janet st. john

Inspired by Kim Manley Ort's Adventures in Seeing 2: Focus Habit 5: Get Curious Kim’s exercises got me asking a lot of questions in August, including a recurring one, What if? I found myself wondering, What if I look at this ____ really close up? What if I seek a new perspective about ______, like looking from the ground upward? What if I imagine a statue as a real person? What if I try to capture a hummingbird in flight? My various attempts—a super close-up of a Moroccan rug

Inspired by Kim Manley Ort's Adventures in Seeing 2: Focus Habit 4: Pay Attention This month, again with inspiration from Kim Manley Ort’s book, Adventures in Seeing, I sought and found beauty and wonder in both the simple and extraordinary. My senses seemed more multi-engaged, as the notion of listening, an exercise in the chapter, really lodged in my mind while I viewed the world. The overarching theme this month was reflections. I noticed reflections all around my environm

Inspired by Adventures in Seeing (Kim Manley Ort). 1: Pause Habit 3: Acceptance This month, Kim Manley Ort’s contemplative habit focused on acceptance and the various ways we can respond to that concept through photography. I found this habit both relieving and challenging. What was challenging? Empathy toward, and acceptance of, outward self. Taking selfies and trying to view and treat the image as if I am a loving friend considering the me in that photograph, as Kim suggest

Inspired by Adventures in Seeing (Kim Manley Ort). 1: Pause Habit 2: Be Humble I spent the past month considering the ideas in, and experimenting taking photographs based upon, Kim Manley Ort’s next section in Adventures in Seeing. Surprisingly, reflecting on Habit 2: Be Humble often left me NOT wanting to take photographs. I definitely was pausing to notice simplicity and elements of essence all around, but then I would feel the impulse to release those single moments of not

Happy Spring, Art & Soul Readers! As trees and bushes bud, treasured irises get close to blooming, and the New Mexico winds whir and swirl, I'm getting ready to begin a new round of blog posts inspired by Kim Manley-Ort's Adventures in Seeing. It's a great book that I highly recommend if you feel like learning more contemplative habits and want to use your eyes and camera to expand your ways of seeing the world. My new blog, Art & Soul Seeing, will begin in April. Here's how