I closed my eyes and asked: What does my heart have to say to me today?

My heart chose this photo.

A note found amongst the back alley texture and grunge. I was here, someone whispered through the handprints on the wall, Do you see me?

Yes, I answer, I see you. I document the moment with my camera. Arranging the shapes and lines and acknowledging the mark that someone else left. Perhaps some see the marks as defacing private property, but today I see a call for acknowledgement. See me, the handprints say.

How much, do I pass through my day, without seeing? How many people do I walk by, without acknowledging? It is easy for me to get focused, and miss the world around me. Miss the people who pass me every day.

See me, they whisper. I will try harder, I promise.

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As I look for the Photo-Heart Connection, I am finding the message my photographs unlock inside of me depends on the day. I wrote from the heart with this same photograph earlier in the month, and the message was completely different.

I’m realizing that the process I am following to find my Photo-Heart Connection is not about the photos at all. It’s about opening the door to my heart, maybe just a crack, and seeing what comes out. The photos are the means, the conduit, to an end: The message from my heart.

What do you find your heart has to say this month? Share your Photo-Heart Connections below. The link up will be open from April 1 through 7.

Life is sometimes messy and complicated. We may get a bit weathered as we go along. We may occasionally be battered by events and use. Everything is not always as it seems. The facades we build can crumble and fade over time.

And yet… We can create a beautiful composition out of that which is weathered and worn. The imperfections we hate to show the outside world create interesting character and depth that would not otherwise exist. We aren’t perfect. We can’t be perfect. Should we even try?

Imperfection and texture is more interesting in my photography, why shouldn’t it be in my life? Would I rather have my life perfect and glossy? No. I learn from the imperfections. I gain depth from the experiences that are uncomfortable, no matter how much I hate them in the moment. I am who I am, because of what I’ve experienced.

So it’s once again time for me to embrace the mess, the imperfections, and see what new compositions I can create.

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Welcome to February’s Photo-Heart Connection! As in January, my choice for the month could not be anticipated. After last month, I didn’t even try to guess! Apparently, this lesson about accepting imperfection and mess as part of life is one I continually need to learn. It comes up for me again and again. Thankfully, the love of imperfection and texture in my photographs helps to show me the way to this life truth.

Do you have continual themes that arise in your photography? Consider what these recurring themes tell you about yourself. Finding these themes and exploring them is part of the power in the photo-heart connection.

It’s your turn to share your photo-heart connection. The link up below is open from March 1 through 7. If you have any questions about participating, read the guidelines in this post here. As a reminder, this project is open to everyone, regardless of whether or not you’ve participated in my courses in the past. I look forward to learning more about you in this month’s photo-heart connection.

As we approach the first Photo-Heart Connection link up tomorrow, I’ve been getting ready. I’ve been going through my photos from the month, looking for the one I feel the strongest heart connection. I thought I would share my process with you today, as prep for the link up that opens tomorrow.

When we get down to it, what is a photo-heart connection? A heart connection is, for me, a reaction that bypasses my brain. It’s not about what I think of the image, or how technically good it is. It is not about how others will react to it. It is how the image makes me feel. When I have a heart connection, I feel it in my body. There is a little jolt, that tells me of a strong connection. Have you ever noticed how we feel emotions in our body first? Even though we will have thoughts that accompany emotions, they arrive split seconds later. I want to tap into the signals from my body, before my brain starts to filter, and then explore what I find through this process.

Here’s how I prepped to find my photo-heart connection this month:

• Throughout the month, I saved a low-res copy of the files I worked with into a specific folder. This way, I had all of my January photos in one place to start the process. I didn’t save every picture I took in January here, just the strongest ones. The ones I cared enough to share on my blog. I will always want to share photos with a heart connection. I also included images from my archive I worked with this month. I don’t care what year they are from, I want to learn by this process without putting too many rules on it.
• I found a time with no distractions to start the process of review. It is important to be focused and without distractions – if you hurry through this process with limited time, or have interruptions, you are not going to be able to notice the reactions in your body that tell you of the heart connection.
• There were 44 photos in my file for the month, and I went through and viewed the photos one by one. I noticed my reaction for each. It was pretty clear in this first round, which were at the bottom with no reaction and which I felt something for. From this, I created sub-file with the one I felt any sort of reaction. I was down to ~12 photos.
• The next round was a little harder. I had to spend more time noticing how I felt in my body with that image, what emotions came through. Even though I cycled through the images several times, this round still wasn’t too hard. I got it down to a final four photos that created the strongest heart connection for me.
• Finally, I went through the final four very slowly. I let each one sit on the screen, alone, for a while. I first noticed how I felt, then I asked myself what this image was telling me. This was where I let my brain come into the process a bit more, I wanted to understand why the heart connection was there. As I did this, I noticed that there were two that felt stronger to me. As I slowly considered both, it became clear to me which image was my top photo-heart connection for January.

I thought I would share the 3 runner-up images of my top 4 today along with the process. These images are from different times, of very different subjects, evoking different responses within me. Two were taken this month and one in June 2011, so it’s clear that time of capture is not a factor here. The message I read from the heart connection with each was very different. All of these are great images, some of my recent favorites in fact, but they weren’t my strongest heart connection.

I wanted to share these today to remind you it’s not the strength of the image, in purely aesthetic terms, that matters in this process. It’s the not the date of capture, it’s not the composition, it’s not technical perfection. It’s the strength of the heart connection. It’s what you can learn about yourself, through the photos that speak to you.

I was surprised with the photo that had the strongest photo-heart connection for me this month. I can’t wait to share the image with you, and what I learned from it, tomorrow.