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Figure out which ones really matter RT @jessicahagy Listen to fewer voices. thisisindexed.com/?p=17100
Birds on a wire and otherwise
by JS on January 27, 2013
This is photo is of Emily Belknap’s installation “Flight Zones”:
Flight initiation distance measures how close you can get to wildlife before you trigger an animal’s need to escape. Belknap hasn’t so much visualized this distance as made the zone palpable: if you were to step into the circle you’d disturb the dirt and become aware you were crossing a boundary.
It’s commonly called flight initiation distance (or FID, because people seem to love inscrutable to outsiders acronyms) even though it applies to wildlife in general, not just birds. I think it applies to animals in general, meaning us peopley animals, too. I wonder what our FIDs might look like.
Testing the theory that constraint breeds creativity, or playing with my new toy
by JS on January 13, 2013
These haikubes were a birthday present from my cousin. The idea is you roll out all the many-worded cubes, then create a haiku on the theme suggested by the prompt.
In order to keep it interesting and not torture myself I don’t spend too long coming up with each one, but I do try to stick to the prompt and the correct form (five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five again in the third).
I don’t think that I could tell myself to sit down and write a poem, but I can tell myself to play with these.
I suspect it’s good for my brain, and is another exercise in paying attention. I’m going to collect pictures of the haiku in this flickr set.
Projects instead of resolutions
by JS on January 11, 2013
I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions this year, but I have been thinking about how I spend my time and recognize there are changes I want to make.
In my head I can plan all kinds of activities, or endlessly mull over some dream schedule configuration, but these things don’t get me very far in reality. Apparently neither to resolutions so I am trying something different this year: paying attention.
I have this theory that mindfulness will help me be less stressed and anxious. (Not that I’m freaked out all the time, but more peace of mind is always a good thing.) I also think mindfulness means I will choose to spend time doing things I truly enjoy vs defaulting to “meh” stupid shit that leaves me wondering where those hours went.
What does paying attention look like? So far, I’m experimenting with a few different practices:
- Keeping a log book. I 100% stole this idea from Austin Kleon, right down to the moleskine I bought. I pay attention better when I write things down, and this is simple and straightforward enough the dailiness doesn’t seem like a burden.
- Doing a 52 weeks project. I think the more relaxed approach of one self portrait every week (instead of every day) will keep the project from being overwhelming, as well as give me the impetus to take more photos overall so my stream on flickr isn’t just my face. I also think it’s a good way to see how yeah, middle age is happening. The camera doesn’t lie; I look older than I did in 2007 because I am older. This is a good thing; here’s to hoping more wisdom comes with the years.
- Drawing things. On my list of things to do before I turn fifty, this took the form of “Draw, even though I think I can’t. (I can’t as in “that does not look real, it looks malformed” not can’t “my fingers don’t function well enough to hold a pen”)” This means making time, at least once a week, to fill a page in a sketchbook. It forces me to slow down, stop looking at screens, and concentrate in a different way.
So far, so good 2013. Happy new year.
Feed changes – update your RSS, dear old school readers
by JS on January 11, 2013
The feed for this blog is changing to http://12frogs.com/12/feed/. Please update your feed reader if you want to keep seeing new posts.
Since not everyone is a feed reading geek, now you can subscribe via email. Sign up is over on the sidebar; you won’t get anything if you don’t confirm the subscription so check your inbox. You will get posts only; I have no nefarious plans re: your email.
2012 in photos
by JS on December 31, 2012
You can click on the grid to see a larger version, or view the individual photos:
1. tiny undulating arms
2. rained
3. easter
4. light grid
5. untitled
6. campus fence
7. crayon
8. the way monday morning should be
9. wishing stone
10. orange skiff
11. horizon
12. outside toad hall
Five of these were taken with a mobile phone, five with the fuji x100, and two with the Canon 40D. Two are double exposures (a technique I started playing around with this year), one is a composite, and one was with the lensbaby.
When I first saw this year’s grid my thought was that it was a quiet year, photographically speaking. Not that I didn’t shoot a lot (though less than last year, since I wasn’t doing a 365 project) but that I seemed to be finding, or looking for, some quiet in my photos. Not a bad thing to be searching for, certainly.