Through conversation with my fellow photographer friend, Christine, I gained a deeper awareness of how my photography practice needed to transform to communicate how I've changed over this past year. Together, we focused on values and how different photographic techniques can support our values. Over the Summer, Christine helped me create a structure and process for connecting visuals to values. With that framework, I was able to make meaningful images to incorporate new personal experiences, including my experience coaching Ravelle, which was a part of the Summer letter.

Belonging, comfort, and tenderness emerged as the values that became central to healing through the pandemic. The changes I made were subtle, simple, and specific to my unique needs. In practical terms, I stopped increasing contrast and adjusting levels, and I over-exposed while photographing from within shadows only on overcast days.

Summer challenged my ability to hope for the future this year. Droughts, floods, wild fires, extreme heat, etc. ramped up my anxiety. And the things I typically do to maintain a sense of wellness did not provide much comfort. Because of the stress, I didn't ask myself deep questions about photography, I didn't write blogs, I didn't post on Instagram, and I didn't pick up my DSLR... not even once!

I also didn't try to talk myself out of feeling the way I did, even though there was a lot of sadness. Instead, I opened myself up to the feelings, I held my battered heart with fierce tenderness, I rested as much as I needed, and I sought out extra support.

In all honesty, photography only brought me joy on one occasion this summer, which I am sharing here as a visual portrayal of my emotions. These images were made with a pocket-sized Lumix DCZS80. I am extremely thankful for the ease and weightlessness of this tiny camera. If my nature photography practice taught me anything this summer, it's that sometimes what I need is a lighter load. 

On the topic of rest, the crucial work being done by The Nap Ministry comes to mind. More than napping, their movement is rooted in a "framework of liberation, Afro futurism, somatics, cultural trauma of Jim Crow survivors, community organizing and radical self care." Their work offers a future outside of white supremacy and capitalism. You can find articles, blogs, events, and podcast episodes through their Instagram page. 

This letter exists only because I am a part of a wonderful community of artists who are collaborative and open to sharing their stories. As I mentioned in my Slow Photography Movement blog "Relational Nature Photography", I feel it's important that we photographers (and all humans) move away from competition and toward collaboration. You'll see that this Nature-Love Letter is centered around the thoughts/responses/insights offered by those I consider to be a part of my creative community, for which I am eternally grateful!

Because the blog "Into Photo Culture" shaped much of this Summer Equinox Nature-Love Letter, I want to share those thoughtful responses and flattering comments. The blog helped shape this letter and the lovely humans who responded solidified my perspective on the invaluable nature of community. Please also enjoy their Instagram pages by clicking on the quotes. 

During this period of finding my artistic voice amidst so much confusion, I got the interest of painting women. I had observed that many artists were talking about women negatively. In their paintings, they fondly depicted women as victims of rape, violence, beast of burden... One painting whose memory has stuck with me to date is that of a woman painted carrying the globe on her head, on her back she is carrying a baby and she is pregnant, beside her were several children dragging alongside her, as she  tried to bear all the weight and move at the same time.

From this point on I decided to paint women in a different light. I wanted to celebrate them. This I was going to do by talking only on the positive side. I wanted only to highlight in my paintings, the beauty and the importance of women in the society in a positive context. In my paintings I depict the progress of women into leadership, their education, their happiness… the general improvement of their lives.

This can also be seen in my choice of color. I use warm colors to bring about the happy mood in the painting. Beauty is also something I’m keen to show when painting women. I exaggerate on some body features, like wide eyes, round full/big breast, big bums, long necks. These are some of the features considered beautiful in most African communities when talking about African women. I also use beaded jewelry as beads are largely used in making ornaments. Hairstyle is also another form of way to depict beauty.
 
I’m driven with passion when painting. It is up to the viewer to either like or dislike the painting, it really doesn’t bother me. Whichever way, it doesn’t change my notion about my work once I’m convinced that what I have is what I wanted to put out to the world. I have been around all the regions of Africa and observed that women in Africa are so much similar in their way of doing things. Everything is somehow related. The fashion, the culture… it’s very similar from one region to the other. The African  environment plays a major role in every painting I produce. The background always portrays the vegetation or the natural condition of a place where the person/my subject is.

I am inspired by Mary's awareness of and grounding in her artistic voice. I tend to think that, for the most part, photographers don't do the greatest job considering our artistic voice in our images. It seems we spend most of our time discussing gear, camera settings, technology, and rules, and less time discussing values, visual storytelling, emotional interpretation, and historical/cultural context.​

 
It is my intention to add to the emotional, relational, and loving voices in nature photography.

​In my Spring Equinox Nature-Love Letter, I offered readers a one-on-one coaching opportunity to deepen their relationship with nature, their camera/compositions, and themselves, and I was fortunate enough to have the chance to explore this deepening with my friend and fellow creative, Ravelle of Inherent Peace, over six sessions in April and May. If you are moved by Ravelle's process below and would like to financially support her work, you can do so here.

Through my intake survey for this coaching experiment, Ravelle informed me that she wanted to use our time together to clarify goals, set intentions, and outline experiments around composition strategies in order to tell visual stories that convey the message of peace, quietude, tranquility, simplicity, and minimalism. We also ended up having deep discussions around intentionality and interpretation. As a long-time appreciator of Ravelle's images, I will add that when I encounter her most recent images, I feel like I am peering directly into soul of the entire Universe, which sends a reassuring whisper of peace right to my heart! ​

Four Components: My Authentic Style 

The 4 components to discovering and achieving my authentic style, and falling in love with photography again involved intentionally choosing the right subjects, mood, skills, and stories. ​​

1. The subjects that called me and inspired me: Real estate photography didn’t inspire me. I found events stressful and portraits were tough because I was constantly confronted with people’s insecurities. I didn’t feel like any of it suited my temperament. But I knew that being out in nature gave me joy! I typically notice nature's textures and details. I always feel called by a plant or leaf. Sometimes it’s tree bark or a rock. I feel a great sense of peace around nature, even if I’m just sitting with one tree in my backyard.

3. The skills I needed to recreate my view of my subjects: Skills bring confidence, which allows more possibilities. Prior to my photography coaching with Kristin, I was clear on the first two components. Although I had the skills I needed, I had to make some minor adjustments to build confidence. My past photos were always under-exposed, but now I’m creating brighter images. I had learned that over-exposing meant I would lose details in the highlights, but with Kristin’s help in defining new experiments, I realized that details were also being lost in the shadows. Yep, there was that light meter lesson again! After experimenting, I now have both the skills and the confidence to find that perfect balance and I no longer have to rely on post-processing as my primary tool for creating peaceful imagery. 

4. The stories I aspired to share: After nailing down the first three components, it felt like something was missing! I was ready to explore the story-telling aspect. Kristin’s line of questioning was invaluable for this. The photography coaching encouraged me to be more intentional. I knew if I didn’t try new experiments, I would continue to look at things the same way. So, I chose to be open to the questions in order to create more possibilities of peace. Staying open, I discovered that, when I connect with my heart, I allow the subject to tell its own story. Since nature brings me so much peace, I needed to honor that. In other words, I had to intentionally slow down, breathe, and become quiet inside to really see my subjects from the space they spoke to me from.  

Thank you again for your time, attention, and contemplation!
I consider each of you to be a part of my thoughtful, loving creative community. 

And a special thanks to Mary and Ravelle for sharing their experiences, vulnerabilities, creations, and love.  

The concepts "place" and “home” have changed for many as we live through a global pandemic. Ideally, world-wide illness would have given us time to reflect and restore. Unfortunately, due to the structures of our society, some are unable and some are unwilling. My heart goes out to all who had to continue full speed as the virus spread.

Personally, I've created more than I have in decades - drawings, essays, photographs, websites - and I have had a chance to become intimate with my local community, which has allowed me to observe how place has influenced my life and photo practice. Winter's restoration has offered me an opportunity to feel through my photo style, see subtle beauty, and hear the nourishing messages from woodpeckers.

Art and storytelling can offer us an opportunity to relearn history, recenter reality, and reenvision our future. I firmly believe artists and storytellers have a vital role to play in shifting culture toward nurturing restoration and revering nature.  The culture of Nature Photography can be reenvisioned by including relationship, reciprocity, restoration, reverence, and ritual.

These concepts are the foundation for my “Relational Nature Photography” article at Slow Photography Movement, a photo movement founded by Jennifer Renwick, Beth Young, and Ernesto Ruiz. In the feedback I’ve gotten since it was published, asking permission and reverence stood out. Here are a few comments I've received about this article, which are published here with permission. Please also enjoy their photography by clicking on the quotes. 

You can read about my first experiment in asking a plant's permission in my Slow Photography Movement blog. Here, I'll say that my permission-asking process has evolved a bit since I first experimented with it in July 2020. Curiously, it's become a non-verbal process that mimics how I requested permission from the adult students in my ESL classroom who spoke (many) languages other than English.  Since being out of the classroom, the lessons I learned through 10+ years of using very limited, extremely precise spoken language are beginning to seep into my nature photography practice... or more accurately, I'm just now noticing how my career teaching Beginning ESL has shaped my perspective on developing a relationship with nature. 
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Another reverent thing I'm looking forward to this Spring is "Being with Plants," a free two-day online event that will "explore human/plant connections, including ethics in human treatments of plants, plant sentience and communication, and opportunities for developing more respectful and reciprocal relationships between humans and plants." Not only does the event sound amazing, but my artist friend, Karen Kopacz who tells stories about public and protected lands and waters, will be speaking with her brother David R Kopacz, a psychiatrist, holistic MD, and author of Re-humanizing Medicine, Walking the Medicine Wheel, and Becoming Medicine. Of course I am signed up and I hope you join us on June 17-18, 2021. 

MEMRES (memories) is a ritual I created for pausing. Read more about the inspiration and intention behind the ritual, which was published in MN Women's Press' "Tapestry: Finding Joy & Inspiration in a Pandemic," a collection of essays focused on practicing self-care. 

I had been using MEMRES as a ritual every Monday for a couple of months, right up until we experienced two straight weeks of subzero wind chills here in MN. On Monday, February 22nd, I was finally able to return to my ritual and it was emotional. The absence of this Monday routine made me realize just how much I rely on getting close with nature to maintain my physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

I've shared the inspiration and intention behind MEMRES in multiple places, but I've never shared the meaning behind each image before. Below is a quick summary of what was on my mind as I made each MEMRES image on February 22nd, 2021.