My pictures come in as sentences,
short bursts of words my mind plays
in response to a picture or feeling.
Not song lyrics or anothers poetry
but what my mind says in seeing it;
the repeated refining and speaking it aloud,
the ear to hear a new sentence within,
creates the energetic poetry
that finally gets to what
I really mean to say.
I have been a photographer without a fixed location for much of my career here in Chicago. A permanent location never seemed in the cards for me.
As years went by, the vision of this passion would flare briefly when I displayed my photos in local coffeeshops, bakeries, libraries and other unconventional spaces.
I once had a charming space in a vintage building at a prime location in the Wicker Park area. As everything I earned was consumed by rent, I quickly learned the grown-up lesson about pricing my services appropriately!
Back to home base again, not only for financial reasons, but to do a deep dive into the inner self that kept sabotaging me, saying I did not deserve to be successful.
Seeking independence, going my own way, creating something different: the miasma of all these rejections seemed to hang in the air, clouding my picture of myself with my dream.
I did not know I had to keep seeing the dream in detail, no matter what my current situation said, no matter what painful memories I remembered, to eventually hear the clear quiet that guides my actions now.
This included honest, updated assessment of that relationship as well. Five years after publishing this post, I have left this relationship.
But…using the emotional energy contained in memory that is able to be recalled and returned fully back to me, the enjoyment of life returned full force,
and a spectacular dream came true during the summer of 2024.
I love to share what opens energy around me, and am posting an original affirmation that also addresses the concerns around making increasing amounts of money.
There are different ways to use this gem:
I choose now to heal my relationship with money and my finances. So it is.
I release all resistance to where I am right now financially.
I release being angry with or hating my current position now with money. I let this go now.
I open myself to know that where I am now is only temporary, and I choose to fully embrace and accept where I am now with complete love so that I can create more money and wealth. So it is.
I release all resistance to being broke, or not having enough money. I allow myself to just be with it now.
I open myself to know that if I embrace this now, and stop looking at my situation as bad, the energy will transmute and things can change. I allow myself to accept it now. So it is.
I release making being broke or without money wrong.
I release the feeling that where I am right now is bad.
I release all beliefs that I am a failure if I don’t have enough money. I let that go and open myself to know that life is full of contrasting experiences just so that I can get clear on what I want to create.
I open myself to know that “good” or “bad,” is just “desired,” and “undesired.” So it is.
I release any repeated focusing on how much I don’t have.
I release all decisions to see, hear, focus and speak from scarcity, and I choose now to focus on all the abundance in my life.
I open myself to remember that scarcity and limitation doesn’t really exist anywhere but in my mind. I release it from my mind and focus and in every situation I choose abundance. So it is.
I completely and fully forgive myself for creating this current situation.
I open myself to correct myself without blame, shame, or invalidation. So it is.
I release all beliefs, agreements and programming from my parents and 5 generations back that making money is wrong for an artist, troublesome, and dangerous, and that I am disloyal for wanting to be rich.
I release all programming that money is scarce, limited, and hard to make.
I release all memories from this lifetime and all other lifetimes of issues of and around money.
I let this go now, and I transmute all memories and unwanted energies into pure light… so it is.
I release my association of earning and having money and finances with emotional, mental or physical pain.
I open myself to see that money was never capable of hurting me or those I love. I let this go and see money and prosperity and creativity with new eyes. So it is.
I release all decisions, agreements and programming from this life, energy, and experiences that having lots of money is limited, difficult, hard, dangerous, and troublesome to have.
I let this go and open myself to remember that I am a powerful creator capable of creating and manifesting anything I choose.
I choose to remember that all it takes is a simple shift in my focus. I remember this now and shift my focus accordingly. So it is.
I open myself to fully experience having more and more than enough money in my life.
I open myself to experience being rich and wealthy, and I allow myself to have it now. So it is.
I choose to put myself in the space of already having that which I want, so that I call it into my experience metaphysically first.
And I open myself to have fun with this, and to enjoy the journey. So it is.
I now rest in abundance, I rest in having enough. I find my stillness in the space of well-being and in being, doing and having more. So it is.
After the affirmation, ’embody’ it –
Wiggle a ‘happy dance’ like a kid! Smile! Clap, jump and shake out your body!
BE thanks for the abundance you have now and what you already have experienced! Spread the good energy ‘sparkle’ around in your world!
May this aid circumstances seen and unseen to bring abundance into your life.
Let’s connect through my Contact Page to talk about envisioning yours.
My personal portraits focus on enjoyment & contemplation.
To that end, I remove canes, walkers, and aids for standing in the final framed portrait.
It is not a denial of their current age or health situation,
but a focus on a personal image that celebrates
a life-affirming vision of wholeness.
Always to your health, Dorothy
Professional artists love the opportunity for a ‘hands-on’ workshop with Sean Michael Felix, one of the best gold sign artists in the Midwest and the US.
Everyone’s creativity was enhanced by the beautiful setting and free flow of information: an urban ‘artist’s retreat’ experience.
Even the cats played their part to bring an ultra-relaxed vibe into the space.
These artisans in glass, tattooing, custom finishing, and sign-making come here to play, take these techniques to their businesses, and make them their own.
It feels great to be able to impart such knowledge and create artwork that adds much-needed beauty to this world.
Reach out to have a real artist experience. Feed your soul by creating something beautiful!
Sean Michael Felix Illumination Art & Design 26oo W North Ave. Chicago, Il 60647. Email: smfelixart@yahoo.com. Phone: 815-922-0959. Hours by appointment.
This jaunty derby
was an essential part
of this young man’s daily outfit
for school for a time.
We artistic types recognize
what courage it takes and what it costs
to be so different in this world.
This tiny picture fragment from long ago
becomes a testament to childhood’s beautiful, original spirit.
Dorothy Perry documents childhood at all ages. Contact her to photograph a loved one here. Consider yourself a loved one, too.
I am thinking of you all the time
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Love, Mom
I found this thought at the end of a letter
I wrote to my daughter years ago.
Intuition places these things in my way to contemplate,
and in this mindset, I see evidence of my behavior with my family,
with people I knew, and people I wanted to know.
My Gordian knot if some think it so, but a rich source of emotion
like the experienced Advisor in your ear in the shadows,
providing wise input as well.
Today I want to raise the counterintuitive idea
of seeing signs of your earlier self in these little ways,
to learn about yourself and your little ‘likes’
by being familiar with your internal body sensations for ‘yes’ happiness
and where you get your feelings of childlike delight
(mine is making snow angels!)
Enjoy what happens when you begin to treat yourself
as a person you care for,
find nice things for,
think with interest about,
enjoy time with,
and want to see succeed.
Dorothy Perry seeks to capture the energy of the Divine in photographing portraits and special occasion events. Contact her here.
Yesterday I went to our neighborhood laundromat for the first time.
During the little banter you do at the counter, I asked for the bathroom key, and as he handed it to me, the owner told me to look out for the ghost in there.
With a straight face.
The act of suggestion and creating an image in another mind is a powerful energetic exchange. If you only knew how your words really affect and create all around you!
You better believe I THOROUGHLY searched the room for anything out of the ordinary. This restroom was a little larger than a bathroom, and the motion control light at the door was at a distance from the seat.
You would have this picture playing in your head when the motion sensor turned the lights off while you were in the room.
He couldn’t know that when I was 11 and away at camp the counselor scared me with a story so bad I was afraid of bathroom mirrors for years.
But as a grown @$$ woman I sang, laughed, and twirled the key above my head all the while I was there – and in leaving, asked if there was a ghost or unwanted energy, to leave the building and go in peace.
When I returned the key, the owner asked me if anything had happened, and said.”when the light goes off. the ghost grabs you by the throat” and made the gesture.
Did he believe there was a ghost? Was this a game? I can only have my impression of the interaction: he had a serious expression through it all.
But it was transmuted this time by my intention not to play along. I thanked him for warning me about it so I was prepared.
Interesting watching his expression change. I think I spoiled his fun a little. Or exorcised the ghost. Both situations are ok with me.
Look at the stuff that scared you when you were a kid in the light of day. Look and keep looking to reduce the energetic ‘hold’ it has on you. No shame if you need to have a blanket to peek from! But see it, laugh at it, demystify it.
And be free of it.
To Your Ever Abundant Health, Dorothy 
One of the most read posts I sent out on my WooWay personal newsletter mailing, called The Internet is Forever (Asterix) involved dealing with loss of the photographs I took for the Chicago Reader when the newspaper issues were digitized.
In this, I wrote about my discovery that examples of my early photography career with the Chicago Reader were no longer visible in their online archives…anywhere.
Due to size or intellectual property issues, they imported the articles, but did not include the photographs from earlier editions of the paper.
The email started with dealing with the reality of the situation – but at the end* celebrated the various soft and hard skills learned with the experience.
Fast forward nine months, and through the wonders of Instagram, I get a ‘ping’ from an artist group I photographed in 1992, updated in a Gossip Wolf column. (the article here.)
After I did a quiet appreciative happy dance, I decided to update the story. In addition to the pleasant surprise in being led to one of my photos, it was also a little reminder to me to give life’s irritations or obsessions up to the body’s wisdom, and let things happen as they will.
*Looking with the attitude that there is nothing to panic about or ‘fix’ is a mindset that allows for quiet personal wonder, delight, and awe, even within an ordinary day.
I found that by not fighting and resisting and replaying the memories accompanied by emotions that would suddenly float in and make themselves felt, they changed or would leave by themselves. No examining or selecting anything for further review, I stayed present with no judgement as to what came up, and it would just evaporate.
Practice presence in all different types of situations to have the grounded feeling of being inside your body. Feel the heat through your fingers, feel your toes against the floor, use your senses. Even if at times you conduct your day on autopilot, make time to connect with yourself through the day.
I invite you to subscribe to my ‘Woo Way’ newsletter for intuitive counterintuitive strategies to help sense the world around you at your best. The sign up link is here. I look forward to meeting you there.
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago photographer of peoples’ personal lives and celebrations. Contact her at perryportraitart@gmail.com or here. Thank you.
Thought + desire = reality.
This is my solo exhibition of artwork displayed in a beautiful Chicago church.
100% an artist’s dream until I added imaginating: the art of visualizing in 360 degree detail.
I walked the hallways, looked at my pictures like a visitor, touching the frames, greeting guests.
I said (and felt) the emotion of thanks and gratitude while I was doing it.
How long? Sometimes it takes a bit. You must be specific. Down to the smallest details, yet not have to have it in stone. I don’t know how else to describe it.
When you begin to have experience and success with smaller goals, it can appear in shorter amounts of time.
When I deliberately concentrated on it was when my partner was working on exhibiting. We spoke of details, frames, deadlines.
Then out of the blue, the thought formed in this exact sentence,
“I would like to have a show, too.”
And my thoughts were set in motion in this manner.
Within two months, I learned one of my photographs was included in a show of female blues artists in Evanston.
I enjoyed the reception experience and happiness of seeing my art on the wall.
Months later came a request to see if I was interested in exhibiting here.
My own show.
And I was able to display artwork from a personal project
that had given me a lot of happiness in making it.
Thinking in the way of imaginating begins by deciding what you want
and then creating a clear mental picture of it.
Then, you must keep that image in mind continually,
like a port toward which you are sailing a ship.
SEE IT in detail, and add your emotions: happiness, contentment, excitement.
FEEL the weight, shape, or heat.
BREATHE IN the scent of what you are touching, and
HEAR the clink or creaks of materials or background noise.
Gently add one by one until ALL senses are participating.
Our minds can do it with our eyes open. No rituals, chants, or changes in breathing are needed.
Each time you imaginate the picture, let the feeling linger.
Pay attention to the directions and choices in your daily life that come your way.
These ‘random’ things direct the next steps towards your goal.
Advance your dream with preparation and confidence (get passport updated, check out class tuition, go see the house)
and feelings of gratitude for what you have.
Interestingly enough, the solutions that come will have the unique circumstances that you need. This is also something that you can request.
We all can do this, but we have been taught many patterns of behavior that suppress our natural inclinations in creativity, curiosity, and play.
This manner helps create a personality who has tenacity, faith, persistence and focus on their goals.
You can make some of your dreams and desires come true. May you have God’s blessings of abundance over your life.
Chicago personal photographer Dorothy Perry creates portraits and art with the distinctive signature of energy. Contact her for commissions or exhibitions here.
Like Vincent Van Gogh, Vivian Maier’s fame
came after her death.
That decision to bring her camera,
to record her life in photographs
and practice and misstheshot and have agooddaybutbadlight
and haveabadday andgetstubborn andcryandkeepcomingback
and hoping the light is good when she can get some time.
The seeing, taking the photo all one can do,
becomes the art. The making it that counted.
Even in normal days,
there are times of beauty
and opportunities for awed appreciation.
Pay attention. And have your camera with you.
I welcome the opportunity to create thoughtful portraits for discerning clients.
Questions and inquiries through my Contact page here.
