just a little inspiration to get you going…

I photographed this in Paris in an old apartment where a heart shape had been scratched out in the door frame.

While some beautiful submissions have been flowing in already, I have gathered some inspiration for the rest of us still in thinking mode about their wandering heart. Below are some fellow bloggers whose photographic portfolios I am loving. You can see from their captures that these are not fancy or lavish rooms, but there is a common theme here: light. So think about placing your wandering heart where there is lovely light. That doesn’t mean the space has to be light filled – it can be dancing soft light, or moody dim light. And although there are no wandering hearts in these particular images, you can imagine finding one in each image, ever so subtle and sublime. Click on the names below each image and have a good thorough look at their other images as well, there is alot more inspiration where they came from.

If you would like some guidance don’t hesitate to email me your thoughts, ideas or a quick capture of what you have in mind. The email address is: myheartwanders@gmail.com

I have not yet set a deadline so do not panic, all in good time…

Laura Watt

Jen Gotch

Samantha Lamb

Laura Watt

Nurul H.

Maditi

Alyson

task at hand (part 2), by the extraordinarily talented Samantha Lamb, a great source of inspiration for My Heart Wanders.

While out in Amsterdam today it seemed every time I glanced down at my walking feet I saw a heart shaped splotch on the pavement. With all this heart talk, are my eyes now pin holed like Alyson’s photo technique, or do these hearts really exist? This reminds me of What the Bleep do We Know– the idea that we are not seeing everything that actually exists, are the hearts a part of it? It also reminds me of the last episode of my all-time favourite TV series Northern Exposure when Fleischman goes into the forest and is told that reality exists in between glances, that if you move your head quickly you may catch it. Well, that’s what I remember of that episode, I did watch it over 10 years ago and have no doubt forgotten the detail, but the essence of it I carry with me. Our wandering hearts project reminds me of all these wonderful ideas about life.

I’ve been perusing your flickr images, blogs and websites and am so inspired by your talent. I am beyond excited by the prospects of what we can actually create here. Something that has never been seen before, that is for sure.

I just mentioned Alyson’s heart shape technique over at unruly-things that she found, check it out, it’s very inspiring!

For those of you who have already found the heart shape you want to display, or have already made it or in the process of, keep in mind where you will display it for the final submission. I am getting the impression that some people think this will just be a collection of ‘found hearts’, but think about it more like an interiors book. Remember I gave references to “Where’s Wally?” (if you don’t know that book let me know and I will explain it further). So imagine your heart as Wally – your heart needs to be displayed in a setting, this is very important. I’ve also had a chance to have a sneak peak at some of your homes via your blogs, and I see some very beautiful spaces amongst you. Every home is beautiful in some way, even if you do not see that it resembles the latest magazine spread, it doesn’t have to, and most of you already have a natural eye for shooting a special corner of your home, or little vignette.

So the next step is, have a look at some of your favourite magazine spreads and interior books, and take a look at your inspiration boards too. Have a think about your favourite spaces in your home, however big or small the space is, and start thinking about where your wandering heart might fit in that space.

P.S. I have 2 stunning homes to reveal to you tomorrow, so be sure to stop by to get your interior fix! These will knock your socks off!

from 3 continent family – beautiful setting: evocative and simple, a perfect place for a little wandering heart…

I am so thrilled with your responses with this project, and I’ve been having a little stroll through all your blogs and I could not be any more excited about the talent out there! Oh you all have so much creative ability, I’m speechless at the thought of how beautiful this book can be. Here are your questions answered and don’t hesitate to ask more – this beginning stage is all about discussing the idea and getting your creativity flowing. Just like a pre-production meeting, we can communicate our ideas and get the look, style, feel and concept in our minds and then we will get to work!

With my introduction of the idea yesterday, the first part of the creative process is that you start to think about heart shapes and start to see them out and about – either in your minds eye or in spaces and settings around you. This is vital to the creative process as it will guide you into your own direction.

At this stage here are your first questions answered:

1. I will not set a deadline yet as you need a little time to get your ideas flowing. We want this to be as beautiful as possible, it is not going to be a spit-it-out project: this is a real production with a real result, it will be treated with professional hands. BUT there will be a deadline set at my discretion when I see you are ready. I will give plenty of notice.

2. Your heart shaped object must be placed inside a setting – a table setting, a floor setting, a room setting and so on. It must be ‘seen but not heard’. In other words, I want the image to contain your object but not be too loud in the image – not be screaming out saying ‘look at me look at me!’. It will be subtle. Why? Because I want readers to be drawn INTO the image. I have found a few images of room settings amongst you that I love, and this will give you an idea of what direction to head into.

3. The images you submit must be hi-resolution JPEG or TIFF images, 300 dpi, appx 2,400 pixels x 3,000 pixels which is appx 8″ by 10″ – if this is not possible then let me know but we must aim for the best quality for the images to be of publication standards. If you simply do not have a camera that is good enough then perhaps your image can be smaller in the book but it will not be one of the features. Remember you can ask a friend who has a better camera to help you take the shot. This is a collaborative project so collaborate away!

4. Send your images to this address: myheartwanders@gmail.com
Make sure you state clearly your name, your contact details, and a brief description of your work and your image. If you have a little story or poem or some text to compliment your image that would be great.

5. ALL LANGUAGES WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR TEXT, so if your mother tongue is not english that is absolutely fine and is even more welcomed!! It will be the diversity of this project that will make it special. And we all know how much we LOVE fonts and other languages. Please translate your work if possible into english so that I know what it means!

Here are another two spaces I found that might help you to think about where you might like to place your heart shape. These images are from Livvia’s beautiful blog – a great source of photographic inspiration for ‘my heart wanders’…

Can you imagine seeing a little heart shaped object in here somewhere?

I’ve enjoyed going through your flickr sets too everyone, there is loads of inspiration amongst you and I will post a few shots here and there in this beginning stage to help other participants with their own work.

image from the Underwood Photo Archives

I have a rather special announcement to make!

If you’ve wandered the rooms of the (blog)house you may have noticed that one room seems, well, a little empty, be that my Artist Studio (apologies for the funny language, I’m currently reading Robinson Crusoe be that written by such one Daniel Defoe who writes in the tongue of the 17th century man, viz. almost unreadable English).

So although the Artist Studio has been a little vacant, it is only because I have been busy writing and planning my next art project and I am very pleased to reveal that it will be collective and it involves ALL OF YOU. So now, I invite you to come for a little wander with me as I pour my heart out and tell all…

Image by Clarence S. Bull c. 1925, from the Underwood Photo Archives

(Click here to read more…)