Calm in the Frame

The Photograph Can Wait

A different way to practice photography. One that is rooted in attention, not anxiety

I'm Melanie, a mindful photographer , author of Elemental, and someone who has spent years learning, slowly and honestly, how to come home to myself.

If you have found your way here to this page, welcome. 

Maybe you are a photographer who feels more depleted and curious than inspired lately.

Maybe you are tired of performing, over giving, holding a camera ( or a life), in a  way that never quite feels like your own

If that's you, then you are in the right place.

I believe our creative work is never separate from our inner world. 

The way we hold a camera, the way we see light, the way we relate to stillness, simplicity and rest. all of its shaped by our nervous system, our stories and identities we have built through the years, long before we even picked up a camera. 

This is a space that mindful photography and nervous system awareness, and the deeper work of understanding our own stories meet. 

Not separate, but as one ongoing conversation about presence, safety and creating from a place that feels true rather than performed. 

Elemental

My 2 year project along the North Cornish Coast

Elemental, my 64 page project, started life as a wander along the coastline by my home in Cornwall, where I used to live. 

I started the daily wander because my Landrover at the time failed the MOT spectacularly , and I had no money for another car.

So started to walk the coastline. I went off the well trodden beaten track of the Cornish path, climbed down pathways, and rocks to get to the secluded beaches along this quiet stretch of Cornwall.

The book tells a pictorial story of the sea, and its power, of erosion, colour, shapes, textures.

As I walked, I was aware how fortunate I was to be the first to see some of these colours and shapes after a storm had eroded part of the walls away of this rugged part of Cornwall. Each walk uncovered a new treasure from Mother Nature. 

This work stayed on my laptop in a  folder, as I was uncertain who would even like this work. Photos of rocks, photos of the hull of old boats on the harbour

Until I went to a weekend workshop, run by Paul Kenny, as I had admired his work from his Seaworks book, its fascinating, go check it out if you can. 

As a part of the end of the workshop, our work could be critiqued, and as I hide from being asked, I was hoping they would run out of time. 

But, once my turn came, they plugged my laptop to the screen on the wall and everyone could see my work enlarged 

Paul asked what I was doing with my photos. I replied... nothing, they are just here on the laptop.

After the workshop, he gave me details of Triplekite, who publish photographers works as photo books. 

And, as they say, the rest is history....and proved a point to me that I should be trusting my eye, what interested me, detail, and how to tell a story of what I saw on my walks, and of my life. 

To order your signed copy message me : melcollie@gmail.com

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