Details.
Let’s talk about the details of life, in particularly, YOUR life- and the importance of documenting them. Begin asking yourself what the details of your day are, because once you ask the question, your brain becomes activated and the awareness stage begins! There are details that you see every single day but have become so accustomed to them that you don’t REALLY see them anymore. Your eyes acknowledge them without it even registering in the brain, (we are weird little creatures) but now that you are actively looking for them, you will see them!
Take notice tomorrow while you are getting ready for your day and use your NOTES app on your phone to document it. The NOTES app is a tool that I use for memory keeping, on.the.daily. because I may not always have a pen and paper with me but I will always have my phone! And it doesn’t have to be long documentation, it can be word triggers or short phrases that will jump start your brain to remember. (I myself cannot rely on brain triggers and I type it all out real quick before I forget). If I am driving, I have been known to use the voice recording on my phone as well, so that I can just ramble on while not taking my eyes off the road. Both of these apps come automatically on your phone. You do not have to pay for them or download them. They are magically already there!
Don’t even worry with the thought that you may not have a lot of details to document, because once you start paying attention to them, you will become so overwhelmed by them! The way your toothbrush sits in it’s drawer, or the way your coffee mug sits on the counter waiting for coffee, your doorknob to the front door leading to your day, the radio station on display in your car every day…every little thing! Then stay in this practice of taking notice for a couple of days. Think about what each detail does to enhance your life. You will start to see the art in it. The beauty of normal objects. After a few days of observation, get your camera, cell phone, whatever it is - and take little snapshots of each detail. You really have know idea what or how you will feel about it until later when you sit down to journal + document. That's why it is good to snap all day and then later when you're not busy, and you sit down to document it, you will find what hits ya in the feels! That's when you write about it.
Don’t be afraid to rearrange the objects (if possible) to make it look artsy or design friendly but I would try to keep it as close to its original arrangement so that years from now when you look at these pictures it will be memorized correctly. Documenting our details now, today, is the key to our memories in the future. Also,can you imagine your great granddaughter finding this book? The details of your daily life?! I would geek out over that so much!! These seemingly insignificant details are what tells our future generations how we lived, ate, socialized, what we deemed valuable, etc. It is important!!
This is my detail shot for the week. I see this view everyday because I work in it, it’s my office/ art room, but taking the time to sit and look-admire-observe how far it has come, gave me a sense of pride as well as motivation to keep going. This little room in our house was a small, ugly storage room used for storing the lawnmower and tools, and I slowly moved those things out, painted the walls white, got new floors, new doorway, and little bit by little bit, made it beautiful. It made me realize that baby steps do lead to bigger things;opportunities and that is exactly what I journaled about with this picture. (Also, this picture was taken with my cell phone, not my professional DSLR. Just an fyi.)
I want ya’ll to see that you don’t need expensive equipment in order to document. Do it your way + with what you have! The quality of the photo isn't great for large prints, but I am not making a large print of it. I divided it into 2x2 squares to fit inside my page protector for a more artsy different POV.
I am including the link for you to see where I purchased the album as well as all the page protectors. I bought 6 packs of different arrangements of 6x8 page protectors that came with 10 sheets in each 6 pack at Scrapbook.com
* 6x8 page protector, twelve 2x2 10 pack = $3.39
*6x8 page protector, two 4x4 pockets 20 pack = $6.49
*6x8 page protector, two 4x6 and two 3x4 pockets, 10 pack = $3.99
*6x8 page protector, full page pocket, 10 pack = $3.39
This is what I bought along with two 6x8 albums! One album for me and one album for you! Yes, I am giving away the mint 6x8 album along with a 10 pack of assorted page protectors to get you started on documenting your life! All you need to do is make a post of your photos that you will use to document your life on Instagram and tag @TheSparrowsEye, as well as use the hashtag #52Sparrows! I will close the giveaway entries on 9/6 at midnight. Each entry, (yes, you can have multiple entries over multiple days) will be put in a hat and I will draw the name out on 9/7.
Good Luck! I can't wait to see what ya'll are capturing!!