Welcome to Week 18 of 2025!
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In today's e-mail, you'll get:
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PHOTO INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK: The Day I Quit My Grade 9 English Assignment
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK: When Practice Doesn't Feel Like Work
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RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE: iPhone Photography Awards
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PHOTO INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Don't Lose the Rules, Just Loosen Them
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When I was a kid, I didn’t like reading. The thought of reading long boring books or writing lengthy essays was NOT my thing. Too many words, too much grammar, too many rules to follow.
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The whole thing seemed dull and dry without any visuals. Give me art supplies or a camera any day instead!
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I loved the fluidity of the visual arts: the colour, the play of light, the lack of rules, the creative freedom.
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To me, that was pure delight.
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But as I got closer to high school, the books and essays I was assigned got bigger, lengthier, and wordier than ever. By the time I was in grade 9, I was dreading Language Arts.
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One day, we were assigned to read a certain book: A Tale of Two Cities and write an essay.
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It was the book that broke the camel's back for me.
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It took me what felt like 100 hours just to read the first sentence of the book. My eye balls felt like they were going to melt out of my head.
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The first page of the book was a long run-on sentence I could not understand. I couldn’t bear the thought of getting through the entire book in that kind of agony.
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I put the book down.
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I wasn’t one to break the rules or ask for concessions… but I felt like I had no choice. Knowing my Language Arts teacher was SO excited that we were reading this book she loved so much, I had to muster up a boat load of courage to approach her and confess that I was giving up on her assignment.
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“I just can’t read this book. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive this.”
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I was dying for a way out of this assignment, but scared I’d let her down if I told her I wanted to quit.
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I had barely finished my confession when she happily offered to find another book that would better suit my preferences.
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I was shocked - all I had to do was ask?! And I would be spared the slog of reading a million pages of old fashioned English?
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She quickly understood me and matched me with another book: Angela’s Ashes.
She didn't remove the assignment. She just readjusted the parameters in which I had to complete the assignment.
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I had never read a novel like that before, and I devoured it. The story and writing style instantly captivated me. I was surprised. I actually enjoyed reading a long book?? I discovered a love of words I never thought possible.
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Suddenly my world got bigger. Thanks to my teacher's empathy.
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Next, we were assigned poetry. My first thought was: Oh dear. We’re going to have to write boring lines of cheesy mushy feelings that have to rhyme. PLEASE NO.
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But to my surprise, one of our first assignments was an activity that completely captivated my attention and entirely reshaped how I saw words.
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We had to come up with one phrase or sentence. (That would be the title of the poem.)
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Next, we had to write an entire poem only using the words of that sentence. There weren’t many rules other than that.
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We could reorder the words around, stagger some, repeat others, skip lines, play with punctuation. We DIDN’T have to rhyme.
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No rhyming?! What?!
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I was shocked. I got to bend the rules with writing and get creative! I never thought that was a possibility.
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My 13-year-old brain was exploding.
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I wrote my first poem that way. My Language Arts teacher was so thrilled with my work, she shrieked in delight and gave me an 11 out of ten. I had never gotten 110% on any assignment before!
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I felt like I had won the lottery.
Fuelled by my teacher’s enthusiasm and my new found delight for writing with loose rules and creative freedom, I continued writing these types of poems beyond school. I wrote almost every day, after school, on weekends, and soon started experimenting with other styles of writing.
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I went from thinking I was not a reader or writer, to discovering a creative avenue I had no idea I’d enjoy. All thanks to my Language Arts teacher, for allowing me to fall in love with reading and writing within a constraint that aligned with my unique personality and preferences.
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Photography is a lot like this one-sentence poem.
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Instead of arranging words on a page, you’re arranging light within a frame to create a work of art.​
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We have a certain amount of light in every scene we approach.
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How we use that light, space it out, capture it from different angles, repeat some shapes, omit other rays is how we build photos.
There aren’t many rules when it comes to playing with light, but the constraint lies in the boundaries of the physical area in which we're photographing.
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As a photographer, you get to choose the constraint. Is it a certain room in your house? Is it a certain subject in a room? Or is it a certain genre of photography?
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Using loose rules within the constraint of one sentence on a page is what gave shape to my poems.
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With this kind of fluidity and boundaries, I could study the sentence from different angles, see it broken down in different segments and observe how its meaning changed as parts were omitted or repeated.
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It’s the same with light.
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What you include (and what you omit) has a tremendous effect on what story you’re telling and what emotion you’re communicating in one photo.​
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Giving yourself permission to use loose rules and creative freedom with certain words (or with certain light) is a magic you should explore.
This is where art happens. This is where creativity flourishes. With boundaries around the words, paint or light of your preference.
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Remember to give yourself permission to run wild within the constraint of your medium. Limit yourself to 4 colours of paint. Limit yourself to a 6-word sentence. Limit yourself to one corner of your yard in evening light with your camera.
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And run wild within those parameters.
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What will you create? What will you tap into?
You might just discover that you already are a talented photographer with incredible creative skills. Sometimes all you need is someone to give you new boundaries and permission to create wildly within them.
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK
When Practice Doesn't Feel Like Work
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It's no surprise that the more you practice taking photos and experimenting with light, the faster you'll improve your skills.
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If you're like me, being told to practice anything feels like work and I instantly procrastinate doing it.
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Instead, I like developing a habit of curiosity. This means constantly being curious about light and how my camera might capture it. As that habit establishes, you'll find yourself taking more and more photos without it feeling like work.
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The other night, we sat around our fire table and I was instantly mesmerized by the flames. I decided to take photos of it and see how they would register through my camera. I was pleasantly surprised! I discovered some fascinating shapes, curves and lines. I quickly threw them in Lightroom Mobile to enhance the contrast and colour.
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This is my favourite photo from the series I shot, but I have more here you can look at.
A reminder to you: develop curiosity and say yes to the opportunity to discover with your camera. It's practice in disguise and SO much easier that way.
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RESOURCES YOU MIGHT LIKE
iPhone Photography Contest
If you don't have a professional camera with interchangeable lenses, it can sometimes feel frustrating seeing other photographers put out incredible work that your phone camera will never be able to match.
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That's why I think it's important to look at good iPhone photos and be inspired from them. You know you have the same camera, and seeing the possibilities of what an iPhone (or android phone) camera can take is the right fuel you need to go out and push your skills.
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What better place to see iPhone photos than on the iPhone Photography Awards website. Check it out and see if there are any photos here you'd like to emulate:
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PS: Last night I hosted a 1-hour crash course and it's now available online (includes a bonus gift). Here's what people are saying:
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"Amazing course! Learned something new with every point she taught.
So much great course content, super user friendly for any level of skill. Inspiring!"
- Elaine K.
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"I have been in awe of Gabrielle's photography for years. It was an honour to be able to learn some tips from her to improve my own day to day photos. She instilled the importance of capturing emotion and feeling first, and then taking the time to do a simple edit after to really bring out one's unique style. The crash-course itself was quick and fun—just what I needed!" - Emily J.