Tag: Energy

The Power Of One
Creativity · Energy · Perry Portrait Art · Photography · Practice

The Power Of One

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

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.)

He Who Walks Three Ways

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.

Sane Spaces
Creativity · Photography · Practice · Vision

Sane Spaces

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

“I’m going to miss this show.”  

This student used to come to the UIC African American Art Gallery

to do her home work and study along with other students:

making art, practicing yoga,

and on Finals week, even eating breakfast there!

For four months, 11 photographs in the AACC gallery

imbued the space with energy, serving as an artistic ‘power station’ –

and creating a room that felt really nice to rest in.

Alchemist and Photographer Dorothy Perry can be contacted here.

Better With Age
Photography · Practice · Vision

Better With Age

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

I have a studio photograph of my parents as a middle aged married couple,

a posed portrait with her best outfit on, leaning on my dad’s back,

both with pleasant, fixed smiles. 

This is the same pose we always have of ourselves through school, printed in the yearbooks, and remembered by friends.  

But years later the children have only these photographs to recall their fathers, mothers, and beloved partners.  What is remembered of their sparkle and vitality?

It is no accident the photograph of my parents my sisters share the most is one of them as childhood sweethearts in their youth and energy, graceful in the naturalness of that candid, immediate moment.  

And it is kismet that years later, I find it is the seed of my creative technique in my search to capture real emotions for the romantic parents I love to photograph.

It stems from my desire to capture livelier, more engaged and energized portraits of mothers and fathers, photographing parents as the childhood sweethearts and lifelong soulmates they are.

My portraits are moments between two people in love, showing tenderness and affection. Glowing from true feelings inside for life and each other.

This intimate portrait is a gift that keeps on giving.

Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives.

Contact Dorothy here.

The Art of Desire
A Certain Way · Perry Portrait Art · Photography · Vision

The Art of Desire

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

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.

Make YOUR Art
Energy · Photography · Vision

Make YOUR Art

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

Today I want to send out good vibes

to the people who come up against the gatekeepers.

We have to live in your world sometimes,

but there is another world, more brightly lit.

(paraphrased from Tales From The Darkside, ha ha.)

Actual real-world people

choosing and buying things that are beautiful.

So, boys and girls, consider the source (even if they say they are ‘experts’)

and keep making your art anyway.

Keep refining – and keep making – your art

not just for the acclaim, but also to make money.

To teach yourself how to be a person who CAN:

become braver, learn new skills,

speak to strangers, get cooperation, meet deadlines.

Become a problem solver. Become a visionary for others.

Photography created these skills and this personality.

But it turned out it had to fit into my life in the right place.

Maybe you will always have it be the other job, as it is for me.

But keep art making in your life. ✨

See Here Now
Dorothy Perry · Perry Portrait Art · Photography · Practice

See Here Now

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

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.

Grit And Pearl
Photography · Practice · Vision

Grit And Pearl

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

I go online and Google myself sometimes, and saw an 2006 post from a fellow photographer, riffing on the theme of being a psychic photographer based on an ad I had written for my services. (To read the original post, click here.)

It was good-natured, but it stung a little that I had tried so carefully to describe what I did, only to have it be the butt of someone’s joke. And it apparently had still been smouldering, since it had caught my attention during a moment I had not expected.

I think to practice ones’ gift is to know that many times, it will be misunderstood.

The difference is that now I am choosing to see these kinds of situations with a mindset of appreciation for what it teaches – (even though I could not see it while it was happening.)

Some memories arise to a neutral, dispassionate view that acknowledges that yes, something happened, and despite potential for a cautionary tale, yes, it is done.

Others create laughter: I can take a deep breath and smile at challenges to my ego or my vanity. And others can be seen with compassion for a young person’s mis-reading of emotion and information.

When this comes up again in the Slideshow of my Mind,

I will choose to see and feel it differently.

I’ll bring a gentle, open, and curious self to those formative incidents,

especially ones that ‘ring up’ old memories or create unexpected charges of emotion.

I see it in the light of day,

the drama of the story dissolving.

I see it now for the best for everyone involved.

The energy of releasing old stories affects people differently.

Sometimes the act of getting it out happens quickly,

and other times, I have to let it work its way and have its say quietly,

as there is more under the surface that takes time to unfold.

The years since have created someone new:

Someone with a dream, even when another cannot see it (or see it yet.)

With that vision, even the irritations of life are welcomed for the ‘pearl’ created.

Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives.  Contact her studio for commissioned work here.  

Just For You
Creativity · Energy · Perry Portrait Art · Photography · Practice

Just For You

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

Being a freelance photographer really has made me

a person who has had many varied experiences in my career.

Emphasis on the ‘varied’.

But they were experiences that taught me much

about the ‘soft skills’ of working with people,

even if it taught me what not to do the next time.

When I chose to use my intuitive senses in my daily life,

I did so as a photographer as well.

And the people who came into my life in personal and business ways

were people who tested me. Emphasis on the ‘test.’

Communication breakdowns, money issues, ego bruising experiences.

Only thing I can do is choose my reaction to it,

knowing that self-control is the master class

in releasing glamourous holds on me.

My brilliant energy and heart are part of my backbone now,

and I have strength and determination

as if a spark had lit the fire in me

to create something extraordinary for you

in my pictures of everything

whether you see it or not.

Dorothy Perry shoots clear, honest work, play and family images

that show the beauty of everyday life at its’ best.

Let’s meet through the Contact Page if we click.

Like Attracts Like
Consciousness · Creativity · Photography · Vision

Like Attracts Like

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

The mind attracts the thing it dwells upon.

Dorothy Perry facilitates authentic, aware intimacy in relationships and evolving personal portraiture (It’s ALL in the eyes.) Mystic by birth, photographer by choice. Here.

Consciousness · Energy · Vision

Roots and Branches

Dorothy PerryLeave a comment

“Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height.

Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches.

Happiness is like a tree going into the sky,

and sadness is like the roots

going down into the womb of the earth.

Both are needed,

and the higher a tree goes,

the deeper it goes, simultaneously.

The bigger the tree,

the bigger will be its roots.

In fact, it is always in proportion.

That’s its’ balance.” – Osho

I welcome the opportunity to create thoughtful portraits for discerning clients.

Questions and inquiries through my Contact page here.