Studio Snapshots: Photo Walk Inspiration

Normally on Mondays I literally look around my studio and see what I’m working on—that becomes my Studio Snapshots topic. But today I have a yet-to-be-released project all over the place so I thought I’d show you weekend photos instead.

I’m a big believer in “filling the well”—making time to do things that inspire me creatively. Usually, those things do not happen in the studio. Inspiration comes to me more naturally when I get out of the studio…for a walk, for a weekend trip, for a museum visit or even just a couple of hours with a good book. If I stay in my studio nook without a well-filling break, I can really feel it impact my work.

So last weekend, we decided to take an impromptu trip to Wdzydze (no, I can’t pronounce it!). This is a popular lake district in Poland and takes a little over an hour to drive to. As with most things here, it’s inexpensive and child-friendly.

I mentioned walking as a great way to fill the well, and I find that it works for me in two ways: First, because walking is a form of moving meditation. It’s your body moving—doing this wonderful thing of moving arms and legs and muscles—and it’s a little hard to do anything else. You can’t type. You can’t do laundry. You can talk, but you either need a phone signal or another person. I didn’t have either, so I talked to myself. Second, while walking I take photos. I take photos that are good. I take photos that are bad. I have my phone camera in one pocket for Instagram pictures, and my regular point-and-shoot in the other for more photos.

This is one of my favorite ways to get inspired. Colors, textures, scenery…it’s all opportunity for seeing new things and then—when I look at the photos later—a chance to alter them or play with them or otherwise change them from a snapshot taken on a rainy evening in a little town in Poland, into art.

Here are a few—

What do you do to fill your well?

Happy Monday!