A few days back I clocked up my 100th day of cycling to and from work.
It’s a fairly minor milestone, and the journey is only 3.5 miles, but nevertheless, it’s proved to me that cycling is a very feasible alternative mode of transport for this purpose.
As well as adding to my daily exercise, giving my lungs more fresh air, and saving fuel, money and emissions by not using a car.
The pluses are plentiful.
It’s also reminded me how powerful regular habits are.
Whether daily yoga and gratitudes, publishing a new piece of writing every 36 hours, walking on average over 10k steps a day, and making photographs at least a couple of times a week, the benefits of this regular discipline are profound for me.
And each of these activities support and feed into each other.
Once you have one or two positive habits, it’s much easier to build more, as you know how it feels and why it works.
They beaver away in the background, steadily and almost imperceptibly, until you realise you’ve been doing them not just for days, but for weeks, months and years.
How about you? What regular habits and disciplines help enrich your life – photography related or otherwise?
Please let us know in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).
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35hunter 
backyard bird watching, 1-2 dog walks day, cell game (I know but its graphic rich, & satisfies anxiety), I now rest during preschool nap time for 1 hr instead of “getting things done”, where i visualize creative projects or my own private island. adult coloring (mindfulness stimulates new curriculum ideas) & currently working through a grief book. I need lots of solitude & quiet for my real “work” creative expression in various forms. Yes they tie into each other like working rosary or Buddhist beads.
Sounds like you have plenty of routined and habits that work well for you, help you relax and recharge, and feed your creativity.
(PS What’s you real name, I don’t want to call you “Read”, or RCC 🙂 )
They call me Ms Mel. lol
Then I’ll call you that too Ms Mel!
I’ve been swimming laps since last Aug. I also do yoga and struggle to meditate. I used to be really into bicycling but got away from it when my wife and I spent the past 8-9 years caring for aging parents. Pulled the bikes town yesterday and order new tires and tubes. We’ll be back at it soon. And the camera will travel along as usual. I’m about to embark into the world of cyanotype so I’ll be looking for new material. Let the thing you love be you’re escape !!
Lisa Marie, thanks for your experiences. Well done getting the bikes up and running again! I have an old Raleigh mixte I found last year at an antique store (via eBay) which is in desperate need of new tyres and tubes. They look original and the bike dates from about 1985! I’m not sure yet whether I want to invest in them, as it will cost almost as much as the bike did. Not much, but a waste if I’m not going to use it much.
Tell us more about the cyanotypes?
Hi Dan, cyanotype is a photographic print process that uses two chemicals ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide to produce a cyan-blue print. The same process was used well into the 20th century to produce blue prints. I haven’t made any yet. Just coated some paper yesterday so I’m getting ready to make some photograms. Also I have on order some Pictorico over head projector film to make digital negatives with which I plan to do some contact prints. I really want to do some photo prints but don’t have access to a lab. This seemed a good way to get me started. All you need is coated paper, sun and something to put between them. The Raleigh sounds interesting. I saw some vintage frames on eBay for about $200. Might be worth it to give it an overhaul and sell it….or ride it!!
I’ve seen cyanotypes before (online), but not in the flesh, and I’ve certainly not tried myelf. I’ll be interested to see your experiments. (And now I’m thinking of The Smiths debut album cover, which was more purple, but perhaps a simialr kind of process…)
I don’t really understand about the Pictorico, I’ll have to look this up…
I don’t think my Raleigh is worth anything like that, but I do like how it rides (on the disintegrating tyres!) so I probably will invest £25 or so getting it back on the road in a safe condition.
Interesting trivia about the album artwork and packaging on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiths_(album)
Many of their singles also had similar looking artwork, with a single person in a monochrome (but often not pure b/w, rather monochrome with a single colour base), and it gave them a distinct style.
This is an interesting run down in the NME – https://www.nme.com/photos/the-smiths-the-stories-behind-all-27-of-their-provocative-album-and-single-sleeves-1424816
[…] As you might have realised, I love habits and discipline. […]