Skies to our west just before the storm
Today began with a dramatic storm moving through the Twin Cities with wind, hail, and heavy rain. We were fortunate not to have any major damage (though my small pots of lettuce look like they may not recover) or power loss as places nearby were not so lucky.
The view from our window during the heaviest rain
My flowers in front of the house covered with hail
I’ve taken advantage of the wet weather today to spend time working on photos from the north woods. I’m almost finished editing my favorites from my 2 1/2 months living near Ely, MN.
I have created three series of images from my time in the north woods: Liminal Spaces, Wild Altars, and Landscapes. Once I’ve settled on which photos are definitely in each series I plan to publish them in galleries and I’m thinking about creating a book from the wild altars series.
Stormy Weather in My Creative Life too…
The tricky part of the creative process for me is getting from the idea stage to actually creating something. I like making images and working on them but figuring out how I want to use them is harder. It’s easy to put off this work when I’m not quite sure how I want to use the images. Not to mention the inertia that I feel when I think of doing a big project like writing a book to go with the images.
Ideas are easy to come by. Implementing my ideas by summoning the needed discipline, patience, hard work, and persistence through uncertainty is what slows me down. But I am determined to work through my resistance and fear and get this work into the world. The creative process is sometimes exhilarating but it can also be tedious, terrifying, and discouraging.
My creative juices are beginning to simmer with new photography ideas and projects too, so it is going to be challenging sticking with the north woods projects while itching to make new images. I may need to make some hard choices. I’m thinking of putting my north woods photos aside until next winter so that I can spend more time creating the new work that I am imagining.
What is most challenging for you in your creative work?
May you walk in beauty.
Here are some north woods images that I worked on today:
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