Phoenix Rising
Gratitude Gallery
May 2021
www.greenclose.org
A phone photography gratitude practice, designed as a mood-boosting creative group activity, during these challenging times.
The Gratitude Gallery is a month-long project, with this particular course forming part of The Phoenix Rising Project (a mental health & wellbeing initiative) organised by Green Close Arts in collaboration with Kirkby Lonsdale CIC.
The course, comprising of 4 online workshops, brought a group of people together who learnt phone photography skills and used them to create daily photos of aspects of their life that they're grateful for.
This collection of images is the culmination of our month together and represents the vast array of these moments of appreciation, experienced and captured. A few of the group members have also chosen a favourite image to tell you more about.
Neighbours
I enjoy baking and sharing with neighbours.
I will certainly continue to take daily photos when I can and with the new skills you have taught me using my phone I am so looking forward to experimenting and seeing what happens.
Rebecca
Rhododendron
The colour of rhododendron
to brighten the dullest day
A date booked in my diary
for a weekend getaway
Julie
Together We
‘Together We’ is a reflection on the beauty, fragility and impermanence of life.
Every day I am grateful for my sight and the intrinsic beauty of the natural world around me; especially the varied minutiae of details that can be found therein.
Only when we take time to look do we really begin to see.
Sue
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Poems of Gratitude
Each week, Julie (one of the group members) wrote a poem to accompany her beautiful images. She was happy for me to share one of them here:
A task set to capture the moment
when I felt grateful in any way
I reflect on this week gone by
with a photo taken every day
The early evening light and shadows
admiring the colours that they bring
Watching the garden grow and blossom
thanks to the miracle of spring
Receiving my second Covid jab
praise and thanks for the fabulous NHS
Looking forward to a night out
finding I still fit into that dress
To find and fix a special item
that my Grandma once gave to me
Get organised with a good sort out
donating the proceeds to charity
Preparing to welcome old friends
with a dinner table set for four
A long awaited craft afternoon
enjoying time together once more
Some things can not be photographed
comfort found in a warm embrace
The aroma of slow cooked roast lamb
reassurance from a smiling face
The joy of singing in your car
when you are travelling all alone
The relief when a trip goes well
and that feeling when you get home
I reflect on this week gone by
with a photo taken every day
A task set to capture the moment
when I felt grateful in any way
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The Gratitude Gallery
* Whilst browsing the gallery, click on individual images to view the photo titles and name of the photographer.
