Today i’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap.
You’ll find me posting over at Young Wife’s Guide about
“How to Encourage the Sound of Kindness in your Home”,
and i’m excited to welcome Lee from The Linar Studio to Frills & Fun!
It is such an honour for me to be here to meet Sally and you, her readers! I’m Lee Currie and I live in Oakville, Ontario with four incredibly active kids. Over and above all that I do, I honour our lives, every day, through photos and words.
I love taking photos of the special events, when I have a chance, but things like Christmas and Easter are really filled with me doing other things – like cooking and organizing, a lot gets missed and often I don’t have a chance to record anything but the bare minimum. I’ve learned to shift my outlook and put focus on the everyday adventures of our life and record it. After all, it’s through the lessons of our every that we become who we are meant to be. Right?
But how do you start?
1. Camera – this could be a DSLR, a point-and-shoot, an iPhone or any other form of capturing an image.
2. Notebook – this could be a traditional spiral bound book, a calendar, your twitter feed/facebook status changes, a Word document on your computer, or any other form of capturing stories.
Okay, now what do you do?
Well, for me, I usually start with the photo and instead of describing the basic who, what and where, I describe the why. The photo does not have to be a work of art, it has to be authentic.
For example:
This is a terrible photo! A bit blurry and overblown. The quick fix? A conversion to black and white (trust me on the nasty original).
It holds a number of wonderful stories.
Why are all of my children holding hands? Claire is pulling off false eyelashes. Any of us who have done the same know that it’s more painful than pulling off a bandage! That is the story of the photo.
What other stories?
Why was Claire wearing false eyelashes?
Why was her first dance recital held when she was 16 years of age?
Why did she start dance mid-way through her teenage years?
Why were all my kids home on a Friday evening?
Why is Claire sitting on the counter?
What conversations happen in our kitchen?
If a picture says a thousand words then your words should be about things NOT included in the photo. Though, a good start is the simple who, what and where; the story is in the why.
I have been telling the everyday stories of our life for close to a decade. I’ve made a number of mistakes along the way. The only mistake I didn’t make was in starting. Starting was the best decision I ever made.
That being said, in this as in everything, you can be overwhelmed with choices.
Anything creative is a matter of choice. All creative people know that it is in the lack of choice that makes us truly creative. Use what you have based on your time, your supplies, your expertise.
There are so many ways to record your every day. A few I’ve participated in:
12 of 12 | On the 12th of each month, record the 12 events that make your day your day. A slice of your life on the 12th of each month for 12 months.
A Photo A Day | Join Katrina Kennedy and the ladies at Capture Your 365 and join in the challenge of taking a photo representing your day, each day, for one year.
A Week In The Life | Take one week in your year and record in photos and words every minute detail of the week. Join Ali Edwards in her annual quest.
Project Life | A kinder, gentler version of A Week in the Life with the catch that it goes on for a whole year. To me, this is a real scrapbook – photos + stories + ephemera = everyday life.
Not only will these projects be a gift for my children, but also a gift to me. Every day I am more mindful of our experiences, our lessons, our here-and-now.
I do hope you explore the opportunities available!
If you have a question, feel free to visit me at The LINARstudio | Embrace Life and leave a comment.
