Posted By Amanda on January 26, 2012

You know when you read a book and it speaks to your heart so clearly that you feel as though it was written specifically for you? I felt that whilst reading every word of Pia Jane Bijkerk‘s My Heart Wanders. If you love to travel, to discover, to follow your heart, to make your home beautiful no matter where you are, then this book will speak straight to your soul.

Pia shares her journey from her life in Sydney to experiences living Paris and finding peace on a quaint little houseboat in Amsterdam. Her words are so honest, yet quiet; and falling into her book is like sitting down to afternoon tea with a friend. It spoke so strongly to experiences I myself have faced and lead me on a journey to one I have dreamt about. Her book is filled with beautiful photographs, doodles and notes that are so perfectly Pia. I fell so deeply into her beautiful world and may have even shed a tear of two. Insightful, poetic and charming, My Heart Wanders is a wanderer’s treasure.

I was lucky enough to spend a lovely brunch with the lady herself while I was back home in Australia and she is just as beautiful in person as she is in book form. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I can’t recommend it enough!

Find information about My Heart Wanders here.

p.s. Happy Australia Day- and yes, I had to share some Aussie love today!

Posted In: Creativity, Inspiration, Sydney | {7 Comments}
Tags: Books, My Heart Wanders, Pia Jane Bijkerk

Posted By Amanda on January 23, 2012

The Shoot By Design Spring session registration is now open.

The Spring class runs from Monday March 5 to Friday April 13, 2012. You can find out about the course here, read the testimonials page here and register here now.

To coincide with the Spring session, I’ve written a guest post about style and photography over on Shutter Sisters. Check it out…there’s a little surprise at the end.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful suggestions for Paris. I have such a great long list to go through and have been checking out a lot of your suggestions online. I greatly appreciate your help- thank you so much. Have a great Monday!

Posted In: Photography, Shoot By Design | {No Comments}
Tags: Guest Posting, Shoot By Design, Shutter Sisters

Posted By Amanda on January 18, 2012

Dearest Paris,

For the longest time I have loved you from afar. You with your style and poise, never once knowing the longing in my glances, never once feeling the depth of my passion, you and I have been absent lovers for the longest of times.

In vain have I struggled. Struggled to recreate your seductions with charlatan croissants and lesser baguettes. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

I cannot wait any longer. With every fiber of my being, I will cross ocean and sea to be with you. I shall come in late winter when I will have you all to myself. We shall dance under the light of La Tour Eiffel and wander the hills of Montmartre as we have long dreamed.

With love and undying affection, I will see you very soon.

Love Amanda xx

Check out my Letters to Italy, France and Japan.

*Some lines of this letter may have been “borrowed” from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

…………………………………………………………………………

Yes, friends, can you believe it, I’m going to Paris! Finally! On my way to Marrakesh (where I am teaching our Instant Love retreat with Susannah and Jen), I am flying through Paris, so I am having a few days of awesomeness in the city I’ve been dreaming about for the longest time.

I am totally paranoid about speaking the language and looking like a hobo, so if you have any tips, I would greatly appreciate them. Cute areas to visit, cafes to eat at, museums to wander, outfits to wear, views to see and shops in which to spend Euro – I would love to hear all of your suggestions, so hit me!

Posted In: Cherished, Photography, Travel | {41 Comments}
Tags: France, Letters To Lovers, Paris, Travel

Posted By Amanda on January 16, 2012

Hello everyone,

Let’s kick off the year with some blog talk. I get a lot of emails from people asking me about blogging in general and setting up a photoblog, and a number of the Shoot By Design participants have asked for advice, so I thought I’d share some of my blogging tips and ideas. I don’t have the biggest blog on the block but I have been doing it for many years and am happy to share the things I’ve learned along the way.

Write with passion and about things you care about

If you love to photograph, write about photography. If you love design, write about that. There is no point in starting a blog on a topic that you are not totally in love with. Passion is infectious.

Have a clear purpose for your blog

Blogs that work are ones that clearly define what they are about and are consistent. Wishy washy ideas and topics make for a wishy washy blog.

Style is who you are

Find a look, feel and voice that is yours and yours alone. The way to figure that out is by doing some self discovery and being honest about who you really are. You are probably never going to see a “What I’m wearing” post on this blog. I love clothes and fashion but the idea of me being a fashion model makes me break out in the sweats and it’s just not what my blog is about. I’ll leave the fashion blogs to the people who do it well. Find your thing, and do it as only you can do.

Reply to comments

I think this one is a no-brainer. The people who comment on your blog have taken time out of their own busy schedules to not only read but comment, so it’s common courtesy to reply to them when they leave you comments. Obviously, if you are getting 50 plus comments on every post, that will become too much to reply to every single one. I certainly haven’t replied to every comment ever written here but I try to get to the majority of them. I also make an effort to reply to comments where a specific question has been asked. This is just my personal opinion and many bloggers may disagree but I think it comes down to respect, old school manners, and building a community.

Build a community

Decide whether you want your blog to be a place where you just showcase your work or a place where community exists. For Mocking Bird, I enjoy having a community to build around. I love that I have regular blog readers and commenters and building the community comes through being engaged, through asking genuine questions of your readers and asking them to share. I use twitter and facebook as an extension of that community also.

Make things pretty

White backgrounds, easy to read fonts, music free (lots of people complain about websites that have music playing as it can be intrusive) and a nice header or logo will go a long way in making people want to come back for more. If you have the cash, hire a designer to give your blog a makeover but go to them with a clear vision of what you want. Speaking of which, mine is way overdue for an overhaul.

Use photographs

They will make your blog far more visually appealing.

People scan the internet and big wads of text are going to put people off. Breaking it up with images can help. We are all pushed for time and unless you are an amazing writer, people are going to pick and choose what they read and what they scan. Break up the text with images and you will get more interest.

And if you are sharing your own photography, post images that are at least 500 pixels wide. You want the photographs to be the focus, so show them off as best you can!

Be Yourself

I’m sure you read this everywhere, but it’s such an important part of making your blog stand out in a sea of tumblrs, blogspots and inspiration blogs. Those quirks and personality traits that make you different…use them, don’t shy away from them. Find the Bjork* inside you!

*Bjork is the only Bjork on planet earth and that is why she is so freaking cool.

These are just some of my ideas and you may disagree with them but I’ve found they work for me. Do you have any other tips you’d like to share? What works for you?

Posted In: Creativity, Inspiration | {14 Comments}
Tags: Blog Tips, Blogging

Posted By Amanda on January 13, 2012

The woods and I have become kindred spirits.

- from a little project I’m working on. I’ll be adding more each week to the set here.

Lately I’ve been:

• enjoying flickr on a daily basis. Rachel from Buttons Magee wants us to bring back the flickr love and I’m totally on board. I’ve posted every day bar one so far this year and it feels great!
• loving the daily polaroids and photography of Amanda Marsalis
• sharing a little sneak peek of what’s at my bedside.
• doing internal high kicks because we scored Seattle Radiohead tickets.
• thinking I need to add more blazers to my wardrobe like this one and this one.
• rewatching Season 1 of Community- it’s even funnier the 2nd time around.
• loving this lady’s outlook on life and beautiful photography.
• getting excited about Wes Anderson’s new film.

p.s. Shoot By Design Spring 2012 is coming! I’m taking early registrations for the Spring class NOW and the official registration date is Monday January 23rd at 9am (PST). The Spring class goes from Monday March 5th to Friday April 13th. Check out the new testimonials page here!

Posted In: Inspiration, Photography | {18 Comments}
Tags: Forests, Link Love, The Forest

Posted By Amanda on January 10, 2012

One of the best things about living in Canada is the time spent experiencing new things and ones that I dreamt about as a kid. Wandering around a Christmas tree farm, all snuggled up in our winter coats and boots is a fairytale kind of existence, if only for an afternoon. I guess when you grow up with it, it doesn’t seem so special but for me it was one of those purely magical moments that I will treasure forever. The same way I’ll remember my first muddy tromping through a pumpkin patch and my first play in real snow. I guess I’ll always be a kid at heart and I’m ok with that. We all need magic in our lives, no matter our age.

Posted In: Cherished, Photography | {10 Comments}
Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree farm, film, Living in Canada, Portra400, Yashica

Posted By Amanda on January 6, 2012

What do you do when you have a post all lined up for the first one of the year and then your first book arrives on your doorstep? You ditch that post, snap a Polaroid with the only colour film you have (expired beyond expired) and do a happy dance.

Friends, yesterday, Susannah, Jen and I got the most lovely surprise in the mail- for our baby of the last year and half arrived in actual book form. Our lovely editor Bridget sent us the first copies of our Polaroid book and I can’t even express how many emotions ran through my body as I flipped through its pages. We have been dreaming of this day for a long time now and to finally have it here is rather surreal.

From the moment you start hatching ideas to the day you get to hold it in your hands is such a journey of; emotions, hard work, long nights, excitement, freak outs, re writes, fun, editing (and editing again and again), bonding and looking to the future. It’s hard to even put into words the feelings I’m now having to see my writing and photography in published form. Up until this moment, it never really seemed real.

I want to thank our editor Bridget and Chronicle Books for believing in us, our designer Brooke for making it all look so beautiful, but mostly I want to thank my co-authors Jenifer and Susannah, my pola sisters who I love so dearly.

Instant Love will be bursting from the shelves in bookstores from May/June or you can pre order it now on Amazon.

Here’s a sneak peek!

Posted In: Instant Love Book, Photography | {32 Comments}
Tags: Books, Instant Love, My first book, Polaroid, Polaroid photography, Published

Posted By Amanda on December 31, 2011

2010 was a tough, tough year. 2011 brought needed stability and strength and I’m hoping that 2012 will be the year we build ourselves back up again. I can feel it coming.

In January we started a year long journey snapping photographs once a month with the Twelve Photo project and I had some Polaroids published in the book, Polaroid Day.

February brought the delivery of our manuscript for Instant Love to Chronicle Books. That was a happy day indeed. It also brought the snow…

March was the month we talked about what we really want.

April was the month of getting published in magazines and wandering on Pacific Northwest beaches…

May was the month of farmer’s markets and venturing outdoors again.

June was about weddings and birthdays and the launch of our Pretty Polaroid Notes around the world.

July saw the announcement of our Instant Love Retreat in Morocco, day trips down to Seattle, and long afternoons in cafes with gorgeous light…

August was more weddings, guests from France and Boston, and the launch of Shoot By Design- my first online photography course. It was also the month that Instant Love appeared on Amazon and other book sellers.

September and October brought me home. I took a trip back to Australia to spend time with my beloved family and friends and it got me all the good stuff that going home always does.

In November we talked about why we take pictures, I shared more of my Sydney images and was published in Somerset Life mag thanks to the lovely Alex.

And December always brings my favourite time of year, bittersweet as it may be when I’m far from my family, but always joyful and full of hope. I love nothing more than gathering with my boy, family and friends to share good food, wine and stories. It also brought a feature in 16 Hours mag along with so many amazing artists. An absolute honour to close out the year.

In 2011, I didn’t travel like I normally like to, but it gave me the chance to really live in Vancouver and experience every season. I shot weddings, couples and portraits in 2011 – something I hope to do more of in 2012. I have a few goals that I’m storing in my mind but I shall keep those to myself for now as I already know that travel is going to be back in full swing in 2012. Hello Morocco! – and maybe a little stop somewhere I’ve been dreaming of… forever! If you are a long time Mocking Bird reader, you may be able to guess where.

Please share your end of year posts in the comments if you have them. I’d love to read them. And happy new year!!!

Posted In: Cherished, Photography | {17 Comments}
Tags: 2011, End of Year, New Year