It all started with a book. I was actually walking towards the magazines looking for Meghan’s feature when a book covered in butterflies caught my eye. I grabbed it intrigued by the title Milk and Honey, Contemporary Art in California and thumbed through it. The book showcases 54 artists, many who are painters and photographers that reside in sunny Southern California.  Each artist talks about the influence of demographics on their craft. They list the pros and cons of living in a place where the sun shines 90% of the time and collectively seem to agree that it definitely impacts their work and sometimes even distracts. I never really thought about that, how much does the local weather play a part in the way I shoot? Maybe all this sunshine was conversely impacting me, in a distracting shiny object sort of way.

Milk_and_honey

One of the artists, Barry McGee I immediately I recognized, his wall mural can be seen as you drive up to RVCA headquarters in Costa Mesa, Ca. RVCA also has a huge interest in supporting the arts check out ANP (Artist Network Program) that showcases talent worldwide. When in Orange County check out the same building to see the collaboration by Mac (representational figurines) and Retna (design/typography). You may remember the mural below I shot with the Spectra Polaroid. I later learned the halo around her head reads; “We come to you with open hands, we offer you the fruits of our toils. These are days when our hearts and our soul embrace the spirit of creation, for this we give thanks.”

saved parked

RVCA Mural 09′ | iPhone, VSCO

I was really impacted by the fact that something so beautiful was just down the street from me and if I hadn’t pushed myself to explore the rest of the building I would have never seen this. It begs the question what else is out there waiting to be discovered? And since I, just like many of you out there, have jobs, kids and responsibilities that prevent me from travelling with my camera, it’s up to me to venture out past my neighborhood and hunt for the goods. This gave me the idea for our upcoming theme: Around Me.

Join us as we reach just a little further past our front door and venture out into uncharted territory that surrounds us. For me it’s easy, I live in the land of automobiles. I can jump in my car and in 30 minutes be at the beach, in 45 I can find myself in the garment district of downtown Los Angeles or I can drive 30 more minutes up the mountain and find snow. It’s really pretty incredible I won’t lie, I share those same road trip ideas with 38 million others. Yep 38 MILLION of us. But what I lack in solitude I make up for in sunshine, at least that’s what I tell myself. 

Here are a few from my muses to get us thinking about places you might want to explore.

Debra said “this is a wall I walk by several times a week and just noticed one day as the sun hit it.”

Urban. #vscocam

 Holly has an entire set on Flickr dedicated to her neighborhood in Manayunk.

City Block

  Meghan found this gem of a guy on her walk the other day.

287/365

 Jenny walked 30 steps out her door looked over and spotted a detail she had never seen before.

Day 3: Step out into spring

What will you find the next time you step out? Upload it to our Flickr Group or hashtag it #mortalmuses, we’re on Instagram.

Looking forward to visiting your world.

Lindsey aka modchik