This week I went with Zoe and Emma from the Brain Injury Service, Morriston Hospital to meet Dan at the newly developing Elysium Gallery, Swansea. Dan and Jonathan have this fantastic idea to include a ‘Community Gallery’ within their new art gallery in the High Street. You can see Dan talking to Zoe and Emma in the new space above. … Read More
Five Tips to cope with your Busy-ness
Were all busy, all of the time. That’s modern life for you. Work, fun, kids, family, friends, things going wrong…..the list rumbles on. How do you cope when it all gets even busier? When your busy life becomes overwhelming busy-ness? Over the last month I have had my busiest period since I went freelance. Being super busy is more than … Read More
Where’s the Brexit?
I have just submitted this photo for the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. The theme this year is our contemporary world and what can be more contemporary than the Brexit chaos we find ourselves in? Though what things will be like come the summer is anyone’s guess. In creating the photo I went out for a walk with my camera, with … Read More
Festive Greetings
I hope that you are soon going to be taking a break from your busy schedule. You deserve some rest and recuperation. Don’t we all? I am going to be taking a two week break from my many projects, at least that’s what I’m promising. So, this is the last post from me till next year. Next year I will … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 8 Letting the photo come to you
The final week of our Foundations Skills in Mindful Photography Course finally arrived. This week we recapped on all we had covered: What Mindfulness is; What Mindful Photography is, Clear Seeing, The Four Stage Seeing Practice, Compositional Skills and Abstract Photography. When I say recap, I actually mean an incentive flavoured Q&A. Where the incentive was chocolate for every right … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 7 Learning from the greats
This week we continued our exploration of Abstract Photography by looking at two great photographers who share a connection: Alfred Stieglitz and Minor White. Both men were inspirational leaders, turning photography into an art form. Stieglitz was probably responsible for the birth of abstract photography through his creation of cloud photographs he called, ‘Equivalents’. For over 10 years from 1922 … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 6 Abstract Photography
What has abstract photography got to do with Mindful Photography you may ask? Abstract photography has the potential to be a visual method of representing the invisible: things like a thought or feeling, a concept or idea like time or attraction. Representing something visually gives you the opportunity to share something or your life without using words, and that maybe … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 5 Elements of Visual Design
After a two week break we were back to Mindful Photography this week. Building upon the compositional guidelines we explored last time, I introduced the seven elements of visual design that can be used to consider how a photo can be arranged. The seven elements are: Shape, Form, Colour, Line, Pattern Texture and Space. We explored some ideas around each … Read More
A Small Autumnal Space
I have a Mindful Photography Practice that invites you to create a set number of photos in a small space – something less than 20 metres square – in a set period of time. During the practice you turn off your review screen to encourage an attention to what you are seeing in the moment. No deleting and no review … Read More
Mindful Photography and Positive Psychology
Last Friday I was invited by Professor Andrew Kemp to talk about Mindful Photography to his Positive Psychology students. I will be explaining what positive psychology in a moment and exploring the links between it and what I do. There are plenty. I should also say that it wasn’t really a ‘talk’, more an experiential workshop. After an outline of … Read More
Foundation Skills Course Week 4 Mindful Composition
Week 4 brings us to Photography Composition, with a mindful twist. Now photography composition is an area of knowledge that generates books and courses on its own, and I cover it in two 2.5 hour lessons. Obviously, I have a particularly mindful approach, one that centres upon following a compositional guideline as a mindful practice. But I am getting ahead … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 3 Seeing the Photo
The beginning of the Foundation Skills Course in Mindful Photography is all about encouraging your ability to see a photo. An easy ambition you may think. Seeing a photo implies an ability to see a photographic opportunity. Perhaps the major challenge lies in that thought that may just have popped in to your head, “How do I create a good … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 2
Using Seeing as your anchor for Mindful Photography The Foundation Skills Course centres upon using Seeing as your anchor for Mindful Photography. If you are to create fabulous photos that say something of your world and are not just like anyone else’s, then you need to really pay attention to what you can see. You may think that this is … Read More
Foundation Skills Course – Week 1
This week was the first of my rebranded Mindful Photography Course. I’ve changed the name of the first 8 week course to ‘Foundation Skills’. The content is still the same and covers an introduction to Mindfulness, Mindful Photography and three key topics. The first is Clear Seeing – how you can improve your seeing and use seeing as your mindful anchor when … Read More
Developing Mindfulness through Photography – Part 2
Mindfulness + Photography = Mindful Photography In 2017 I published a post called ‘Developing Mindfulness through Photography’ that explained how mindfulness could be developed and applied to photography. I detailed my understanding of mindful photography’s roots, offered 10 reasons to embrace it and shared a useful Mindful Photography Practice. If you haven’t seen it just follow the link above. The … Read More
10 tips to slow down your photography
Mindful Photography in action Digital Photography is fantastic. Its ability to capture what we see and allow instant review has revolutionised photography. It has changed how we create photographs and how we edit them. But perhaps the most fundamental change is that it has supercharged the creation of a photograph. Photographic creation and sharing is now like a Ferrari 812 … Read More
Evolution
The feeling of an evolution is a constant for every artist who is pursuing the search of refinement and enlargement of his/her own means of expression. Andrea Bocelli Living a mindful life encourages an attention to the moment, a paying attention that inspires the development of skillful responses to difficulty rather than an habitual reaction. The wisdom that underpins this … Read More
250th Summer Exhibition – Royal Academy of Arts
A couple of weeks ago I visited the 250th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts with friends. If you have never been – and I hadn’t – then this is the year to make the effort. You won’t be disappointed. The Summer Exhibition is a unique institution. Held without interruption since 1769, The Summer Exhibition is a heady … Read More
Cefn Coed Hospital Heritage Project
Over the last couple of months I have been supporting ‘A Mental Picture’ an ABMU Health Board Heritage Project in Partnership with Swansea University & Swansea Museum. My role has been to provide photography guidance and support to the people who come on our tours of Cefn Coed Hospital in Swansea. Cefn Coed Hospital building work began in 1928, utilising … Read More
I’m a Square Peg
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race … Read More