The Art of Seeing: Defining My Photographic Voice Through Three Words

From Observation to Emotion: The Journey to a Journalistic, Cinematic, and Poetic Lens

In developing my photographic voice, I spent time doing what I call creative mining—a process of style excavation to uncover the essence of how I see and express the world through my camera. It wasn’t about choosing trends or mimicking influences; it was about digging deeper into what feels true, what consistently shows up in my work, and what emotionally resonates with me. I sifted through thousands of my images, looking for recurring moods, visual rhythms, and themes. Slowly, patterns began to surface—threads that revealed not only what I photograph, but how and why I photograph.

After much reflection, I discovered that three words best describe my artistic approach: Journalistic, Cinematic, and Poetic. These words became touchstones, each representing a facet of my creative identity. 

Journalistic speaks to my desire to capture authenticity and truth—to photograph life as it unfolds, candidly and without artifice. It reminds me that storytelling through observation is at the heart of my practice.

Cinematic reflects my love of atmosphere, drama, and visual storytelling. It’s the part of my art that thinks in scenes rather than stills, where lighting, framing, and emotion combine to create a sense of movement and narrative beyond the frame. This word captures the way I aim to make photographs feel like moments from a film—real yet heightened, intimate yet expansive.

And finally, Poetic represents the quiet pulse of my work—the softness, symbolism, and emotion that underlie each image. It’s about expressing mood and meaning through nuance rather than clarity, letting suggestion speak louder than statement. Together, these three words form a compass for my photographic journey: Journalistic for truth, Cinematic for story, and Poetic for feeling.

Excavating My Style: How I Found My Three Words—Journalistic, Cinematic, and Poetic

Journalistic photography fits within the realm of art photography by transforming real events into powerful visual narratives that balance truth with creative expression. While it remains candid and documentary in nature—capturing unstaged, authentic moments—it also draws on artistic choices in composition, light, and emotion to tell stories that move viewers as much as they inform them. In this way, it bridges fact and feeling, journalism and art.

Cinematic photography fits within art photography through its use of storytelling, atmosphere, and emotion inspired by the language of film. It transforms still images into scenes that feel part of a larger narrative, using dramatic lighting, rich color grading, and intentional composition to evoke mood and tension. While grounded in realism, cinematic photography heightens reality, creating an artful blend of visual poetry and storytelling that feels both intimate and cinematic.

Poetic photography fits within art photography by expressing emotion, mood, and meaning through subtle visual language rather than direct representation. It often focuses on atmosphere, symbolism, and the beauty of ordinary moments, inviting viewers to feel rather than simply see. Through softness, abstraction, and a sense of contemplation, poetic photography transforms images into visual poems—intimate, interpretive, and deeply personal works of art.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

NEW Canadian Poetry Book for Holiday Gifting 2025 by Author Patti Friday The Pirate Code

Amazon

Dear Friends,

In the last 4 weeks I gathered up almost every poem I'd ever written since 2010.  I'm happy to share with you that all of these poems are now in this new book!

Set your compass for uncharted emotional waters. The Pirate Code is a fiercely imaginative collection of poems that blends nautical mythology with intimate inner voyages. Patti Friday explores courage, desire, rebellion, and the hidden laws that govern every heart. From storm-tossed longing to the quiet anchor of hope, each poem reveals the wild territories we dare to claim as our own. Bold, lyrical, and deeply human—this is a treasure map for anyone navigating life’s restless seas.

Order from Amazon EVERYWHERE! 

Peace Love Create Art Gather,

Patti xo

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Christmas Gift Ideas for Children 2025: Lucky the Christmas Mushroom Book by Patti Friday

"Lucky The Christmas Mushroom" is hoping you will make his story part of your holiday traditions!

Pine Tree Island is a magical place. Lucky The Christmas Mushroom lives there. He has a very important seasonal project to wrap up with his team of forest friends! A fun, folktale that is sure to become part of your family's holiday traditions! A festive story for kids of all ages!

Available HERE.

 

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Reproductive Cancer: Anatomy of the Spirit The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

Caroline Myss devotes thoughtful attention to the second energy center, or sacral chakra, in Anatomy of the Spirit. While she doesn’t single out reproductive cancers by name in a diagnostic way, she uses them as symbolic reflections of the issues connected to this chakra’s domain: emotional intimacy, creative expression, sensuality, and guilt.

Here’s an expanded interpretation drawn from her framework and related teachings:

The Sacral Chakra (Second Energy Center)

Location: Lower abdomen, pelvis, reproductive organs
Sacrament (Christian parallel): Communion
Kabbalistic Correspondence: Yesod — the foundation of connection
Theme: Relationships, pleasure, creativity, and the power of choice
Core lesson: Balancing intimacy with independence; learning how to give and receive love, energy, and pleasure appropriately.

Energetic Symbolism and Emotional Dynamics

The sacral chakra governs our emotional identity — how we form relationships, express desire, and share energy with others. It’s the center of:

• Sexuality and sensual pleasure

• Fertility and creativity (both literal and symbolic — birthing ideas, art, or new beginnings)

• Emotional honesty and boundaries

• Guilt and shame related to pleasure, body, or sexuality

When this energy center is blocked, suppressed, or wounded, it often reflects long-held emotional conflicts such as:

• Feeling unworthy of love or intimacy

• Experiencing sexual trauma or repression

• Guilt about pleasure, creativity, or self-expression

• Losing oneself in caretaking or codependent dynamics

• Suppressing creative urges to please others

• Living with chronic shame about one’s body or desires

Reproductive Cancers and the Sacral Chakra (Symbolic View)

In Myss’s framework, reproductive cancers (ovarian, uterine, cervical, prostate, testicular, etc.) can symbolize energy that has turned inward destructively because of unresolved emotional or relational wounds.

She describes this not as blame but as a spiritual metaphor:

“When creativity or emotional truth is chronically denied, the life force begins to stagnate or decay, expressing itself through the body.”

In other words:

• A woman who suppresses her creative calling to meet everyone else’s needs might eventually feel “lifeless” in her center of creation (the womb area).

• Someone who associates intimacy with pain or betrayal may unconsciously close off this energy, leading to numbness or energetic congestion.

• Guilt over sexuality, abortions, infidelity, or body shame may translate into cellular “messages” that the body is at war with itself.

The spiritual healing journey, then, becomes about clearing guilt and shame and reclaiming the sacredness of creation and pleasure.

Healing Lessons for the Sacral Chakra

According to Myss, healing the energetic patterns tied to the second chakra involves:

1. Forgiveness and Emotional Honesty

   • Acknowledge and release emotional pain connected to relationships or sexuality.

   • Forgive yourself and others for past experiences that created shame or guilt.

2. Creative Expression

   • Engage in art, writing, dance, or other forms of creation — these acts awaken the flow of life force.

   • Creativity is not indulgence; it’s how your spirit manifests vitality.

3. Reclaiming Pleasure and Joy

   • See pleasure as sacred, not sinful.

   • Restore balance between giving and receiving — allow yourself to experience joy without guilt.

4. Healthy Boundaries

   • Honor your emotional truth.

   • Learn to say “no” or “yes” from a place of integrity, not fear or obligation.

5. Body Reconnection

   • Practices like gentle yoga, breathwork, or mindful movement can reconnect you with this center physically and energetically.

Key Affirmations (from Myss’s teachings and chakra tradition)

• “I deserve to feel pleasure and joy.”

• “My creativity flows freely and safely.”

• “I honor my body as sacred.”

• “I release guilt and embrace my right to feel alive.”

In Myss’s view, when energy begins to flow again through this center — when guilt is released and creative power is reclaimed — the body’s own healing intelligence is reactivated.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Cancer Books: Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

Caroline Myss discusses cancer in Anatomy of the Spirit, but not as a medical manual. She speaks about it primarily in spiritual and energetic terms, rather than biological ones.

Here’s how she frames it:

1. Cancer as an Energy Imbalance

Myss views cancer as a manifestation of deeply held emotional or energetic blockages — often linked to:

• Long-term resentment, grief, or guilt

• Loss of personal power or identity

• Suppressed anger or forgiveness issues

She explains that when we hold these energies over time, they can “congeal” into physical illness. The body mirrors the spirit’s struggles.

2. Emotional and Chakra Correlations

While she doesn’t claim that every cancer is caused by a specific chakra imbalance, she suggests certain emotional patterns may weaken related energy centers:

• Breast or lung cancers → often tied to heart chakra (love, grief, forgiveness)

• Digestive cancers → linked to solar plexus chakra (self-esteem, power, control)

• Reproductive cancers → linked to sacral chakra (intimacy, creativity, guilt)

She emphasizes that these connections are symbolic tools for self-awareness, not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment.

3. The Spiritual Lesson

Myss suggests that people facing serious illness like cancer are often being invited to undergo a profound spiritual awakening — to examine how they have used their power, where they’ve given it away, and how they can reclaim their spirit’s vitality.

Healing, in her view, involves:

• Radical self-honesty

• Forgiveness

• Releasing fear and resentment

• Choosing to live from spiritual integrity

4. Myss’s Stance on Medicine

She is not anti-medical treatment.

She insists that physical treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, etc.) should go hand in hand with spiritual and emotional healing. Her approach is complementary, not alternative.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

Here’s a clear, insightful summary of Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss — a foundational book connecting spirituality, energy, and health.

Overview

Published in 1996, Anatomy of the Spirit weaves together psychology, spirituality, and medicine, presenting a powerful framework for understanding how emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being influence physical health. Caroline Myss—an intuitive medical author—argues that illness originates not only in the body but also in energetic and emotional imbalances.

She integrates:

• Christian Sacraments

• The Seven Chakras of Eastern traditions

• The Kabbalah’s Tree of Life (Jewish mysticism)

These systems align with what she calls “the seven centers of power”, forming a spiritual anatomy that mirrors the physical one.

The Seven Energy Centers (and Their Lessons)

1. First Chakra – Tribal Power (Root / Sacrament of Baptism)

   • Theme: Connection to family, community, and identity.

   • Lesson: Learning to honor the tribe while discovering individuality.

   • Imbalance: Fear, insecurity, family wounds, survival struggles.

   • Physical ties: Immune system, bones, legs, rectum.

2. Second Chakra – Relationship Power (Sacrament of Communion)

   • Theme: One-on-one relationships, creativity, sexuality.

   • Lesson: Balancing intimacy and independence.

   • Imbalance: Guilt, shame, power struggles.

   • Physical ties: Reproductive organs, lower back, bladder.

3. Third Chakra – Personal Power (Sacrament of Confirmation)

   • Theme: Self-esteem, willpower, autonomy.

   • Lesson: Developing self-respect and personal responsibility.

   • Imbalance: Low self-worth, anger, control issues.

   • Physical ties: Digestive system, liver, pancreas.

4. Fourth Chakra – Emotional Power (Heart / Sacrament of Marriage)

   • Theme: Love, forgiveness, compassion.

   • Lesson: Healing emotional wounds and embracing unconditional love.

   • Imbalance: Grief, resentment, jealousy.

   • Physical ties: Heart, lungs, circulatory system.

5. Fifth Chakra – The Power of Will (Throat / Sacrament of Confession)

   • Theme: Speaking one’s truth, faith, choice.

   • Lesson: Aligning will with Divine will.

   • Imbalance: Lies, repression, inability to communicate.

   • Physical ties: Throat, thyroid, mouth, jaw.

6. Sixth Chakra – The Power of Mind (Brow / Sacrament of Ordination)

   • Theme: Intuition, perception, wisdom.

   • Lesson: Seeing truth beyond illusion.

   • Imbalance: Illusion, fear of self-awareness.

   • Physical ties: Eyes, brain, nervous system.

7. Seventh Chakra – The Power of Spirit (Crown / Sacrament of Extreme Unction)

   • Theme: Spiritual connection, divine awareness.

   • Lesson: Trust in the greater pattern of life; unity with all.

   • Imbalance: Cynicism, spiritual disconnection.

   • Physical ties: Central nervous system, brain.

Core Teachings

• Your biography becomes your biology.
  Every thought, belief, and emotion shapes your body’s health. Chronic negative emotions can manifest as illness.

• Healing is about power.
  Health depends on reclaiming personal power lost to fear, resentment, guilt, or dependency.

• Forgiveness is medicine.
  Letting go of blame restores energy flow and invites physical and spiritual renewal.

• Intuition is your guide.
  Learning to trust your intuitive self is essential for spiritual growth and healing.

Purpose of the Book

Myss encourages readers to view themselves as energetic beings whose life experiences—past and present—are imprinted on their bodies. Healing requires conscious awareness, emotional maturity, and spiritual integrity.

Ultimately, Anatomy of the Spirit offers a map for self-healing, connecting traditional faith practices with modern holistic medicine.

Order book HERE.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

The Light Therapy Book: Using Light to Live Longer

ORDER:  The Light Doctor

The light we see is as important for our health as the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. For most of human existence, our ancestors lived with the natural 24-hour light-dark cycle, spending each day in natural daylight and sleeping in the dark at night. But since the widespread introduction of electric light, more than 90% of our time is spent indoors, under unhealthful and human-unfriendly electric light, which disrupts our circadian clocks and greatly increases the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and hundreds of other diseases.

Today’s LED fixtures, light bulbs, and screens are designed to produce cheap light with little regard for human health. Like DDT and asbestos, they are dangerously flawed technologies. THE LIGHT DOCTOR reveals extensive scientific evidence establishing the risks of blue-rich artificial light at night. Furthermore, it provides the practical information you need to counteract these risks at home, and in workplaces, schools, hospitals, and senior care facilities.


Here is how to find and install healthy light bulbs and fixtures for both residential and commercial spaces, how to obtain the lights you need for evening and night use versus daytime, and how to obtain energy-efficient light that is also safe and healthy. You will also learn which outdoor lights to install to avoid harmful effects on wildlife, another inadvertent consequence of the LED revolution.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

NEW Book: Tommie's Tomato Stand by Patti Friday

Love, Laughter, and a Historic Leap Across the Atlantic

Tommie never thought her little farm stand—stacked with tomatoes, fresh bread, and pies—would place her at the heart of small-town history. But Wasaga Beach in the 1930s was full of surprises. Between barn dances lit with twinkling lights, chocolate tomato soup wedding cake, cousins strumming banjos, and neighbors raising toasts, Tommie discovers not only her love story but also her place in a community bound together by courage and kinship.

Amid the laughter and farm-fresh charm unfolds an extraordinary event: the legendary 1934 transatlantic flight that roared into the skies from Wasaga’s sandy runway. Ordinary people—beachers, farmers, families, tourists, and dreamers—played their part in a moment of aviation history that carried the spirit of a small town all the way to England.

Blending humor, folklore, and heartfelt storytelling, Tommie's Tomato Stand is a celebration of family, community, and the way love takes root in the most unexpected places.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

5 Daily Longevity Habits From Quintuple Board-Certified Physician Dr. Monisha Bhanote

Dr. Bhanote, the visionary founder of WELLKULÅ, is a quintuple board-certified physician and best-selling author, widely recognized for her expertise in Integrative Lifestyle Medicine, Functional Culinary Medicine, and Cytopathology. Her work, deeply rooted in health and wellness, has made her a sought-after expert, enriching lives through her speaking engagements and insightful written contributions.

In her dedicated pursuit of wellbeing, Dr. Bhanote harmoniously integrates ancient wisdom with modern mind-body science. Her dedication to plant-powered nutrition is central to her groundbreaking research on gut, brain, and cellular health, underscoring the critical roles of the microbiome and inflammation management in the journey towards longevity. Combining mindful practices with scientific precision, Dr. Bhanote's approach paves the way for sustained health and mental clarity, advocating a lifestyle that enriches both body and mind, leading to comprehensive cellular wellbeing.

Order her book here.

The 5 daily habits of a longevity doctor

To sum up Bhanote's behaviors for longevity, here's what she does daily for her overall health and wellness:

• For her body: Healthy eating, mindful movement, brain-healthy activities, optimal sleep and social connections
• For brain health: No ultra-processed foods, eating mainly home-grown fruits and vegetables, meditating and walking four or five miles a day
• For social fitness: Connecting with people virtually multiple times a day, networking at speaking engagements
• For her daily diet: Plant-based, gluten-free foods that are the different colors of the rainbow. 10 different kinds of fruits and veggies in each meal
• For her media diet: Podcasts and audiobooks

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success Summary

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality – You are pure consciousness

• Your essence is infinite, creative, and connected to all life.

• Practice: Spend time in silence or meditation daily. Appreciate nature. Connect with your inner self before acting.

2. The Law of Giving – The universe operates through exchange

• Giving and receiving create abundance. Share freely—love, attention, or resources.

• Practice: Compliment someone, offer help, or express gratitude each day.

3. The Law of Karma (Cause and Effect) – Every action has a consequence

• Every choice generates results. Make conscious, mindful choices.

• Practice: Pause before decisions. Ask: “Will this action bring happiness or harm?”

4. The Law of Least Effort – Effortlessness comes from acceptance

• Accept things as they are; don’t resist. Respond instead of reacting.

• Practice: Let go of unnecessary struggle. Focus on actions aligned with love and purpose.

5. The Law of Intention and Desire – Intentions have power

• Thoughts and intentions shape reality. Set clear, positive intentions.

• Practice: Write down your goals and visualize them daily. Release attachment to the outcome.

6. The Law of Detachment – Freedom comes from letting go

• Letting go of control creates openness to infinite possibilities.

• Practice: Accept uncertainty. Trust that life can unfold in ways better than you imagine.

7. The Law of Dharma (Purpose in Life) – Everyone has a unique gift

• Fulfillment comes from using your talents to serve others.

• Practice: Discover your natural strengths. Ask: “How can I contribute?” Align work and daily actions with this purpose.

In short: Chopra teaches that success and happiness arise naturally when we connect with our inner self, live consciously, give freely, and act with love and purpose.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.