RGW Inspiration: Words and Images

L ♡ V E ––– Definition:  *When someone else's happiness means more to you than your own.* … happy Valentine's Day.  …………. ––––– #BreakfastClub  #10000photographersaroundtheworld  #hqspart  #rgwoodpost #inspiration #ValentinesDay2013 #ValentinesDay #love #wedding #weddingphotography

Are you an artist? ––– If you are a photographer and you've ever wondered if you are an artist, I offer you this from Ansel Adams: "Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art."   Sure, there are photographers that only document what is in front of their lens, and you may well be one of those. So how can you tell if you are an artist? This is what I tell my students:  You are an artist if you wish to create something with your media which communicates more than its component parts.   Now, you become a remarkable artist when you become fluent in the language of how to communicate with the tools of art and move past merely documenting what is in front of your lens.  An artist will use these tools to show us what we have never seen before.   The best artists will show us what we never could have imagined.  This is the stuff that makes your jaw drop, makes you stop in your tracks and makes you say, "Wow!"  I am still a...

This goes under the heading of Things To Do With Your Old Lo-Res Images Turn them into paintings! My first digital camera was a 1.2(whoa!)mp Olympus that I took on one of my trips to Hawaii. I woke up every morning at 4 am and waited for the sun to rise and shot it every single day. My memories of it are better than the shots! Ooh, but there's all kinds of lemonade to be made from lemons -- push around those mini"not so mega"pixels, toss in a sailboat and voilá -- some fun!  …………. ––––– #InspirationalSaturday, with thanks to curators Charlotte Therese Björnström  Mylah Nazario  and Khrystiane Friedli  #PhotoManipulationSaturday with thanks to Josh Adamski  #SurrealArtSaturday with thanks to Mikko Tyllinen & SurrealArtSaturday #PaintItSaturday with thanks to Richard Mabb Celso Carvalho Clare Bambers Rick Leaf k phelps Carol Small Astrid Bartels Milena Ilieva Stefan Kierek Elin Vaeth Photo BTS #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTO...

––– Show a Little Kindness ––– A rare verbal image post from me, but I've been encountering so many folks lately that have been using less than favorable words to describe themselves, it had to be said … and loudly. You are the best friend that you have, and you deserve the kindness you bestow upon others.  …………. ––––– #FloralFriday with thanks to Tamara Pruessner #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS around the World / #10000photographersaroundtheworld  with thanks to Robert SKREINER Macro4All     #rgwoodpost #naturephotography #inspiration #macrophotography #flowerphotography #floralphotography #waterdropsphotography #waterdrop ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Please feel free to ask me, if you would like this image available for print at robingriggswood.smugmug.com ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

Never forget those moments you've shared, in true camaraderie, where neither weather nor looming darkness could dissuade you from the pure fun of the moment. Was it the weather that changed later... or the viewpoint? ... ;o) "Catchin' Frogs" a painting by Robin Griggs Wood –– Painting details here:  https://plus.google.com/photos/103698889037599783920/albums/5637588304637072641/5637588362852828610 in celebration of this month's First Friday Art Walk with thanks to Samantha Villenave and Lena Levin  #rgwoodpost #creative   #digitalart #painting #colors #inspiration #fineart #fineartpls #firstfridayartwalk   #waterscapeart

Stay Happy ––– One of the simplest ways to stay happy: … let go of the things that makes you sad.  …………. ––––– For the #MacroMonday theme of water …with thanks to the lovely curators Kerry Murphy , Jennifer Eden and Kelli Seeger Kim ***** #hqspmacro  #rgwoodpost #truth #inspiration #naturephotography #macrophotography #macro4all #waterdropsphotography #waterdrop #waterdrops

A Full Heart ––– A heart doesn't actually break … ever. It only feels like it. To obviate the pain one can feel from a broken heart, it is only necessary to fill it with so much love, that when some of it goes, you don't feel like it is everything. This year, resolve to love more … that has always been the best way to fill a heart.  …………. ––––– #FloralFriday with thanks to Tamara Pruessner #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to dear Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS / #10000photographersaroundtheworld  with thanks to Robert SKREINER   #rgwoodpost #truth #inspiration #naturephotography #macrophotography #macro4all #flowerphotography #floralphotography

You're going to need to reach for what you want ––– Do you remember when you were little and you couldn't wait to grow up and make all your own decisions … go where you wanted to go; do what you wanted to do? It's here … right now. Go for it. ––––– #FloralFriday ––––– #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographers #digitalphotography   #naturephotography #macrophotography #flowerphotography   #floralphotography   #AutumnPhotography   #inspiration   ––––– Please feel free to ask me, if you would like this image available for print at robingriggswood.smugmug.com

The Healing of Bali ––– Don't wait for inspiration …  Create it. ––––– #ZenSunday #SacredSunday  #LandscapePhotography #BreakfastClub  ––––– #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographers #digitalphotography   #naturephotography #sunsetphotography   #AutumnPhotography   Five images, composited in Photoshop . #digitalart #surrealart #inspiration ––– Please ask me, if you wish this image were available for print at robingriggswood.com

––– Life is Beautiful ––– … especially with you in it with me! ––––– 42 shots later, I have one image. o_O Why so many? … you may ask … (thinking, of course, to yourself that this Robin is few pistons shy of a running engine.) I'm trying to fight noise you see. So, for this panoramic stitch of six aspects (three on the bottom row three for the top), I shot 7 each and stacked them in layers to lessen the noise pattern on any given one. It's always a battle with my little cam … but sometimes I get to win the round. ––––– #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to dear Gemma Costa #SacredSunday with thanks to SacredSunday™ , Manfred Berndtgen , Robyn Morrison ,  Chatchai Rombix , Justin Hill ,  Steve Barge , Carolyn St.Charles , Sherrie von Sternberg #ZenSunday  with thanks to Charlotte Therese Björnström , Simon Kitcher and Nathan Wirth #SkySunday with thanks to Randy Scherkenbach and +Patrick Scherkenbach #LandscapePhotography with thanks to Margaret Tompkins, Carra Riley, paul t beard,...

In Love With Light & Color To really learn something well, it really helps to love it. Find something that you love and photograph it. It can be as hard or simple as you choose.  Find someone's work that you admire and try to copy it.  Find out what it is you like about it. What is the most favorite thing that you have in your house right now? Shoot it!  If you want to create a portrait of one of your loved ones, but feel that is too hard right now, capturing one eye as it crinkles from a smile, or the corner of their mouth. Find something that you love or admire and try to capture it with your camera.  Do a different one each day. If you love it, then figure out what you love about it and capture that element. The key here is ... if you love it, fight for it! ––––– #InspirationalSaturday with thanks to curators Charlotte Therese Björnström  Mylah Nazario  and Khrystiane Friedli  #AllThingsOrange with thanks to curators Nina Piccoli  Kenneth Williams  and Lauren Kelly   #Break...

Elevating Your Mood and Overcoming Depression:  The 10 Most Selfish Things You Should Do For Yourself 1. Eat well and feed your body properly. Did you ever pause and look at the connection between how you feed yourself and your mental lows? This is a "biggie", folks. I have a friend who gained a bit of local fame for his work with depressed and troubled children. All he did was put them on good nutrition. Within three to six months, typically, he created radical changes in their behavior for the good. Your mood and the health of your body are on a direct link. A quality liquid mineral supplement is a very good start. 2. Volunteer your time to help another or others that cannot help themselves. It is harder to see your own misery when you are focused on others. 3. Learn yoga, pilates, tai-chi or some form of quiet physical discipline––at some point in your life. Whether or not you continue doing it for the rest of your life, the time spent doing it for a year or so t...

Never belittle your lofty dreams; Never squelch their seeming madness. Those dreams are your energy and inspiration; They are the fuel that propels you. ~ rgw "The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment." ~ Earl Nightingale ––––– #LeadingLinesMonday with thanks to curators Pam Boling & Jakob Nilsson and Leading Lines Monday #BreakfastClub with thanks to Stuart Williams and *

I like to push the creative envelope with my images, just to see what is possible. It doesn't matter, I can always shoot more or process again. Too many artists fall in love with their work––their "children"––and can't move past the idea to just do MORE. These "children", like real children, need to be let go of eventually. Then the new create can come in, which has the potential to become something much greater. The ability to "waste" your work is actually sanity in the world of creativity. ––––– Another of my wacky, over–the–top skies for #SkySunday  and the sometimes wacky, sometimes over–the–top Simone Linke (who never fails to make me smile!) Sky Sunday - Photography Theme with thanks to Randy Scherkenbach and Patrick Scherkenbach

You are wonderful! It is easy for us to fall into negatives about ourselves from time to time. We get into these modes of thinking that we have wasted an effort here and there; wasted a portion of our lives. Yet spending a lot of time contemplating such thoughts is a waste in itself! If one can push oneself to focus on now and the future only, this creates an open door for what it possible. All the potential for a successful life is right there within a person already. However, to fulfill that potential, it is key that one never spend time making less of oneself, not ever. Any time spent in negative thoughts about oneself is, in effect, tearing down that which one is trying to build! YOU are the best thing you have, and you are wonderful; don't ever forget that. ––––– #SilhouettesOnThursday with thanks to Siddharth Pandit And a skosh early for #ColorsOnFriday , with thanks to the very colorful Gilmar Smith E.E. Giorgi Christina Lihani and Erin Henderson ~ ColorsOnFriday

–––––––––– There is something admirable, something distinctly wonderful in all individuals, if you just care enough and pay attention enough to find out what that is. –––––––––– For #InspirationalSaturday , with thanks to our inspirational curators Charlotte Therese Björnström Khrystiane Friedli and Louisa Catharine Forsyth !!

I stepped out into a post-apocalyptic morning, deep orange light penetrating the dark sky … OK, it is just the morning after Hallowe'en. Nothing worse than a some smashed pumpkins littering the neighborhood and a few candy wrappers about as I scurry along on my morning run. But now that I have your attention, I want to share this for any new readers. You can do it. Whatever your dreams and aspirations are, you are no different than any other human being on this planet, you have within you the capacity to succeed. I have mentioned before the concept of the "talent" myth. The idea of "talent" as some god-bestowed gift to a handful of fortunates was created eons ago by individuals unable to grasp the actual mechanism behind capability, and fostered by individuals who feared others becoming stronger or better than they. The fundamental key to ability is hard work and persistence. That is the singular common denominator to all success. Predisposition might factor in...

Do what you love This is a portrait I painted of my dear friend, Wayne Allwine -- the voice of Mickey Mouse that many of us grew up with ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Allwine ) -- following his death in 2009. His lovely wife, Russi Taylor-Allwine (the voice of Minnie Mouse; yeah, they met at work! ... :oD) shared it at the service we attended at the Disney studios and everyone agreed that it depicted him aptly -- a man of many talents. Not only was he an exceptional voice-over actor, but he was also an accomplished musician (he was an expert in guitar, banjo, piano, drums and harmonica, as well as composing his own music), a writer of children's stories, a humanitarian, a philosopher, an interior designer and a darn good cook! He was good at all of these things because he loved them. He earned a good living for his acting skills, indeed, but primarily because he loved what he did! Money gets a bad rep, when it is the only motivation. Because we are only talking about a repre...