Bamboo Morning (Haiga), BlackBerry 52, Jump-Off – Week 2, January 10th 2011, photo © 2011 by alotus_poetry. All rights reserved. Medium: Digital collage created using MS PowerPoint 2007 & Adobe Photoshop CS2. Photo taken on BlackBerry. Poem first created on magnetic poetry board with word kits.
I was in Ely, Minnesota on a hot July afternoon when a new haiku 2 (one-a-day) notification popped up on my BlackBerry. It was A~Lotus, a friend I met through red Ravine. Liz and I were taking a break in our room at the Adventure Inn before heading back to the North American Bear Center. I took a minute to read the comment:
Hey, here’s an idea: Why don’t we do a BB 365 Collaboration? We each do our own 365 photos and manipulate them however we want to, be it adding text/poetry, collages or any other mixed media. However, we will be responding to each other’s photos. It’s a triple challenge:
A) The first individual will take the first photo of the New Year.
B) The second individual will take a photo in response to the first individual.
C) Both individuals can be as creative as they want in their own separate photos.
D) By the end of the year, each individual will have their own 365 batch.
Already in the middle of a BlackBerry 365 Project for 2010 (view the entire year’s slideshow here), I had to do some soul-searching about whether I could commit to another year of taking a photo every day. Honey, Lucky, and Ted were waiting. I tucked the idea into the brim of my Minnesota Twins cap, sent off a quick response to Lotus, and headed back to the NABC:
A~Lotus, I’m on vacation up in Ely, Minnesota right now. But, at first glance, I like the idea of collaborating on a BlackBerry 365 year. I definitely want to do another kind of photo practice next year. It stretches me. So let me think about it a little more and read over your proposal again when I get back into town. I like your enthusiasm! Will check out your Flickr account.
Sun Bleached, BlackBerry 52, Jump-Off – Week 1, Golden Valley, Minnesota, January 3rd, 2011, photo © 2011 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
A few months flew by. I needed to respond. I agreed to post one photo each week for the 52 weeks of 2011. And that we’d call it BlackBerry 52. Lotus is a poet, so it seemed like a fun idea to also collaborate on one renga for the 52 weeks of 2011. We’d call that Renga 52 and keep it going for a whole year on haiku 4 (one-a-day) Meets renga 52.
We finally landed on collaborative practices I felt I could stick to — one photo a week, one poetry addition a week. It’s tough to do any practice for an entire year. I’ll write about the challenges of BlackBerry 365 in another post. For tonight, here are the simple guidelines that A~Lotus and I are following for BlackBerry 52. It’s a call and response:
BlackBerry 52 Guidelines
- One person posts a BlackBerry photo on her Flickr account each Monday. This is the Jump-Off.
- The other responds with a BlackBerry photo, a haiga, a piece of art, any form of visual response.
- The response to the Jump-Off must be posted on Flickr by the end of the next Sunday.
If you’d like to join us for BlackBerry 52 each week, post your responses to the Jump-Offs on Flickr and drop the link into the comments. The Jump-Offs for January 3rd and 10th are the images above. (I’ll also add a BlackBerry 52 link to the sidebar.) You can follow A~Lotus on Twitter (where she writes poetry every day in community with other Twitter poets), at Poetry By Lotus, and on her Flickr account. Can’t wait to see what develops by next New Year’s Eve!
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
-related to posts: BlackBerry 365 Project — White Winter Squirrel, BlackBerry 365: Things Loved, Things Learned
[…] « New Beginnings: Mandala For A New Year BlackBerry 52 Collaboration […]
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What a great idea, QM. I like that you made it manageable–weekly instead of daily. And that you evolved your Blackberry 365, such that it didn’t end but rather took new form. Looking forward to seeing the collective results.
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ybonesy, thank you. It does feel manageable. Especially since I’m doing a 3rd practice — Journal 365 — a daily journal entry for 2011, inspired by May Sarton. My last practice post will be about that practice and a little about May Sarton. Maybe next week. I reviewed my BlackBerry 365 photos from last year this morning in prep for writing a piece about it. I realized that it got harder the longer the year went on. But there were still days towards the end where I got a few good shots. I want to turn that into an art project. Still mapping that out.
I’m looking forward to altering my photos for BlackBerry 52, adding poetry & prose. Then other weeks, just a simple BlackBerry shot in response. Many options. I hope others are inspired to jump in as they wish. Collaboration is fun and the possibilities are endless with digital. Has really opened the door to publishing your own work and getting it out there.
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It makes me smile reading this post for like the 3rd time. It was not too long ago when we tried figuring out the nuts and bolts of this collaboration (though it felt longer than that). I’m glad our collaboration is taking off to a great start! I can’t wait to see what comes next!
I can’t wait to see your art process with your Blackberry 365! I can imagine that it was harder to keep up the longer the days get! So I can imagine that it was a daunting but even a worthwhile task! However, just browsing through your photo stream, I can see such great art and heart you put into those photos. 🙂 Do you mind if I take a photo or two and alter it with as a haiga? I will be sure to credit you and let you know, of course. 🙂
Yes, the possibilities are endless with BB 52. I have more ideas of my own and can’t wait to put them into use! It’s a good thing that we have the entire week to work on a response. 8)
Also, I’m excited to see everyone (readers/artists/poets/writers/etc.) take part in this collaboration as you all do with the Haiku-a-day posts. It’s always fun, and you all never cease to amaze me with what you all come up with!
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QM, your 365 art project will be fun to see once you have it mapped out. I can understand how it got harder as the year wore on, but wow, you persisted! Remember I tried to start a 365 doodle project but after the first week realized it wasn’t going to work. Even simple doodles were just too much.
I think once you have all 365 photos in one place, in a slide show or in a visual art show, the magnitude will come through in a very big way.
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[…] 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (more about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). To read more about Lotus, visit her at alotus_poetry on Twitter (where she writes poetry every […]
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[…] The Dark Half is one of my favorite books by Stephen King, along with his nonfiction work, On Writing (see 10 Tips From Stephen King On The Craft Of Writing). I even went to see him at the Fitzgerald Theater in November 2009. So when I saw the Mirado Black Warrior on the desk last night, I knew it would be Week 3′s Jump-Off in the BlackBerry 52 collaboration with Lotus. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). […]
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Thanks, ybonesy & Lotus. I hope to do a post eventually on what I learned from the BlackBerry 365 practice last year before it’s too far behind me. And I still have to do the Journal 365 post. So much to write, too little time!
Lotus, got the BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off done for Week 3 right under the wire. Was just going to do a simple photograph, but then I got interested in writing a little about pencils. Hope you have fun with it this week!
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[…] 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). To read more about Lotus, visit her at alotus_poetry on Twitter (where she writes poetry every […]
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[…] In BlackBerry 52, we will continue our call and response by posting a BlackBerry Jump-Off photo for the 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off for Week 5:
Pinstripes – 5/52
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[…] was delighted to receive this digital postcard from Lotus last night. It’s the BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off for Week 6, and the inspiration for whatever response rises to the top by the end of the […]
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[…] 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). To read more about Lotus, visit her at alotus_poetry on Twitter (where she writes poetry every […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off for Week 7:
Skip Rocks Not Breakfast – 7/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 8:
From Lotus, based on a poem by Charles Bukowski — The Continual Condition:
Never (Found Poem) – 8/52
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[…] 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). To read more about Lotus, visit her at alotus_poetry on Twitter (where she writes poetry every […]
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[…] Week 9′s Jump-Off in the BlackBerry 52 collaboration with Lotus sprang from the keys of my Royal typewriter on a Sunday afternoon in the Casket Arts Studio. Feel free to join us if you wish. You can learn more about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. […]
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[…] -related to posts: Best Of BlackBerry 365 — First Quarter SlideShow, BlackBerry 365 Project — White Winter Squirrel, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Searching For Stillness, icicle tumbleweed (haiga) — 2/52, The Mirado Black Warrior, Waning Moon (Haiga), The Void — January Mandalas […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 10:
From Lotus:
Cityscape: Behind the Gray – 10/52
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[…] first response to Cityscape: Behind The Gray in the BlackBerry 52 collaboration with Lotus, was that it captured a late winter mood. The second time I viewed the photo was March […]
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[…] -related to posts: Best Of BlackBerry 365 — First Quarter SlideShow, BlackBerry 365 Project — White Winter Squirrel, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Searching For Stillness, icicle tumbleweed (haiga) — 2/52, The Mirado Black Warrior, Waning Moon (Haiga), The Void — January Mandalas, haiku 4 (one-a-day) Meets renga 52, Alter-Ego Mandala: Dreaming Of The Albatross (For Bukowski), WRITING TOPIC — SLOW OR FAST? […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 11:
Snowkiting On Lake Calhoun – 11/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 12:
Hope Among The Rubble – 12/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 13:
Grassy Bus — Take Me Out To The Ball Game – 13/52
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[…] 52 weeks of 2011. Feel free to join us if you wish (learn about the project’s beginnings at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration). To read more about Lotus, visit her at alotus_poetry on Twitter (where she writes poetry every […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 15:
Lizzie’s Converse All Stars – 15/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 16:
Self-Portrait #2: Locker Room – 16/52
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll […]
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[…] self-portrait is a response to Lotus for the BlackBerry 52 Collaboration (her Jump-Off was the self-portrait: Self-Portrait #2: Locker Room). I took the original photograph […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 17:
Nesting – 17/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 18:
the word CELEBRATION!
Here is the response from Lotus:
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 19:
Montana — Missing The Mountains – 19/52
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[…] photograph of the PEACE sign (part of the BlackBerry 52 Series with Lotus) is made of seashells sent to me by Heather, a friend I met through red Ravine. She often tweets […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 20:
the phrase — Spirit Bird (20/52)
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 21:
Franconia #5 — 21//52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off for Week 22:
Not Even Deep Into Summer (Haiga)
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 23:
#NorthernSpark – Scattered Lights By Jim Campbell – 23/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 24:
The Biggest Heart (topic) – 24/52
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BlackBerry 52 Jump Off for Week 25:
First Dragonfly – 25/52
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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BlackBerry 52 Jump-Off for Week 26
Becoming a Rabbit – 26/52 – a poem by Lotus (LINK)
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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[…] text, photography, poetry (however we are inspired) for the 52 weeks of 2011. You can read more at BlackBerry 52 Collaboration. If you are inspired to join us, send us a link to your images, poetry, or prose and we’ll add […]
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