Wobble Soup for the Soul
Wobble got lonely at his nana’s house, so he Skyped me :)
[Wobble-in-flight by his mummy]
How to take a photograph
Our Polaroid book will be more pictures than words while my Unravelling book will be more words than pictures, but either way, I have a lot of Polaroids to shoot and scan this year. It’s not a great hardship, as I take my camera with me wherever I go, but here’s a secret: sometimes this compulsion to take photographs, to capture what I see as I walk around the world, drives me insane; I know it drives my friends and family insane when I ask them, for the millionth time to stop the car/wait for me while I take a photo. Again. And again. And again. I feel anxious if i’ve seen an image and want to catch it, like a crazed lepidopterist chasing rare butterflies. This is why, given the choice, I prefer to visit a new place on my own*.
I thought a city like Marrakesh, with all its detail and colour and bohemian splendour, would make my head explode but, interestingly, I took it all in my stride, knowing it’s impossible to miss a shot when everything you see is a shot. I had a mental checklist of the Polaroids I wanted to get – spices, doorways, faded walls and the ubiquitous tea sets – and I scored all of them and so much more.
Shooting for the books is no different from shooting for myself – i’m not letting myself be too precious about it, as I know that’s the fastest way to manifest a creative block. But I know I’m shooting with half an eye on the final usage, so I’m looking forward to playing with my iPhone in August and just snapping for the pleasure of it.
The August break has no rules, so you can shoot whatever, whenever and however you like, but I thought I’d share my best photography tip in case you wanted to use the month for some creative muscle flexing. My best tip is this: As you look through the viewfinder, or compose in the LCD screen, look for colours, shapes and diagonals. Actually, if you only look for one compositional element, look for the diagonals as they will immediately give your shot a sense of movement and interest.
Okay, here’s a bonus tip: don’t worry about composition too much in August! Be free with your camera and use it to dive deeper into the moment you’re in. If you want to give your month some discipline, how about shooting your daily shot around the same time each day? See what a month of mornings looks like…
* I also prefer to shop on my own and go to the cinema on my own. Both heavenly.
* * * * *
I’ve had a few emails from people asking when the Blogging Beautifully workshop will be ready – to be honest I am shamefully behind in so many of my projects, and a few have had to be delayed while I focus on the books… and the BB workshop is one of them. But it will be here by the autumn, i swear! I was thinking I might combine it with my plans for the Writing Beautifully workshop, as both are blog-focused. As soon as I make some progress, I’ll let you know. Pinky swear.
Rolling with the moment
So I came back from Marrakesh with “tummy troubles” (understatement of the century) that lasted over two weeks. NOT fun. After a really fantastic few days rummaging through the souks, we endured the plane-ride-from-hell to get us back to England. The plan had been to look for – and hopefully secure – a new flat in London before returning to Bath, but I felt so bad I decided to come home early.
However, what started as disappointment soon turned into understanding – when looking for a new home in Bath back in 2008 I was looking for confirmation that I was making the right move; the signs came, I found a home easily and the move happened. This time I was hoping for the same – I was so sure of the rightness of this move. And of course the signs came, and they said, in no uncertain terms: this isn’t the right time.
The first clue was the Moroccan detox. Then a few days after returning home I received two phone calls that confirmed I’d made the right decision: the first was from the only estate agent I’d been able to visit. He told me that the renting market is in a bad way right now and that I’d need at least a month and a half to find somewhere decent, maybe more. Oh, and rents had gone up 20% from last year.
The second call was from my current landlord offering to re-carpet my entire flat, something I’d been asking him to do since the day I moved in; 18 months later I got my wish. So it looks like I will be getting a new space after all, just not in the city I’d imagined….not yet, anyway. The move is on hold until all my book deadlines have been met in the new year (I’ve promised myself a few weekends in London to tide me over till then.)
It’s all good.
* * * * *
Calling all August breakers! I’ve added a fancy blog roll gadget that allows you to upload photos with your blog links, so if you haven’t already please head over and add your pic! We still have the master list of blogs, but the addition of the photos is making our summer blogcamp feel like a true community :)
* * * * *
And apologies if you subscribe to my blog and got the half-cooked post earlier – I suffer from a condition: it’s spelled p-r-e-m-e-n-s-t-r-o-s-i-t-y.
Chocolate, anyone?
The Weekly Wobble
[photos by his amazing mummy]
The first rule of Fight Club
You know, when I wrote yesterday’s blog post I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to join me, which is why i didn’t put a Mister Linky gadget on the blog to automate the blogroll sign ups – I thought it would look sad if it was sat there empty. How wrong was I?! I am SO happy so many of you want to try the experiment – I think it’s going to be fun!
For me this won’t be a month of making “amazing photos” – it’ll simply be a way to record an intensely creative month in a mindful way; there’s a very good chance I’ll end up posting 31 snaps of my laptop as that’s where I’ll be all day, but i hope to mix it up and get out the house once in a while!
Some more thoughts:
1. The first rule of Fight Club the August break is that there are NO RULES. In other words, if you want to post a few photos rather than just one, or you wish to share a few words, or write a regular post, or leave a week out altogether – great! I know I’ll be freestyling too.
2. Use whatever camera you like. I’ll probably use my iPhone most days – as all my Polaroids are being squirreled away for the book(s), I’m really enjoying the zen of using my phone. And as I want August to be all about the words, it makes sense to use the simplest camera I own.
3. On that note, if you’ll be using your iPhone too, check out these apps – Hipstamatic, PS Mobile, Best Camera, Camera +, Perfect Photo, Monochromia
4. I’m sensing our month of few words needs wordless comments too, just like we did on this post. Maybe not every day – this is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers so comments are encouraged! – but just so you know: smiley faces as comments are very welcome here in August :D
5. I’ve started a Flickr group for our experiment, so if you’d like to add your daily photos, and chat to other participants, you can. It’s a public group so anyone can join – all you need is a Flickr account (instructions on how to set one up (it’s free) are in my FAQ)
[I slipped on my Unraveller-in-chief hat then - ha!]
6. Other mindful things to try in August: Marianne’s fabulous 30 days of yoga; Unclutterer’s Thing-A-Day challenge – deeply digging both of these.
7. And lastly, there’s no requirement to ‘join’ this bit of fun, but obviously if you’d like to be on the blogroll please do leave a comment at any time and I will add you. And don’t feel obliged to add the badge to your blog, but blog bling is fun, so it’s there if you want it.
Here’s a new version of the code, as I know some were having problems with the code I shared yesterday:
<a href=”http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2010/” target=”_blank”>
<img src=”http://www.susannahconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/august_break_flat.jpg” width=”150″ height=”150″ border=”0″ /></a>
(Samantha shared another way to get the badge on your blog in this post – thanks, love!)
Okay! We have T-minus 9 days to get all our words blogged out before we slide into a mindfully recorded August… I can’t bloody wait!
Would you like to join me?
I need to take a break. August is pencilled in for book-writing madness, and I know i won’t have many words left over for this space, so I’m thinking of trying an experiment. I’ve always been inspired by Darlene’s December Views project, where blogging participants let their photos do the talking for the whole of the month, so I’ve decided I need some of that for August.
Would you like to join me?
The (loose & very adaptable) plan would be to simply share one photo per day on your blog – Monday to Friday, or every day. Or whenever you want. Using any camera – DSLR, compact, Polaroid, Holga, iPhone (my choice), Instax, 35mm, video – with or without words – anything goes – for the whole of August. No pressure - just looking at August through your camera lens as a way to be more present this summer. And to have a little break from the pressures and expectations of regular blogging.
What do you think?
I’ve been racking my brain this morning trying to think of a suitably jazzy name for the experiment but all I can come up with is ‘the August break’ so that’s what i’m going with :) I’ve even made a badge! 
So if you’d like to play along leave a comment with your name and blog address and I’ll add your link to a blogroll of participants so we can all visit each other throughout the month.
You wanna play? Spread the word – it’ll be like a blogging summer camp!
Putting it into perspective
This just put everything I had been worrying about today back into perspective. We are so small… it’s humbling. And amazing. (thank you Angie for sharing the link)
Sometimes
Sometimes I have so much I want to say I just don’t know where to begin. I get blocked and awkward; the words don’t reach my lips, they stick in my throat, in my brain… sometimes they don’t appear at all. I’ll have an idea floating in my head, and the more I think about it the bigger and more complicated it becomes until human language just won’t be enough to adequately describe the complexities of it all…
… when all I wanted to talk about was how incredibly blue the sky was today.
You know that one?
The 7 link challenge
Scanning my Google Reader this afternoon i discovered a mini blog challenge set by Darren over at Problogger (i love reading blogs about blogging, don’t you? Makes me feel all square and geeky… in a good way). The idea is to link to six of your old posts (and one by another blogger) to help your readers dig deeper into your archives. The links lead to:
- Your first post
- A post you enjoyed writing the most
- A post which had a great discussion
- A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
- Your most helpful post
- A post with a title that you are proud of
- A post that you wish more people had read
So here’s my interpretation:
My first post: Setting sail into the unknown – April 12th, 2006
A post I enjoyed writing: these early thoughts on being an auntie – little did i know that that early love would go supernova when i finally met the tiny wobble man; this post on allowing dreams also spoke to me today.
A post with great discussion: it was naughty and rude, but the post about our favourite swear words had the best comments ever ;)
From another: I’m so proud of my mate Lisa for starting her Monday Me series - inspiring!
My most helpful post: has to be the Polaroid guide… or perhaps my little series on falling in love with your self (more of those to come)
Best blog post title: Juice, Clooney & fish ‘n’ chips
And you might want to check out: this post.
Wanna play along? Leave a link to your post in the comments!
