What a year this has been, for all of us. There are simply no words for how much the world has suffered, and also how much resilience we've found. I ...
Truth is stranger than fiction
As I write this, my state is locked down. Most others, if they haven't already, are preparing to do the same. Never mind states, many entire countries ...
Why We Should Rethink Holiday Decorations (link)
Christmas has always been a favorite time of year. I really do enjoy the festive decorations, and letting things be a little more special all around. ...
Vanishing Royalty: Monarchs and Milkweed (link)
The monarch butterfly is one of the most well-known pollinators in North America, found from Canada to Mexico. It is also in danger of ...
Make a date with your creativity
Pop quiz: What is the number one excuse for not doing more of that creative thing which, probably even now, you are feeling a twinge of guilt at ...
Returning to the tower
I published this article with Be You Media in 2015, but it seems that Be You is no longer functioning. So here is the original draft. A Tower in ...
Kaleidoscope
Four years ago, feeling deeply frustrated with circumstances that refused to budge despite my best efforts, I wrote an article called Trusting the ...
Ring the Bells that Still Can Ring: Questions in times of change
It feels so good to write again, to just write my thoughts without consulting an assignment rubric. Yet also, it feels good that I know I have ...
A boost if you’re just treading water
Do you ever feel like you're just keeping your head above the flood of bad news? Especially since so much recently came to light about species ...
Horizons
It has been longer than I thought since I wrote a post here, and a long, interesting journey through getting my bachelor's at Naropa University. Now ...
January thoughts
It turns out, being down with the flu has its advantages, one of them being some extra free time to finally get around to all those things I've been ...
Yarrow, bees, and roots: summer reflections
The summer heat wave here in Boulder finally gave way to one heavenly, dripping wet day. Colorado doesn't often get rain that goes on for hours at a ...
Summer travels
It has been a lot longer since I wrote a post than I thought! I could blame the end of spring semester being crazy, but that’s only a partial excuse. ...
2018: New Challenges
2017 was a difficult year for many. For me it was also incredibly transformative, and I feel actually quite hopeful for what 2018 will hold. I began ...
Between
I'm near the end of my first semester at Naropa University, the first time I've been at school in about ten years. It's been both exhausting and ...
Unfoldings
“I want to unfold. I don’t want to be folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie.” -Rainer Maria Rilke I've always felt an ...
The art of preference
Art is a funny thing. Somehow we think there's some sort of standard, a rule book for success that we'll finally be given access to once we're ready. ...
Vintage Lenses and Your Personal Vision
Where does your personal vision take you? These photos are some of my favorites from this summer so far. Water droplets are intriguing in how they ...
New Photos and Getting Summer Rolling
Spring has certainly been busy for me this year. For that reason, I haven't had as much time for photos as I would like. However, with ...
Vemodalen: there’s a word for that feeling
Do you ever feel that your snapshot of a beautiful place just can’t measure up to those taken by professionals? Maybe it seems that every ...
All Under One Roof
Hi there, and welcome! I know I've been AWOL for a while from my blog, Penbookcamera. But new things are happening! I've created ...
At the Edge of Silence
"At the edge of silence, you suddenly realized that you had been given the complete and utter gift of your own transparency, the revelation of your ...
That’s How the Light Gets In
For so many reasons, these words have been playing in my head recently. And sometimes, the best you can do is "ring the bells that still can ...
Poetry: Mary Oliver
Thanks to Rebelle Society I just came across a marvelous poem by Mary Oliver called "Wild Geese." It reminded me that I have again been placing too ...
Halves
"Do not love half lovers Do not entertain half friends Do not indulge in works of the half talented Do not live half a life and do not die a half ...
On Be You Media Group
I am so excited to have been chosen as an Artist of the Week by Be You Media Group! They are a fantastic platform publishing some amazing content, so ...
True
THE TRUE LOVE There is a faith in loving fiercely the one who is rightfully yours, especially if you have waited years and especially if part of you ...
Voices of the Caged (links)
One of my favorite poems ever (there are many, you can't expect me to pick just one) is Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird." If you haven't read it, where ...
Why am I doing this? Questions for heart-weary creatives
Am I completely crazy? I'm sure that countless photographers, writers, and artists of all kinds have said that. I'm certain that my loved ones have ...
Born
“Christ could be born a thousand times in Bethlehem – but all in vain until He is born in me.” -Angelus Silesius Can you make space this holiday ...
Asperger’s from the Inside, 2.0
Back in April I wrote an article that I never expected to write, on a topic that I usually avoid. That is Asperger's Syndrome, or Autistic Spectrum. ...
Reflecting
"...and I said to my body, softly, 'I want to be your friend.' It took a long breath, and replied, 'I have been waiting my whole life for this.'" -- ...
Ripple Effect
I've been thinking lately, about consequences. About the ripples we make, not knowing, sometimes not caring, how far they go or whose lives they ...
To My Demons, with Love
We all have a few of them, don't we? Do you ever get tired of fighting them? Perhaps you don't have to. Perhaps they were never intended to make ...
Savoring Photography
I recently stumbled upon a fantastic site about taking your photography business to the next level. It's called go4prophotos.com, and I can't wait to ...
Soul Tides
Amazing poetry from Erin Hanson. Don't be anything less than the very deepest truth you can be. ...
To the Limits of Your Longing
"God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your ...
Departure and Return
--edited to include full poem-- "To go forth now from all the entanglement that is ours and yet not ours, that, like the water in an old ...
Piece of a Poem
Beautiful words and image from Tammy Stone! ...
Gleam
Now for a little more classical literature.... I was thinking about photography and writing the other day, how it's a process in both cases, a ...
Of Masks and Mirrors
I have been thinking about authenticity and the awesome resilience of the soul. From the time we're little, we're told how we should and should not ...
Tales of the Tower
I love fairy tales. For an adult, that may seem an odd thing to say. But I love the different perspective that a good fairy tale, or myth, ...
Lost, Found, Remembered
Summer is full of memories. Remember when the beginning of summer felt like the best thing that had ever happened in your life? Remember the ...
Where Is the Love
"We know so perfectly how to give birth to the monsters inside us, but for reasons I will never figure out, we have not the slightest clue of what to ...
Other Voices
"The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the ...
Start
Start Close In, by David Whyte Start close in, don't take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don't want ...
We Are Stars Searching for Light
Alise Versella is a new author I just discovered. Love this beautiful quote. I hope we all find our star-souls, however hidden they may be. And ...
Aspergers, more thoughts
It is truly strange to read your own words in print. Somehow you recognize writing them but they've become something else, not entirely yours, not in ...
Aspergers from the Inside (link)
I don't think I've mentioned it on this blog before, but Aspergers (now technically Autistic Spectrum) is something I deal with on a daily basis. And ...
Toward Truth
The Half Turn of Your Face The half turn of your face toward truth is the one movement you will not make. After all, having seen ...
The Old Wild Place
The Old Wild Place, by David Whyte After the good earth where the body knows itself to be real and the mad flight where it gives itself to the ...
Focus
It has been a while coming, but spring has finally sprung in Colorado. And I am so looking forward to the photo opportunities as everything comes ...
Here in the Mountains
Recently I was in a local bookstore and rummaging around in the poetry section, hoping to get lucky. And I did--lo and behold, a copy of David ...
Unbreak
Unbreak Awake a soul who fell asleep, Tell her the rules have changed. Hold her till the wounds unbreak. Don’t worry, that stinging feeling Is ...
Remember
...
Something old, something new
"Old friends pass away... New friends appear... It is just like the days.... An old day passes... A new day arrives... The important thing is to make ...
Don’t be afraid of the dark
This is another poem from David Whyte that I really enjoy: When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision is gone no part of ...
Expectations
Expectations Last of summer’s bounty, Joyfully gathered in; Harvest moon is full. Now the fading gold Of maple leaves whispering; Harvest moon is ...
Aspen
One of the things I absolutely love about living in Colorado is the aspen tree. It only grows at high altitudes, and only--as far as I know--in the ...
Falling Leaves
Our first snowstorm of the season moved in earlier than expected. I was watching the big fat snowflakes whirl around now-leafless trees, and I ...
To be color or not to be…
This last month has been a pretty busy time for me. Though I've gone out somewhere for photos almost every day since mid September, I'd come home and ...
Autumn Reflections
It's always a little sad, the end of fall. The leaves have mostly fallen, and the weather is noticeably colder. But it's also a great time to slow ...
Sacred
"It doesn't interest me if there is one God or many gods. I want to know if you belong -- or feel abandoned: If you know despair Or can see it in ...
Writing and life
Because sometimes we all need a little reminder, a little encouragement that what we love does actually have meaning, here are a few good nuggets to ...
Hearts
"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." William Wordsworth. Isn't it strange how much we're afraid to love? To love anything too much ...
Lovely Colorado
I took a (rather arduous) hike with two of my aunts this past weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was cold with gusting winds, more than we ...
Smallness
What to Remember When You Begin by David Whyte "What you can plan is too small for you to live. What you can live wholeheartedly will make plans ...
Courage
"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear Of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, To allow my living to open ...
Glued
"We are mosaics - pieces of light, love, history, stars - glued together with magic and mystery and words." Anita Krizzan ...
Autumn Love
Recently shot this in a park near my house. I think this would look good in focal B&W, leave the one center leaf in color. What do you ...
Pilgrim
I love to read, which should be obvious from the "book" part of the title. I will read almost anything, but I'm choosy with my favorites. One of ...
Camera, Compass
Do those two strike you as completely different things? They may look different, perhaps. They may operate in distinct ways. But for me, the camera ...