Tag: walking

Are You Aware?

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Photography, Stories From Life

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog my love for walking and the reasons I enjoy it, namely:

  • Exercise leading to increased health
  • Idea generation
  • Relaxation
  • Listen to music, podcasts of Nature
  • Time out to think
  • Photographic opportunities

I’m located approximately 60km South West of Sydney, Australia and as I sit here today, we are entering week four of the latest lockdown, this time for the Delta strain of Covid-19.

Walking is a fairly regular activity for me and I generally see a few people out walking in normal times, however, as a friend posted recently on Facebook, ‘nothing spurs people more than a lockdown to take up exercise…’. As a result of the lockdown, there are many more people out exercising.

Whilst it is great to see more people out and about exercising, it’s a shame that it takes a lockdown to ‘spur them on’.

It probably goes without saying, but I carry my phone with me with to:

  • Measure the distance walked
  • Listening activities
  • Photography

Today, I will focus on the photographic opportunities.

As we all know the ubiquitous mobile phone has become an indispensable tool in modern life, sometimes too much so. People seem to be slaves to them. One of its most usable features for me is its camera.

I have an iPhone 8 Plus which is probably getting ‘long in the tooth’ now, technology-wise and we will probably update them in the coming twelve months. There are better camera phones out there for sure but this one is doing ok at present.

The camera I would really like to be taking on my walks is one I haven’t bought yet as I have had other priorities. More on that in a later blog.

For the time being I will make do with the phone camera.

Taking up photography in the early 1980’s increased my awareness of what is around me in terms of beauty and design. Taking up sketching, drawing and painting I believe has increased my awareness even more.

Below are a few examples of the things that attract my eye as I go walking. When I go walking, I seldom see other people taking photos on their walks. I wonder if they are aware of the the beauty and design that surrounds them?

Are you?

Till next time…

Written by David Johnson

19 July 2021

A Trip To The Country – Part 3 – Millthorpe

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

We have ventured up to Millthorpe a number of times since 1995 as it is the home of one of our great friend’s ‘the Dixons’, in fact Susan and Diane have been great friends since their school days.

This time, we were up there for the Wedding of their eldest son. I’m going to leave the wedding to another post, in fact, I will wait till the official Wedding photos arrive.

Millthorpe is a historical village classified by the National Trust and was originally called, ‘Spring Grove.’ More details about the name change and further detail about the town can be found in the link below.

Even though we have been going up there for a many years it is really only in the last two or three visits that I have actually been able to walk around the Town. Mostly, we have been up there for Family celebrations of one type or another.

A rather strange thing happened this time…My DSLR did not come out of the bag. Instead, armed with a small sketchbook, three pigment liners and just my phone camera, I took the chance to do some rough sketches and took many reference photos.

Millthorpe’s buildings are older ones and have a lot of character and I seem to love sketching and painting architecture. I’ve come back with quite a few ideas for sketches/paintings and the camera phone is good enough for reference photos for the moment.

As with any town there are a few Churches as well. I can see myself tackling these types of buildings as well.

I didn’t get a chance to go into the Museum this time around but was delighted to see some Art forms and industrial machinery on the outside.

The weather this time was beautiful and sunny on the Friday and Monday, however, Saturday and Sunday were very cold with single digit temperatures in Celsius.

Usually, we stay with the Dixons, however this time they had a full house so we stayed at a local Air BnB, ‘Millthorpe on Morley.’ It was the first time staying via Air BnB and it was extremely comfortable and very friendly.

The view from the front verandah below (where I was able to sit and journal) on the Saturday morning was very beautiful.

As always, I look forward to our next visit to Millthorpe!

Written by David Johnson

18 April 2021

For more information about Millthorpe, visit:

Millthorpe, NSW

Mother Nature – Artist

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Walking is something I love to do, however, unfortunately, it is something that has only happened intermittently of late due to all sorts of reasons and maybe a couple of excuses.

What better time to restart the activity than the time between Christmas and New Year.

Unlike last year here in Sydney Australia (when bushfires and thick smoke continued for months and 40C/104F+ temperatures), this Christmas has seen downpour after downpour and (so far) cooler temperatures 23C/73F – 33C/91F for Summer.

This morning I walked approx. 3km/0.62miles just ‘as a starter’ as it has been nearly 2 months since the last one. With cloudy skies and recent rain it was ‘cloudy bright’ overhead which delivered nice, even lighting.

On my travels today, I found some interesting tree bark patterns and thought I would share them. Mother Nature certainly provides us with a range of designs and colours. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Written by David Johnson

29 December 2020

Listen, Learn and Be Inspired!

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

As I set off on my walk this morning, I cued up one of my favourite podcasts, ‘Sketching Stuff’ by Charlie O’Shields, activated RunKeeper and off I went.

I currently live in the suburbs, approx. 60 kilometres (37 miles) South-West of Sydney, Australia and about 20 mins walk away there is a river with natural bush alongside of it.

If I walk early enough, ie before the traffic starts, I can listen to Nature. If I walk later in the day, it’s a podcast followed by music (if the podcast finishes and I haven’t finished my walk).

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Upon my return today, I started thinking about my podcast library and looking at the number of podcasts that I had subscribed to over time…(a lot), it seemed to me that I needed to do some culling.

In no particular order, these are the ones that are left:

Sketching Stuff
Steal The Show
Clear & Vivid with Alan Alda
The Thriving Christian Artist
Plein Air Podcast
The Art Show
Business Coaching Secrets – Karl Bryan
Liron Yanconsky – Art & Creativity
The Mentor – Mark Bouris
Bradbury 100 (Ray Bradbury – Author)
Talking With Painters
Kerwin Radio
Conversations
Poem Of The Day

Daily Breath With Deepak Chopra

Some of these go from as little as 2 minutes to just over an hour. Some I listen to on a regular basis, others, now and then.

There is such a wealth of inspiration and knowledge at our fingertips. I am so grateful that they exist.

What podcasts do you listen to?

Written by David Johnson
18 July 2020

The Key

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

‘Not So Hidden Gems…’

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

I love to walk and it’s my favourite exercise.

Now it is more important than ever in this current world climate where we can only go out for ‘essential’ reasons and fortunately, one of those reasons is exercise.

There is no better time (if you are able) to start a walking programme as it will not only help your physical fitness, it will help you mental health as well, I believe. Staying cooped up in a house all week can be challenging, whether you are an Introvert, Extrovert or if you are like me, an Ambivert. I started off life as an Introvert.

Even before the COVID-19 crises, I loved to walk. I find it relaxing, fun and great way to clear my mind. I get many ideas on my walks for paintings, photos, articles for my blog, poems and even business ideas. It is also great for physical fitness.

I usually start off listening to a podcast e.g. usually something to do with creativity and once that finishes, some music or if I am walking in natural surroundings I will just listen to the sounds of Nature.

On Easter Saturday, I set off for one of my walks at about 6.30am and finished up walking 5km (3.1miles). The Sun was not yet up but light had started emanating from the horizon. It’s a beautiful time to begin a walk.

I love sighting ‘not so hidden gems’ on my walks. These ‘not so hidden gems’ are often in plain sight, we are just not always aware they are there. I credit my awareness with taking up Photography in 1982 and Painting in the last few years. Both disciplines force you to look at the detail and help you become more aware of your surroundings, in particular the way light interacts with things.

Below is a selection of ‘not so hidden gems’ that I discovered on my walk yesterday.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Written by David Johnson
13 April 2020

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Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions – Part 2

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

Back in January this year, I published a post on this blog titled, ‘Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions.’

I related how that there were certain positive changes that I wanted to implement in my life. I set up a spreadsheet, listed the new habits and proceeded to (over time) introduce new habits one-by-one, so as not to overload myself. Each day, I checked the ones off I had done.

It seemed like a great idea at the time, however, as life does (when you set goals) all sorts of challenges came up, notwithstanding the biggest which was family related involved the health of my wife’s parents (which is ongoing).

By the time all 11 new habits were in play, I only managed to achieve all of them done, 5 times i.e. there were 5 days when all 11 habits were checked off. The rest of the time some were and some weren’t…

Some of the new habits were, meditation, walking, exercising, watercolour sketching…

By the time June 2019 arrived I began to realise that it just wasn’t working. One of the problems was that I seemed to be ‘just checking them off to say that they were done…’ and it became a chore rather than the seamless inclusion in my life that I was expecting.

Watercolour sketching was the only habit that I checked off every day. As of yesterday, I have completed a Watercolour Sketch 228 days in a row.

Observations from this exercise are:

  • I was putting too much pressure on myself
  • Watercolour sketching is now my meditation
  • I’m now aiming (one at a time) to add 3 new habits into my life

  • I believe there is enough pressure in life without us putting more upon ourselves.

We are a week into Spring in Sydney, Australia. It is starting to warm up a little so I think regular walking will be the next habit I introduce.

Keep smiling!

Written by David Johnson
11 September 2019

Walking Isn’t ‘Just Walking’…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

During Summer in Sydney, Australia, it is always best to walk early. We are expecting another day of 38C/100F temperatures.

Today, I set off a bit later than usual, at 7.00am. It was 17C/63F when I commenced.

As mentioned in previous blogs, I really enjoy walking, not only from the fitness perspective, but also because I get a lot of ideas whilst walking e.g. today, in a 42 minute walk, I came up 8 ideas for articles for this blog, all jotted down via the Google Keep app. Sometimes I get business ideas, or ideas for images, poems and paintings. If they are not recorded by some means, they will be lost…

Sometimes on a walk, I will listen to the sounds of nature, other times a playlist or a podcast, depending on how I feel.

Today, I chose to listen to a podcast by Charlie O’Shields called ’Sketching Stuff.’ I have been following Charlie’s site, ‘Doodlewash’ for some time but only recently started listening to his podcast.

I would encourage you to listen to the podcast if you are in any way interested in getting into Art or indeed, have already started.

Today, I listened to episode #10 and it was informative, inspirational and entertaining. I will be listening to it again over the weekend. (See link below.)

To finish off the walk, I chose a Classical music playlist as it suited my mood.

Sometimes, I will snap some images with my iPhone on my rounds. I took some today but they will come to light in a different article as I seemed to be shooting a theme today. I also have a DSLR, however, if I took that with me, the walk would double or triple in time!

So you see, walking for me isn’t ‘just walking’… it’s also a way of feeding my creativity!

Written by David Johnson
12 January 2019

Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions…

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Stories From Life

I stopped making ‘New Years Resolutions’ many years ago.

Instead, I set goals and they cover all different areas of my life. The challenge though (as I have found before) is that in the Christmas/New Year period, when life is good, breezy and we are relaxed, we tend to create these awesome theoretical goals for the New Year.

They sound great, however, when life ‘starts happening and reality moves in’ those goals (and good intentions) tend to get consigned to history and a couple of weeks, months and beyond, we look back thinking, ‘what happened?’

So, what can we do about it?

This year, I’ve decided to do something different.

Firstly, I’ve worked out ‘why these goals/habits are important to me?’

Secondly, I’ve set up a spreadsheet with various headings for the goals/new habits that I would to introduce/reintroduce into my life.

Some examples are ‘reading from a professional development book, walking and meditation.’ Each have a heading and I’ve put in (in the case of walking) how far I’ve walked and in the case of reading & meditation, I put in the amount of time.

You might be thinking that’ it’s easy to find the time to read or meditate…’but when you are running a business, am involved in BNI (breakfast business group) and have a heavy involvement in Toastmasters as member with additional roles, family commitments and all the hobbies/interests I have, then it’s easy for it to get forgotten or become erratic.

I’m not trying to start 10 new habits at once though, I’m bringing them in gradually.

I’m 9 days in and the spreadsheet system is working well. I can access it via Google Sheets on my phone as well so I can check up at any time to see how I am progressing.

The thought is, that once I’ve created the new habits and they become part of my life, I won’t need the spreadsheet.

In a couple of months time I’ll report on how this going. Till then, have an awesome New Year!

Written by David Johnson
9 January 2019

Searching For Ideas

by communicatingcreatively, posted in Haiku Poetry

Searching for ideasWalking the streets of my mindThoughts generated