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april - may diary / on missing the "social" in social media / crocus valley updates / work news / bookmarks
Hello almost a month later!
April was incredibly rough with a very poorly cat who needed all of our attention – happily, he’s gotten so much better in the past two weeks and is almost fully recovered. I’ll be paying some cat tax today, so scroll down to see the aforementioned kitty cat down below 🐈⬛
With that, things are slowly getting back to normal – which is great, because work-wise, things are kicking off! In contrast to home-life in April, I’ve had lots of exciting work news in both writing and photography spheres. It has been a much-needed silver lining.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m presenting my everyday photography, the ones I share in the so-called “visual journal” below. Since starting this newsletter, I’ve enjoyed this space to write about and share both exciting news and bad times, but I’m not sure it’s the right place for my visual journal. I’m not keen on going back to Twitter at all, and in fact I seem to be spending less and less time there – though it’s still useful, and I’m still experiencing some exciting and useful connections through sharing what I’m doing there.
I’m actually considering going back to Instagram. I’ve been “off” Insta for the past couple of years now, only posting maybe four or fives times in that time. With the amount of interesting projects and opportunities that are happening for me in the next few months, it could be the best place for me to be sharing – for now.
And, if I’m honest, I desperately miss seeing what friends and family and my wider creative network are up to! I’ve felt so out of the loop with the photography and arts world, and I realised that’s partly because I got most of my news and got to see lots of new work via Instagram.
So, I’m thinking about it. If I return, it’s got to be to a totally different user experience – no scheduling, no analysing, no trying to do my best to be liked by the algorithm, no paid ads… no bother. Since leaving and randomly posting every few months or so, I’ve still gotten a decent (and sometimes better!) engagement. So the key seems to be not to care.
See you again next time,
A x
Visual journal
Crocus Valley
Things are ramping up! We’re slowly ticking things off the to-do list, and hopefully soon I will be sending out my very own “save the date”. Here’s a little teaser for you in the meantime – I’m excited to share that wonderful Croydon artist Bev Jones has contributed artwork for the cover of the book. Here we are digitising it!
Work work
Last week (on Star Wars day!) I celebrated TWO YEARS of running my writing business. It’s nuts how quickly that’s gone and the things that have happened since I decided to take on writing professionally! I decided to
On the same morning as my year two anniversary, I woke up to find out that I WAS IN VOGUE, BABY.
I recently licensed out this portrait of the brilliant Katy Hessel (taken at my fave The London Library) who is on tour in the US with her book The Story of Art Without Men.
I write a weekly newsletter for Where the Leaves Fall. This past month I’ve been writing about the wild gaze, earth day, and transitional seasons.
I’ve spent most of the last few weeks gazing into the eyes of my injured cat, keeping track of his energy, mood, discomfort, and pain. Waiting for his tired and unseeing eyes to return to the brightness and curiosity of his usual wild gaze.
During this time, while thinking about my own “wild reflections” ahead of this week’s Earth Day, I was reminded about the idea of the wild gaze and the article I’d first come across it in – Issue #10's Consulting the Oracles, written by regular contributor and journalist Jini Reddy.
One of my favourite parts of wandering and walking, whether just around the neighbourhood or a long-distance trek over hundreds of miles, are the human-nonhuman interactions I experience. Nosy cats, parakeets and magpies and crows in the garden, suspicious but often friendly farm dogs, roaming horses, even bulls unexpectedly seen through mist here in south London. And this "theme" comes out plenty in my photography. It's the animals I'm drawn to most, and now I realise that this is one of my strongest connections to nature.
I did some more portraits for The London Library earlier in the year, a place which immediately became a favourite to photograph in!
Bookmarks
I really don’t need more books to add to the TBR pile, but I absolutely need Alycia Pirmohamed’s Another Way to Split Water.
I loved coming across this ‘HTML garden’ last week!
I’m obsessed with this artist’s oil pastel paintings.
I’m also obsessed with the b.e.a.u.tifullll cover of Noreen Masud’s new book A Flat Place
Tipping jar
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A bit about me
Hey! I’m Ameena – a writer and photographer based in London. I love to tell stories about adventure, the outdoors, and our relationship with the natural world.