Reacting to images

I was looking through my photo files and I accidentally fell upon this picture from 2004.

It wasn't a picture I remembered I had taken. But for some reason, today it caught my attention.

How do you decide which are your 'good' photographs? Do you have different opinions/feelings about individual pictures when you've have had some time distance to them?

Celebrating a few books

Getting a book completed and published can take a long time. Today I am celebrating some books by authors from my wonderful writer's group. Some of the books have just some out, some are on their way, and some have been out for a while and are well worth discovering.

The creative Eye

Heather Spears' The creative Eye is now available on Lulu.It is a wonderful illustrated book about how we see, how our brain functions when it sees and when we draw. It also contains many exercises in perception and drawing.

Heather is a Canadian poet, novelist and artist. She is also a teacher who has held many drawing workshops internationally. I have the chance to take one of her workshops next week and I am looking forward to it. Although I cannot claim to be able to draw (I draw like a child, I think), I know from the book that the exercises are also very interesting to a photographer's vision.

The book will soon also be coming out as an ebook.

Rice Pudding in a Duvet

Heather Gartside is a British writer I have recently met. She is very well traveled, and she is working on a book called Rice Pudding in a Duvet.
This Heather writes quite humorously about her adventures during her residencies in several countries, with a culinary twist; the chapters are inspired by food and each contains a recipe. You can check out some of Heather's writing on her blog.

Heather's book will be published with Smashwords.

Books by Diana Deverell

One of Diana's latest books, Murder, Ken Kesey, and Me is a comic mystery I am looking forward to read.  Diana is a former United States Foreign Service officer and has published several novels as well as short stories. Diana's humorous fast-paced style will keep you entertained. I love her strong basket-ball playing character, FBI special agent Dawna Sheperd. Many of her short stories have been published in Alfred Hitchcok's Mystery Magazine. Check out her Amazon Author page.

She is now working on Help Me Rhonda, starring death penalty lawyer Rhonda Dockson. I love being part of this writer's group and witness so many talented writer's processes.

The Space In Between

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This one is mine. It has just been made available on Blurb.com. It is a photo book. With one poem. The process of letting the images come together two by two was quite intuitive and organic. My intention was to induce a visual holding space for a kind of peace. See what you think by checking out part of the book here.


That's it for now. There are several other very talented poets and novelists in the writer's group. Keep an eye  out for them...

What touches you most

The war photographer
Was asked
Which situations have
Marked you most?
What horrors have you seen?
And his answer was
That no amount of dead bodies,
No amount of bullet ridden children
Has touched him more
Than the kindness of those
Who have suffered the most.

(Hommage to Pep Bonet of Noor)

Light paintings

Here are a couple of the light paintings abstracts (not quite sure what to call them yet) I will be exhibiting at the 3 festdage for maleriet exhibition.

Ballet

Falling Stars

Exhibition - 14 to 16 September 2012 in Copenhagen

Petals

Petals

Pretty pink petals

Pitter patter

Without pittance

Pretty much proving

That pangs of prittle

Probably pray

To prodding prattles

Dare to be bold

Day 7 prompt of the #Trust30 challenge by Matt Cheuvront

Realistic

I wish I was

But not really

Overcoming fear

Is fun and exciting

My head is too often in the clouds

Trying to find my heart

I frequently fall

Luckily there are always

Trampolines

To soften the thump

And send me right back

Up

Daring to fly

Again

What I need is not

To dare

But to know

Where

My heart will settle.

Bonus: This writing challenge is making me discover – and accept – my pace as a writer, my need for reflection... And that I dare publish something before I think it is good!

#Trust30 - One week left to live?

Come Alive by Jonathan Mead

Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you had one week left to live, would you still be doing what you’re doing now? In what areas of your life are you preparing to live? Take them off your To Do list and add them to a To Stop list. Resolve to only do what makes you come alive.

Bonus: How can your goals improve the present and not keep you in a perpetual “always something better” spiral?

(Author: Jonathan Mead)

If I knew I only had one week left to live, I would want to have a huge gathering, have my children and husband and family and friends around me. We'd all be in a beautiful sunny resort. Spacious, light, calm surroundings. Wonderful meals would be served, no dishes to do, no cleaning. Just following our whims and inspiration. Relaxing, laughing, playing, running because we are so happy to get to the next delicious thing we're doing or experiencing.

Now I have to hurry and figure out how to afford that week :-)

#Trust30 - One place in the world I'd like to visit before I die

Travel by Chris Guillebeau

If we live truly, we shall see truly. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?

(Author: Chris Guillebeau)

My response to the 5th prompt of the #Trust30 writing/self-reliance challenge:

I do not know all countries of the world. I have visited 18 of them on 3 continents. And lived in a few. Not anywhere near Chris Guillebeau, but still... I am not attracted by all countries and ironically, I ended up living in the one which has challenged me the most (talk about constant opportunity for learning!). I have felt so at home most places, that I am the one tourists would approach for questions, even though I would be just passing, like them. Many countries I have no desire at all to visit, but the one which has always attracted me is Japan.

I would love to go to Japan.

That is probably the one place where I think I will feel “dépaysée”, a wonderful French word which literally could be translated as 'de-countrified' , but which actually conveys that feeling of being transplanted out of your usual environment and habits to find yourself in a completely strange place (Google translates it as homesick or bewildered).

Japan would probably be the place where everything would feel new to me, where I would be out of my element, where I would not have any bearings, where I would not know the rules of conduct, but where my ignorance would probably be excused because I will look so foreign (am I hoping too much?). A place where I will see everything with 'fresh' eyes. Where I don't know the language and where I would probably – and hopefully – feel like a child in awe.

#Trust30 - One Strong belief?

My response to the 3rd prompt of the #Trust30 so day writing challenge by the Domino Project.

What strong belief do I possess that isn't shared by my closest friends or family?

I've been thinking and thinking, and I can't really come up with one. My family all have different beliefs. My closest friends all have different beliefs. I am very different from every one of them, but then, so are they.

My strongest belief is that my strongest belief can be challenged at any moment, and that I should not off-handedly dismiss whatever contradicts whatever I think I know for sure. Always keep an open mind. And then make a choice. There is not one truth. There are infinite truths. Infinite angles to look from at any situation.

All I wish for is clarity in the moment, and the courage and stamina to act on that.