Dancing in the Sun

When I started out in photography ten years ago, there was no such thing as digital SLR’s. To an extent there was an uncertainty of how your decisions would impact upon your shots. However, you could still predetermine your shutter speed, aperture, film speed and much more.

What I first noticed first when using the disposable camera was how nervous I felt. It   seemed too simple. There was no back up plan – no way of checking what you had done. The sense of control that you get when relying on your digital camera, lost. You just frame up your subject and with one push of a button the photograph is taken.

I got into it though and began to enjoy its straightforward process. It actually began to feel quite liberating. I also noticed that it engaged me in a different way – when using my digital SLR, I am very much in my head. My creativity is often focused on problem solving to perfect a shot. Using a disposable camera, I was so limited as to what I could do technically, it forced me to relax and have more fun and be more playful in my approach to getting the images I want.

So I would say, if you want to get back to basics, loosen yourself up creatively or just challenge your photography skills in a different way, go out and buy that disposable camera.

Christina x

Fesitival wind

Beachwear

Where's my head?

Each month the group collectively decides upon a brief to do. The task for June was to take some images in the style of a inspirational photographer. One of my own personal favourites is Bill Brandt and his various collections of nudes. I can’t quite fathom my fascination for his images. When I am taking nude and semi-nude images, I am often seeking to capture  images  I find uncomfortable. They may be less than flattering or somewhat distorted. Creatively I think its almost a liberation for my own image hang-ups (but maybe I just like wierdness).

Now this is not to say that I only see Bill Brandt’s images as wierd. I also find the lines and light he captures beautiful and fluid (both things I endeavour to capture in my own work). So anyway enough writing. Below you will find a variety of images inspired by his work. Some of the images are self portraits I have taken whilst hand holding the camera.

Enjoy!

Christinax

Resting Landscape

Self Portrait on a timer

Body from a different era

Flamingo

Mollie

Body Parts

Me and Hilary - a Naked Voice teacher and friend who introduced me to the work.

Last week completed my final module of the Naked Voice Facilitators training. It took place at Croyden hall in Somerset, it comprised of 23 trainees, a Naked Voice teacher as well as Chloe Goodchild (the founder of the work) and her core team  - Nicholas Twilley and  Masashi Minagawa.

Trainees came from all over the world including, Ireland, Canada, America, Switzerland and England. All bringing unique skills, experiences and teachings of the work.

If you asked each person on the course  ‘ What did you learn?’ or “Why are you on the course?’, no doubt you would find as varied stories and experiences as there can sounds in a voice.

Chloe Goodchild, Nicholas Twilley and some of the Naked Voice Facilitator's

The Naked Voice Facilitators training has had a profound effect on my life. It has brought me into touch with parts of my self that had been long forgotten and possibly never known. With each module, I have unravelled and let go of unnecessary baggage and learnt new ways of living my life.

At first the practice of working in triads, developing the ‘Witness Consciousness’, the ‘Loyal friend’ and the ‘Singer ‘ was hard for me. In groups of three, we would go into a room. One would sing and the others would witness or support `(loyal friend) the singer.  Often I found myself getting caught up with what I saw or heard in front of me. Internally I could hear my judgments and would find it hard stay in present moment. When it was my turn to sing, sometimes it was an effort. Sometimes the sounds coming out of me were too powerful, too painful or too alien for me to hear and the messaged offered would be lost.

One occasion, whilst practicing my witness consciousness, I noticed that when I sang, I would pour my heart out through my voice. It reflected my love for others and the duty I felt I had to make sure everyone around me was supported and okay. After a while I noticed singing this way had become exhausting. I then realized that I in my life all my energy was spent looking after others well being and making sure their needs were being met. This had become such a large part of my identity, I no longer really knew who I was or what I really wanted out of life.

This realization led me to a series of life altering decisions. I quit my job, split up with a boyfriend, moved out of a city and back to my hometown in the South East. I then went in pursuit of my dreams and passions.

Like I am sure many others on this journey before me, you can never be quite sure what this work will unravel and where it may lead you. I thought I was signing up to something that would strengthen my work with children and young people. Now I am working as a photographer, writer and am singing my own songs and playing guitar.

For me, what I experienced on the final module was a culmination of all that I had achieved and learnt with my Naked Voice.  The work has provided me with a greater sense of inner peace, self-acceptance and understanding and I can now hear my true self-calling. I hope to continue being involved with the Naked Voice community wherever it may lead and am looking very much forward to the new chapters of my ‘naked’ life.   Christina J. Baldwin

For more information about this work, please go to the www.thenakedvoice.com

Additional images of the week can also be found at:  www.flickr.com/photos/christinajbaldwin/

I met the woman in this picture over seven years ago. I was on my university placement in a hospital in South West India. My job at the time was to assess the effectiveness of a charitable children’s cerebral palsy clinic. Part of this process included myself and an interpreter visiting families in their homes and discussing with them the impact the clinic’s services had upon them.

The woman (I’ll call her Seetha) welcomed me into her home and shared with me the difficulties of her life and the help she needed.

Before I had left the hospital on my visits,  I had been given strict instructions by my supervisor… ” Do not give them any money . It will be like an invitation to families from all over the district to come in search of the ‘white lady’ who is giving out money”. As a twenty-two year old and new to India, I found this rather hard to believe but in  the end I decided to respect my supervisors wishes.

 The space Seetha lived in took up  3 x 2 metres of floor space and was home to three other adults and five children (one of which was severely disabled with cerebral palsy). So I sat with Seetha in her home asking questions and hearing her life story. I then drank my tea, took her portrait and the said my goodbyes.  

Since that day I have often looked upon her face and remember the sad stories she told me and how uncomfortable I felt by own comparative wealth. However what I recall most vividly about my time with Seetha was her reverence to life. When I met the many other families involved with the clinic, I heard time after time stories of hardship and difficulty. But they also seemed to be able to live in the moment and enjoy their days in ways that, at the time, I could only ever dream of.  

After I left India, I would discuss these experiences with peers and teacher. It was suggested by some that my interpretation of events was naive and somewhat idealised. However eight years on I believe by meeting Seetha and the many other families,  I had been taught a valuable lesson. The lesson was that Happiness can only truly be found from within. Whatever the external situation or event, each and every one of us have the ability to be happy and find joy in life. And so when I look at Seethas face I recall the difficulties she faced in the life she led but she also reminds me of her ability to savour the goodness in life! To find that joy within and use it to truly live!

Some Questions? What makes a dream maker successful? Does every dream maker follow the same pattern, the same process? Do they each have to have the same degree of consciousness in order to bring their thought forms into reality? Or does it just depend upon the world they live in, the beliefs they hold or maybe the gifts they carry within themselves. Are the challenges different or are they the same and…Can you be an unconscious dream maker?

I am going to go on a journey to try and find the answers to some of these questions and probably ask some more along the way! Join me!