Blog

Go Beyond the Personal

I read a quote recently that has gotten me thinking. Photographer, Keith Carter suggests that if you really want to create something special you need to Go Beyond the Personal into the realm of connection with everything and everyone. This idea resonates for me and explains the kind of yearning I feel when I look at the photographs that I make that aren’t quite there yet (which is almost all of my photographs). I think you go through stages in making art. In the first stages you get excited about the medium itself. It offers a very immediate kind of Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

What Do You See?

I often hear photographers saying that they don’t find anything to photograph outside this time of year. With the cold and the barren landscape nothing appeals to them. Sometimes I feel that way too, but then I ask myself… What do you see when you look closely or when you widen your gaze? What beauty can you find in this seemingly barren landscape? Sometimes I simply stand still and look with soft eyes allowing the scene to soak into my very cells. Though I’m not very enthusiastic about going out in the cold initially, I find when I do go Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

Food for the Soul

I spent a lot of time looking at the photographs of photographers that I admire this morning. This practice of looking at the creative work of others is Food for the Soul for me and inspiration for my creative spirit. Making photographs is also food for the soul for me. This morning I saw a crow walking around on the ice-covered pond behind our house. I am fascinated with birds of all kinds, and crows—common as they are—always delight me. So I grabbed my camera and switched to my long lens and photographed the crow. Through the telephoto lens I Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

In a Liminal Space

With the mild late fall days we’ve been having I feel as if I am living In a Liminal Space not quite winter, but not really fall anymore either. And I am embracing this in-between space between fall and winter. Yesterday I went out to Carver Park to photograph the bare trees and to play with ICM (intentional camera movement) and in camera multiple exposures. It was chilly but not so cold that my hands froze as I took off my gloves to work my camera. The colors this time of year are muted but present. It’s not all gray Read more…

By Marilyn, ago

The Swans are Back

Today I’m celebrating the fact that The Swans are Back on Medicine Lake. Though not as many as I saw last year, there are several families of Trumpeter Swans, gulls galore, and lots and lots of migrating ducks and Canada Geese on the lake right now. I first saw them on Medicine Lake the day after Thanksgiving. I love these graceful noisy graceful swans so much! My heart leaps a bit every time I see them gliding, flying, and honking. They brighten these cold late November days for me. Every day I go down to the lake and look to Read more…

By Marilyn, ago