Do you journal? ….
Not sure if “journal” in the context above can be used as a verb, not unlike “Google this or that”, but the word journal has become a verb to me recently. As I continue down this path of “enlightenment”, that is making serious changes in what I think and cherish I have found “journaling” to be a new addition to my normal daily routine.
So do you journal? …. If so what do you write about? ….
Some time ago it was suggested I read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. I don’t have any formal art education, per se, and my photography has mostly been self taught. But I’ve tasked myself with learning more about the art and what I might do to improve my work. I think it has led me to strive to find that creativity that must be lingering somewhere inside. Is that the left or right side of the brain? I’d have to “google” that and I don’t have time right now to go down another Google rabbit hole that the internet has allowed. Let’s just say I’m aware that there are two sides to the brain and those way smarter than me have figured out which side does what. But at the moment I’m not interested in knowing any more than that.
So back to the first task Julia asks her reader to accomplish that has led me to “journaling” and that is to wake a half hour earlier and write three pages of longhand. I thought I’d be smart as I’d been using Evernote to store all my digital crap and hey why not just type away to accomplish this task assignment. What I found after more than a month doing it my way was that my writing did not feel personal.
I’ve now kind of set a new habit on wanting to write and getting my thoughts on “paper” so I began a search for an appropriate paper format to actually write on. Of course, along with paper there’s the writing instrument you write with. I’ve now created two new dilemmas to my life. I remember seeing a photograph another Facebook member posted in a photography group I follow and it was a beautiful image of a Montblanc 149 Meisterstuck Fountain Pen. Wow, chu-ching, that’s a lot of cash for a pen I said to myself.
I settled on a Leuchtturm pocket notebook and whatever I could find to write with. I carried the notebook with me everywhere and writing everyday has become a daily habit. As I was getting toward the end of my first notebook I still wanted to try writing with a writing instrument that was “more” personal than a basic ball point pen.
My search for an alternative to an expensive Montblanc led me to a Parker 51 vacumatic fountain pen made in the 1940s. I found one a reconditioned one on eBay. I did buy some Montblanc ink while traveling through the Atlanta airport to fill it with. To me it has made difference when I write. Plus I have moved to a Midori Traveler’s Notebook and have incorporated the Bullet Journaling system to my daily routine.
So this morning I thought I’d make a photograph “journaling” in my favorite chair drinking a Nespresso gathering my thought’s for this post.
Duane Pandorf Photography 