Beauty revealed

This photograph was made with my iPhone, the Easy-Macro, oil and water and Snapseed. The world we live in can open us up to wonder and magical thinking when we slow down and pay attention.

Color is the Language of Light

"Light is the greatest unnoticed force of transfiguration in the world:

it literally alters everything it touches and through color dresses nature

to delight, befriend, inspire and shelter us."

John O'Donohue

Abstract Photo-backgrounds for Journal Pages

I love papers of all kind, and recently decided to create my own unique papers from my photographs to use in my journals. I am drawn to old textured walls and have discovered that these make great journal backgrounds! When I use these photographs as my backgrounds I have no fear of the blank page as I already have color and shape laid down to inform my next step. If you do a lot of writing on your journal pages, having your own photograph behind your handwriting can be more meaningful than a piece of store-bought paper.

Journal page backgrounds can be found in the most unexpected places.

The above images were found on an old noticeboard in the port town of Fiumicino, Italy. I spent a night there before an early morning flight home after teaching Slow Photography: Seeing with Your Senses and Your Soul in Orvieto. I found the noticeboard while taking a walk to the port from my hotel. The textures, colors and shapes called to me - much to the amusement of the local people who couldn't see anything worth photographing.

I often take my texture images into the Snapseed app and play with contrast and color until I find something I like better than the original. I did that with this texture photo of a wall in Mexico. You can make lots of different looking backgrounds by enhancing a photo in different ways.

When wandering in your neighborhood or a travel destination, keep your eyes open for the followingif you'd like to create your own journal page backgrounds:

• Look out for texture and pattern.
• Let colors and shapes speak to you. 
• Zoom in closer.

I print my photos on the ordinary copy paper that I use for everyday printing. It is thin and can easily be pasted into my journal. Remember you don't have to use the whole page as a background. You can tear different pages and collage them together, or use torn strips as embellishments on your pages.

If you are new to journaling, you might like to try Lisa Sonora's 30 Day Journal Project for prompts to get you writing.  For even more inspiration, consider the Spectrum Holistic Creativity workshops with journaling ideas from 25 different teachers.

Another idea on how to use your photographs in your journaling practice, can be found in this article on using personal photographs in your visual journals.

Your images are worth using! They are how you see the world.

Getting Closer with Easy-Macro

My favorite new iPhone accessory is the Easy-Macro. It has allowed me to turn my iPhone into my with-me-all-the-time macro camera. All the photos above were made with the Easy-Macro attached to my iPhone. Macro photography opens up a whole new world. I now use this simple $15 "lens" far more than I use my expensive macro lens. In addition, you can use the lens when making videos with your iPhone.  My favorite discovery of 2014!

Slow Photography in Italy

Adventures in Italy marries cultural immersion and creative exploration to provide a rich, sensuous, experience-filled journey of discovery. You unpack your bags for a week, in the city of Orvieto, giving you time to truly experience this charming place, while learning an approach to photography that will take your image-making skills to a new level. By slowing to the Italian pace, feling the rhythms of the day, you appreciate the seductiveness of the dolce vita - the sweet life!

Using Your Own Photographs in Visual Art Journals

I often use my photographs in my visual art journals. Some days they are just backdrops on which to scribble. Other days I am more conscious of each mark I make on the image. On those days I prefer my text printed, not hand written. In this image, I printed my text out on my computer and then burnished it to packing tape, left the packing tape in water for a couple of minutes, and rubbed the white paper backing off to reveal the words which remained on the tape.

listen to the voices of the stones
their wisdom is deep and ancient
they see you

You can use this method for images as well as words (you can find detailed instructions on Page 95 of The Creative Photographer)

Author and teacher Lisa Sonora recently hosted a series of daily prompts for journaling based on the theme of Roots. If you'd like to see how this photograph looked before I added to it, and find out how these stones relate to roots for me, you can read my article here on Lisa's website.

Being Present to the Beauty All Around You

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a sophisticated camera, 

if the photographs you take are far from professional. 

What matters most is that something intimate and precious 

is being brought to life and shared with another.

Jan Phillips

If your feel that you need some new inspiration for your photography, you might like to listen to Colleen Russell of Quest4Wholeness talking to me about what it is to be a Creative Photographer. In this interview I give ideas on how to take your photography to a more creative level with some practical exercises.

You can download the interview for free on Colleen's website. May you be inspired to take your camera out to play!