Hi Colleen - I love your work, and your words, for which many thanks. In your interview for Nature Vision Magazine you talk about relaxing the prefrontal cortex, conceptual blending, dreaming while we’re awake. I try to do this when I feel I can before pressing the shutter, and I think of it as “tripping legally” (in South Korea!). Could you possibly tell us how one of your shots above (or in the Magazine) was - at least in part - a result of this process?
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Oh John! I think those are about the nicest things anyone has ever said about me. Your comments fill my heart. Thank you so much! I appreciate you and all YOU do for the photography community! You’re the best!
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Hooray! Keep practicing that…you’ll need it for our GRAND adventure!
Hi Mike! Thanks much for reading the Nature Vision interview and for asking for practical examples. I absolutely love the idea of “tripping legally.” That’s pretty much what conceptual blending is…
I’ll pick two of my images from above to use as an example (mainly because they are a handier reference than the magazine interview). The first is “In a Puddle of Neurons”—the blue close-up abstract image from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When I saw this scene, I immediately thought it looked like a brain and neurons (hence the title) even though we think it’s pollen. I filled my frame with as much brain-like material as I could. That’s conceptual blending—brain/neurons plus pollen = new connection.
The other example is from the Tarn in Acadia National Park. I called it “Light Up My Life.” There’s a much greater narrative behind it, but as I stood along the street teaching my workshop while surrounded by other workshop instructors, one who is one of my closest friends, I realized that no matter how dark things get in our lives, there are some who just brighten our worlds simply by being in them. I intentionally composed so that there was one tuft of rushes isolated from the rest of the rushes. Then positioned myself, so that it was surrounded by light among the shadowed landscape.
The other images above are also the result of extensive narratives, meaning, and expressions I had in the moment. All my images really. It’s the primary reason I make a photograph—because I felt some form of connection with the landscape, and I wanted to express that connection visually. That connection comes first, then I make the image.
For those who haven’t yet read the interview or are new to conceptual blending: experts believe it only takes two existing things put together in a new and different way. Conceptual blending is a subconscious process our brains do when our prefrontal cortex goes to sleep (which happens naturally when we sleep). It takes the information we’ve collected over our lifetimes and puts them together while we sleep. Dreams are the result of this subconscious process. Our brains know what to do with the information we feed it. If we wish to be more creative with our photography (or otherwise), we just need to keep feeding our brains ideas and knowledge. And then trust that our brains know what to do with that information…
Conceptual blending is a close cousin of metaphorical association. We can tap into our imaginations by asking “What else is it?” Or as Minor White suggested, “One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are.” What else is the pond? (A community.) The pollen in a puddle? (A cross-section of brain.) The canyon? (A cathedral.) The badlands? (A mirror of really bizarre experiences.) The ICM of a rapid in the Green River? (The eye and voice of a river that’s guided me through the interwoven complexities of life.)
Conceptual blending and metaphorical association are related to pareidolia. Pareidolia is the act of making order out of something when that order does not exist. Our brains create this order using the information we already have in our brains. We did this often as kids when we looked up at clouds and saw dragons or looked at toast and saw faces. We need to return to this as adults, as expressive photographers, as artists who wish to convey a unique perspective about their worlds. I’d encourage us all to try to dream while we’re awake. Or trip legally as you said!
Hi Colleen, all of your work is amazing, but I am awed by your abstracts! I’ve greatly enjoyed going through your answers to questions in this AMA spot here. As you got into photography around the start of the digital era, I am wondering when you started shooting with digital cameras, and what you are shooting with mainly now?
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Hi Patrick! Thanks for your kind words and for stopping by to ask your question!
I started in photography in 2001, when digital technology had not yet come to the public market. I bought my first camera–a Minolta Maxxum 5–simply because it has a depth of field preview button. Although I couldn’t have told you what that was then…I then shot with a Mamiya 6x6, a Wista 4x5, and a Contax 645 film cameras. I was a late adopter to digital cameras mainly because none of my editorial outlets would accept digital files.
To support a photography exchange with Japan (and in Japan), I bought a Canon 5D in 2007. I then switched to mirrorless technology in 2016 when I wanted something to fit into my pocket while standup paddleboarding. After using a mirrorless on a river trip on the Green River, I couldn’t figure out why I was carrying around all this heavy gear…I made the switch over to mirrorless then and haven’t looked back. I’m currently photographing exclusively with my Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II. Although I do take a GoPro and an Olympus T5 down the Grand Canyon/Colorado River and on other river trips.
The full story of how and why I switched from DSLR to mirrorless is on my Dear Bubbles: https://dearbubbles.com/2020/04/switching-gear/
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You’re a true inspiration, Colleen. Question: when you decided to quit Intel were you at a point with your photo career where you were already earning enough to feel comfortable with the decision or did you have to do a lot more different things to make ends meet? The corporate world is awful, but golden handcuffs can be hard to break free from.
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Thanks so much, Richard, for your kind words and for swinging by this AMA. Love all your creative works—photography and music included. Indeed, the golden handcuffs can be strong…but you’re stronger…
My decision to leave Intel took about two years of contemplating. By 2005, I was selling my work (not just showing) at eight to nine art shows a year here in Arizona. My first editorial publication came in early 2006 and several other credits came quickly. By 2007, I had reliable enough sales to at least breaking-even financially with photography and had established enough connections to continue generating enough income to cover my expenses for at least one year.
On top of that, my then-husband and I were not in significant financial debt. I arbitrarily deemed it a requirement for leaving that I established a safety net for myself by putting the equivalent of one year’s salary in savings before I left. I did so and have not yet touch a penny of it. I also had the benefit of him working full-time at Intel then (which was both a safety-net and a health-care lifeline before the ACA came into being).
On top of that, I had struggled with severe back spasms for eight of the nine years I worked at Intel. In 2006, I also got a hiatal hernia. By August of 2006, it was to the point were I could not sit or stand or exist really without incredible pain. Both were the result of the distress I was feeling (in hindsight, due to being on the wrong path). Things were so bad for me that I HAD to leave this job to stay alive. If the photography gig didn’t work out for me, my back-up plan was to work at McDonalds (I’m not joking). Photography was my ticket to escape.
My back pain was psychosomatic. It went away the day I freed myself from the golden handcuffs. My hiatal hernia healed quickly too.
When I left, I ended up doing a lot of commercial jobs to make money. I irrationally feared I wouldn’t make it as a freelancer based on my own concerns and misguided mentor feedback. The fact is, we are incredibly resourceful humans—we figure things out quickly when we need to and when we’re passionate about our work. I switched my focus to nature photography exclusively in 2010. Since then, I’ve tried many different avenues to find the ones that bring me the most fulfillment first, then pay me what I need to live. It took about seven years to find that sweet spot for me: teaching workshops, writing/publishing books, and delivering speaking gigs. Things continue to evolve in those spaces and outside of them, but I’ve been living in sweet spot ever since and indeed it is the sweetest spot for me.
There have been challenges in my photography career, as there would be in any transition, but I’ve never regretted my decision. Not once. Not ever. Be smart about the transition. Make a viable business plan for the switch and for operating your photo business. Minimize your financial risk. Fill as much of your time as you can doing the things that fulfill you. The world is too big to stay in one job you don’t like. Life is too short to spend it doing things that make you miserable. Define the path that works best for you—it’s out there!
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Thanks Colleen. I’m so glad that things have been working out for you. The work-related stress can be serious indeed. My dad had a stomach ulcer years ago from work stress (he was a programmer as well) and needed a blood transfusion as a result of it. Best to get out as soon as you reasonably can!
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Annnnnd that’s a wrap on our AMA!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to NPN for this chance to interact with members and to all the awesome people who stopped by to say HI and/or to ask a question. I cheers my bubbles to you! I hope you’ve gained some new ideas and inspiration for your photography during our discussions.
Should you have any additional questions, please send them my way at colleen@colleenminiuk.com. You never know, your question might even get featured on my Dear Bubbles column!
To learn more about my workshops, books, and coaching/mentoring opportunities, please visit my website at https://www.colleenminiuk.com. My whole purpose for being—and my biggest joy—is to help others enjoy fulfillment and define success in their own way. Let me know how I can help you live your best life. Here’s hoping we cross paths out there again sometime soon.
Be well, be brave, be wild! Go forth and create!
With love,
Colleen/Bubbles
Oh Richard! I’m so sorry to hear that about your dad. Hopefully he’s OK now?! Here’s hoping you don’t go through any of that…there’s a better way! Looking forward to keeping up with your journey ahead!
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I fully agree, John!
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