Dagger-13

Motivation is great.  That inspiration you get from doing something you're passionate about, something you love and are interested in.  But then the obstacles creep in, you find it hard to get satisfaction from your work and your motivation slowly suffocates under a pile of failed outcomes.

Doing what you want to do is great!

Except for...

When you don't actually want to do it.

Maybe you've got a list of goals, or an idea in your mind of what you want to be doing and where you would like to go with your work.  But have you ever considered what you don't want to be doing?

I like nature photography.  I find it beautiful and really enjoy looking at it, but I can never replicate what I love about the pieces I look at in my own photos - they are bland, flat and uninspiring.  But today I realised - I don't want to do nature photography!  I love looking at it, but that doesn't mean I want to create it!  I enjoy painting animals, but photographing them as anything more than a snapshot...not so much!

So then I got to thinking - what do I want to photograph?  I love street photography and I love the beautiful effects created by different types of light.  I like reflections and contrast.  I like bright colours and little surprises.  Things that go unnoticed in the everyday.  Unusual compositions, moments full of life!  If nature happens to be a part of that, then that's ok, but I'm not aiming to be a 'nature photographer'.

It feels quite freeing to not feel like I need to keep working at it!  I can focus my efforts on what I do want to do instead.

So bottom line - never feel like you have to do something just because...do what you love, do what you're interested in and do what makes you feel good!

   Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2018 to you all  

              :bademoticon:      

                

InspirationI recently saw this photo in the 'newest' section:

It led me to the gallery of Rona-Keller, which is the most beautiful collection of photos - the atmosphere is so calm and relaxing, I just want to climb into that world and live it constantly! Her whole gallery ties together so nicely, I could look at her photos for hours.
After discovering her gallery, I thought a lot on her photos; they've had a really profound effect on me.
I keep a gratitude list which I add to from time to time, I write little journal pages occasionally, I try to practice mindfulness and love me a bit of hygge and her photos made me think of a visual version of that. So then I came up with the idea of taking a photo a day for a month of some kind of 'beautiful moment' - taking that appreciation and trying to capture it visually (instead of looking and wishing that I had the time/ability to paint/draw whatever it is). Because maybe my world can be as beautiful as hers (except for my lack

So I have come to the end of my 'Beautiful Moments' project (well, the end was on the 4th but I've been so busy I've only just had chance to finish processing the photos and write this journal!).  It's been an interesting journey with some surprises on the way!

This felt like an intensely personal project - some of the photos felt as if I was putting a piece of myself out there for everyone to see.  As someone who is usually very reserved and careful over what I share (both online and in person), it felt at times as if I was exposing myself to a world-wide network of strangers.  I felt reluctant to submit some photos, wondering if I would be judged for them - something I'm not usually concerned about (my usual attitude is if you're going to judge me negatively, you'll probably do it either way so why not do what makes me happy!).

On the flip side of this it also feels as if I've opened up a bit since the start of the project.  It's had repercussions in my offline life, too - I recently spoke to my family about something which, until now, I've been keeping mostly to myself.  It feels good to reach out and be honest with people and I never thought a photo project would have helped to prompt that!

I did find that I started relying on nature for my daily photos, so towards the end of the project I made an effort to find non-natural things to photograph.  Nature didn't stop being beautiful, but I appreciate it every day regardless and so it felt like the easy way out!  The last couple of weeks were rather pressured as I had a lot of work/study on, so I did find it difficult at times to find a tangible 'thing' to pick as my beautiful moment.  Sometimes the most beautiful moments in a day can't be expressed visually, but I think I gave it a pretty good pop and came up with a good representation where I could!

A whole month of a photo a day was surprisingly draining, too - I couldn't do it for longer than that!  I improved a lot at photo processing (I hope!) - I started using curves and had some fun with auto curve settings and vignetting for some of the images.  I also played with the 'toy' mode on my camera and found that it can create some really interesting effects when you use it on random things!  I did burn out a little bit and so the photos themselves vary in quality, but I'd like to think that I can continue to improve now that I'm not fixed to having to take a photo every day.

So that was a lot of fun and definitely an eye opener!  I'd recommend trying it, even if you only do it for a week or two.  Who knows, you might learn a thing or two about yourself in the process!  If you do give it a go let me know how you got on - I'd love to see the results!

Happy snapping, everyone

I recently saw this photo in the 'newest' section:


It led me to the gallery of Rona-Keller, which is the most beautiful collection of photos - the atmosphere is so calm and relaxing, I just want to climb into that world and live it constantly! Her whole gallery ties together so nicely, I could look at her photos for hours.

After discovering her gallery, I thought a lot on her photos; they've had a really profound effect on me.

I keep a gratitude list which I add to from time to time, I write little journal pages occasionally, I try to practice mindfulness and love me a bit of hygge and her photos made me think of a visual version of that. So then I came up with the idea of taking a photo a day for a month of some kind of 'beautiful moment' - taking that appreciation and trying to capture it visually (instead of looking and wishing that I had the time/ability to paint/draw whatever it is). Because maybe my world can be as beautiful as hers (except for my lack of photographic ability of course!). Familiarity can mean that everyday wonders get taken for granted.

I started taking photos on the 5th and plan to keep it up through to November 4th. I've not felt inspired in this way before (or at least for a very long time) so I'm excited to see what happens! I've already learnt something new when editing the first four photos - I usually use the same settings (levels, burn, dodge etc.) but I gave curves a go and managed to work out how to use them a little bit better! So I got closer to the effect I wanted than I usually do, which is a really nice feeling.

Let's see where this goes!  

Edit: Here's the project so far

Ah, autumn; I love the beautiful colours, the return of cosiness as the nights draw out, comfort food (and yes also the build up to Christmas - there, I said it )...September and the next few months are my favourite time of year 

I always get a bit nostalgic when we hit September, thinking about my childhood, where I am now and how much things have changed (or not!).  So many things have changed for me this year that when I think back to January I can hardly believe it's only been a matter of months!  This year has definitely been a big one for me!  I feel like I've really started to find myself  I wonder what else this year will bring

I think it's good to take stock - there's a tendency at the beginning of the year to come up with all these amazing plans, but I think it's important to stop and see how things have panned out.

I went alpaca walking for my birthday.  It was AWESOME.  If you can go alpaca walking, do it!  It's so relaxing, I felt totally spaced out (and very attached to my alpaca...I miss him   ) 

I'm still working my way through my exams - hopefully I've got two left to do and then I'm qualified!  Yay!  So, fingers crossed, I will hopefully be done with them next year and I can start getting down to my arting with more vigour

Art-wise, I've started a new painting but I don't envisage finishing it anytime soon as it's a big project and I'm fitting it in around everything else which is going on

What's your favourite time of year?  I seem to be the opposite of everyone else...they all like summer, but I don't like being too hot so it's autumn/winter for me