Tag: Communication

Public Speaking In Your Pocket!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books, Public Speaking
Back in 1986 I joined Campbelltown Camera Club (now known as Macarthur Photographic Society). After 4 years there I was asked if wanted to present a talk on ‘Close-Up & Still-Life’ Photography.
Apart from a basic Presentation Skills course, I had never done any Public Speaking courses. Over time, I did some other Camera Club presentations and the ‘passion for Photography got me through.’ 😃
In 1995, I took on the challenge of becoming a Photography Judge and visited Camera Clubs, evaluating images and judging at Exhibitions up to National level etc.
I didn’t like being up in front up people but again, the passion for photography saw me through.
As time went by I started to source out material that would help me be a better speaker in public.
Long before I joined Toastmasters International (in 2008), I started purchasing public speaking/communication books and now have a collection of nearly 100 books relating to communication.
One of the early books I purchased is a very handy little book that is packed with tips and it’s small enough to fit in a coat pocket. I often still take it with me, and when I am waiting in a queue or waiting for an appointment, I will flip through it and ingest another brilliant piece of advice.
Contents include:img_7486
  • Your Voice
  • How Your Voice Works
  • Being Heard
  • Variety in speech
  • Clarity in speech
  • Microphone technique
  • Voice Care & Development

112 pages of public speaking Gold!

Over time, I will highlight some of the other Communication books that I find valuable and still refer to from time-to-time.
Written by David Johnson
7 February 2017

State Of Mind

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

When you go out to photograph, what ‘state of mind’ are you in?

Do you go out with an idea in mind, or do you ‘free-wheel?’

Both approaches are valid, depending on what you want to achieve. I have to say that for many years I would either pick a subject e.g. I might choose to photograph a Sunrise but have no real goal of what I wanted to capture, and so I would come home with anything, or sometimes I would just set off with my camera and ‘follow the light’ and see where it would take me.

IMG_0456Both of the above approaches produced some excellent images, some average images and of course many ‘learning experiences.’

One day at a meeting of a ‘Photo Group’ I was involved with, we were viewing a of my images when one of the members, Chris Donaldson asked me ‘what I was trying to communicate with the image?’ My answer was that “I wasn’t trying to communicate anything” I just merely  took the image for fun.

As Chris mentioned, whether or not I was intentionally trying to communicate anything, didn’t matter as I was still communicating. That day, I changed the way I viewed photography. Up to that point (even though subconscious1016358_10204241084941073_5423550170437646927_nly I knew I was communicating) I wasn’t photographing for that reason. I was just photographing because I had fun.

I still have fun to this day, but since that conversation I have approached photography in a different way, in a more thoughtful way.

Next time you go out to photograph, think about why you are going and what you want to communicate?

Written by David Johnson
November 2016

Styles, Schools and Movements

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books, Stories From Life

One of my favourite books on my Art shelf is “Styles, Schools and Movements” The Essential Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art by Amy Dempsey.

Commencing with Art in 1860 to the present day, it explores 100 styles, schools and img_5984movements in depth and contains a brief description of 200 more.

Each chapter includes a headlining quote from an Artist which offers food for thought, a detailed analysis on the ‘style, school or movement’, example images, references to key collections and books for further reading.

I find it an absolute delight to ‘dip into’ and it provides a great deal of inspiration for my own Art, Poetry, Writing and Photography.

I have the First Edition. A link to the Second Edition can be found below. Enjoy!

David Johnson
October 2016

Subconscious Musings…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

subconsciousness-musings

Its Always Been About The Moment

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography

It has indeed been always about the moment, whether I was shooting film or digital photography.

I remember back in 1983 when I purchased my SLR and a whole new world opened up to me, it was a liberating experience. I began to be aware and see things that had always been there yet, I had not seen. That feeling and experience continues to this day.

Back in the film days there were many ways that an image could be produced and/or manipulated. Now with the invention of Digital, we have many more ways to enhance/manipulate an image, perhaps way more than we need (or want for that matter). The ’science’ is there no matter whether we are talking Film or Digital.

I would like you to step back though, away from the film, the pixels, cameras, chemicals and paper and think about the following… If there was no moment, no spark that formed that idea in your head or no experience that drove you to pick up that camera to take that image, there would be no image.

Which takes me back to my original comment, ‘It’s always been about the moment.’

When I’m out there photographing, when I’m out there experiencing the moment i.e. the realisation of an idea, being on the hunt, interpreting the experience, recognising that moment, that has always been the thing I love the most about photography.

Back in the Darkroom or the Lightroom the process continues to build on that moment, which is necessary to bring the vision to others. That process is of course, important, for without that the photographer’s vision will not be realised.

For me though it’s that joyous moment, where I am one with my camera, an experience I can re-live in my mind at any time. The ‘finished image’ is a mere reproduction of that moment, a moment only, really truly experienced by the photographer…

 

Written by David Johnson
20 August 2016

Declutter & Re-Fuel!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Look at this mess!

I’m feeling drained!

Do either of the above thoughts ever go through your mind?

It doesn’t matter whether you are a student, run a business, work a job or are retired, there comes a point where certain aspects in your life get cluttered or you get close to burning out, or indeed burn out. I’m yet to experience the ‘retired’ lifestyle but I talk to many people who end up being so busy in retirement, they can’t work out how they used to fit their job or business into their lives!

At different times in my life, these questions have raised their head.

My wife & I are in the process of decluttering, which was mostly brought on by the fact that we moved house. It is amazing how much less we have now (in terms of clutter) than we had previously, and we are still in declutter mode. For example, over the past 3 years we would have easily given away a couple of hundred (or more) books.

This process is continuing and is spreading to other areas. For instance, I reviewed my Facebook Friend list the other night. It had grown to over 500 people, and as I looked through the list, I saw people I had not connected with for years, I saw others who are always being negative on Social Media and others whom I wondered why/how we connected in the first place?

The Friend list now stands at 472 and it may drop lower.

We also need to look at our priorities in life. We can only do/be involved in so much.

I’ve reviewed the groups/associations I was a member of in the past 12 months. I’m now a member of only one Toastmasters Club. I just dropped out of an Art Group as (due to other commitments) it would be difficult for me to get there on Tuesday nights.

For the first time in 30 years, I am not a member of any Photographic Society/Camera Club. The Photographic Society I was a member of, I found it increasingly difficult to get to as we had moved further away from it. There is one 8 mins drive away now but I dropped out of that 2 years ago as my photography interests have moved in a different direction anyway.

Another area that needs decluttering is my mind…

I’ve always been a ‘verbal/visual’ person. As you would see from this blog, communication is what I love, with my interests being photography, public speaking, writing, poetry and painting. On top of that we have our marketing business.

As with most people’s mind’s, there is a lot going on up there and it comes out via one of the outlets above.

A few years back I purchased a book called “The Complete Artist’s Way” and actually it contains 3 books in the one volume.

The books are:

– The Artist’s Way
– Walking In This World
– Finding Water

One of the techniques discussed is called ‘Morning Pages.’ ‘Morning Pages’ is ‘stream of consciousness’ writing and it is done when you first get up in the morning. Writing down whatever comes into your head, e.g. negative thoughts, how you are feeling, to-do items etc ‘gets it out of your head’ and frees up your mind and assists creativity. I started doing them some time ago but unfortunately allowed ‘life’ to get in the way and stopped doing them.

I just started doing ‘Morning Pages’ this weekend again, and I can feel the benefits already!

In Part 2 I will look at things I am doing or am looking to do to re-fuel for this continuing fantastic journey of life.

 

Written by David Johnson
13 August 2016

 

For more information on ‘Morning Pages’, please click on the link below.
http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/

Viewing Life

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

Back in the year 2000, my wife and I were touring around southern NSW and visited (among other places), Yarrangobilly Caves. They are but one of a number of beautiful examples of limestone caves here in Australia.

We received a guided tour that day and apart from the memory of the caves, I remember a conversation I had with the tour guide as he, like me, was into photography for a great part of his life. This was until one day, after a 20 year love affair with the medium, he gave it away, citing that, ‘he was tired of looking at the world through a rectangle…’.

I didn’t think of this again until recently when I began reflecting on my photographic journey. Unlike the tour guide, I have not given up photography (as I will love it till I pass from this world), however I now have other interests as well and these days I am a bit more selective of what I photograph with my DSLR (and at this point I’m refining my ‘Light Inspired’ photography business as well). My phone is with me just about everywhere and images from that end up on Instagram.

Starting my photographic journey in 1982, I too have looked at the world through a rectangle via 35mm and through a square via a medium format camera. When I wasn’t with family, friends or at work, I was involved in photography in some way, shape or form since that time, either photographing, developing, printing, editing, reading about the subject, attending a Camera Club (or two) or judging photography. The ‘other’ interests I speak of are Toastmasters/public speaking (since 2008), drawing/painting (since 2010) and writing/writing poetry (since 2013).

Whereas once I would only be thinking and communicating about the world via photography, I now attempt to do this in a number of ways (depending on how I feel that I want to communicate it) and it is a lot of fun.

Life is about having experiences, fun, creativity, overcoming challenges, helping others, growth and communication.

I now enjoy seeing the world in different ways, not just through a camera. In some ways, I feel like my journey has just begun…

Written by David Johnson
June 2016