Comments on: Promoting Passion Week 40: Q&A Part 2

By: laura

laura — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 11:47:49 +0000

1. Spend time by myself, take away all the people and the noise and in your own company you will find inspiration in your thoughts

2. Everything ends, whether good or bad everything will end. This teaches us to make the most of the good things in life and persevere through the bad

3. What is one thing that you do everyday that makes you happier/healthier? Listen to music, walk and take time to reflect. Usually these are all combined

By: Mary-Claire

Mary-Claire — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 13:03:34 +0000

Ah, making us think again!

1. I have a lot of quiet time at work. One of the locations I work is in a loft that overlooks a lot of trees. Often, I just stare and let my mind wander. Lately, I have been inspired by sayings or events and most recently a video I saw.

2. Best piece of advice from my husband: “Why would you do portraits or baby sessions if you don’t love them? What’s the point of doing photography if it doesn’t make you completely happy?”

3. The one thing I do every day to make me happy is to hug my children. Also treating random strangers well (simple things like holding open a door) makes me happy because it makes them smile.

By: Joshua Pheneger

Joshua Pheneger — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 23:26:59 +0000

Understanding of yourself and what you’re attempting to do is crucial! Here are my answers to your questions:

1. I’ve followed your advice for a while now and try to find inspiration everywhere. From there, I try to let the idea form naturally and write down ideas as it evolves. Some ideas don’t get very far, others become all-consuming obsessions. I try to follow through on any ideas that I feel are complete.
2. The best advice that I have ever received is “Do what you love, the money will follow”. This is repeatedly proven to be true in every endeavor that I have taken on. If you aren’t doing what makes you happy – then what’s the point?
3. One thing that I do every day that makes me happy is to explore my creative ideas. Sometimes its for a few minutes, other times its for hours! In the end it helps me to understand my concepts and motivations – which in the end allows me to create with purpose.

By: natascha van niekerk

natascha van niekerk — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:33:36 +0000

Halo dear Brooke!
How awesome is that portrait of you?! 😀
Ok, my answers:
1. I am mostly inspired by my environment, the natural landscape and the lessons nature teach us. And also often by my inner landscape, my emotions and thoughts, struggles and victories.
2. The most important piece of advice? Just keep going. Don’t look at what people say or how they respond (though sometimes there’s some valuable lessons there as well…) but keep your goal in mind and keep at it, persistence is needed for success, and that success should be defined by yourself and not by the world.
3. Walk on the beach! Or in the forest. Or climb a mountain. Anything that takes me outside… I am incredibly lucky to be able to live in one of the most beautiful places, and I don’t take it for granted.

Thanx for making room for this creative community! 😀

By: Claude

Claude — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 00:43:27 +0000

1. Sometimes during a shoot under pressure / limited time. Sometimes when I see or hear something beautiful. It depends on the situation.
2. Do what you love. It sounds cliché, but I think it’s much more than just an advice everyone has heard a thousand times. Like Michelle Walls states in her post, if you’re really following your passion you can give yourself permission that what you do is right. It’s always returning to doing what you love whenever you may have left your path. And to always make or take time for your passion even or especially when it’s not your (main) profession.
3. Taiji, Meditation, Yoga, Awareness exercices. I do it a lot less than I would like. But sometimes it just takes some breathes to feel yourself again.

I love this blog and the idea of the community. I also wanted to post a few weeks ago, when you posed some questions but I just didn’t manage it (for whatever reason). So here’s to participating more 🙂

By: Daria Ratliff

Daria Ratliff — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 21:02:56 +0000

Hey, Brooke! Hello from Texas! Ok, my question is simple. What’s the image you’ve done in the begging of your career that you totally feel like doing it all over again? If so, which ones? Love and thanks for your videos!

By: Michelle Walls

Michelle Walls — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:14:46 +0000

Let’s see…
1. I get my most creative ideas when I least expect it….in other words, I will be doing the most mundane, uncreative tasks and this great idea will just pop into my head. Or i will wAke up in the middle of the night with this great idea that will usually keep me up for a while after. As frustrating as it might be, the greatest ideas usually occur when I have no way of recording it…
2. The best advice I ever got was from a photographer, whose name escapes me. She told me to give myself permission…permission to call myself a photographer, to call myself a creative and an artist.
3. One thing I like to do to keep myself happy and healthy is to take a few moments and just be…even if it is just sitting in the car for a few minutes longer or take a few breaths when I first lay in bed for the night. My mind is always racing so I try to have a few minutes of quiet in my head.

By: Paragon Moore

Paragon Moore — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:05:56 +0000

Prints are so different from a computer screen I unload images to Walgreens and pick up the prints about an hour later. > 4×6 for about 30 cents. Sometimes I process the same image in a different way and print both versions. I then tape prints to my wall and look at them for a few days. This gives me ideas and lets me evaluate what I have done.

By: Paulo Alexandre Carvalho

Paulo Alexandre Carvalho — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:42:32 +0000

I would say my inspiration is spontaneous. I cannot create anything, if I force my inspiration. So my inspiration comes when I least expect it. It may be a comment from a friend, or an abandoned house, or a poem I’m are reading, or a movie … So, I always carry my little notebook. I have already received plenty of good advice and were very grateful. But given the phase that I’m living today, of great fluidity in creativity and happiness, my advice will be the same that was given to me by someone and that has to do with the constant thinking that “I’m not good enough “. We all are special, unique and beautiful, no matter what others think. While we think we are not good enough, we will not achieve our dreams and passions and we will never be what we want to be. Be what you want to be, and do not mind with others. Promote your passion. I not always do the same thing every day that makes me well. Things that make me feel good, happy and health are, living and socializing with my friends and see them smile, running, cycling, meditate and helping any way I can. Have a great retreat Brooke. <3

By: Lu

Lu — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:20:44 +0000

You are so kind to share all this with us! . Thank you for talking about contracts…this is the part that I don’t like. I’m sure I’m not the only one. But it’s so important!

1- My best creative ideas come by staying open and flexible to whatever shows up at the moment I’m taking the pictures and also post processing. My finish product is always so different from what I intended to do!

2- “It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just need to be good enought” it is so easy to get stuck in perfectionism. And also, nothing is really “perfect” but that doesn’t mean that they are not amazing or beautiful.

3- I have actually 4 things that need to do every day to stay balanced: meditate, eat healthy, move! and have some quality time with my loved ones 🙂 .

And my question to you is: how do you manage to be so consistent with your creation of images and posts even while you are travelling and doing all this other things? how do you manage your time to balance life and work?

Thank you so much for being so kind, loving and INSPIRING! I wish I could give you a big hug <3