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jane

October 27, 2019

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HELLO! I'M SARA

I'm a writer & photographer, and quite good at the internet.

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16767730997_cd96f9176e_o

HELLO! I'M SARA

I'm a writer & photographer, and quite good at the internet.

read more

Categories

  • Instagram advice
  • Living
  • Parenting
  • Personal
  • Photography
  • Podcast
  • Work

Learn with me

free ebook

Series

  • instagram tips
  • live with less
  • stuff that works
  • notes for my daughter

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Instagram post 17855846560638986 {AD} Our generation gets a pretty bad rap for “lens gazing” - our habit of viewing the world through a camera screen. There’s a lot of talk of disconnection, of not being present in the real place and moment - which always seems funny to me because those are *exactly* the things that photography has brought to my life! Photography has taught me to see beauty where most people miss it; the flower between the pavement cracks, the confetti scattered across a rainy city street. While everyone else keeps on driving, my passion for pictures has me jumping out of my car and snapping shots of horses in cozy coats in the mist, or a giant rainbow stretching right across the valley. For me, photography is an act of mindfulness. It does make me less aware, yes - of distractions; of the background chatter; of the boomer at the next table rolling his eyes as I shoot. So, I’m all in favour of lens gazing. Here are some of the moments I apparently ‘missed out on’, because I was gazing at the (flip out, touch) screen of my shiny new OlympusUK PEN E-PL10. 😉❤️📷 Who’s with me? . PS - You can get 20% off right now in the olympusuk store using the code SARA20. Grab the whole kit I used to shoot all these images for just £520! x #olympuspengeneration #olympuspen
Instagram post 17866790599538767 {AD} True story: I took my hobby, turned it into a business and then kind of killed all the fun in it... 👀 . Who else has been there? Putting demands on our creativity seems to be sure fire way to strip out the magic and wonder from just about anything. I feel like Instagram has a lot to answer for in making us scrutinise the value in every single photo; making us out what (we imagine) everyone else thinks over what we, the person taking the picture, actually thinks ourselves.  It’s taken me a while to fall back in love with photography, but weekly ‘artist dates’ with my OlympusUK PEN E-PL10 have helped me connect with my own visual perspective again. Once a week, just me, wandering or driving with only the camera (and no smartphone!) for company ❤️ . How would you choose to spend an artist’s date with yourself? Has anyone else killed a passion and had to rekindle their creative romance like this? . #OlympusUK #olympuspengeneration (should totally be #olympuspeneration! 😆)
Instagram post 18063539710175307 It’s been SO interesting talking to people about their procrastination as research for 15 Minute Magic. (What’s 15 Minute Magic? Something new I’m making - check the link in my bio!) So many people who from the outside seem to ‘have it all together’ are secretly struggling. Conventional wisdom teaches us that anything less than Hermione Granger preparedness is “lazy”, but I found that once I accepted the brain I have - brilliant for short bursts of attention, wired for challenge and novelty and an impending deadline - that I could do everything I wanted and more. . As I talked about in my podcast this week (that link is in my bio too! 😁), nobody ever teaches us this stuff. School and the workplace gives us structure and the threat of punishment to get stuff done, but once that’s not around - because you’re self employed, or just trying to do things in your spare time - we need a whole new skill set and a completely different outlook. . So, whether you’re a natural born organised person, or always on the last minute, I’m really interested to know how it shows up for you. What tips and tricks help you be productive, and take action? Do you know what circumstances leave you floundering in passive action and procrastination instead? Tell me everything, because this is my favourite subject right now! ❤️ . [photo taken with land owner’s permission. Never wander into people’s crops without permission!]
Instagram post 18021680722240282 “The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago. The second best time is now”. - unknown. . It might be a little Pinteresty, but I find myself using this quote so often in conversations with students, friends and followers. Life can feel so fast paced, and it’s easy to look at platforms like blogging, podcasts or instagram and feel like you’ve missed the boat. If you didn’t start 5, 10, 15 years ago, then is there any point in starting now? . I like this quote because it reminds us that the past is irrelevant to our future choices. It’s never going to be easier than it is right now. There’ll never be an earlier time to start then right in this very current moment. (We’ll also, somewhat horrifyingly, never be younger than we are today too!) . And just like with trees, no two grow alike. Not everyone has the same soil, sunlight, rainfall or space. A leylandi tree can grow 100cm in a year, a sweet cherry only 25. But one is used to make hedges, and the other throws pink party confetti over everyone in the first days of spring. I mean, no offence to any hedges out there. It’s just doesn’t seem as fun to me 🙈🌸. . If now is the right time for you to plant your instagram tree, then my bestselling class, The Insta Retreat, is enrolling for the last time this year on today. Visit the link in my profile or send me a DM to get more information 🌱 And if you’d like to join our 500-strong free Artist’s Way community, check my Story highlights for all the deets x
Instagram post 18021948649227689 For the last month I’ve been writing morning pages - three pages of free form, non judgmental writing every morning as prescribed by #JuliaCameron in The Artist’s Way. . I don’t always manage to do it first thing, and I’ve definitely missed a few days, but it’s already taught me some pretty important things. . Number one, that my hand now has the muscular strength of a newborn kitten after so long spent typing instead of using a pen. And two, that there is an awful lot of stuff swirling around in my head that I’ve gotten far too good at ignoring, and drowning out with podcasts/reading/life. . Morning pages gives me a chance to sort through it all, to ask myself questions and find the answers, and to get out all the ridiculous anxieties and petty grumbles. It’s also excellent excuse to stock up on lovely new notebooks, so if anyone reading this has never tried it, I’m basically saying I recommend it a lot. 📖 🖊 . In fact, would anyone be interested in little group work through of the Artist’s Way with me? Just a free community thing, where we read and talk about it in tandem somewhere. Give me a shout if yes - I’m a big fan of group work and accountability pacts! ❤️ #theartistsway
Instagram post 17842841497679700 Hello? Is this thing even on any more? 🎤🙈 . I took a break from the Internet this summer. Maybe you noticed? It was long enough that my mother started calling asking why I wasn’t posting to Instagram any more. Long enough that somebody left a review on my book saying that they’d had to resell it as I “clearly didn’t believe in what I had to say any more”. . But you know what? I really needed it. For the first time ever in my digital life, I needed time away. I was feeling overexposed and empty of creativity. All out of things that I wanted to say. It would have been wrong for me to force myself to keep showing up anyway - putting out meaningless content for the sake of engagement. I needed a season of rest to refill on ideas and inspiration, and it’s done me the world of good. . Social media can feel like a hungry beast - like a treadmill that’s impossible to get off. But it shouldn’t feel like the sky is falling when we take a break - or when we see others doing it. All going well, we’ll still be making and sharing for the next 40 or 50 years (😱). Let’s take all the time we need ❤️❤️❤️
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