The Figure-Ground Relationship
When using vision, the eye sees one thing at a time. The object of focus is ‘figure’. The rest of the perceptual field that falls into the background, is ‘ground’.…
Breaking Free!
I had the word "Broken" in mind and for a photograph. I filtered several ideas in my head and decided on breaking something. It was more in line with me…
Create from everything
Being original is not about generating something out of nothing. To make new things, you have to bend, break, and blend what is already there. Musician Robert Glasper says, 'Jazz…
Creative Heroes
In Seth Godin's Creatives Workshop, participants are given questions to ponder that help clear the path to a creative voice. Recently we were asked to look at a creative hero…
Art takes courage
As I watch my fellow creatives struggle with the need to be perfect before putting something out there, I get it. Art takes courage. Once you show yourself, people look…
Wabi-Sabi
“Wabi-sabi is about the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are invisible to vulgar eyes.” Leonard Koren wrote those words…
Hick’s Law
As a creative, the more you know, the easier it is to get stuck. It's a natural thing. In fact, there is a law that covers the concept: Hick's Law…
Attractive Bias
In reading about art and design, I discovered something called 'Attractive Bias.' It is also known as look-ism. It has to do with how our perceptions of beauty affect our…
Standing in the Shadows
I realized today that I spent my life trying to live into a version of success that belongs to the ideas of my Pakistani aunties. They were Canadian immigrants who…
Seeing Straight
The problem with (and the gift of) photography is that we see the world through a lens and edit out the things we don’t like - to create an idea…
Choose School
I’ve been told, the best way to learn a languageis to have a lover who speaks it.I noodled it a bit.It comes with too much baggage.So, I’m going to school…
Retirement
When I think of my age, I feel elation, as my liberty now is freedom of time. I could pick up the guitar that I put down, still in the…
Using the 80/20 Rule in Your Photography Workflow
The Pareto Principle, commonly known as the 80/20 Rule, states that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. This rule has been studied and observed in large systems.…
Goodbye Chi Chi DeVayne
Zavion Michael Davenport died a couple of days ago. She was best known as Chi Chi DeVayne, an American Drag Queen. She was 34 years old. Yesterday a friend, asked…
Something is coming
Today as I listened to the world, I heard overwhelm. It came from all directions and from everyone I engaged with. It feels like today, Monday, August 23, 2020, the…
Heading Towards Clarity
Yesterday as my struggle with my website layout touched on the point of frustration, I reached out to a group of business-oriented friends and asked for advice, suggestions, and recommendations.…
Definition of Success
Today I was challenged by the question of what ‘success’ means to me. It was posed in the framework of turning professional. This is a tough question, as I do…
Saboteur
I have this messiness that I carry around with me, like Charles Shultz’s Pig-Pen. I feel incomplete and unkempt. Failure feels buried deep within my bones like a birthmark.…
Showing Up
I was asked today, ‘What success would look like to me after 100 days of doing this blog daily?" I answered, “I don’t know”. Today as I picked up my camera…
Summer Garden
I am of sweating summer and toiling gardener. Of cherished homes and prized tables.I am of dulling colors and falling petals. Of fading beauty and gained wisdom.I live in the…
Cup or Faces
When we look at an image, our eyes search for something to focus on. When we see, we focus on one detail. In the image featured, there is a cup…
Brave Night
Luminous night eternally bright,healing pool to cool the fight.Shadowy ground, unknown depths,brave hearts dive to meet themselves.
Kronos and Kairos
As I travel towards the inevitable end,Kronos conducts the song, sowing the hymn of destiny from the notes of history gone. Ah! the moment of freeform!Playful Kairos arrives.Soon it will…