Hello, friends!
These days, I share more on Instagram than I share here on this blog. If you want to stay in the loop with studio updates, behind-the-scenes videos, mini tutorials, e-course and shop updates, and ridiculous videos of my dogs doing silly things, follow me there.
Happy photographing out there!
xo, Laura
I spend almost every day talking to photographers about their goals and challenges, helping them refine their vision and make images they’re really proud of. One set of challenges comes up over and over: photographers feel like their images are “all over the place” and they really want to figure out how to create a more cohesive vision. I LOVE helping artists move beyond common misperceptions and transcend practices that hold their work back. There are some big misperceptions on this topic - and some really common strategies that only add to photographers’ frustration. These conversations are some of the richest I have with people. So, I thought I’d record my thoughts, to help you gain clarity and confidence around these issues, too.
You’ll get a lot out of this talk if:
You’re annoyed by how random your image catalog looks
You feel like you lack clear, personal vision
The galleries on your website are a constant source of frustration
(What to include? Everything?? Nothing? Argh!)
You can’t figure out what to enter into photo competitions (greatest hits??)
You wish you could exhibit in a gallery but you have no idea what to submit
You’d love your Instagram account to look like it was shot by one savvy, brilliant photographer - instead of a bunch of different photographers with wildly diverging visions
You’re tired of making “student work” and you’re ready to find your true artistry and SHINE
If any of that sounds like you…this talk will really help clear things up.
I hope you enjoy it!
Want to craft your own gorgeous portfolio (or refine an existing one)? My Visionary Portfolio e-course is a lovely next step. It starts the day you sign up and you can move through the lessons at your own pace.
I love, love, love making images intuitively, following up with whims, not questioning them - just doing. Then, I look at the images and ask…what do they have to teach me? What do they have to say?
This one makes me think of what Krishnamurti said about freedom: it’s not elusive, “out there,”inaccessible because of X, Y, Z circumstances…we can have it now if we just change our mindset. We don’t have to work towards it. We often think that, but it’s really not true. We can snap our fingers and wake up to freedom in this very moment. We can be free in our hearts and minds even if life feels constricting and disempowering. We’re free when we decide we’re free. ✨Snap.✨ Gotta love ol’ Krishnamurti. Am I allowed to have a crush on him? Especially love the weird combover he sported in his later years. Anyway, here’s me being free in the woods. Becoming a bird. Ready to fly. Free in the present moment.
May you wake up to freedom in your life, whatever that might mean for you - with your art, with your heart, with your precious body, with your wild and bright spirit. Love and hugs, dear ones. And, onward!
Exhibition catalog with image by Julie Tennant
The exhibit I curated for Praxis Gallery is on display now! You can see all the image selections in a lovely online slideshow right here. If you’re in the Minneapolis area, you can see the show in person through April 3rd. Visits are by appointment, because of the pandemic, so just call in advance to schedule a time for your visit. You can also order an exhibition catalog right here.
The exhibit includes gorgeous images by: Geraint Rowland, Jeremiah Dine, Jo Fields, Luis Mesa, Geoffrey Agrons, Brent Barnes, Sarajane Berge, Joan Concetta Biordi, G.S. Broz, Darcy Dangremond, Tori Gagne, Jeanne Garrett, Christie Goldstein, Betsy Gosling, Veronica Gray, Phil Harvey, Don Jacobson, Nathan Jordan, Daniel Kariko, Elizabeth Kayl, Boris Keller, Anitra Lavanhar, Robbi Ling Montgomery, Paul Murray, Cathy Panebianco, David Scadlock, David Scanlan, Tom Schifanella, Kristopher Schoenleber, Paul Stearns, Denise Tarantino, and Julie Tennant.
Thanks to all the photographers who submitted images to the call for entries!! There were so many wonderful submissions and it was hard to whittle my selections down to fit the gallery space. It’s always a good challenge, but I wish we could have included many more!
Hello, lovely artist!
I'm super excited to share a very special slideshow with you. It's a behind-the-scenes look at what I think about when I create my images - along with a rich conversation about photography as a spiritual practice, poetic seeing, and honing visual intuition. I also share my best advice for surviving (and thriving) as an artist.
I'll also chat about:
The Zen and mindfulness concepts that inspire my work
How to keep your creative process flexible, free, and forward moving
A practice that helps me tap into the present when I’m photographing
How to connect with your subjects, environment, and truest inner vision
Personal stories that illustrate the challenges and rewards of being an artist
Images from North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eastern Tibet, Italy, Vietnam, Albania, Guatemala, and China (all my favorite spots!)
Images I’ve been making while quarantined at home on the Oregon coast
And so much more
I'm offering this slideshow on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale (for as little as $5.99). I want to make it accessible, because I know it's been a challenging year. If you're curious about the topics above, I hope you'll check it out.
With love, light, and deep gratitude,
Laura
This Friday, I’m giving a presentation for Fujifilm as part of the PhotoPlus+ event. It’s virtual this year, so you can watch from home in your pajamas! Heck, I might even give the presentation in my pajamas, because it’s that kind of year. 😉
I’ll be sharing favorite images and offering guidance to photographers who want to make their work more personal and intentional. I’ll also be sharing creativity and mindfulness practices designed to help you deepen your relationship with your art.
You can register right here. Hope to see you there!
As an artist, you probably have ideas about what success looks like. Right? It’s probably pretty easy to pinpoint a few things that, once achieved, would make you feel successful. What are your metrics for success? I think it’s important to look deeply at this, because oftentimes those metrics are largely outside of your control (getting picked for juried/solo shows, being published, getting tapped for museum collections or gallery representation). That’s a great way to give all your agency away, you know? I’ve seen it make some artists really angry. They don’t get picked and they get angrier and angrier as the years go by, until it infects their entire art process and they cash it in.
But really, all we need to do to shift this pattern is to consciously choose a different set of metrics for success. Yours could be: spending 5 hours a week in uninterrupted creative space. Selling your prints yourself instead of believing you need to be sanctioned by a gallery that takes 50% of your profits. Creating your own opportunities instead of believing you need other people to pick you for their gigs. Believing that making art is enough and that everything outside your process, your heart, your mind…is noise. It’s like releasing sacred cows (let’s not kill them, let’s release them - that’s nicer). There’s a teaching in Buddhism that can be summed up like this: our ideas about what will make us happy are directly contributing to our unhappiness in the present. It’s like that with success too, I think. Our ideas about what success looks like can directly contribute to our feeling like a failure in the moment. And, that can make us feel blocked and bitter. What if we didn’t let that happen?
It’s helpful to write a list of all your metrics for success with photography. When you’re really honest with yourself, what does success look like to you? Write it all down. How many of the items aren’t serving you? How many are actively hurting you? How many require decisions by external arbiters? How many do you have complete control over? Ultimately, it’s about moving away from disempowering beliefs - towards empowerment. That feels like worthwhile work, doesn’t it? Onward!
Lately, I’ve been revisiting some images from my travels last year. The image on the left is a prayer room in a beautiful church in Skopje, North Macedonia (Mother Teresa’s home town). The image on the right is a 700-year-old home in Zhonglu Village, Eastern Tibet. Both images reflect my guiding passions as an artist: sanctuary spaces, moody darkness, hopeful light, quiet, the sacred. I overlooked them in my first edit, but found them again last night and fell in love with them (note to self: don’t delete old files!). Thought I’d share them with you.
The other day, someone asked me what my main inspirations are, and it’s funny - none of them are photo related. My art is mostly inspired by studying and practicing Zen, reading and attempting to write poetry, taking long walks with my sweetie, running on the dune trails by our house, listening to music (and playing it badly), knitting, chatting with beloved friends, caring for my cutie patootie pup, reading good books.
If I dig a little deeper, it’s also inspired by my need to mark little moments of peace, meaning, and transcendence - because that makes life feel more charged, more potent...less superficial. But, when it comes right down to it, all my inspiration, all my good ideas, all my creative nourishment comes directly from my life and my simple daily practices. That’s helpful, because it means there’s inspiration everywhere - even though we’re riding out the pandemic at home instead of traveling frequently like we used to. I miss seeing the world, but the reality is that I’m just as inspired by beautiful light in our garden. It’s nice to be reminded of that.
Where does your inspiration come from? Do you have simple daily rituals and activities that nourish your spirit and make you feel more creative? It’s so helpful to acknowledge these things, so you know where to turn for inspiration when you need it most.
Sending love and light to you from the blustery left coast, friends. Hope your week is filled with simple pleasures, healing, and calm.
On August 12th I’ll be speaking about my life and work for Evenings with the Masters, a wonderful online lecture series hosted by Nobechi Creative. There are 17 other photographers in the lineup - one presentation each week. I’ll be sharing new work (like the image above) and chatting about my working methods and creative philosophy.
It’s a treat to be on the docket with so many iconic, inspirational photographers! Many of these folks inspired me when I was a young photographer, just starting out. So, I know you’ll really enjoy hearing from them. The other featured photographers are: Sam Abell, Kate Breakey, Russell Brown, Keith Carter, Allen Clark, Michael Clark, Greg Gorman, Erika Larsen, Gerd Ludwig, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Arthur Meyerson, George Nobechi, Ibarionex Perello, Jamey Stillings, Amy Toensing, Nevada Wier, and Stephen Wilkes.
There’s a lively question and answer session after each presentation, with questions coming from photographers around the world. It’s heartening to be a part of such a vibrant, creative community during this challenging time. If your creative spirit needs a little boost, join us!
Tickets and info can be found right here.
Hi friends!
I'm excited to announce a brand new e-course, hot off the press.
The Visionary Website teaches you to build a beautiful, clear, engaging photography website. If your site needs a bold refresh (or if you'd love to create a brand new site), this course will help you make it happen.
I created The Visionary Website because I love helping artists show their best work to the world - and you can't compete in the art world without a strong website. That's doubly true now that quarantines, event cancellations, and venue closures have made it harder for us to share (and sell) our work in person.
The Visionary Website gives you all the tools you need to create a site you're really proud of, so you can move closer to your photo goals.
The best part? You’ll learn to make it happen even if you aren’t a tech wiz with tons of time on your hands.
The Visionary Website is right for you if...
Your photography website is dated, disorganized, and desperate for a makeover.
Or, you dream of creating a website...but it never happens because you don't know where to start.
You’re confused about what to include on your site and what to leave out.
You plan to exhibit, enter competitions, attend portfolio reviews, or sell prints - and you want your site to hold up to the scrutiny of curators, jurors, and collectors.
You’d love your site to be a beautiful calling card, so you feel proud to share your work.
You have a DIY spirit and you want to take control of your web presence (instead of paying someone thousands of dollars to do it for you). Oh - and you want to do it without learning to code.
And let’s face it, you don’t have a ton of time to spend on this. You want clear, efficient guidance to help you realize your vision quickly.
Sound like you? The Visionary Website is a great fit!
Hi, lovely humans. I made something for you: two weeks of guided meditation and photography. It’s an online, self-paced offering to help you breathe, revitalize, create, and come back to center. It’s what my spirit needs right now - and I thought you might feel the same way.⠀
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The new e-course is called Arise & Shine: Photo Meditations for Challenging Times. We'll be using a nourishing, grounding meditation practice called the metta meditation as a guide for our photography.⠀
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Millions of meditators around the world practice metta as a way to cultivate wellbeing. It’s been my go-to medicine for anxiety and depression for many years. When the coronavirus situation started to snowball, I had the idea to turn the meditation into a gorgeous visual art project. Because art heals. And if we heal our spirits, we can face the world with greater strength.⠀
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So, if your spirit needs a little tending right now, join me. This is a pay-what-you-can offering. And, if you need it to be free, it’s free. I love my sweet art community, and I hope this is a help. If you’re ready to make some beautiful, uplifting art, join me right here.
xo,
Laura
p.s. Share with anyone you think would benefit.
You know how it feels like a bad thing when someone says your photographs are “pretty”? It's like they're saying your images are petty or surface-level or...not as important as real, "serious" work, right? It's interesting to dig into this a little bit, because it starts to break down with a little questioning. I mean, do we want to live in a world where the only subjects that count are hard-hitting, gritty, and awful? Would it be more valuable to be fed a constant diet of darkness? Is pain exponentially more important than healing? Should we put it on a pedestal and look down our noses at joy and hope? ...Really? If someone criticizes your work as "pretty," these could be good questions to ask in response (with kindness, of course). I think we're culturally conditioned to consider pretty as weak - and these questions can help shift a knee-jerk criticism into a more thoughtful conversation space.
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I remember feeling ashamed at one point when I was a young photographer, because my work wasn't political. Other photographers were out on the front lines, making work about the issues of the day...and I was spending all my time making pretty pictures of light and love. How embarrassing. Maybe it's because I'm 42 now, and I've had more time to see more horror in the world, but I'm fully on board with pretty now. Give me all the pretty. I'll defend it all the way home. ⠀
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Pretty pictures give us hope and a reason to live. They're a therapeutic respite from the trauma we've endured, the stressors of daily life, the brutality in the news. It's important to stay informed about what's happening in our world and to bring injustice to light - but not at the expense of pretty. If we give up pretty, we give in to sadness and fear. And then...what do we really have left?⠀
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So, never think your work doesn't "count" because you're photographing flowers, cuddly dogs, loved ones smiling, and glorious vistas. Where would we be without those things? Pretty is medicine. You're doing important work. You're reminding the world that joy is sacred, that delight is inherently valuable, that peace is at hand. I can't think of anything more powerful or worthwhile.
Today, I’m excited to share this gorgeous selection of images by some of the artists in my last e-course, Light Atlas: The Path to Wholehearted Seeing.
In the course, we focus on seeing beyond the ordinary, beyond the surface level. We spend six weeks crafting images filled with emotion, poetry, mystery, mood, and magic. That means we’re looking at light in new ways, and we’re embracing shadow. It also means we’re stepping outside the bounds of conventional technique. Light Altas is all about getting outside of the box, moving away from derivative image-making, and welcoming visual breakthroughs. These artists did just that!
Get ready to view lovely images by: Alicia Nowak, Andi Alexander, Connor Huff, Jan Roald, Ian Wright, Julie Stolte, Laurel Wright, Leslie Fass, Leslie Noe, Natalie Fay Green, Paul David Shea, Sonja Stich, Sumitra Rudra, Terri Smith, and Wendy Woodby.
Enjoy!
Alicia Nowak
Julie Stolte
Laurel Wright
Andi Alexander
Andi Alexander
Sonja Stich
Connor Huff
Paul David Shea
Terri Smith
Ian Wright
Leslie Fass
Connor Huff
Ian Wright
Julie Stolte
Sumitra Rudra
Jan Roald
Laurel Wright
Jan Roald
Wendy Woodby
Sonja Stich
Natalie Fay Green
Alicia Nowak
Leslie Noe
Leslie Noe
Natalie Fay Green
Sumitra Rudra
Wendy Woodby
Paul David Shea
Photography feels amazing, beautiful, creative, expressive, and super fun - but it can also feel a little stressful sometimes, right?
Lately, I’ve been collecting the problem statements I hear from photographers, to try to put my finger on exactly what’s going wrong. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve heard:
“I’m stuck right now. I’m not progressing and I’m not feeling inspired.”
“I struggle to create images that fully express what I imagine, and it just leaves me feeling let down.”
“My photos feel competent…but ordinary. I really want to develop my own style, a style that captures the excitement I feel, but it’s eluding me.”
“I’m bogged down by ‘shoulds’ and they make me feel like I can’t do anything.”
“I get caught up in a cycle of feeling bad about my equipment, comparing myself to others, worrying my technique isn’t up to par, and buying new gear to compensate. It’s a cycle that saps all my confidence and joy.”
“I’m self taught, so I always feel like I’m not as good as ‘real’ artists and it keeps me from getting my work out there.”
“I can’t get to the next level with my art. It feels like there’s a hump that’s always in front of me.”
It’s heartbreaking to read all that, isn’t it? But, here’s the thing: it’s also really powerful. Because, if you’ve been feeling any of these things - you’re not alone.
Folks don’t often say things like this out loud. They’re sure as heck not posting statements like this on social media. So, it’s really easy to get a distorted view of things.
Here’s something I want you to know: the statements above were made by beginning photographers, intermediate photographers, and really established photographers.
So, wherever you are in your process right now (and wherever you think you “should” be), you’re in good company.
Here’s what’s really going on: You’re doing the beautiful, heart opening, challenging work of being an artist. Yes, it’s vulnerable. Yes, there’s not a clear, straightforward path to success. Yes, bad images happen (yup - lots of them!). But, making a lovely image (even one!) that lights you up inside? Seeing gorgeous light and shadow and being moved to tears by how amazing the world is? Feeling your heart expand when you see the colors shift across a stunning landscape?
Those things make it all worth it, right? I know they do for me.
So today, take a deep breath and know: you are on the right track.
The path of the artist feels challenging sometimes (hello, hero’s journey!), but that’s what makes it so rich, so filled with potential for insight and growth. You could shy away from it because it feels tough, or you could let the beauty and wonder of the process be your guideposts (and your supports when the going gets tough). You could remember that other artists feel uncertain sometimes too (I'm right there with you on this). And, you could remember that you have companions on the path.
Mostly, keep going dear artist. Keep creating, keep smiling at the light and marveling at all the beauty you find. The world needs your brilliant vision more than ever right now. And, I know you have it in you.
Onward!
Laura
This September, I taught a five-day landscape photography retreat called Zen Ocean, Zen Light at my home on the beautiful north Oregon coast. Ten sweet photographers from around the country joined me, and we tromped all over the coastline with our cameras. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of compassionate, creative souls. I feel so deeply inspired by the images they created!
We watched the light shift, ate amazing food, had long, lovely conversations about art and life, and listened to the waves. We even made s’mores over a fire and played with glow sticks one night! So much fun!
Here’s a selection of images from participants Karen Carson, Karen Constine, Pam Farmer, Sandy Brown Jensen, Jerry Kohler, Landry Major, Leslie Noe, Terri Smith, Renée Taylor, and Wendy Woodby. I’ve also included some snaps of the photographers in the field, so you can see us in action.
Click on the first image to open the slideshow. Enjoy!
Sending love and light from the rainy Oregon coast,
Laura
p.s. If you need a little inspiration for your next photo adventure, I have a free, four-day e-course you might enjoy. You can sign up right here and I’ll send you the first lesson right away. Happy photographing!
I got a question the other day about how to develop a clear style when your images feel all over the place. Here's one reason that can feel so hard: when you're photographing, it's all about visual/emotional response. For some reason, though, it’s tempting to completely switch gears when editing (selecting) images for a portfolio or website. The visual hat comes off, the analytical hat goes on. And suddenly, it's not enjoyable and natural anymore. You feel blocked and blah and it seems like you don't understand your own work.
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Here's what I like to remember: we're visual artists. The visual is our zone of genius. So, it's amazingly helpful to bring the same spirit of visual/emotional excitement to our editing (selecting) process. When we do that, a weight lifts and it becomes easier.⠀
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Here's an idea to play with: look at your recent work and pull together all your dark images (or all your light images). Just plop them into a folder on your desktop. Don't let the analytical brain take the driver's seat (you'll know when that happens when you're tempted to put all your bicycle images together, regardless of what they look like, or all your Italy images together, even though you shot in 12 different styles when you were there and they look totally random together). Just look and feel. What jives...visually? ⠀
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Here's the lovely thing (it sounds simple but it's powerful): if you lead with a visual response, the work ends up hanging together visually. If you suddenly stop being a visual artist when you're editing your folio, the work winds up looking hodgepodge and awkward. ⠀
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When you're shooting, it's all about: "Ooo! That's beautiful!" and "Oh! I love that!" or "I have no idea why I'm drawn to that, but I can't resist!" Right? You really can bring that same spirit into your editing. After all, you already have it in you. ⠀
Artists need to reinvigorate themselves every so often - to shake off the dust and get back in touch with the raw, vital energy of creativity. When the artistic spirit feels tired or blocked…it’s time to invite a breakthrough.
I always believe we can cultivate the conditions to welcome breakthroughs - we don't have to just sit around, twiddle our thumbs, and hope the muse picks us, you know? We can take an active role - it’s our creative journey, after all.
My most requested e-course is right around the corner, and it’s all about this. Light Atlas: The Path to Wholehearted Seeing is an e-course for photographers who want to overcome blocks, cultivate a truly original vision, and step into their full power as artists. It's about tapping into your innate creative genius so you always have inspiration to draw from. It's about opening space for a thriving, vibrant new vision to emerge. It’s about getting unstuck - brilliantly, bravely, wholeheartedly. It's about letting light in.
You can do this. Your art is worth it!
To give you an idea of what the course experience is all about, I made this little video walkthrough of the class signup page. You’ll learn all about what’s included in the course, and you’ll even hear my dog groan audibly at one point. That’s quality programming! Anyway, I hope this is helpful!
To view the video full screen, click on the arrows icon on the bottom right.
Class begins on October 21st.
If your creative spirit needs a reboot, join me!
Image by Bree Lamb
I juried a show for Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis recently, and if you’re in the area you can catch the exhibition until October 21st. You can also view all the selected images online right here. The theme was The Sublime Landscape - and the photographers’ submissions were gorgeous. I’m so happy with the way it all came together! I love it when a group show manages to look beautifully cohesive, even though submissions came in from photographers all over the world. So many of the submitted images were intimate, calming, and contemplative. I chose a happy mix of black and white and color, and it feels really harmonious.
The image above is one of my favorites. Isn’t it stunning? This was my juror’s choice award for the show. Check out artist Bree Lamb’s beautiful website to see more of her work.
A note about entering juried exhibitions: I know it’s vulnerable! You never really know what a juror will pick, and it feels crummy to get rejected. The truth is, a lot of wonderful images get rejected - because galleries can only hold so many framed prints. Every time I jury a show I’m given a limit, so I have to make really tough choices. That said, it’s a great practice to enter juried exhibitions, even if you don’t get in - because you hone your vision every time. You learn to size your images, cross your t’s and dot your i’s. You learn to write about the work and select images that really exemplify your vision (instead of submitting a bunch of random, unrelated shots). All of that is incredibly important - and the more you do it, the more refined your submissions become.
Here’s another important truth: every amazing photographer has been rejected many, many times. It’s just par for the course. Knowing that makes it easier to get back on the horse, you know? It’s also not necessary to enter competitions, if it just doesn’t feel fun. That’s absolutely okay! The important thing is to feel nourished by your process, and to continue making the work you were meant to make.
Onward!
We had so much fun on my Eastern Tibet Photo Retreat this June! We spent 11 days exploring the “Rooftop of the World” with our cameras - and folks came away with beautiful, heartfelt photographs. I thought I’d share a slideshow of images created by our lovely participants. The rich colors! The light! The landscape! You’re going to love it. I mixed in some group action shots too, so you can get a real feel for our experience on the road. It was the trip of a lifetime!
Get ready to see some gorgeous images by photographers Patricia Hogan, Garrett Jones, Alan Mela, Marta Topolska, Jacqueline Walters, and Ingrid Wehrle. Thanks for sharing your images, folks - and thanks for making it a great trip! Thanks also to Extravagant Yak, our wonderful tour operator, for planning every last detail.
Click on the first image to open the slideshow. Enjoy!
Folks often feel pressured to take other people’s opinions into account when making photographs. So, you’d lift the camera to shoot and then think: is this aligned with what curators/jurors/publishers/critics like these days? Is this stupid or too off-trend to be taken seriously? You might have an idea that really floats your boat, but you nip it in the bud because it’s not “safe.”
The poet William Stafford gave some great advice to blossoming poets. He said, “If you have any qualms, veer towards what feels good. Why oppose the only compass you have?” Fabulous, right? That compass is your artistic voice talking. That's the thing everyone wants to find. But, it's one of the easiest things to give away. Follow it, though, and your vision gets stronger and stronger. Your unique perspective gets stronger. Your joy burns brighter and the ideas flow faster. That's how you become an artist with something to say. Play it safe and you wind up getting bored with what you’re making. It feels blah, average - it doesn’t stand out from the mix. There’s a real irony there. You might pressure yourself to conform...but then feel completely dissatisfied because your images look like everyone else’s. Why do we do that to ourselves? It’s empowering to just notice this pattern, isn’t it?
I want to move in the direction of joy. I want to experiment and play and follow up with wacky notions, because that’s what feels good. I want to champion originality. I want to stand with my back to the view and photograph the weird beam of light in the corner while people give me funny looks. Why oppose the only compass you have, right? Let’s honor the compass and reclaim our creative agency. Free your mind and your art will follow (...paraphrasing Funkadelic just a smidge). But really, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
Onward!
