Authors : Cynthia Staples

Words & Images

Cynthesizing Beauty: Photo Essays by Cynthia Staples

Cynthia Staples is a Boston-based freelance writer and photographer. Her writings can be found in online and print publications including African Voices, Creativity Portal, Flashquake, Seattle Times, and Terrain.org. For over ten years she has worked with education nonprofits and with organizations exploring concepts of culture, community and sustainability.

Today, she enjoys writing about these organizations and the services they offer. She also enjoys writing about how nature and geography influence human behavior and perceptions. She finds inspiration in the natural world, through traveling and in her southern African American roots. In 2007, she received a Writer's Room of Boston creative nonfiction fellowship. Visit Cynthia's blog at wordsandimagesbycynthia.wordpress.com and view her photography at photosbycynthia.smugmug.com.

Cynthia Staples Interview
Cynthia answers questions about her personal creative journey and how her love of nature and travel informs her work as a writer and photographer.

Featured Word & Images

Sightings
What glorious scenes would people view by raising their heads or peering for just a moment at the shadows cast by trees in the growing light?

Practicing Patience
I was at home, hungry, walking toward my last pot of nasturtium. I planned to pick all of the dark green leaves for a final salad.

Bird A Cast of Shadows
These are the fanciful thoughts that come to me now as I sort through images from my recent walk amidst trees.

Branches Finding Beauty (in a Broken World)
Finding Beauty in a Broken World by Terry Tempest Williams is a meditation on both seeking and seeing beauty in the harsh realities around us.

Branching Thoughts
Next year I think that I will produce a book of branches.

Finding Inspiration in the Dark
Is it possible to appreciate light without experiencing the dark?

Winter Window Magic
Each season holds unique opportunities for visual inspiration.

The Long Walk
(or What Happens When a Little Girl Named Emma Asks You to Make Up a Story About the Origin of the Green Stone She Sees in Your Rock Collection)

Beneath the Sun, Moon and Stars: Exploring New Worlds with Paper
I looked around me and found sheets of paper and a pair of scissors. I began to cut. I kept cutting for a week.

Ephemeral Beauty, Enduring Inspiration
With a single touch to shells, rocks, and shards of glass strewn about my desk I can be transported back in time. For a little while.

Define To Define or Not to Define: That is the Question
I realized that "people" were not limiting my creativity. I was.

Look Up Look Up! To Spring's Inspiration
When winter has given way to spring, I simply say, look up to find some inspiration.

The Frog, The Flower and The Rock
Finding inspiration through collaboration. During a recent excursion to a frozen pond, I squatted by the water's edge.

In the Butterfly House: A Place of Unexpected Inspiration
Drawing from a place of childhood whimsy and flights of flowery imagination.

Sharing a Mother's Gift: My Butterfly Muse
Each expression of the butterfly reminds me of my mother who first pointed out their beauty to me in her garden.

Color Need a Creative Spark? Take the Color Challenge
What would it be like to focus on a single color from a photographic standpoint? What color might you choose?

Strawberry Pictures
When I look at my strawberry pictures, I am reminded to live in the moment and to experience the opportunities available in that moment as fully as possible.

Light Light on a Leaf
Outside my bedroom is an oak tree. Its russet leaves become pumpkin in the afternoon light.

Shadows Find Inspiration in the Shadows
I love to take pictures after the rain. The droplets that cling to leaves catch the light. Everything sparkles in a magical way.

Find a Patch of Sunlight
With sunlight as my guide, I am more open to creative epiphanies that may be right in front of my face.

Embark on a Cloud Chasing Expedition
I challenge you to create your own Cloud Chasing Kit. Better yet, just stop in the course of your day to look up into the sky.

Feeding Imagination
As a writer, when I am starved for words and ideas, I open a picture book or go online and click into an artist's website.

Also @ Creativity Portal:

Do you want to write a book? Then you'll want to calculate the costs involved if you are concerned about being able to afford it or turning a profit. Deb Simpson shows you the ropes through her article series on book publishing and selling.

Crafting Your Business Vision and Values
Where Is Your Business Headed, and What Do You and Your Company Stand For? Your work, like that of most creative entrepreneurs, expresses who you are. Your creative business reflects your vision, values, and voice.

Your vision is the big picture of your business (and your life). It's where you see yourself heading and includes how you're making a positive difference, what success looks and feels like to you, and what makes life and work ripe with fulfillment and meaning.

Take A Guided Imagery on Discovery
Set sail on a sea of ink, and cast your nets for a dream-fish. Consult your map, and steer your course towards your goal.

Promotion, Profit or the Poorhouse
Marketing is essential to promoting your book. Learn how advertising, book reviews, promotional items, and promotional events (book readings, signings, speaking engagements, book fairs) impact your book's bottom line.

Creative Writing and Idea Sharing in Gym Class
Want to get your kids engaged in a fun collaborative writing project that incorporates movement and creative thinking? This idea can be adapted to regular classroom use too!

Photo by Cynthia Staples Words & Images
Cynthia Staples is a Boston-based freelance writer and photographer who enjoys writing about how nature and geography influence human behavior and perceptions. This perennial collection of Cynthia's thought-provoking words and images on Creativity Portal will inspire and delight writers and photographers alike.