Mobile Photography & Art – Showcase – 13 March 2022
In these trying times it can seem so hard to seek joy in the simpler things in life. Yet, it is vitally important to find solace wherever we can, for me, I turn to nature. Lighter mornings, longer days, bobbing daffodils, tweeting birds, they are all still there for us, helping to lead us away from fearful thoughts. Walking in nature, with camera phone in hand, can lead to a spontaneous forage of images. Our gardens, once again, seem more accessible as the winter slowly recedes, warmer air complements the experience and it’s not alone, this weeks mobile photography and art showcase feels like we’re living visual poetry, effortlessly woven,…
Mobile Photography & Art Showcase – 20 June 2021
It has been said (‘Teenagers: A Natural History’: David Bainbridge, 2010) that teenage years are to develop the brain and as such they are the greatest achievement of evolution – the point where all that is special about our species comes into play. For parents of teenagers, it’s our job to look after them while they are incubating their extraordinary craniums. “Adolescence is the reason we live so long, long, long” says Bainbridge. “Human longevity has evolved because we need to bring up our intensely supported, slowly developing offspring.” And that is of course intensely important, being a parent at this stage is a constant negotiation between keeping them safe…
Mobile Photography & Art Showcase – 13 June 2021
“Never say you know the last word about any human heart”, a quotation by Henry James from the rich tapestry of a book I am currently rereading, Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Art links all around us and we need to be able to tie it altogether, to make it whole. Human expression within this weeks mobile photography and art Flickr Group Showcase, speaks to us. Worldly wise, yet perilously fragile, many of these images demonstrate the agony and ecstasy of love and life well lived. This weeks showcase is a wholly humane romance and a worthy treat for all of us. Wishing you all a beautiful Sunday, we,…
Mobile Photography & Art Showcase 30 May 2021
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties“, writes Erich Fromm, one of the most prescient thinkers of the 20th century. Love and creativity play a huge part of my life and it is physical. Love of art, the art of loving, irrational, intellectual, obsessive, insightful. Professor Semir Zeki, a neurobiologist at the University College London, proved in a series of pioneering brain-mapping experiments that viewing art triggers a surge of dopamine, the feel-good chemicial, into the orbito-frontal cortex of the brain, resulting in feelings of intense pleasure, the same part of the brain that is excited, when we fall for someone, romantically. For all of us associated with…
Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase 9 May 2021
It is Mother’s Day in many parts of the world today, not officially in the UK, we celebrate that day in March. But Mother’s Day, really is everyday, with a beautiful mother of my own and three gorgeous children, I live both sides and it is glorious, in spades. It is a day, not only to be thankful but also to rejoice, to laugh, be happy, to celebrate. Laughter is the best medicine and its positive effects on our health have been clinically studied since the 70’s. There are over 5,000 laughter clubs worldwide, originally inspired by Dr Madan Kataria, who developed laughter yoga in Mumbai, I’m thinking of starting…
Mobile Photography & Art – Flickr/Instagram Group Showcase – 4 April 2021
“The feelings of desperation and unhappinness are more useful to an artist than the feeling of contentment, because desperation and unhappinness stretch your whole sensibility”. A quote by Francis Bacon but one I disagree with. Rufus Wainwright once admitted that he was terrified to settle down into a happy relationship, because without the emotional drama that came from all those dysfunctional love affairs, he was afraid of losing access to ‘that dark lake of pain’ he felt was critical to his music. I disagree that we should all be addicted to suffering, we need to be able to trust pleasure and utilise it to help create art. Too many artists…
Mobile Photography & Art Flickr and Instagram Showcase – 7 March 2021
Reminiscing about touch… can you recall when you last touched someone that does not live with you? I can, it was when the brunette and I were in ‘our’ secretive riverside café eating home-made cakes and drinking freshly brewed cappuccinos. Chocolate cake for the chocoholic and carrot cake for myself. The staff are also the owners of this café and a mutual embrace is the norm for their regulars. It leaves an inner glow that lasts long after the visit is over, usually into the following week for me. But like all ‘non essential’ businesses in this pandemic, it has been closed for a year now. This is resulting in…
Mobile Photography/Art Pic of the Day (1,441) via Instagram
Here’s day one thousand, four hundred and forty one of our mobile photography/art Pic of the Day section via Instagram. Each day we select one image a day for our Pic of the Day section on Instagram, with this hashtag #theappwhisperer. Today, we congratulate @christineobrienart – Christine O’Brien with this image entitled ‘Spring Fling’. To view her instagram profile please go here.
Mobile Photography/Art Pic of the Day (1,440) via Instagram
Here’s day one thousand, four hundred and forty of our mobile photography/art Pic of the Day section via Instagram. Each day we select one image a day for our Pic of the Day section on Instagram, with this hashtag #theappwhisperer. Today, we congratulate @_brooklyndragonfli_ – Allyson Marie, with this image entitled ‘over the mountain’. To view her instagram profile please go here.
Mobile Photography & Art Flickr and Instagram Showcase – 21 February 2021
With incredulous timing, Robin Dunbar’s latest book ‘Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships‘ has been published, when so many of us are experiencing acute loneliness. In the United Kingdom, we are still under the strictest lockdown rules and many of us are shielding too, signifying we cannot leave our properties, at all. We are craving human contact with our friends and families and we worry if they or ourselves will end up being just another sad statistic on the news. Dunbar’s book helps us to understand how physical friendships, whether romantic or platonic activate our endorphin system, nourishing our bodies and our brains. Without its release, we…
