Summary

The author, a photographer and writer, found a surge of inspiration to write consistently on Medium after connecting deeply with nature and reflecting on personal experiences linked to a vast collection of photographs.

Abstract

The website content discusses the author's journey from a period of infrequent writing to a sudden burst of creativity. Drawing parallels to the Bechdel test, the author reflects on the representation of nature in their writing, noting a significant increase in productivity from three posts every 12 months to 31 posts in five months. This transformation occurred in October 2022, during a stay at a jungle lodge by the River Kabini, where the author found clarity and inspiration while lying in a hammock. The tranquility and natural beauty prompted a realization that their extensive photo collection, spanning over 200GB and 15 years, held the key to unlocking stories, knowledge, and emotions that could be translated into written form. The author's writing process is now intrinsically linked to their photographs and the natural world, with each article reflecting a deep, personal connection to the subjects captured in the images.

Opinions

The author believes in the power of nature to inspire and focus the mind, as evidenced by their epiphany while on a hammock by the riverside.
There is an expressed dissatisfaction with the author's previous writing output, referring to it as an "outrageous" three posts every 12 months.
The author values personal experience and memory, as shown by their ability to recall the stories behind their extensive photo collection.
The content suggests a skepticism towards generic writing advice, as the author felt overwhelmed by the "firehose" of Medium articles offering tips on writing and publication.
The author holds a high regard for the works of Rich Hickey, referencing his concept of "Hammock Driven Development" as a source of inspiration for achieving extreme focus.
There is a sense of pride and emotional connection in the author's relationship with their photography, which serves as a catalyst for their writing.
The author expresses gratitude towards other writers, such as Sahil Patel and Curt Melzer, for their inspirational stories and the community that supports creative endeavors.

RECIPROCAL | NATURE | PHOTOGRAPHY

Creative juice from nature

Drawing inspiration from nature, how I could find my feet and start writing on Medium

In the film industry, they have a test called The Bechdel test, which is a measure of representation of women in the movie. Now if I apply a modified Bechdel test to my writing, I would pass it for the representation of nature through my words. Most of my posts are inspired from nature and about the time have I spent with nature.

So how does the nature inspire me to write is a key question.

I created my Medium account in Oct-2017 and for the long five years till Oct-2022, I had written fifteen articles, yes that is an outrageous 3 posts every 12 months.

Then something changed in Oct-2022, I got a spur, an epiphany of sorts may be. The dry spell gave way to a writing streak that produced 31 posts in 5 months

The great Japanese master once said

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready. The teacher will Disappear.” — Tao Te Ching

The aporia going within me was pulling me down from writing anything and hitting the publish button. My thinking was muddled after consuming the firehose of Medium articles. The pieces of advice, the listicles, and the how-tos kept me in an eternal fix

How to gain the first 100 followers? How to write that eye catchy headline? How to sign up partner program? To niche or not to niche?

And a galore of questions chewed the cud

I realized for me to kickstart my writing journey I need to find a teacher, I need to find an inspiration

Hammock inspired blogging

Legendary programmer Rich Hickey gave an inspiring talk titled “Hammock Driven Development” in which he outlines ways to solve hard and complex problems. For solving hard problems, one of the things required is extreme focus. And to get an extreme focus Hickey advocates us to lie down on a hammock.

In his own words “One of the great things about the hammock is that if you lie down with your eyes closed, no one knows you’re not sleeping and they won’t bother you because you might be sleeping so you can focus completely on your problem without interruptions.”

So in October 2022, I got an opportunity to spend 4 days in a jungle lodge, a beautiful one, by the side of River Kabini in Karnataka. Lying down on the hammock by the riverside amidst lush verdant greenery, and tall trees, I kept pondering.

Pondering on my itch to write Pondering on where to start Pondering on what to write

It went on for three days. I spent hours on the hammock doing nothing just thinking about random stuff. Every few minutes a boat motored through the waters at a distance causing a rupture through the serene waters, triggering a cascade of waves that lashed onto the shore making a thud, thud noise. I was gently swaying on the hammock, soaking in the cool breeze interspersed with warm rays of the sun fondling me with warmth and the thud, thud from lashing waves kept me awake. The question about writing kept popping persistently as I kept swaying — my body and my mind.

Epiphany

I enjoyed staying outdoors with nature. I love photography. Over the last 15 years, I have managed to build a huge repository of photographs that runs over 200GB in my storage device. There are photographs of forests, rivers, sunrises, sunsets, beaches, birds, animals, mountains, horizons, valleys, waterfalls, meadows, and much more.

Swaying on the hammock, it dawned on me — there were stories, there was knowledge, there were experiences, and there were emotions wrapped and hidden in my collection of photographs. Each photo had an underpinning of a story within my mind. These photographs were very dear and special to me. I remember most of them. I forget many things in life, I forget skills that I learn, I forget names of people, I forget where I keep my stuff, but a great many photographs which I have clicked still linger in my mind fresh, even if they were shot ten to twelve years ago.

What if? I thought.

What if I tap into my repertoire of memory about my photographs and etch them out as words? My memories around them, my experiences around them, my feelings around them. That was the moment of epiphany, I reckoned. From here was born the recent streak of consistent writing, which is still cajoling me to be a budding content creator and an aspiring wordsmith.

My writing draws inspiration from my photos and my photos draw inspiration from nature. It is a manifestation of transitive dependency between my words and nature. Those beautiful moments of sunrises, sunsets, high tides, dancing peacocks, rummaging elephants, menacing growls of tigers, rambunctious passerine birds, and imposing mountains, all have inspired me to look deep within and eke out a few words and weave a story.

These words are mostly romantic insignia of nature, the ever-pervading nature, which nourishes me and feeds my creative juices.

I hope to continue this streak and break the Bechdel test every time I hit the Publish button.

Thanks Sahil Patel for the wonderful prompt

I enjoyed reading the story on flight journey from an airplane window by JoAnn Ryan

From An Airplane Window: Flying Over the Caribbean Sea is Simply Amazing

My journey from Trinidad to Orlando, FL

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I was inspired by Curt Melzer arduous cycling expedition across the United States. Wow! what a perseverance to do this

Five Things I Learned while Riding a Bicycle Across the United States

Lessons on a bicycle ride from Florida to Washington.

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