Tag — photography
Vacation Photos: Grand Canaria
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Hello Lovlies! We’re back from Tenerife, one of the Canary islands off the coast of Spain. It’s a popular Danish tourist spot and we booked a cushy all-inclusive via an agent in Copenhagen. I don’t think we’d realized quite how desperate we were for some sun. Once we got in the warmth and the light everyone in the family recognized a deep primal need to re-stock on vitamin D. Usually we tour up a storm when we are traveling. This time we just soaked up the sun. Enjoy!
Susannah Conway: Unravelling Prettily
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As many of you know, I am in deep blog crush with Susannah Conway. Not only did I gain many riches from her magically popular Unravelling courses, but she also keeps me company here on the other side of the pond as we Twitter our day away. I think you two should meet!
But before I let Susannah introduce herself, let me pontificate a little about the bounty that comes from her talented eye.
A gift of Susannah’s photographylet’s the receiver:
-step back in time.
-bring back gentility.
-capture the pretty.
-sigh a little.
Susannah’s photos-and-journal Unravelling courses help you:
-see who you are from the toes up.
-cherish your favorite things.
-honor your connections.
-feel accomplished.
What treasured gifts from a dreamy lady! Friends, meet Susannah Conway…
Artist’s Statement
Susannah Conway is a photographer, writer and the creator of the Unravelling e-courses; she is also a Polaroid obsessive, an extroverted introvert and a fake blonde. She spent many years as a fashion editor and freelance journalist in London, and enjoyed attending fashion shows because she liked to watch the people in the audience. In 2005 her partner died from a sudden heart attack and her entire world crumbled. She returned to the south coast to heal in solitude, and over the years has rediscovered her true calling though her passion for photography and writing. She now shares her wisdom with people around the world via her blog, Ink on my fingers, and her e-courses, and is currently writing her first book. She is proud to call herself a ‘family of one’ and likes travelling to far-off lands. Her superpowers are absolute truth-telling and shining the light. She remains a work-in-progress… always.
Favorite Things: Fortunes by Jen Lee
You write all the way to the fence,
then there’s nothing
left to do but tear it down and
expand the border. To stretch
your life by trading Safe and Secure.
To stare the beast, It’s Not Enough, in the
face and let it off its leash….
-from You Write to the Fence, by Jen Lee
This week’s Magpie Girl favorite is a lovely palm-sized book by Jen Lee, she of the soul-felt stories.
Fortunes is a beautiful collection of etheral toy camera images and prose-like poems chronicling the liminal space that is our 30’s and 40’s. When I cracked it open it was like finding an instant companion for all my issues. Finding your art; dealing with mothers and daughters; tapping into a midlife sexual revolution —- it’s all in here in pitch-perfected prose. It is a rare writer who creates work which is both rich with image and yet spare and accessible. Jen Lee achieves it here with aplomb. There’s not a superfelous word on the plate, and still such a rich meal!
You can purchase Fortunes here, either alone or as a duo (one for you, one for a friend.) If you are making the handmade pledge this season, Fortunes would be a lovely envelope-sized gift to slip in with the holiday card you’re sending to an artful friend. And if you are a writer, or think maybe perhaps you sort-of-want-to-be, then take a look at Jen’s new journal for writers, Take me with You.
May these small treasures bring big joy and beauty to your world today.
Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only review productsI truly believe in. I never review a product — even one I’ve received for free — unless I truly love it. My complimentary copy of Fortunes perfectly fits the bill. Click the link to find all my Favorite Things, and maybe one of yours! Thank you for being here.
*8Things: Alter Egos and Past Lives
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| sometimes, my alter ego sneaks out for a night on the town… |
Everyone has another personality that shines through from time to time. Maybe you are secretly a sports legend when you play in the rec volleyball league. Maybe you’re a pop star while singing in the shower. Perhaps you are convinced you were with Mark Anthony in a past life.
How do those secret identities shape you? Does your superhero identity effect your Monday-Friday life at the Daily Planet? Are you you really a zen master, a yogi, and happy homemaker under there? What’s your stripper name say about you? Your nom de plume? The uniform in the back of your closet? And if you feel like an old soul, what where you up to last century and how is it influencing you today?
This week’s list: *8Things: Alter Egos and Past Lives. I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours…
1. Swooshy Madame from the Moulin Rouge.
2. Singer of Torch Songs a laMichelle Piffer in the Fabulous Baker Boys.
3. Flapper and singer of all that jazz.
4. Sk8r Girl.
5. Indie-Folk Boho Recording Artist.
6. Behind the scenes screen writer or set dresser on a Hollywood hit.
7. Stable boy with a head injury. (According to the Tibetan massage therapist…also…
8. Witch/Herbwoman (crushed to death between to boards and a heap of rocks.)
What is your *8Things: Alter Egos and Past Lives list? Put it in the comments below, leave your post-specific URL in the list, and grab a button to play along.
Sacred Life Sunday: Labyrinth
silent park
amid city noise
passers walk by, and i
i sit in the centers of centers
x marks the spot
grey walls and stone tower
surround me
ring me with I Am’s
branches overhead cross with
aged cracks
hail rains down
i sit alone
knowing that i am
what i am
created to do
rightwhereibelong
i circle out
dancing
In this photo post: What’s left of the Elys-style labyrinth at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle. It was just me and the bagpiper that day. Often it’s just me and the giant pipe organ. Poem written at a labyrinth in Victoria, B.C. 2001. Would you like to Unravel? Sign up for Susannah Conway’s photography and journaling ecourse.
Brave
Unravelling: You, Distilled
This is the last week of my photo-journaling course with Susannah Conway. Her course, Unravelling, is all about connecting with the real you. I feel pretty connected to the real me, seeing as I am wont to be obsessive-compulsively self-reflect all on my very own. But I wanted to be prompted towards photography, and I’m (as ever) on a quest to make peace my with rebellious body. Unravelling helped me move forward in both of those worlds, and I am grateful.
Our last assignment was rich and multi-layered. I chose to fulfill it by writing a list of 40 Things About Moi, and by making this photo mosaic. Somehow I think my shoes (or lack thereof) say a lot about me and the wide curious creature who lives inside— ”distracted by sparkly things” yet strangely “the solid that is the center.”
Susannah’s courses sell out fast, so if these posts make you curious, be sure to sign up for her mailing list so you will be aware when the next series comes around. Thank you, Susannah and the Uravellers, for letting my world grow “curiouser and curiouser.”
In this photo post: 1. favoritesilikeorange, 2. unravelling feet red shoes, 3. feet black and white, 4. unravelling feet in love, 5. boboli dusty toes, 6. dk rocks the 80s, 7. not danish, 8. unravelling red shoes bijoo boo, 9. Summer batch 3 017, 10. soulsisters one 015, 11. cate’s tattoo 001, 12. Summer batch 3 020 Would you like to Unravel? Sign up for Susannah Conway’sphotography and journaling ecourse
All Shall Be Well
Rhiannon Connelly: Through Watercolored Glasses
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Meet Rhiannon Connelly of Starry Blue Sky Photography, maker of surreal images and dream like landscape.
Rhiannon and I met via Twitter (hers:mine). When I put out a call for photographers to guest post, she politely answered. When I saw her work, I eagerly said, “Yes, please!” I am mesmerized at the way Rhiannon draws these images out of Polaroid photos—and at how she took a sense of lack (no more Polaroid film) and turned it in to abundance (a 12 city project.) Anyone who has tried to shoot the major cities of Europe knows how hard it can be to capture the picturesque street scenes on digital, much less on old-school film cameras. And Rhiannon does it with true expertise. I hope you enjoy these images; the beautiful song Rhiannon chose by new-to-me artist Karine Polwart; and Rhiannon’s own intriguing story. Please let her know what you find intriguing about her work, and give her thanks for contributing a little bit of beauty in to our worlds today.
Artist Statement: Rhiannon Connelly:
My name is Rhiannon and I’m a portrait and fine art photographer from Scotland.I started out photographing a broader range of subjects, including weddings, but over the last couple of years have been narrowing my focus mostly to these two areas.
With the portrait side I hope to play my part in documenting stages in the life of a family or individual. I had a great aunt who was a keen photographer and she really captured my childhood on film, so I appreciate how valuable this can be later on. It is also a real thrill to have someone tell me that their portrait was the first time they ever had a photograph of themselves that they really liked. I am constantly trying to keep evolving as a photographer and working towards creating a more individual style
On the fine art side for the last five years or so I’ve worked with Polaroid film and an old SX70 camera in a technique that I call “Polaroid Painting”. [Read more →]
Sacred Life Sunday: Light Keeping
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| Polyphonic Spree, Light and Day |
I struggle to live in the moment. So often I am casting my gaze back in regret and longing, or throwing myself forward in to future worries. I know it’s healthiest for me to live mostly in the Now. But to the Now I feel foreign born, and like an adopted child returning to the place of her birth, I must work a little harder to feel at home on what is truly my native land.
I notice this most when Summer fades to Fall, and the days begin to shorten. I start missing the Light even before she is gone. Start longing for her while she is yet by my side. And in doing so I waste the last long rays of her presence.
This then is my attempt to stay with her, to stay present as long as she is still here. To remain alert to her companionship. To “…follow the day and reach for the sun.”Later when she is gone, these images may hold her near to me a little longer yet, until she gently moves my hand from her hers, pats my shoulder, and tells me to lean into the next season until she returns.
How do you stay present to the edge of this season? What will you need to transition into the next?
