Photo Poem ~ Love & Light by © Eyespiration.com  

SFWC 2017 Eyespiration Photo Walk

Way cool pic of my Eyespiration Photo Walk for Writers at the San Francisco Writers Conference February 2017, taken by Marjoleine van Nunen, thnx! 

#Eyespiration: backlight through bride's veil 

I am explaining how to See the Light coming through the bride's veil (top photo). Bottom photo shows a quick phone pic of the situation. The backlight is so beautiful, creating a light silhouette of the bride - white wedding dress and veil work very well.

I was leading a writers inspiration walk at the San Francisco Writers Conference, when we encounterd this wedding couple on the steps of St. Grace Catherdral on top of Nob Hill. With an open mind and perception you can really See the Beauty of the World.

#Eyespiration is mindfulness with your camera, using even phones to capture the beauty of the world around us. You can join my photo walks all over the world, or book me for private sessions and masterclasses. 

www.MelanieRijkers.com 

Spirit of Alaska cruise: Master Healer Mas Sajady

Oracle, Master Healer: Mas Sajady - Alaska Spiritual Cruise June 2015. This video was taken at the Cruise into Spirit June 2015. During this Royal Caribbean Alaska cruise also a Seminar-at-Sea took place, a spiritual conference with speakers, readers, healers, and exhibitors. You can join Mas onboard in Europe 2017: Cruisewithmas.com. Pity I don't have this kind of money, as the Greek isles are so wonderful to See

Fort Lauderdale Eyespiration on the Beach (2)

Fort Lauderdale Beach. Staying in Florida, just before going on my Cruise into Spirit to the Bahamas, Ft. Lauderdale was a windy place, with dark clouds and more bizarre sunrises. This gave me an eerie feeling, though after my return this changed completely. I love FL!

Heavy rain onboard Oasis of the Seas

Hiding in the Solarium area this was a special experience, while taking this holistic cruise with a spiritual seminar-at-sea organised by Divine Travels.

Holiday Hotels

Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn

In the analog days people hardly took pictures 'just for the fun of it'. Not many people owned a camera, let alone used colour film, therefore most of my baby pictures are in black & white. Colour prints were more expensive to develope, so untill the late 70's and early 80's B&W film was used often still.

Colour film was only used for special occasions like a wedding, graduation or maybe a holiday. If you couldn't afford a colour film you bought postcards. After World War II with more money and free time then ever, the average Americans went on a roadtrip. Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn, the United States were explored by car. In the 50's and 60's America blossomed. Not having to rebuild the country like torn down Europe, leisure was the new gold.

A decade ago I started collecting old B&W postcards to create Double Exposures fine art. I also bought some 'Kodak Chrome' postcards. I just loved the bright colours, but did not use them in my art yet. In my wedding photography I did cross process slide film to get those fab blues with bright yellows and reds, as Photoshop or a good quality digital DSLR weren't available yet. I will write about this special wedding photography later.

In 2014 I created my first series Holiday Hotel, available as fine art photography prints in all sizes. I come from a graphic design background, as in the late 80's when you could draw and paint you had to become a graphic design artist and you worked for an advertising agency. So I did my time at Sint Lucas (intermediate vocational education in graphic design) then ran to AKV|St.Joost - School of Fine Art and Design in 1992. St. Joost Academy is part of Avans University of Applied Sciences and offers undergraduate (BA) and graduate (MA) courses in fine art and design.

My love (and hate) for printed matter remained, I never really lost it. The first half of my carreer I was often called too artistic for commercial jobs and considered to be too commercial to be a 'true' non-commissioned artist. Whatever. I did what I did, and created a photography carreer still feeding the 4 mouths of my family. Graphic design knowledge wasn't all bad, I was able to design birth and wedding announcement cards in my own style using my photography, way before the cheap print websites emerged.

With Holiday Hotels I am experimenting with the Kodak Chrome postcards, as I am fascinated by the details of old fashion 4 colour print, also known as 'CMYK colour model'. Nowadays, just like photography, all is made digital even the print process. With full colour CMYK process a print is made in 4 layers, with Cyan (blue), Magenta (pink/red) and Yellow as main colours. To get the best density 'Key' (black) is added. CMY together create black as well, but this doesn't look fully black though.

I am now working on more Post Pop Art Prints of Holiday Hotels. The process of Seeing a special, new image in these old photos is wonderful way of learning how to See fresh without leaving your house. I remember being a student and taking macro photos of magazine images, only to use a small detail of the photo in art class. I used the 50 mm lens the wrong way, just held it to the camera and wow, super macro photos were born. I love these experiments and will never quit. Eyespiration!

The Book of Eyespiration

At this moment I am writing the Book of Eyespiration. My story about How to Meditate with Eyes Open will be published as an e-book first, later it will also become available as a printed book. Eyespiration: Let the world inspire you to take better pictures without a fancy camera. 

Looking for some Eyespiration? Look up!

The Book of Eyespiration - An introduction

Chapter 5. Photo Walk
You can find inspiration by solo walking. Go for a photo walk by yourself whenever possible. Lunch Walk. Early-Morning-Dropped-Kids-at-School Walk. Just Walk. I never feel lonely when I do and next to meeting nice people, you’ll find great innerpeace. When walking alone, sooner or later you’ll get to the point that you feel you are Meditating with Eyes Open.

Try to walk without thoughts distracting you. Try not to judge what you see, just walk. Look for nice details and intriguing visuals on your way. When you stop listening to your Monkey Mind you’ll start to use the Fresh, Pure eye. This is called Miksang in Tibetan. Buddhists know the moment you no longer judge or think about what you see, the Beauty of Life will appear. Miksang is also called mind stopping perception.

Eyespiration requires a silent mind. Therefore I prefer the word Mind-Emtpy-Ness to MindFullNess. If you can silence your jabbering Monkey Brain, you will open up the mind, body and soul to receive positive, calming energy just by Seeing the Beauty of Life. The moment you See a beautiful composition, you will Be in the Moment. The Eyespiration Moment or E-moment. When you are in this state, you See. 

You have learned how to create a beautiful composition with your camera in the previous chapters. If you do not want to take photograps, you can also take a mind picture. Now let’s go outside to create an E-moment!

San Francisco Bay Trail, a great track from Golden Gate Bridge to Fort Mason

When walking I passed the white houses and noticed the sky, palm trees and people. But: I also noticed the shadow of the palm tree on the wall. To create the photo on the right I picked the best point of view and cropped all unnecessary elements from the final image. E-Moment!

If I like a place, I like to hang out for a bit, letting it all in. I try not to judge what I see, just let emotions guide me. Like when you are waiting in line, try not to judge what’s happening. [Why isn’t this queue moving] Everywhere you go there’s something worthwile to See. But you have to make sure you silence your brain. Try to Meditate with Eyes Open. Be in the Moment, See.

Remember, you don’t always have to take a photo. If you are at a place and you See something but can’t reach for your camera quick enough, make a mind picture. Just experience the beauty of that Moment. Enjoy Life.


Eyespiration Prompt: Use Shadow

A shadow always adds something mysterious to your photo. Use the light. Not only the sun creates shadows, also an indoor lamp can. Look around you, up and down. Play with shapes.

• Best time of day: early morning or late afternoon

• Isolating a shadow too much can be boring

• Use lamp light

• Often a photo with a shadow tells a story in one image

• Don’t forget to look behind you

The Book of Eyespiration can be pre ordered via Eyespiration.com. First 1000 downloads will be free! Sign up for the newsletter and stay tuned for the release date. Eye See You!