Whenever big changes are on the horizon, I forget to nourish my body and mind. It’s all too easy to let stress overwhelm me, so this week I’m going to focus on activities that nourish my heart which include:

-Diving into Blogging from the Heart.
-Walking.
-Mapping out my next ecourse.
-Writing & taking photos.
-Creating inspiration boards.

In the inspiration board below, you’ll find a nourishing micro-action. Remember to take care of yourself when stress seems to dominate your life.

To get picture you see above, I had to walk across the Bend Bridge near my parents place in Red Bluff. The bridge is fairly wide, long, and it carries many cars over the Sacramento River. Logan was with me on a photo walk and getting him to walk across the bridge was hard work.

As we walked toward the bridge Logan said, “It seems dangerous. The shoulder isn’t that wide!”

“Ohh come on,” I said. “My mom and I bike across this all the time. It seems like you’ll go anywhere on your bike, but when you start walking on your own two feet you become risk adverse.”

Logan smiled and said, “You know me so well.”

“Okay then. Let’s walk across the bridge. I want to get a picture of Mt. Lassen and the Sacramento river.”

This tiny conversation got me thinking about fear. For a long time I was afraid of selling my car, giving away my stuff, and even moving into my tiny house. I was sacred of making big lifestyle changes and afraid of what others would think of me. I still get scared, but now I think about where my own two feet can take me. Usually, I end up in a better place and a whole lot happier.

What are you scared of and why?

Be well,
Tammy

P.S. You can pre-order my print book, “You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too.”

Yesterday, I received an email from Polly who asked:

“Why type of camera do you use? What’s your photo-taking process? And how do you capture such lovely images?”

Since I’ve received similar inquiries in the past, I thought it would be fun to share my response with you.

My Tools

I have two cameras, a Nikon D5000 and my iPhone camera. I bought my Nikon D5000 about four years ago and love it. I use the kit lens frequently, but I also have a 50mm lens for portraits. The 50mm lens is amazing because it picks up so much light! For instance, I’ve been able to get beautiful shots of my cats in very dark closets.

In addition, my iPhone has a lovely little camera. It’s a wonderful point and shoot that’s lightweight. Also applications, like Instagram, make it easy to share photos on networks like Twitter and Facebook.

The Process

1. Take photos. Typically, I take 20 to 50 digital pictures everyday of the landscape around me, people, and my pets. I love taking pictures because I can share how I see the world one moment at a time, frame by frame.

2. Upload to Lightroom. After taking photos, I plug my camera into my computer and upload the images to Adobe Lightroom for processing.

3. Delete, edit & process. Once I upload photos to Lightroom I delete, edit, and process my images. Blurry shots are the first to go, then I start looking at photo composition and the subtle differences between each shot. Sometimes I adjust the exposure and clarity and other times I don’t process photos at all. It depends on the quality of my images. After I’m done editing, I’m left with one to five decent shots for the website.

4. Export & upload to the Internet. Once I’m done processing the image, I export it from Lightroom and upload it to the blog. Typically, I pair an image with each article I post on RowdyKittens. I also send photos to friends and upload them to Google+.

Parting Words . . .

When started taking pictures, I was disappointed by my shots because they were horrible; 99% of the images were blurry and the composition sucked. As I snapped photos, I kept Henri Cartier-Bresson quote in mind. He said, “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”

In my experience, I’ve found that to be true. If you want to get better at photography keep taking pictures. Take photos of scenes that capture your interest and don’t over-think the process. For example, I’m really into macrophotography and I love to take close-up shots of flowers and water droplets.

As Matt Hardy said, “Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.”

Get out there are start capturing lovely details with your camera!

Be well,
Tammy

Gneti, the puppy pictured above, knows how to balance motion and stillness. She runs, plays, bites ankles, and then collapses in her doggie bed when she’s all worn out. I need to take notes from Gneti. She has a zest for life and makes time for naps.

I’ve been paying close attention to the link between motion and stillness because I’ve been participating in The Photo Essay Project. Last week we concentrated on those concepts.

The focus of the week was serendipitous because I’ve been dealing with an injured knee. It’s the same knee I hurt when I was a competitive skier and after I ran my first marathon. I didn’t give myself enough time to recover and haven’t been able to run consistently since that race. I’m not sure how I hurt my knee again. I suspect that it was a combination of things like riding on a bike seat that was too low, walking in shoes that were uncomfortable, and my inability to be still. I kept cycling and walking too far, even though my knee felt like an overstretched rubber-band.

Do you notice a theme here? I have trouble slowing down and listening to my body. 

When The Photo Essay Project started I had big plans. I planned on going for long photo walks across town, but my ability to travel far on foot is limited. The good news is, I’m actually listening to my body. Rather than pushing myself, I’m capturing photos in my apartment, neighborhood, and from my bike. In short, I’m moving slowly. As Bindu aptly noted, “Photography can be a vehicle in which we explore our lives.”

Taking photos is one way I observe motion and stillness. However, there are a few more practices that enable me to take notice of this theme, including:

-Unplugging.
-Meditating and doing yoga.
-Single tasking.
-Knitting.

How do you find a balance between stillness and motion?

Want to learn more about the photo essay project? Click here and consider following my progress. I don’t have an iPhone, so the photos for this project are being taken with my iPod Touch.