My Photography Manifesto

My Photography Manifesto | SusannahConway.com

There’s a camera out there for everyone. And, like babies, all cameras are beautiful!

The more you practice the more your eye will improve. Fact.

We can be inspired by others and imitate their style as we learn, but it’s our own style that will give us the most satisfaction. Give it time and you will find it.

Slow down. Take a breath. Look again.

Pay attention to the in-between moments.

Remember to lie on the floor and stand on chairs once in a while.

Play with digital and film. iPhones and Hasselblads. Canon and Nikon. Try everything to decide which translates your eye best.

Learn a few rules so you know how to break them.

Take a photograph everyday, even if it’s just your lunch. Especially if it’s your lunch. Shoot it every day for a month and see what happens.

The camera is only a tool; it’s your eye that really matters.

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Tomorrow is the last day of the first session of Photo Meditations and I am sitting here feeling really rather in love with my course. And it’s making me laugh — I never thought I could ever create a course that I’d love more than Unravelling, but this five week foray into heart-centered photography has me all a-fluster :) I’ve loved pouring myself into this course every day for the last month and I don’t want to stop (I’m not kidding — i’m currently sketching out a sequel). It’s a photography course but, holy cats, it is so much more than that. It’s about connecting with the world, cultivating mindfulness, and being brave. It’s about tapping into the artist inside and giving her a voice through your images. It’s about shooting from the heart. I’ve just updated the course page with a slideshow, a week-by-week outline and some testimonials from peeps in the autumn class, so if you’re considering signing up for the January class (registration opens this Sunday) do check it out.

Okay, that last paragraph is more gushy than I would normal write here but I just ate my dinner and it was the first food I have been able to taste in over SIX DAYS, so i’m on a getting-better high. Happy December, everyone! x

Polaroid, Soul

The beauty of Karen

Last week I enjoyed 24 hours of decent health before phlegm-gate started, which was lucky because that’s when Karen and I had arranged to meet at Jamie’s. We’d first met three years ago when she and her wee family were last in the UK visiting relatives, so we had a lot to catch up on — and catch up we did! In that time we’ve both written books, started teaching and built businesses that are manifestations of our hearts, so it was qute something to be able to compare notes and witness how far each other had come. Of course, after lunch we decamped to a Milsom Street bench to take the obligatory portrait-of-the-blogger, something that made us both squirm (okay, maybe I squirmed more — Karen, I’m sorry!), but we got the shots and with a breathless embrace we said our farewells. Just before we parted, we held hands for a moment and Karen told me I seemed happy now. When she’d first met me I’d only just moved to Bath and was getting ready to teach an evening class that would prove to change my life. Those first months here hadn’t been easy, and I remember talking to her about grief in a way that proved it was still so present in my everyday life. So to hear her words last week — for her to have seen and noted the changes in me — was a gift that I’ve been carrying with me ever since. Thank you for that, my friend x

Interviews, Writing life

This is how I write: Danielle LaPorte

Danielle LaPorte

Ever since I finished writing my book I’ve been a bit obsessed with how other writers write. Writing a book — writing any lengthy piece — is such a solo mission it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has to smudge herself with burning sage and pray to the gods of Polaroid before she begins (I might be joking… Maybe). So today’s post is the first in a very occasional series of interviews with writers to see how they get in the zone and get their words on paper. I’m also asking them to share photos of their writing space with us, so we can be ~~nosy~~ inspired.

First up is the indomitable Danielle LaPorte. Danielle is the author of Style Statement and The Fire Starter Sessions (hitting book shelves in April 2012) and today sees the launch of her next e-program-of-awesome, Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. Co-authored with book proposal whizz, Linda Silvertsen, it’s exactly what you need to craft a book proposal that’s gonna get you that book deal. And here’s what makes it extra useful: they’ve included lots of real-life proposals from published authors (including me!) Those alone are worth investing in. Seriously. After our Fire Starter call back in 2009 Danielle was generous enough to send me a copy of the proposal she’d written for Style Statement. Having a real-life proposal in my hands helped me craft my own when the time came. I’m forever grateful to her :)

SC: What do you use for writing a) notes/ideas/brainstorming and b) your book?

DLP: Everything begins in hand notes in my Moleskine notebooks. I prefer the ones withe the craft covers. 6×9. I can outline a whole book in two pages. If I can get down the four core ideas, then it all begins to flow.

Then, and I love this part: pattern recognition. I move on to using one inch square light yellow sticky notes (you see I’m very specific about these things. Squares help me think mo’ better than rectangles. Can’t explain.) I write down different ideas, concepts, words on dozens and dozens of sticky notes. And then I lay them on a large piece of art board and I begin to cluster them. I start to see which are the Big Themes, and I place the supporting ideas under the obvious umbrella concepts. And THAT becomes the outline of the book or program. Works every time.

Then I do my first Table of Contents on my trusty MacBookPro (or my Mac Air if I’m traveling.) And I don’t look back.

How do you begin?

Usually in the bath tub. Really my best ideas come with heat and bath oil.

Describe your writing process (edit as you go? Shitty first draft? Daily word count goal?)

I have no typical, writerly “measurables”. If I had to write X pages per day, or X words a week, I’d faint from lack of creative oxygen — couldn’t bear it.

I write what feels good, when it feels good. And of course, sometimes what feels good is slamming a deadline, so I don’t drift from the goal: which is to create something awesome and impeccable and ship it. But I do prioritize mostly on emotional/creative pull.

What do you do when the words aren’t coming?

Nap. Organize stuff. Buy too much on iTunes. I also visit my Alexander McQueen and Donna Karan coffee table books. And Rilke.

Please describe any writing rituals you have (I’m assuming you have some as all writers I know have some, including me)

Well, I pride myself on being able to write anywhere, any time (being too sensitive about your surroundings can be such a creative cop out). Like, with kids dueling with light sabres by my desk, or in airport terminals, I manage to just tune it out and keep putting words on the screen. But ideally, I have a morning walk, a lush green smoothie. My desk is tidy. I light a honey beeswax candle, some hand-rolled incense, I crank some chanting tunes, and I play my wireless key board like a hot damn piano.

What’s your favourite part of the writing process/madness?

Crafting the one sentence that says it all.

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Thank you for bringing us into your space today, Danielle — it’s the one inch square sticky notes that are staying with me!

Full disclosure: I’m an affiliate for Your Big Beautiful Book Plan because I absolutely believe in it. So if you click on the link and decide to invest in the Plan, i’ll get a few dollars in return (which I’ll be reinvesting in more books. Yay for books!)

Inspiration

Something for the weekend

So no sooner was I feeling better then BAM! I’m hit with a head cold. Ah, the joys of toddlers and their germs. This auntie has had to keep her head down while she works on her new course (which I am LOVING and so proud of) but that’s left no extra time for blogging (hence the silence — thank you to those of you who’ve reached out to make sure i was okay!) There was a window of health on Tuesday so I popped into town to have lunch with a friend who was visiting from the States — we took a few portraits of each other, much to the amusement of the Big Issue seller behind us. I’ll share the portraits next week — she’s a hottie.