RGW Inspiration: Words and Images

All The Colors Together The only race that will be won, is when the only race there is is one.   The race of MANKIND. Words and image by Robin Griggs Wood (Interior, Hyatt Regency, San Francisco) ––––– #RepetitiveTuesday #promotephotography with thanks to #BTPArchitecturePro #rgwoodpost #googleplusphotos #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography #color #colors #inspiration #creative #hqsparchitecture ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Please feel free to ask me, if you would like any of my images  available for print at robingriggswood.com

Overcoming Your Fear Firstly, I'm going to offer up a host of platitudes: “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” ~Andre Gide “Do one thing every day that scares you.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt “No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or another, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.” ~Napoleon Hill “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." ~Dale Carnegie Actually, that last one is my real springboard ... ;o7 Here's the key to overcoming fear: DO! Fear isn't actually supposed to be the crippling emotion we allow it to be.  It's a driving force.  It's an energy source to be capitalized on! If you're feeling fearful about...

"That Brighter Day"   The changes you are looking for in your life will come about when you spend more time focusing on the things you want to have happen than the things you are worrying could happen.   ––––– #TreeTuesday #BreakfastClub  #10000photographersaroundtheworld  #promotephotography with  #TheMagicOfLight #LandscapePhotography #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography #naturephotography #inspiration #color #colors #fineart #fineartpls #landscapeart #light ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Please feel free to ask me, if you would like any of my images  available for print at robingriggswood.com

the fools dance around the fire they did advance with clutching hands and began to dance they mumbled words in hypnotic trance beseeching cries in ancient chants the gods ignored their imploring stance and left them all to fate and chance perhaps to some a life enhanced will befall when wisdom grants –– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. I tend to only promote those themes with active, caring curators. #DOFMonday  with thanks to DOFMonday Mara Acoma Alan Gurling Mark Hall & Nigel Smith  #Macro4All with thanks to Walter Soestbergen Bill Urwin, Chris Levers  Mark O'Callaghan and Macro4All #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography #naturephotography #color #colors #inspiration #canonphotograp...

Reflections How you see yourself is more important than how others see you. Someone else's opinion of you is not the truth.  Nothing they think or say about you is about you, but merely a reflection  of their own reality. –– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. I tend to only promote those themes with active, caring curators. Macro Monday  sub-theme:  ☂ AUTUMN ❧    #MacroMonday with thanks to Kerry Murphy Kelli Seeger Kim Sandra Parlow Jeff Moreau  #promotephotography with thanks to Nikola Nikolski Naghmeh Khadembashi Gittan Beheydt Milena Ilieva and Promote Photography #Macro4All with thanks to Walter Soestbergen Bill Urwin, Chris Levers  Mark O'Callaghan and Macro4All #hqspmacro with thanks to Vinod Krishnamoorthy Su...

Happy Raise your hand if you already knew that the decision to be happy always precedes the actual occurrence of happy ... ;o)) –– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. I tend to only promote those themes with active, caring curators. For the Macro Monday subtheme, HAPPY #MacroMonday with thanks to Kerry Murphy, Jennifer Eden, Kelli Seeger Kim  and Jake Easley #Macro4All with thanks to Walter Soestbergen Bill Urwin, Chris Levers  Mark O'Callaghan and Macro4All #ColorMeWeekly ColorMe Weekly with thanks to Rosie Nixon #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography #naturephotography #color #colors #inspiration #canonphotography #macrophotography  #creative #flowerphotography #floralphotography ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀...

Talking To Myself Did you know that you talk to yourself all day long? No, not the mental chatter about activities and chores that you need to remember throughout the day. That’s a form of self-talk too, but I’m referring to the things you say to yourself on a regular basis; and more importantly, the tone you use when you say them. When you make a mistake, do you berate yourself angrily? Do you put yourself down or call yourself derogatory names? When you have a hard time making positive changes in your life, do you bemoan what a “worthless” person you are and conclude that you can’t do anything right? Negative self-talk can be incredibly damaging to your self-esteem, especially if it is a big part of your daily life. When you keep saying things like that to yourself, eventually you begin to BELIEVE them! Most often these negative messages begin as statements uttered by the adults in your life when you were a child. They may have said something negative about you when your actions disp...

Mind Over Medicine Scientific proof that what you think effects your health? I am a big proponent of this … but then, it actually works for me. I know there are a lot of people who have difficulty accomplishing it, however. There is no doubt that it takes some genuine honesty with oneself to pull it off to any great effect. That honesty is the hardest part. "Lissa Rankin, M.D. is a physician whose research led her to discover that our bodies have natural self-repair mechanisms that can be activated or disabled based on thoughts, beliefs, and feelings that originate in the mind. "Her search uncovered not only proof that you can heal yourself, but also the shocking physiological mechanisms of how emotions like fear, loneliness, pessimism, and depression can make the body sick, while love, intimate connection, optimism, and faith can cure you." The video is long, so, if you are interested, bookmark it for later: Dr. Lissa Rankin: Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof You Can...

"Keep Your Eye On the Sparrow" Your goals can become small, seemingly insignificant or lost amidst the cannonade of complications and streams of setbacks. Even enjoyable experiences can throw you off track (there's a reason they call them "diversions" … ;o)). "Keep your eye on the sparrow" means to maintain your focus on your target. That is the only way to realize your aspirations and it is the primary agent in every success story. Wishing you success in all you hope for!  …………. ––––– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. I tend to only promote those themes with active, caring curators. #WildlifeWednesday with thanks to Mike Spinak & Morkel Erasmus #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma ...

In the Moment That perfect moment you were hoping to have is the one you missed while trying to force a perfect moment into tomorrow. (rgw) ––––– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. I tend to only promote those themes with active, caring curators. #TreeTuesday with thanks to Christina Lawrie Shannon S. Myers Allan Cabrera Ralph Mendoza Kim Troutman and Tree Tuesday #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS / #10000photographersaroundtheworld  with thanks to Robert SKREINER #pixelworld with thanks to Alberto Carreras and PixelWorld #promotephotography with thanks to Nikola Nikolski Naghmeh Khadembashi Gittan Beheydt Milena Ilieva and Promote Photography #TheMagicOfLight  The Magic ...

Begin Your Journey The one thing all famous authors, world class athletes, business tycoons, singers, actors, and celebrated achievers in any field have in common is that they all began their journeys when they were none of these things. Yet still, ... they began their journeys.   ––––– Love posting to themes? You might enjoy these great themes with excellent curators! Themes and hashtags are not necessarily about getting more attention, but are a valuable indexing method, which help others find relevant posts via clickable links as well as a great way to meet like-minded people. #DawnOnSunday with thanks to Dawn On Sunday Ray Bilcliff linda stokes &Sherry McBriar  #SkySunday with thanks to Randy Scherkenbach and +Patrick Scherkenbach #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS / #10000photographersaroundtheworld  with thanks to Robert SKREINER #pixelworld with thanks to Alberto Carreras and PixelWorld #promotephotography with thanks to ...

––– Is That Photo Real? That's a question someone left in the comments of one of my images. I haven't answered yet. I couldn't think of the "short version".  Let's leave off with the pithy comeback that first danced across my mind, "Do you mean, as opposed to a figment of your imagination?" Nah … let's not go there.   How about, "Do you mean, did I process it myself on my own computer, as opposed to letting the computer in the camera process it?" Since that's what we are talking about here. Because, you know, what comes straight out of a camera isn't any more "real" than what an artist envisions for a capture, after the fact. Truth is tendency. Reality is relative. While the mechanics of the filters we humans use to perceive the "reality" around us vary from those which a camera uses, we still have filters in place that modify the "factual" information we receive from our environment. Those filters,...

"Our actions create our life… Agree? Our thoughts create our actions…. Agree? Our thoughts are communicated to us in the form of language…. Agree? So…how can we live our largest, most expressive and most loving life if we are using vocabulary that makes us smaller, weaker and discouraged. Do you know anybody, maybe even yourself, who loves to use phrases like: “This only happens to me”, “Life’s a b*tch“, “I caaaaaaaaan’t!”, “Never!”, “I just can’t win”, “I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t”. The biggest problem with these phrases is not that they are negative or self centered, it’s that they stop you from taking action. Phrases like this paralyze us and fool us into thinking that we have no power and no choice. Which is nonsense. What if our words always made us and who ever we are talking to feel inspired, empowered and re-energized?" Read on ... http://everydaypowerblog.com/2013/04/23/top-5-words-to-delete-from-your-vocabulary/

––– "You've Got the Power" The first moment you said, "I didn't do this to me, someone else did. I didn't cause this bad feeling; others made me feel this way" is the moment you gave up your power to be formative in the events of your life. The ability didn't go away, however … it is right there in front of you. Take it back. For those of you whose first thought is, "What about children? They don't decide what happens to them." I'll warrant your logic in that. However, you are not a child. The degree of your ability to attain your goals in life depends entirely upon the degree that you are willing to take responsibility for the events in it. As well, for anything to exist in your life, it needs to be created. This includes your health -- good or bad. This includes your ability -- good or bad. This includes your emotional reactions -- good or bad. This includes your relationships -- good or bad. We create the bad stuff ...

If you don't have the time to create what you want, to put your life right, to live your life well ... when, my friend, are you going to have the time to do it over? ....................... I hope you are having, or have a had, a great Sunday! "Sunday Afternoon" a painting by Robin Griggs Wood #rgwoodpost #color #colors #inspiration #sunsetphotography #fineart #fineartpls #artdesign #design #fantasy #fantasyart #fantasydigitalart #digital #creative #digitalart #fantasyart #surrealart   ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Please feel free to ask me, if you would like any of my images available for print at robingriggswood.com ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

–– Leap of Faith There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth.   So what the hell, leap.  ~ Cynthia Heimel As an adjunct to my "stolen work" post yesterday ( http://goo.gl/GaznB ) … I offer some more thoughts on the subject. 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.  …………. ––––– #FloralFriday with thanks to Tamara Pruessner #PurpleCircle, with thanks to Lynn Langmade Craig Szymanski Sinead Sam McKeown Alexis Coram  #...

––– Wallpaper, WALLPAPER! The other day, I found one of my paintings ( http://goo.gl/3STnp ) strewn around the Web on "free wallpaper" sites. They had gotten it off "CGSociety" (notorious for having works stolen from), cropped my signature off the bottom and ran it through a pixel bending program, stripping my copyright and generally uglifying it. Some even had the audacity to plop their copyright logo over mine. Not that this is anything new. What did I do? I was reminded on something a girlfriend, one of the great teachers in my own life, said to me one day, "When you make something, give it away … then you'll just have to make more." When you start to think of the works that you do as too important or significant you start to lose objectivity––the one thing you need for honing skills.  Make something, give it away, throw it away, burn it or just do it again.  Make it unimportant and you lose the stress and pressure -- those are the top two creativit...

Happy To Be The path to enlightenment is not a path at all,  it’s actually a metaphor for the time it takes for you to allow yourself to be happy  with who you already are,  where you’re already at,  and what you already have,  no matter what. …………. ~ the Universe ––––– #TreeTuesday #LandscapePhotography #hqsplandscape #bwfineart #hqspmonochrome #rgwoodpost #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography Promote Photography   #promotephotography #amazing #naturephotography NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY Nature Photography   #inspiration   #skyphotography #bwphotography #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #bw #monochrome #monochromephotography   ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Please feel free to ask me, if you would like any of my images available for print at robingriggswood.com

Why can't I do the things I want to do? There's so much I know I'm capable of that I never actually do. Why is that? –– The trick is to realize that you're always doing what you want to do ... always. Nobody's making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you're free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose. ~ The Answer Man …………. ––––– #SunsetSaturday #LandscapePhotography #hqsplandscape #rgwoodpost #amazing #naturephotography NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY Nature Photography #color #colors #inspiration #canonphotography #canonphotographer #digitalphotography #sunsetphotography #skyphotography (\_(\ (=’ :’) :* (,(”)(”)¤°.¸¸.•´¯`»#Spring ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

Open to the Potential ––– Life: 10% is circumstance. The other 90% is your reaction to it, your attitude and what you decide to do with it  …………. ––––– #FloralFriday with thanks to Tamara Pruessner #BreakfastClub with huge thanks to Gemma Costa and Breakfast Club 10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS / #10000photographersaroundtheworld  with thanks to Robert SKREINER and Nikola Nikolski #hqspmacro with thanks to Vinod Krishnamoorthy Rinus Bakker Vishal Kumar and HQSP Macro #hqspflowers with thanks to HQSP Flowers Marina Versaci Carina Marsh Larry Henley and Werner Polwein Macro4All   #Macro4All with thanks toWalter Soestbergen and Shane Williams #rgwoodpost #naturephotography NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY #colors   #inspiration #canonphotography #canonphotographer #macrophotography #flowerphotography #floralphotography #TGIF

I don't know why I posted to the WordlessOnWednesday theme earlier ... I hate not thanking people and being wordless in a post! I'll get to y'all soon enough ... thank you for your kind words ... ;o) Here's some words for you in the meantime. Like I was saying ... ;o) [Remixed base image: by Andrea Pavanello - CC wikimedia]

Change the World; I Dare You ––– There's a Buckminster Fuller quote that says it all to me: "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."   Ever since I got on social media, since day one, my whole thrust/purpose/goal/intention ... whatever you want to call it ... has been to change the world. Yes, indeedy.  I know that I sound a bit like a self-deluding airhead when I say such things, but I bought completely an idea that was circulated––that to achieve anything, one has to shoot much farther than the target.   I decided to keep everything that I put out into the world as positive as I could muster for that day. That was to stand in the face of everything that was pulling this world down. Bad news; bad attitudes; bad behavior. I don't tackle all of that stuff head on, I merely change the focus. So maybe I only change the lives of 20, 200 or 2000 in my whole life ... that's...

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." ~ Benjamin Disraeli  Why I mentor others here at G+: A while back, I was searching for my purpose in life. At the time, I was mentoring at an online art community. Over and over again, I would get comments from people such as, "I would love to be an artist, but I have no talent"; "I wish I were gifted, but clearly I wasn't meant to be an artist"… and there was real sadness and disappointment in their commentary. But I knew the truth, that where I started from gave no indication of "talent" in my early years, and that what I had gone through showed me clearly that art was an inherent part of our nature as human beings. Yet this concept was lost in current society and wasn't being nurtured.  There is a lie being perpetuated in society that I call the "myth of talent". The Myth of Talent I have often had people, when I tell t...

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...