too. And while I would not call this image "beautiful," it does appeal to me, and does say "Italy" in a very real way.

It's kind of fun to observe these changes in myself, to surprise myself. I also surprised my husband, who has gotten pretty good at being able to predict when to get out of the way for a photo, what little scenes might catch my eye. Yesterday, however, I messed him up because I was stopping to study things that would have never been photo-worthy to me before. Interesting to notice how it affected not just me, but him to.

And how does it affect you? Does it surprise you too? How do you look at this image? I think you may have to get used to it. There will probably be more graffiti and back-alley reality popping up around here, if my day in Bologna is any indication.

What Inspires You?

Maybe it's light coming in through the window, maybe it's color, maybe it's a wonderful quote. What is it that makes you want to perfect your craft, become a better person, explore new things? We all have different sources of inspiration. I was inspired a few weeks ago by this random composition in my window after I was done playing around with capturing the plant shadows. Lines and light and plants peeking out, it was interesting to me.

Today I'm musing on inspiration over at Mortal Muses. We're in the second day of 9 Days of Inspiration, with lots of giveaways - every day! Come on over and comment to enter. Also visit our More Musing site, where today's post of Muse University - a repost of this week's Exploring with a Camera on Rain - has an awesome giveaway for rainy day photography! Every day for the next 9 (well, now 8) days you will see inspiring posts from amazing women around the internet on the More Musing site in addition to the usual daily inspiration from Mortal Muses. Hope to see you all over there.

Today's update on the piles: Thanks for all of the advice yesterday, last night I took it easy and just talked to a friend, then put my feet up and watched a movie and read for a while. Today the piles are slowly disappearing as I work through the house, but I've also made pancakes with my son and done some other organizing, so it's all been good. In the words of one commenter: What needs to get done, will get done, with plenty of time. :)

Six Days of Night: York

York, England is a beautiful little walled town, with such interesting architecture. I loved the overhanging second stories and the paned glass windows, perfect for spilling light into the street at night. There is an interesting mix of brick and timber frame buildings, all in a row. It was a struggle for me to photograph York in the day. These quaint streets were filled with shops and their shoppers, making it a sea of people. But as soon as the shops closed, the streets began to empty and I could get the images I wanted. With the added bonus of those wonderful patterns of light from the windows!

PS - If you read The Kat Eye View of the World in a reader, come on over to the blog and see the new header design. I was inspired by Paris in so many ways...