Tag: Charity

Photo Competition and Impressionistic Photography

Creating impressions with the use of ICM (intentional camera movements) has been for a long time one of my favourite camera techniques. It’s what I start with when I go to a photoshoot or what I end up doing just because I like it so much. I find these photos very soulful and very satisfying and I’d like to encourage you to take similar shots for deeper breathing and deeper connection with nature. I took these photos while I was in Poland during Autumn. Perhaps there are still some autumnal shots that you’d like to submit to out Soothing Photography Competition? See through your phone or your folders, I am sure there is something that you would like to share with others. Go to www.tgiuk.org to submit your entry.

P.S. It’s La Befana today – the Feast of The Three Wise Men. In Italy, an old Lady arrives in the middle of the night and leaves small presents in the socks for children. Have your socks been filled today too?

P.S. 2 If you don’t want to submit anything, just have a pleasant stroll through the photographs and vote. You have as many as 10 votes to spread around.

#ameturphotography#competition#tgiuk#labefana#italy#threewisemen#presents#poland#forests#icm#cameratechniques#sheclicksnet#sheclicks#ukphotography#chaity#mind#mindfulness#wellbeing#calm#soothing#trees#nature#leaves#impressions#art#artist#derbyartist

Photography makes a difference

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Lily-Lou & Oscar too

Lily-Lou & Oscar too
Lily-Lou & Oscar too
Lily-Lou & Oscar too

 

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Most photographers would tell you that they actually like photographing their own friends and family most and I am no exception to this. Above are photographs that I took of people who are very dear to me and have been part of my life for sometime. Some of the photographs I also took as part of my PhotoFundraising Project (here) that involved swapping my photographing skills for funds to Doctors Without Borders. It was a wonderful project to carry out as it made many people happy and also helped me develop my own photographing skills. The beautiful bespoke children garments featured are hand-made by Claire at Lily-Lou & Oscar too (here). It was the first time I photographed clothing and it was great to have this opportunity.

All in all, through your support and thanks to the beautiful people who asked me to snap a photo of them, I managed to raise £480 (here) and I have one more job lined up in the next month which will further contribute to the fund. It has been a pleasure to take every single one of the photographs above and a big thank you to all of you who have agreed for your photographs to be taken, placed and posted here.

Thank you all of you who contributed to the PhotoFundraising Project. Together we make a difference.

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed that’s all who ever have. ” Margaret Mead

Have a wonderful year!

What is it really like?

 

Light the dark
– How did I feel back then when I came to the UK and sought asylum? The fear. The fear was always there. The unknown. … Where you’re going to sleep. … What is going to happen tomorrow. Anxiety. Constant anxiety.

– My hearing was so strong… All the noise was disturbing me. I was sitting there waiting for someone to call me. For example, someone was just asking if I want a tea but that sentence was bombarding my brain.

– You were hypersensitive?

– Yes. Hypersensitive.

– What was I fearing? I was fearing that I did not not exist. I was wishing that someone would recognize that I exist.

On Sunday (Sep 13th) at 9pm local time we will light candles in support of refugees and asylum seekers in front of our house. Do you think you can do it too? To light the dark with us. Light the dark UK. Light the dark the World.

PhotoFundraising – so that we don’t remain so helpless

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Over 70 years ago a very kind and progressive nation opened its borders to my grandfather who was fleeing from war-ravaged Poland. It was there, in Zurich, Switzerland, far from his native country that he was educated into a skilled medical doctor. If he had been ignored back then, I would most likely never have been born and neither would all the children of the people that he healed in his lifetime.

When we look at the humanitarian crises and the different positions that people take on them, my husband always concludes that “It all comes down to one basic question: how much do we value human life?”

And I think he’s right. How much do we value human life?

I’ve been listening and watching the news over the last few days and been feeling totally helpless over it. There is a strong urge in me to help so much so that I couldn’t sleep very well for the last few nights. I was thinking what I could do for the people in danger, what I could offer. My heart runs towards them. I’d like to be there on the Mediterranean Sea helping to rescue them from the boats or in Munich greeting the refugees and finding them accommodation, but I have a little child  that my husband and I look after and at the moment he is far too small to be left without his mama.

It occurred to me yesterday that all I can do is to do fundraising. Using the skills that I have.

In September I will be fundraising for Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres (just because they are so effective in managing help) by swapping my photographic skills for funds for the charity. The idea is simple: if I take photographs for you this month, I’d like you to donate as much as you think the photographs are worth to Doctors Without Borders via my Just Giving page.

If you would like some photographs taken of you, your loved-ones or your business or products, contact me through Facebook or my Contact pages to arrange a time and date. I am based in Derby, UK.

Let’s save lives together!

Under the clouds we are all small people.

(If you are from Derby, UK, please could you share this post with your friends. Thank you so so much!)

The lesson

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I was in a shopping centre yesterday. I bought my son a little toy. One of these tiny cars that you wind up and they drive off on their own in whichever direction you set them in. My son played with it, giggled loudly and was really really excited about it. We walked together towards a play area in the centre and my son saw a crying boy. He walked towards him and put the new wind-up car in his hands, took a step back, smiled to the boy and laughed with joy.

When I described this to someone we briefly concluded that it’s good that the children can share. Then I thought about it for a while longer and decided that what I witnessed was not a lesson in sharing but a lesson in compassion. The simplicity and honesty of the situation was astounding. One little boy saw the other one in pain and did what he could to relieve the pain of the other.

Why do we as adults find it so much more difficult to behave in this way? Have we been educated out of compassion? Are we educating ourselves out of it?

How often have we crossed the street to avoid a person in pain? How often do we ignore the pain of our friends or family members? Why is the pain of others so difficult to acknowledge?