Creative Wellness at Home - Week 5
Mindful photography, and don't forget our creative competition!
Enter our competition!
First up, a reminder that there are prizes up for grabs for submitting us your creative works! Send us anything you have created during lockdown in the next 5 weeks and our artists will pick their favourites.
There are three Coles Myer gift cards to be won. The competition is open to anyone living, working or studying in the Inner West Council area. To enter, email your submissions to creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com
Get your cameras out!
This week, we’re trying mindful photography. Most of us have access to a camera on our phones at all times, so you might want to practice taking photos when you’re out on a walk, in your backyard or garden, or even inside around your home.
Mindful photography involves seeing clearly and aligning your eye/camera with your heart and mind to capture the moment. You don’t need to be an expert to be a photographer. Simply find your frame and shoot.
Mindful photography: how to do it
It’s important to be fully present as you feel what you are capturing.
Start a slow, mindful walk around your photography location. This can be indoors or outdoors. Begin to notice your breathing, your body, your surroundings.
Is there anything that draws your eye or catches your attention? Walk closer to it if you can.
Start to look at the object or scene that you have chosen at different angles. Walk around it, tilt your head, or squint to see if it changes according to perspective.
Take your camera out and experiment with different frames. When you think you’ve got the right shot, take the photo.
Here are a few challenges that might help to get you inspired.
Challenge 1: Perspective
How might a different angle or perspective completely change what you are capturing? Try kneeling or squatting down to the ground and looking up, or zooming right in for a close up. See what happens.
Challenge 2: Abstract photography
Try to use your camera to capture how you are feeling in that moment. Your thoughts and emotions can be quite complex or even jumbled, so see if you can capture that in a single frame with your camera. Experiment with different techniques like movement/blurriness, light/filtering etc.
Challenge 3: Capture a texture
Interesting textures can be found in mundane objects that you usually might not notice. Look around you and try to find something with has an interesting pattern or texture. You might be surprised.
Tips
Try to limit the number of photos you take to 1-3 photos each time. This will lead you to be more mindful of each decision to take a photos.
Remember to breathe! Being conscious of your breath helps you to be grounded in the moment.
Some beautiful trees
Last week we drew Trees of Resilience to represent our incredible journeys. We are delighted to share this wonderful tree drawing from our friend Nicki.
“I love trees. They are the gods of the earth.”
Thank you Nicki for sharing!
We would love to share your creative works. Send them to us at creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com
The Creative Wellness at Home project is brought to you by Community and Cultural Connections Inc (CCCi) and funded with support from Inner West Council.