The Encouragement Files
(6-25) Celebrating Others, Weekly
This is the 6th Edition of ‘The Encouragement Files’, a weekly curation inspired by our non-Substack newsletter Field Notes for Curious Minds. It is a celebration of inspiring words, publications and people that have caught our eye. Hopefully, it will encourage you to shout up for the creativity that lifts your spirits and inspires you.
Photography
Ungrateful and annoying little child that I was, I slightly resented the Box Brownie camera I was gifted … not cool enough, or something daft like that. And yet, it opened up a new world to me. Spooling in a film that I was desperate not to expose to light, all fingers and thumbs as I tried to coordinate the moving parts. The shutter, I seem to remember, was a clumsy downstroke with a lever that stretched my too small hands … no wonder the pictures were either under- or over-exposed. But one picture stands out in my memory. De Efteling was/is a theme park in the Netherlands; not your all-singing-all-dancing concoction of the modern age, in thrall to some film studio or children’s television character. Here, the bins said bedankt as you popped the wrappings from your picnic into them. There were elves with pneumatically extending necks … maybe there was a prehistoric village and goats (perhaps I’m transposing another family trip onto sepia-coloured memories). I took a picture, clumsily, with the box brownie swinging awkwardly from a strap around my neck. A gnome, fishing by a pond next to his house - nowadays I would have squawked about ‘hobbits’, I suspect. The shot was in black and white, all artful shadows and accidental emphasis on the figure peeking out from them. It won a prize and I could not have been prouder. I was about 7, the heady days of the early 1970s. Nowadays, I point my phone at everything. There’s an archive of 34,000 images in a cloud. Not many of them stand out like that snapshot of a simpler time. But the magical wonder of frozen moments in images lingers.
This week, we’re focusing our lens on Photography.
F L O A T
Recently, we have been immersed in the seascapes of Finn Hopson, including astonishing images of murmurations swirling above the waves around Brighton Pier. Words and images combined in a recent post ‘In the Bird Bath’ to show us the lengths he would go to bring us this magic:
There is no particular joy in taking off my perfectly warm clothes on the beach. There is little enjoyment in huffing and stuffing myself into a thick rubber suit like an undignified sausage. I get no pleasure from the first, icy stabs of water down my back as I waddle inelegantly into the waves.
It looks like Brighton is a hotbed of photographic inspiration as Chris Harrison showed us on our Notes feed this week (he has been in touch to say that he is sliding off Substack for a while). But check out www.chrisharrison.co.uk
We love that when Chris narrows his view he creates an expansive perspective.
L O C A L
In the same way Chris Harrison has focused his lens narrowly,
created his ‘1000 Steps Project’ when our collective and creative wings were clipped in 2020. It unlocked a deeper connection for us with Andrew, one formed when we hung out on ‘The Artist Formally Known As Twitter’. We have stayed in touch, meeting in real life and working together on the Feasts + Fables website. It is no surprise to us that Andrew is thriving on as a champion for, and enthusiast about, photography of all hues. His own work on Brutalist architecture deserves to be in one of the photo books he celebrates.
“I take photographs in my neighbourhood. I think that mysterious things happen in familiar places. We don’t always need to run to the other end of the world.”
Saul Leiter
W I N N I N G
We are SO thrilled for
whose ‘Journey With A Camera’ has taken her to the dizzy heights of ‘Amateur Photographer of the Year’. The finest photography transports you to places you cannot reach, to connect you to the stories of people you may never meet. Lynn’s photography does just that and we are super-excited that it has been recognised. The standard is astonishing.
We are big fans of live music; for all the gigs we’ve been to, we probably have a handful of decent images. We love the way (who we came across through Andrew Eberlin) captures the energy of live performance (Tinnitus Diaries)
I have been greatly inspired during my journey into fiction by author whose publication ‘Stock Fiction’ is a wonderful archive of imaginative tales inspired by photographs found in freely-available galleries. Although ‘Stock Fiction’ has run its course, this is the perfect week to celebrate Meg’s new literary love, The Romantic.
I have rarely used photography to unlock my fiction - art-inspired stories have been more my thing - but perhaps now Meg has stepped back, there’ll be more like this one, inspired by ‘Together’
Together?
She hadn’t thought about it until their footsteps rolled over the cobbles. The memory hadn’t sparked until she had looked out from their perch. As his arms loosely enveloped her, she felt his distraction and wondered if he felt hers. Was he as attuned to her changing mood as she was to his? Long silences had replaced excited conversations about imagined futures. Bodies once wrapped around one another stood in different rooms of the small apartment, eyes gazing out of windows plotting different paths. Now, back where it started, she searched for the words to tell him it was over.
(100 words)
Crash, Bang, Wallop, What a Picture
From community builders, to abstract artists, industrial chic, to noticing the tiny details, photography is illuminating our feed.
It is hard to imagine a better - more engaged - community builder than
whose Flak Photo publication is the perfect place to lose yourself. Talking of ‘perfect’, composes, collaborates and creates … we are really taken by the way the seemingly mundane industrial landscape is elevated by their lens. If we haven’t gone on enough about the abstract beauty captured in Paris and beyond by then forgive us another burst of admiration. We cannot get enough of the tranquil and calming scenes shared by . Like another favourite (whose ethereal shots of the landscapes of the Aveyron have a magical quality to them), Pamela weaves words around the beauty of her images. The wonderful thing about Photography Substack is we are adding new favourites every day. Take ‘The Neighborhoods’ by … from today, we are exploring New York.Last, But Not Least
is the (unofficial) official photographer at Feasts + Fables HQ.Here’s why:
We are six weeks into this weekly curation, a celebration of the things we’ve seen, read or heard about. But we have been doing something similar over there 👈 in Non-Substack Land for nearly 8 years. If you like this, you might relish that.
Maybe tell us in the comments about a few of your favourite photography publications. Who are you recommending?
Back next week, same time, same place.
Barrie and JoJo
there are so many that i could recommend but for the moment let's start with what i like to call my muses: Susanne Helmert (My visual jouney), Juliette (The additional F-stop), Manuela Thames (Undone) , Nat (Thought Jam)
Barrie and JoJo, Thank you ever so much for including me in your weekly "Celebration," you totally made my day! I would like to recommend Shital Morjaria's photography at "Living Pictures." I really enjoy her work. Also Neil Barker at "Meditations on Nature" and James Freitas at "Rock and Hawk."