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Photos of the Full Moon + 11 Mary Oliver quotes to inspire bold creativity

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That is Saturn to the upper left and Jupiter to the lower right of the Moon.

Good day to you all,

This is Diana, hello! I hope life is good and you are having a delightful and stimulating day.

This morning I was roused from my sleep around 3.30 by Anthony slipping out of bed to go off to photograph the full moon.

He was heading back to the spot in the Cerro Gordo area near us, where earlier this month he made his first Astrophotography shot.

You might think I get annoyed to be woken at such an hour, but actually I love it because I so enjoy being around people doing creative things. It inspires me to make things of my very own.

I got up – much later! – and while I was drinking my morning coffee, my thoughts turned to someone else I find intensely inspiring: the poet, Mary Oliver.

Mary Oliver died earlier this year, after a long and very productive life. She won a Pulitzer prize and became one of the best selling poets of her age.

She had the most exquisite ability to capture some of the beautiful truths about recognising the very best of this life and being creative. Her poems make me want to reach for my notebook and write.

Her writing focuses on so many things that Anthony talks about as being essential to photography – being present to the world around us, not rushing through it, opening up our awareness to the magic of light, nature and the beauty surrounding us. Finding beauty in the mundane, everyday elements of life.

These ideas are relevant to all creative practices – so I thought an intriguing piece for you all would be to combine the shots Anthony got this morning with some of my favourite quotes of Oliver’s.

I hope you find something creatively nourishing in this – and it sparks some ideas for your own photography.

  1. “Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields.” Mary Oliver

  2. “And that is just the point… how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. “Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?” Mary Oliver

  3. “The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” Mary Oliver

  1. “Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled— to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.”  Mary Oliver

  2. “It is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.” Mary Oliver

  3. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver

  1. “Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”  Mary Oliver

  2. “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”  Mary Oliver

  3. “And now I understand something so frightening & wonderful-how the mind clings to the road it knows, rushing through crossroads, sticking like lint to the familiar.” Mary Oliver

  1. “Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?” ~ Mary Oliver

  2. “I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us…” Mary Oliver

You can read much more about Mary Oliver on the Facebook page of her publisher, and in great articles like these in the New Yorker, The Atlantic and Brainpickings.

A note about the location of the photos – Cerro Gordo is a little stretch of protected coast on the Costa Tropical in Andalucia, that gives dramatic views over sheer cliffs, hidden caves, tiny unspoilt beaches, grazing wild goats and stunning plants and trees.

It’s a magical spot to relax in nature, but Anthony has found it a fantastic place to shoot things like the full moon, and Astrophotography.

5 Comments

  1. John Sh
    19/06/2019 @ 11:12 AM

    I think you should tell Anthony that the full moon rises just as the sun is setting so getting up at 0330 is just a tad early. I should also point out that a full moon is much less interesting than a partial moon where one can make out the craters along the edge of the light.

  2. Karen Walker
    19/06/2019 @ 12:50 AM

    Mary Oliver is my favorite poet, and I never tire of reading quotes or her full poems. Anthony’s photographs are a wonderful accompaniment to her words. And I do appreciate both Anthony’s and Mary’s admonitions to pay attention to the moment and appreciate each and every day! Thanks for putting this together.

    • Anthony Epes
      19/06/2019 @ 12:56 PM

      Thank you Karen for your kinds words and support. Mary Oliver is a new inspiration for me!

  3. Dawn Penso
    18/06/2019 @ 7:21 PM

    Beautiful photographs! Shows what photography can do for us, and quotations from Mary Oliver are so thought-provoking, encouraging everyone to see and appreciate the beauty all around us, especially now when all the news is full of negativitiy.

    • Anthony Epes
      19/06/2019 @ 12:54 PM

      Thanks Dawn. Sometimes our best articles come out of us the easiest.