Superhero Summer Photo Tip #1

Right before I took the photos above, I shouted urgently to my friend, “Watch Nico! I have to get my camera!”

It had been bright and sunny all day – a gorgeous day by every measure – except that it was too bright to take a great photograph. The shadows were too harsh, too blinding. Too much middle-of-the-day sun. I regretted having lugged my big old camera  all the way to the beach.

But suddenly, the sun went behind the clouds! We love the clouds! and created a perfect diffuser for the sun. The shadows softened and the light became hazy and almost yellow. I snapped like crazy and Nico hammed it up for the camera. The sun returned shortly after, but I was delighted to get some beautiful shots in that dreamy light.

This summer, pay attention to when the sun goes behind the clouds. Instead of lamenting the cold, celebrate the light! and grab your camera.

More great photogaphy lessons in Superhero Photo!

Class begins next Monday, June 24th, 2013.

This post is in celebration of the brand new book: The Declaration of You! by Michelle Ward and Jessica Swift. I’m so honored to have been interviewed for the book (you can see my chapter by getting + get a preview of the book here). Here are some thoughts about intention, something near and dear to my heart. May the manifesting begin!

How often do you set intentions, and how do you determine what it needs to be?

If you know anything about me, you know that I love creating Mondo Beyondo lists. These lists are all about stretching yourself into new territory. It is your list of the most outrageously wonderful things you can imagine creating for yourself. It’s where you write: Live in Sevilla, Spain for 3 months, meet Alanis Morrisette and perform in a flashmob. It’s where you capture the dreams that you didn’t know you had (and don’t know how you will achieve) but they are dreams that make you feel a bit giddy just thinking about.

I use the Mondo Beyondo list as a way to expand my sense of what’s possible. If I am stretching myself into a place beyond what’s comfortable or what I think is “possible” then I am reaching into a new place in my heart. Also, not everything on the list has to be outrageous… Mondo Beyondo dreams also look like this: Heal my marriage, experience self-love, cultivate new friendships + find my tribe.

I usually remember to do a Mondo Beyondo list on my birthday or on New Year’s Day, but it would be a great practice to do each month or each quarter. Public transportation is a great place to do Mondo Beyondo lists.

Have you experienced something happening to you that you attribute to directly setting it as an intention?

So many things! The time I met Ben Harper on a bus in San Francisco is one of my favorite manifesting stories.

Why do we feel uneasy in setting intentions?

It’s natural to feel a bit uneasy when setting intentions. It leaves us a bit vulnerable. We’ve just declared something we want -something that means a lot to us- and we don’t know if we will actually get it!

For some of us, we learned it was safer to not desire things because the pain of rejection or feeling disappointed had us feel unloved. I remember being afraid to tell my parents what I wanted for my birthday as a child because I was afraid they would forget or decide that I was asking for too much. I couldn’t bear the thought of the disappointment so I chose practical things instead. Or I’d say, “I don’t need anything. Whatever you think…”

I think it’s still a leap of faith for me to “put it out there” and declare what I want in a powerful way. There’s still that voice that shows up and says, “Fat chance, that’ll never happen” or “Who do you think you are?”

I think it’s important to WRITE THE LISTS ANYWAY.

And keep them private if they feel too vulnerable. Sometimes I make a list and put it under my bed. They are my private little deal with the Universe anyway.

 What’s your personal declaration around intention?

I believe that my intentions are a powerful declaration both to myself and to the Universe. Speaking them out loud (to myself or to someone else) sets something in motion, a kind of wave of energy that I have to be ready to ride. It will usually require something of me — courage and a willingness to be vulnerable. If my intentions are aligned with my spirit however, this momentum can only take me to new places of growth, joy and fulfillment. I trust my intentions to carry me exactly where I need to go.

The Declaration of You! will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they’ve craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You’s BlogLovin’ Tour, which I’m thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more — and join us! – by clicking here.

P.S. Leave a comment about something you are currently manifesting and you could win a copy of the Declaration of You!

Sean Hayes playing at the UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

Sean Hayes playing at the UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

Sean Hayes playing at the UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

You can hear more music from the incredible Sean Hayes here!

As I lay down in yoga recently, a line from a Rumi poem came to me:

Start a huge,  foolish project
like Noah.

It makes absolutely no difference 
what people think of you.

It felt like a message. Nothing short of divine. I had been feeling around in the dark all year for my next e-course but coming up short. I wanted to create something that would delight + energize me. Something that would be a huge gift to my community. Something that connected all of us in a meaningful way.

My body buzzed with excitement as I realized what my next offering would be– Start a Foolish Project! And by foolish, I mean awesome. Foolish projects are those things we do simply for the delight and the joy.

They are things like creating a wish tree or hosting a Storybowl. They might be organizing a bubble flash mob in the park or a book club for people who only read self-help books. A foolish project might be buying that pink ukulele that caught your eye and learning to play it. A foolish project could be deciding to make 10,000 hats and give them away.

Foolish projects make us feel alive.

Here’s my foolish project:

I am going to gather a group of women here in Berkeley (you’re invited!), hire a choreographer and learn a cheesy dance routine. Emphasis on cheesy. Then, we’re going to flash mob it! Yes, like in those you tube videos. Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?!!!

Foolish projects appeal to my sense of play, my desire to feel alive + my love of stories. No matter what happens, you will always have the story about that time you were in a cheesy flash mob, right? Even if it was a total disaster. It really doesn’t matter.

What’s your foolish project?

Maybe you do something like my friend Maya Stein who decided to celebrate her 40th birthday by bicycling across the country dragging an old-fashioned typewriter and holding spontaneous poetry workshops.

Or maybe you are more like that woman I heard about last year that was craving community. She decided to drag her rarely used farm table to her backyard, hung some twinkly lights and extended an open invitation to her neighbors for a potluck dinner every Sunday evening at 6pm. She transformed her entire community this way.

Join me + discover the foolish project inside of you.

This 5 week course begins July 1st, 2013.

Early bird registration available now for $79!

If you are in the Bay Area and want to be a part of my cheesy flash mob, you are more than welcome. The more, the merrier. (superherosf@gmail.com)

Ben rocking out in the kitchen

Ben was in a talent show at the local toy store last year.

When I asked him what he’d like to do, he said he’d like to perform one of his songs. His “songs” at the time were a mashup of jewish folk tunes and heavy metal. The likes of which this world might never have seen before!

He practiced outside the toy store with me, “Hine ma tov uma-na-im… (and now insert growly, deep, heavy metal voice) shevet achim gam yavat…”

It was, in short, awesome.

Ben was so excited to get on stage when we entered the store that he insisted on MC’ing the whole thing and asked if he could perform first. As I sat in the audience with my iphone video all ready to go, I saw the surprise in his eyes. It was fear but it was also surprise at how scared he actually was. He didn’t expect this at all! As a result of the sheer, unexpected terror, nothing came out of his mouth.

You can do it! all of us called out. The entire room of kids cheered him on. But he crumpled, literally, and fell to the ground. I can’t do it! he shouted from the floor.

Another kid went instead and did a fart song by putting her hand inside her armpit. (Super impressive I might add) Then a boy who was great at yo-yo did his thing.

Ben was ready to try again. I readied my camera, said a little prayer and all of us cheered again, but he was terrified and ran off the stage.

“Try starting with your back to us!” I encouraged, and that seemed to help. He started his song with his back to the audience and eventually mustered up the courage to turn around. He improvised a song, a hilarious mix of metal and rap and jewishness, and we all cheered when it was over.

He was a bit mortified by the whole thing.

But here’s what I want to share with you: Ben is now LEGENDARY at Mr. Mopp’s toy store in Berkeley. Every time we go in there, the owner says, “Ben! We loved your song at the talent show! You have a lot of fans here.” Other employees will literally come out of the back and gather around. “Ben is here! Yeah, the one from the talent show!”

They love him.

And my guess is that they love him because he was brave.
They love him because he was human.
He was afraid and he went for it anyway.

He sang a song, his song. And even though he couldn’t quite look anyone in the eyes when he did it, he did it anyway.

Ben once asked me what a legend was. I told him it was someone that people talked about for many years after they were gone, even hundreds of years, because they were so extraordinary. “Like Jesus?” he asked. “Yes. Like Jesus. And Miles Davis.”

“I want to be a legend,” he told me.

I think he’s well on his way. And he is teaching me that being brave + vulnerable is key. The crowd loves you all the more for it.

Nico playing guitar from andrea scher on Vimeo.

It’s a good sign when you are only 17 pages into a book and you think, this might be my favorite book ever. That’s how I’ve been feeling about Glennon Doyle Melton’s beautiful memoir, Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed. It will make you laugh + give you courage all at the same time. How have I not been reading her blog all these years?

I’m also juggling 5 other books. That’s how I roll:

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber

A Field Guide to Now by Christina Rosalie

My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachel Naomi Remen is always on my nightstand.

What books are you loving these days?

Laurie Wagner

Laurie Wagner

Laurie Wagner

Laurie Wagner

Laurie Wagner

Rachel Cole

Rachel Cole

Rachel Cole

Elizabeth Sullivan

Elizabeth Sullivan

Rebecca Brams

Rebecca Brams

I love taking head shots. They sound boring if they conjure up images of something you have to take for work, something shot in a cubicle maybe, or those posed school pictures from grade school.

But I love intimacy of the head shot. Just me, my subject and the best light I can find. Since we ALL feel awkward having our picture taken, I take it as my sole mission to have them say at the end, ‘That was totally painless and fun!”

The real joy however is if they actually love what I’ve shot in the end. If they can say, I never like photos of myself, but I love how you see me. I love what I see in these images… it’s the best feeling ever. It’s reflecting someone’s beauty back to them. It’s like saying, See? This is how the world sees you! And when it’s received on their end, it feels like an even bigger gift on mine.

Want to transform the way you take photos?

Superhero Photo starts June 24th, 2013.

Join me! Spend the summer learning all of my best tricks and create a beautiful collection of images you are proud of. You can learn more here.

“Superhero Photo has been more than just a photography course; it has felt more like a celebration of life with a friend who has been helping me to experience more joy in the world around me and to express that joy through photography.” -Tamara, Superhero Photo student

*The portraits above are my most recent headshots, Laurie Wagner, Rachel Cole,  Elizabeth Sullivan and Rebecca Brams. All creative, beautiful and awesome ladies up to some really cool things. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up & Running

Running is more than a workout. It’s a portal to mind-body alignment.
It’s a source of community. It’s soul-searching & goal-setting.
It’s where wisdom meets wonder, with the wind in your hair.

And it’s not just for the skinny, the svelte, or the superhuman. It’s for YOU.

At Up & Running we’ve got all the goodies to help you. Our e-courses from 5K, 10K to half-marathon runs all come with expert coaching, unlimited support and a vibrant members forum.

Join us for our June courses and we’ll get you on your feet, out the door, and into the world… registration is now open!

“I can’t praise Up & Running highly enough. Being a part of the community has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had… I go out running now for the sheer enjoyment of it and every single time I have to chuckle a bit to myself at what I’ve accomplished. Me, a runner.” — Svava, UK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inner Moves — Maureen Clancy

Deep down you’re sensitive and brilliant, but you’ve been playing small.  For years, you’ve been fighting the feeling that you’re not good enough. But the more you fight, the bigger it gets.

Meanwhile, opportunities for happiness, love, and money are slipping by.

You secretly wish you could:
• Go after your dreams.
• Take more risks and delight in the rewards.
• Release negative habits like self-sabotage.
• Feel more compassion for yourself and others.

Inner Moves is a 6-week e-Course that’ll help you do these things.

Imagine how it would feel to:
• Stop fighting this feeling.
• Have specific tools to use when this feeling gets big.
• Belong to a community of women in which you’ll be encouraged, validated and safely held.
• Begin to accept — all parts of yourself (… even those you don’t like).
• Stop holding back and live the life you were meant to live.

My deepest desire for you is to love and accept yourself . . . no matter what.

Want to sponsor your friend, sister, mother, daughter? You are amazing, AND you get $50 off her fee. That’s a whole-life changing course for 100 bucks!
1. Visit http://www.maureen-clancy.com/inner-moves
2. Click Add to Cart.
3. Type sponsorasister in the discount box (as one word with no spaces).
4. Click Checkout to pay.
5. I’ll email you a gift certificate to send her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kelly Rae Roberts

I’m Kelly Rae Roberts. I’m an artist, author + a Possibilitarian.

I believe that art has the transformative power to heal (both the maker and the receiver of that art).

I believe that we get to make the rules, that we get to choose, that we get to craft the exact life that has been waiting for us. And when we do, we become fully alive.

I also believe that we are meant for the complicated journeys of brokenness and wholeness, vulnerability and courage, wisdom and silliness. Sometimes all at once. But more on that, later.

An Accidental Artist

I spent my early career as a clinical medical social worker — counseling broken hearts, and helping others through the fights of their lives. It was powerful, important work — but my heart began to grow restless.

Until . . . I started playing with paint, at age 30. And everything shifted and changed and opened up. A new way of experiencing, translating, sharing & being in the world was born.

Come say hello at http://kellyraeroberts.com + use coupon code SUPERHERO for 20% off any purchase in the shop!