Transformation

Using Your Camera to Get Out of a Funk – 7 Tips

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 18, 2009

Do you ever feel stuck? Lacking in energy? Even think you might somewhat be in a state of depression? If your answer is “yes” to any of these statements, continue on to read 7 Tips for Using Your Camera to Reconnect with yourself and others.

You will be tapping into your creative self, which is waiting to be your partner. The only requisites are an open mind and a digital camera. A cell phone camera can suffice. The tips:

1 – Take a daily walk – You are constantly told that walking is good exercise and important for your physical health and energy. Walks are also good for your emotional well-being and for creating shifts in your mental and emotional states. Having a camera available aids in this process.

2 – Have your camera with you at all times – The camera is a tool you can use to help you identify what’s important to you in your life, as well as what you value in yourself and others. It’s a way of making connections with people and with yourself, for discovering what gets you excited.

3 – Look outside yourself – Pay attention to your environment wherever you are – on a walk in your home, outside or even in the supermarket. Once we start using our eyes to look around us and see what’s in front of us and on either side, we are expanding our vision.

4– Stop whenever anything catches your eye – Many times, I’m sure, you’ve passed something that you’ve thought “ugly” or “insignificant” and walked right past it. I invite you to make the decision now to pause whenever an image catches your eye. There might be a reason, so stop and look again.

5 – Make it a Practice – Photograph Everything that Catches your attention – Once you’ve stopped and made that decision, ready your camera and “snap” the photograph. Move closer, take another picture, then back and one more. Before leaving that spot, look around you and see if there is anything else that wants to be photographed.

6 – Continue your walk – In the process of photographing you might have observed that it was the color that attracted you, perhaps the shape or a texture. As you walk, look for others of those elements and once again repeat the photographing process.

7 – View your downloaded photos with new eyes – When you are back from your walk and have downloaded the photos to your computer, once again practice stopping at whatever images catch your eye this time as you run them through with whatever download program you use. You might be surprised to discover things that you did not even notice before.

Following these steps are guaranteed to move you out of any “funk” you might be in. Using your camera in this way to to open yourself up to seeing new things will also expand into other areas of your life, work and relationships.

For learning more on how observations with your camera can open you up to new ways of seeing and learning more about yourself, continue with the Red Onion Story #1 – Peeling Away the Layers of an Onion, Analogous to Peeling away the layers of Ourselves. You can also experience creating your own transformational shifts in one of the Expanding Your Vision Through and From the Lens telecourses.

© Sheila Finkelstein All rights reserved. These tips are offered by Sheila Finkelstein, Artist, Photographer, Writer, Coach.

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Respite and Relaxation from a Banana Plant and DVD – Picture to Ponder – v5 – Issue 29

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 11, 2009

I laughed when today’s top photograph opened up. It was a spontaneous response to the humor I saw in the little “critters”. Perhaps they are applauding, or nodding congratulations to me and healing music composer and flutist, piano player, Jeannie Fitzsimmons.

Today marks the re-launch of our BANANA SKY DVD. I am hugely excited with the completion of this project that actually started three years ago, by accident, out of my passion for discovery, when I began observing, in my head and with the camera, the amazing growth of a single banana tree which has multiplied many times.

I will go into more details of the “story”, the journey after today’s SRQ’s. One of the things that most excites me right now with the publication is the design work I did for the packaging. This was a first for me and I feel like a kid in a candy store.

The photographs featured today are actually a partial embodiment of the experience of Banana Sky DVD.

TODAY’S PHOTOS –
The first photograph are the bottom ends of a bunch of growing bananas on the tree. By the time you and I get the ripened, or almost ripened, bananas we purchase, these happy “critters” have shriveled and dried up.

Though I continue to refer to it as a tree, the banana plant, I discovered, is actually an herb.

I especially love the middle image, photographed after a rainstorm. It is one of the “petals” of the banana pod holding a pool of rain water. When ready, the petals gradually unfurl one-by-one, to reveal a row of infant bananas that each has been protecting.

I so love this photograph that it became the symbol for BANANA SKY DVD and I created it as the cover for the case.

The bottom photograph is a view from underneath the “tree”, as I looked up through the leaves toward the sky. The shadows are reflections of Arica palms behind the banana plant. I’ve kept this particular photo as my desktop background and used it for the disk label. It represents the peace and serenity I got from viewing the photographs.

You can see how the bottom two photos are used in the packaging by clicking on “Rotate Case” on the ORDER page or see a video preview and testimonials on the BANANA SKY DVD OVERVIEW page.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
BANANA SKY DVD holds many stories. The short one is that it started out with my taking hundreds, then probably thousands, of photographs of a banana tree that was continually amazing me in its growth and the many directions it was taking. I was particularly fascinated with large leaves and the play of lights and shadows on them.

This whole growth and documentation was happening during the time when I was experiencing a lot of upset and anger around the impact Parkinson’s disease was having on my beloved Sam and on our relationship and role reversals. The act of photographing was and is one balancing mechanism for me. Then I found a whole new dimension. When viewing the photographs as a slide show on my MacIntosh, I found a shift in my state of being and an ease of tension.

In relation to you and today’s Self-Reflecting Queries, I invite you to look into your life.

1 – Are there specific places where you are experiencing regular and, almost, automatic tension and responses? Have you found satisfying methods for creating shifts for yourself? If so, are you sharing them with others?

This is sometimes one of the most empowering methods of reinforcement for ourselves. Others will remind us of our power. For a variety of reasons, including having lost interest, I probably would have let Banana Sky drop, except for the support of my friends for whom the DVD has also made a difference. I am very grateful to them, especially for my renewed energy and excitement – that which we get to feel when we’ve gotten past hurdles.

2 – Very often in Picture to Ponder, I speak of how so many times we live in the “story” of something, rather than in the actual “being in what is.”

Today, I am inviting you to look into your life to see what the “stories” are that empower you. Are there “made-up” ones and also ones that are “real” in terms of a series of “factual” occurrences, beginning, middle, end? If you find the latter, are you using them to move you forward or can you?

As always, remember to have fun with this.

Brief Continuation of BANANA SKY DVD Story –
One of the things I’m learning about my work is that without planning, or intention, my photographs often tell a story. It may be so because I’ve always loved stories (starting as early as elementary school and radio soap opera days when I was sick and home from school).

I don’t remember the particular stories that were in the background as I was out photographing the banana tree, sometimes two to three times a day in different lighting. I do know that after the full life cycle of the first plant, I started arranging the photographs for my slide show to be representing life cycles, the plants and ours, as humans.

Once I realized the full effect of my “show”, I decided it might empower other caregivers and individuals who also needed stress relief. I contacted Jeannie Fitzsimmons whose beautiful, healing music I was familiar with. She suggested “Bamboo Ballet” as the perfect background. A variety of challenges and other distractions had Banana Sky in limbo for almost two years and we are now both very excited to have found the best way to get the DVD out to you.

One of the prime features of this DVD is that it works in any DVD player, including those for TVs. Thus those people without computer access, including those who might be bedridden or not computer literate can have benefit of the relaxing photography and music. And you, who may have “normal” tension, can have it playing in the background on your computer as you work.

Another major feature and benefit is that BANANA Sky DVD is set to run as an endless, repeating loop, offering ongoing respite for those who wish it. One person recuperating from surgery remarked, in a thank you note, that he loved sitting with his eyes closed listening to the music, seeing the imagery in front of his closed yes.

Through the end of August, Jeannie and I are offering a $4.00 savings for purchases through the end of August. Again, as I mentioned earlier, you can see a one-minute preview by going to BANANA SKY DVD or go right to the ORDER PAGE.

To peace and beauty!

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Patterns and Textures in Life – Using a Wall – Photography for Meditation

by Sheila Finkelstein on August 2, 2009

Weathered Wall

In going through my photo files recently, I was drawn to this photograph.  There is an identified something that attracts me to old walls that have been weathered through the years. This one caught my attention when I was walking through Germantown, in Philadelphia on a visit last year.

And, once again, I am drawn to the patterns and textures.  Rather than add any more interpretations, I’m simply posting it here for your meditation and mine.

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Beauty is Everywhere, in All Places – Reflections in a Car

by Sheila Finkelstein on July 10, 2009

Those of you who follow my work know that it is my mission and passion in life to inspire everyone to see the beauty in the ordinary and experience it as extraordinary.

Reflections in hood of silver Toyota Rav4

Reflections in Car Head Lamp

Reflections in car

On a recent call during one of my Through and From the Lens telecourse sessions, one of the participants, in querying my photography and how I see, stated, “It does help that you live where you do, surrounded by so much beauty.” My response was that for me it’s simply paying attention to whatever catches my eye, not questioning it. Rather I take the camera and start photographing whatever has me pause and then explore it, with the camera, from numerous angles.

For this session she had photographed her hand and taken only one photograph. She stated that it was the shadows that had interested her. My recommendation was that once she saw what it was that appealed to her, it was an opportunity to position her hands and fingers in different ways, experimenting with the shadows and/or the lines and shapes created by her changing positions.

This conversation on my having “exclusivity” on beauty in several of the nature centers near me in Boynton Beach, Florida stayed with me. Then in a parking lot yesterday afternoon, I was drawn to the reflections in the head and rear lamps in my car. Assuming that most of us have access to a parked car, I started photographing reflections in the head lamps, tail lamps, hood and side of my car. Then, should one claim mine are more interesting than others, I went around and photographed sections of a couple of other cars.

The three photographs above are part of the series. You can see more in my FlickR REFLECTIONS SET photostream. Scroll to the end in that set.

I now invite you to go out, or stay in, and take a walk with your camera. Look for something ordinary that you might usually ignore and start photographing. Why not make it reflections for this trip. How many places can you find them? In a mirror, glasses, water in the glass, in a bowl, in a sink, a puddle, a camera lens, and, of course, in car surfaces and head lamps? What else?

The one thing you will not find is the exact coloration and pattern that came from a fabric pouch I had on around my neck that caused the color in some of the photos. Of course, you may add color and patterns to your attire in the event you wind up as part of the reflection. Have fun.

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Dried Apple Slice and Turnip – Longevity in Life – Picture to Ponder – Vol 5-Issue 51

by Sheila Finkelstein on June 24, 2009

Exciting News – My book PICTURES TO PONDER: Inspired Journaling is now on sale through Amazon! Open “Customer Images” on the Amazon page to see more.

Humourous Apple Face

Apple face rear

Dried Turnip Pieces

I hope that the top photograph brings the same chuckle, or laugh, to you as it does to me every time I look at it. I’m presenting it here in fun and also for the possible inquiries it generates.

All three of  TODAY’S PHOTOS are the result of explorations I did cutting both an apple and a turnip during the last Expand Your Vision teleclass series. During that time, I actually wrote, on my blog, about the turnip – a “Metaphor for Aging, As Personified By a Turnip.” Curious, I guess, as to how they would “turn out,” I kept these pieces, rather than discard them

The apple slice was lying flat on my kitchen window sill, the turnip pieces in a tiny dish. For the “portrait session”, I placed the face on a little plate stand and reversed it for the second round. It is the same slice presented in two different views.

The texture of the dried apple slice brings back memories of the Apple Dolls that were popular and the one I made during the same time period. If you have never seen an Apple Doll, AppleDolls.org, features them and shows you how to make one.

I was surprised to discover that the turnip pieces turned “rock” hard, reminiscent of the avocado pit cuttings we turned into “beads” years ago when I taught Art in an elementary school.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
The images and experiences in today’s photographs can be viewed as representational of our lives, demonstrating that transformations are multi-dimensional and can be quite long-lasting, often in unexpected ways.

What in your life, in your memory bank, has taken an unexpected turn and left you with something for which you can acknowledge yourself? Perhaps it would forward you to simply make a list of some of the memorable things in your life.

And, to complete the circle on where we started – the humor in the apple face – look around you. What can you find that will put a smile on your face? It may be require something as simple as picking something up, turning it over or “reframing” it… putting it in a different “environment”, in the same way that the apple slice became a “pedestal” piece.

As always, have fun with these queries.

OPPORTUNITIES for creative activities –
For the writers among you, or wanna-be poets, I suggest downloading the complimentary Artella eBook, Writing the Carousel: Going Full Circle in Colorful Poetry Writing! It includes a progression of exercises that will help you uncover the surprising “turns” of phrases that make poetry effective, and then come full circle by using them in bold, colorful ways.

You can download your complimentary copy at: POETRY WRITING.

I also invite you to check many of the other activities and programs available on Artella Land home page.

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Inspiring Oneself with New Vision – Cacti in Desert Botanical Gardens – Picture to Ponder – Vol 5- Issue 21

by Sheila Finkelstein on June 15, 2009

Cylindrical Cactus in Desert Botanical Gardens

Pink Cactus Flower in Desert Botanical Gardens

The other day, I scrolled through some of my photographs on my FlickR account and I fell in love with the two photos featured above. I actually took them nine months ago in the Desert Botanical Gardens in Scottsdale when I was visiting in Arizona. I recall, at the time, that I thought most of my photos were “ho-hum”, “okay”, nothing “spectacular,” thus never paid much attention to them for using in Picture to Ponder.

The only reason I posted them on FlickR was to test out and demonstrate a new, for me, no-fee uploading and editing software program that I could share with the participants in the last Through and From the Lens telecourse. This, naturally, has me think of the new June/July telecourse which is starting this Wednesday, June 17th.

I am excited by participants who have registered thus far and with the plans for it. We will be spending more time, than in the past, on relating each one’s photos to his or her life. Participants also will be developing their own self-reflecting queries, if they so wish. And, of course, all will excitedly be discovering things they’ve never before noticed.

Marifran Korb who, prior to working with me in the last course, left all the picture taking to her husband and daughter when they went on vacations. Now, after her recent trip to Ireland she proudly shared that her daughter’s photos were all long distance shots and most of hers were at closer range, focusing in on the most interesting part, for her, of each whole scene. She found herself looking at the beauty she states might have been lost without what she now calls her “new way of seeing” – the appealing angles, shapes, textures and colors that she most likely would have totally missed in the past.

Marifran states, “I now see photography as a metaphor for life. When I’m seeing with my camera the hidden beauty in the shapes, forms, colors and nooks and crannies, it has me discover things and examine my own life in greater detail.”

There is space for one or two more participants. It would thrill me if you were one of them wishing to join us on Wednesday to experience inspiring yourself and others with your new photography and theirs.

TODAY’S PHOTOS –
Cacti in, as I stated above, the Desert Botancial Garden in Scottsdale. I think it’s the overall composition, the direction of the angles, the lights and shadows in the top photo that keeps calling me into it and appeals to me most. Although the upcoming Expand Your Vision is not a highly technical course, we do touch on art elements and using your camera to its best advantage.

I love the lower photo for its delicacy and its color, also the unexpectedness of its being in the cactus family. A third photo, I’m including here for fun, is one we will discuss in the first session of the course, where we look at “faces” in my photos and other places where participants discover them.

Cactus Turtle of Fist

Is it a turtle face or a fist? Note the five fingers. How many other faces do you see here?

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
I started this issue of Picture to Ponder stating that my Arizona photographs were mostly ones I pretty much ignored. In reflecting on this now, I’m realizing that probably a lot of the experience and everything associated with it was tinged with sadness for me traveling like this without Sam (my deceased husband, for those of you who are new subscribers) at my side. And, I could dwell on it, look for all kinds of explanations and that furthers nothing in “being in the present.”

Bottom line, today I am excited with the visual and visceral pleasures I am now experiencing when looking at and sharing these photographs.

I invite you to now look into your own life. Have you had any experiences recently or in the past several months, where you were disappointed, where your expectations might not have been met.

If “yes”, I invite you to revisit it or them through photographs, in conversations and/or in writing. Bring “new eyes” to the situation(s). Is anything more exciting now opening up, or available, for you?

As always have fun with this AND, my last invitation….

If anything in today’s issue resonates with you in terms of wanting to expand your own experiences, no matter what your current level is, then come play with us. Join in the fun and register for Wednesday’s Through and From the Lens EXPAND YOUR VISION telecourse.

ANOTHER PROGRAM for creativity –
For those of you who do not have a digital camera or the time does not work and you are “itching” to be creative in hands-on activities, I recommend checking out Marney Makridakas’

Make Change with Your Muse: Mixed Media Art Projects to Attract Prosperity and Change in Your Life This is “Self-paced e-course + Authentic Art Supply Kit sent to you via U.S. mail. Your first lesson can begin whenever you choose.”

I have done many courses with Marney and she is by far one of the MOST creative people I know. You can see more of her programs checking the links on her Artella Land home page.

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Gratitude and Celebration – AOS Botanical Gardens – Picture to Ponder – v5 – issue 19

by Sheila Finkelstein on June 5, 2009

Voodoo Lily

Today’s issue of Picture to Ponder is about Celebration and Gratitude. For me, the first photo, above, expresses sensuous wonder, Wonder also being a part of today’s message.

Several months ago the American Orchid Society in Delray Beach announced that due to lack of funds it would be closing the Gardens to the public at the end of May. The AOS gardens and greenhouse have played a significant role in my life in the past six and a half years, as well as in your lives, given so many of the Picture to Ponder photos have been from there.

Because I was leaving for Macon, GA for the celebration of my grandson’s Bar Mitzvah**, I made it my business to stop in before I left, to pay my respects to the plants and express my gratitude for what they have meant in my life. Although my camera was with me, I did no got specifically with the intention to photograph and then I started discovering plants I had never seen before, despite my fairly regular visits. See “Once or Twice is Not Enough,” an article I wrote over six years ago.

Amongst the “first-time” (for me) plants I saw this time were the Rattle Box tree, an Ice Cream Bean plant, Princess Earrings and the Voodoo Plant. Too many to show here, I’ve created a separate Picture to Ponder Web page to share them with you. See Tropical Plants-509 which includes a video of one of the waterfalls.

I did spend time pausing and expressing my gratitude and then discovered, to my delight when I returned home, that on June 2nd the Board of Directors had unanimously voted to keep the Botanical Gardens open to the public.

**For those who may be unfamiliar with it, a Bar Mitzvah is when a 13-year old Jewish boy becomes an adult in the synagogue. My grandson Will led services in Hebrew both Friday night and Saturday. He did an amazing job and had us all very proud, truly an occasion to celebrate.

TODAY’S PHOTOS – continued

Curly Leae

Back-Lit Philodendren leaves

Although I found several of the photographs exciting that I included on the Tropical Plants Page I was moved, in particular, to feature these three for the lyrical flow of movement and peace I felt as I spent time with each.

Actually, the first, Voodoo plant, photo also takes on an unsettling quality for me, with certain imagery and contrasts that pop out for me as I go back to it. (If you query this on the blog, I will elaborate there.)

I do not know what the second plant is. The third is a back-lit philodendron leaf. I took several close-up, large leaf pictures so I could truly feel a part of the natural experience on what I thought might be my last visit at the Gardens for some time.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
I continue to be amazed at so often discovering new images in the “same old places” that I visit so frequently.

Are there visual or other discoveries that you enjoy making in your life in every day places? Do you take time to look newly? To what are you most open? For me it’s color and texture, then I suppose linear movement, as featured today.

Also, do you sense a unexpressed creative core within you that is wanting to burst forth? If so, how does this show up for you? What steps can you take to expand it?

Do you feel constraints? If “yes” or “possibly”, you might consider registering for the upcoming Expand Your Vision, Light Your Soul, Explode Your Creativity Course starting Wednesday afternoon, June 10th.

Within the past two weeks, I experienced joy in family celebrations, including being surrounded by those who came down to Georgia from Philadelphia, in discovering several new plants in the American Orchid Society Gardens and then in their remaining open to the public.

Where have you experienced gratitude and joy in your life during this time? What are you celebrating?

EXCITING PROGRAM for growth and expansion –
Before leaving for Georgia, I registered for the Spiritual Marketing Telesummit, that was held this week, knowing that I would be able to listen to the recordings of the calls. I listened “live” to three of them today.

All three were high energy and, in fact, fit the them of “Energy Shifting.” Geared toward people in business, I started finding more clarity in my soul purpose.

Though the site is scheduled to come down today, calls are over, it may stay up for another week. Later in the year a, perhaps more costly, product package is expected to come out. In the meantime, I strongly recommend your checking Spiritual Marketing to see if you can still register to listen to the MP3s and participate in the Forum.

FINAL REMINDER –
Light Up Your Summer with Photography
You won’t Believe is Yours
Nourish Your Soul
Appreciate, in new ways, the People You Meet
All in the JUNE Expand Your Vision Telecourse

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A Metaphor for Aging, as Personified with a Turnip

by Sheila Finkelstein on May 18, 2009

For the last session of the April Through and From the Lens Course (next one starts June 8th), I planned an experiential session using self-selected fruits or vegetables. The following turnip caught my eye in the supermarket last week and I bought it as my example for today’s class.

Turnip Top

Originally it was the circular brown lines that I believed most attracted me. It made me think of the wrinkles that are appearing on my skin.

By the time I got around to photographing it, the whole outside had “aged”, puckered and had many more wrinkles, reminding me that unless we pay attention to our health and well-being, it could deteriorate faster than we’d like.

On the other hand, when I immediately cut  the turnip in half, right into the center, the way I usually approach my life,

Turnip Inside

I saw a vibrant circular structure of the healthy cells remained in the center, radiating out.

Turnip Bottom and Quarters

When putting all the parts together, I noticed a wisp of “chin hair” (another sign of age) resting on one of the turnip quarters.  I also used this photograph, set-up, to demonstrate photographic balance. Perhaps it is also reflecting balance in our lives.

I invite you to choose a fruit or vegetable that catches your eye. Peel it. Cut it. Act in whatever way you are so moved. Then step back and away from it, looking/experiencing the action(s) you took. Is there anything in the experience that you see which relates to the way you are living your life.

And, for more revelations on how you can expand your “seeing” using your digital camera, I invite you to check out the June Through and From the Lens Telecourse.

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Abstract Photography – Banana Leaf Cells in Picture to Ponder – vol. 5-issue 16

by Sheila Finkelstein on May 13, 2009

Cells of a cut leaf from a banana tree surrounded by other leaves and the tree trunk

TODAY’S PHOTO –
Close-up view of Portion of the Trunk of a Banana Tree, which is actually an herb.

To me, this photograph feels almost like a painting. I love the resultant abstract quality of the image.

My focus was on the cellular structure of the spot from which a dead leaf was removed. The blue colors are simply a result of the lighting. Interestingly when I went back to check what it was I photographed, I had to look for a minute or two. The cells looked so prominent here, I was surprised to see how tiny that segment was.

For a view a little further back to see it more of the cells in context with the trunk, see TRUNK.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
Once again, through the lens of the camera, I zoomed in and focused on a particular structure that intrigued me. This created a whole different identity from what the subject was. Stepping back, once again gave me the full picture.

I invite you to consider a situation in your own life, one on which you are very closely focused. Look at all the elements and then step back.

Where is the juice for you? Which view gives you more information that will empower you? What can you take from each perspective to as you powerfully move forward?

And, some of you might wish to use today’s photograph to wander through, explore and see what comes up for you in your own life.

As, always have fun with this and please do share some of your responses on the blog.

Correction on Last Week’s Issue
I identified last week’s photograph as a rock. One of our dear subscribers wrote, “That is a piece of coral – a piece of bone, not a rock.” Thank you, D.

Expand Your Seeing – Opening up to Your Best Summer Ever
Participants are having so many exciting, rewarding and “eye-opening” experiences with their cameras and the photographs they are taking that I decided to open up another four-week course in June.

Current participants, in addition to discovering new worlds for themselves are, especially enjoy seeing and sharing what other participants are doing also.

It was most gratifying for me to have one participant share at the end of Session 2, that she knew when she signed up she was very busy and she figured if she got two or three things out of the course, it would be worth it. She stated that this had already been achieved for her.

Suzanne Holman (www.FamilyAlz.com. ) wrote: “I am loving revisiting creative photography with you and the group! I was concerned about becoming involved in another class right now …and what I’ve found is that it is a wonderful dimension to add to my life right now with playing and creating.“

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Many Faces in a Rock, in Life – Picture to Ponder- vol5 – Issue 16

by Sheila Finkelstein on May 7, 2009

stoneface1-3on1-475

TODAY’S PHOTOS –
one Beach Rock with many Faces photographed on three different backgrounds

THE STORY –
I was on a call today when Amethyst Wyldfyre offered to do some healing/releasing work with me around my business and my beloved husband Sam, who died almost one and a half years ago. (See Amethyst for “Exploring the World through the Eyes of the Shaman”)

As part of the process, she asked me to pick up a rock or other natural object. The above rock, which fit comfortably in my hand, is the one that called to me from a basket of rocks with faces that I collected years ago on Hollywood Beach in Florida.

In studying it later, totally independent of the exercise with Amethyst, I started noticing several faces. Given I write about “faces” a lot here in Picture to Ponder and we’ve been discussing them in the Through and From the Lens telecourse, I decided to feature it today.

I first photographed it on black. That seemed “too stark.” So, given the stone is an object of Nature I took it outside to photograph, first in the grass and then saw a portion of my landscape that is somewhat sandy. Since the rock was from the beach, I thought this would be a fitting background.

Then, given this week we are talking about color in the Through and From the Lens telecourse and observing the seeming change of the same color on different backgrounds, I decided to put all three together as on unit for you.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES –
The above photos offer opportunities for several different queries:

1 – Do you see faces in the rock? How many? Do they vary in changed backgrounds?

2 – Moving from that, I invite you to consider yourself. Do you have a multitude of faces that you put forth in varied situations?
Are you aware of them? Do you have control?

Years back when I was working in outside sales, two different prospects asked me, “Why are you angry?” I was confused. I wasn’t angry.

In an NLP workshop later that week I mentioned it to the leader. She pointed out that my face contorted somewhat as I went deep in thought. Not knowing how to interpret this, an onlooker might easily see it as “anger.”

Thus, should someone make a comment to you at some point, stating something that doesn’t seem to fit for you, I invite you to remember this example and ask them what they see on your face.

3 – Moving on to a totally different conversation from today’s photographs – Which of one of the three presentations most appeals to you – may not appeal – but causes some kind of reaction? Is it the environment in which they are placed? Does that change the feeling coming from the rock? Do you see the color changes?

4 – From the above, I again invite you to look into your life, and pull out a thing or a person with which or whom you have a challenge. What if you put them in a different context/”environment”? Do you notice a shift?

As always, I invite you to have fun with the photos and the queries. If you would like to see the face/faces on the reverse side of the rock, email me and I’ll put up a page with other views.

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