A Sense of Place - Week ONe

I have just started Kat Sloma's course 'A Sense of Place'. In this first week Kat has posed the question 'Do you travel to photograph or  photograph as you travel?'

Thinking about this question I realise I photograph as I travel.  However I  try to take my camera with me most days as you never know what unexpected treasure you are going to find, even when you are  somewhere you know well.

Both these sets of pictures were taken during an impromptu lunch hour walk last summer.

I derive a lot of pleasure from coming upon things unexpectedly so would not always want to plan my travels around things I have identified that I really want to photograph. I also think taking photos of famous monuments is often very difficult, unless you are able to spend days in preparation. Thus my recent photos of Angkor Wat were not particularly successful whereas I was really pleased with a picture of the captain of our boat on Halong Bay that I couldn't have planned for in the same way.

 

Similarly my attempts to capture the Temple of Literature in Hanoi weren't crowned with success but I was very happy with the pictures I took of some of the young people I saw there.

When I came to look for photos to illustrate this point, I realised I had already deleted most of the more general views of the Temple of Literature!

It will be interesting to see whether, as I get more deeply involved with photography, my perspective changes on this!

A Visit to the Village

As part of our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia we were thrilled to be able to visit Honour Village, a childrens village founded by Sue Wiggans a retired school teacher from the Isle of Wight. More info about the village here

The first challenge was to get to the village from Siem Reap, where we were staying in order to visit the magnificent Angkor Wat temple complex. Sue had sent us detailed instructions which we proved to be incapable of conveying either to the hotel receptionist or the tuk tuk driver. The solution was to ring Sue who asked one of her Cambodian staff members to instruct the driver on our behalf. Then we were off,  bouncing along the hot and dusty road sometimes, but not always, missing the inevitable potholes! After about half an hour and a couple of wrong turnings we arrived, hot,  dusty and pleased to be there.

Our first impression of Honour Village was of happy smiling children - one that has stayed with us! 

After a Welcome from Sue we were taken on a tour of the village. There are over 50 resident children ranging in age from under fives to older teenagers. These are children who have lost their parents or whose families are unable to care for them at present. 

In addition to the resident children, more than 300 children come for lessons from the surrounding villages to supplement the education provided by the Cambodian state. It is normal in Cambodia for parents to pay for additional lessons for their children to ensure they pass their grades which with class sizes up to 60 can be a challenge for some. Many parents cannot, of course, afford this and the lessons available at Honour Village help to fill this gap.

Sue told us that they were hoping to get a government sponsored teacher to work at the village and that this would make a significant difference to the status of Honour Village. In the meantime as we walked round we saw several classes in action teaching  Khmer  and English. Some children were using the small library and others were playing in the garden. More classes would begin at 2 including Sue's kindergarten class.

There was also evidence of the challenge of keeping house for 50 plus, I was glad the washing wasn't my responsibility  - as it is there is a line for each of the houses and the housemothers are responsible for the task.

As we were leaving Sue and the Honour Village  manager began to look at the children's grade cards from the local school - the idea that education can provide a way out of poverty is a central tenet of the philosophy of Honour Village and the children are given all the help and encouragement possible both in terms of their work at the  local school and their lessons at Honour Village.

Honour village is doing great work helping children and families in Siem Riep if you would like to support them in this work you can make a donation here.

A lotus flower is the logo for Honour village together with the words

TRUTH - TRANSPARENCY - INTEGRITY

a visit to Honour Village allows you to see these values in action

Holiday Snaps - Sharing the Fun?

Holiday photographs present an innate dilemma - what do do with them once you get home? In the past, before digital cameras, we used to send them off to be processed and end up with physical evidence of our holidays which we could put in a album or allow to gather dust on a shelf. Of course we can still print off our photos but I suspect most of us just don't bother.

Modern alternatives include make a book of memories using Blurb or similar, uploading the whole lot on to Flickr or a similar platform and sending our friends and family the link, or uploading to Facebook or another social networking site.

This year I have come up with another alternative - the time capsule. As I have mentioned before I am taking a course with the wonderful Xanthe Berkley which is inspiring me to do things a little differently and I plan to make a series of 2 minute films which capture the essence of different parts of the holiday. check out the first one here.

Vietnam Vignettes 1 City Life from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

 So far this is proving very successful - when people have asked to see photo's I have sent them the link and a surprising number of them have actually watched it and commented favourably. I think a real plus is that you get get a sense of a place very quickly and can always watch again if you want to focus on a particular aspect.

Holiday Snaps?

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia, our first major holiday since I became really passionate about photography. This has presented me with a number of challenges, the first being why I am taking photographs? What is the purpose of it? The 1,800 or so pictures I’ve taken they can probably be broken down into the following categories:

Photographs of things I want to remember I’ve seen.

These come under the heading of traditional holiday snaps, not necessarily things that are intrinsically beautiful or fascinating, but things that appear ‘different’ or unusual that I want to record so that when I get home I know I haven’t imagined them.

The photos were taken at the tomb of Tu Duc at Hue where dressing up clothes are available for anyone who wants to play at  being emperor and concubines. We were lucky enough to arrive just as this group were ready to have their photo taken. 

Photographs of famous monuments / beauty spots.

Tricky this on several counts, when you're on a group tour, as we were, you don’t get to pick the time of day or light in which you see places. Plus I’m still saving up for a wide-angle lens. Plus you can almost always get a postcard that is better than anything you can take yourself unless you can inject another point of interest into the photo (other than yourself!) to make it a little different.

The top picture is one of the temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the bottom one is from our cruise on Halong Bay - both of these are UNESCO World Heritage sites

Flowers, colours, shapes that may or not speak directly of the place you have been visiting but have a universal appeal

I love these lotus flowers for their colour and shape as they unfurl - they also happen to be the national flower of Vietnam as well as India

 People, the life of the country. Photographs of people wearing local dress, national costumes, doing every day tasks or on special occasions 

Luckily for photographers most people in Vietnam seem happy for you to take their photo and will often smile and  wave to show their approval if, for example, they are passing on a motor scooter (more about traffic in a later post)

The first of these pictures was taken on the Meekong Delta. The other two of women tending rice paddys and a herb garden were taken on the drive to Halong Bay from Hanoi. 

‘I woz here’ photos

I’ve never taken very many of these and have always felt slightly baffled by the number of people who seem to feel that a photo of a monument isn’t valid unless they are in it as well, to prove they’ve actually been there. That said, I did take a few of this type of photo this time mainly with my iPhone  to pop on to Facebook.

These were taken outside Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum in Hanoi, at the Cu Chi tunnels in Siagon, demonstrating exactly how small a space the Viet Kong were living in during the war, and enjoying a fresh coconut drink whilst travelling on the Mekong Delta

Seaside Art Retreat

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Felixstowe for a seaside Art Retreat which was organised  by one of the people I met at Call of the Wild Soul. Seven lovely ladies met up for a weekend of fun, art, conversation and relaxation thanks to our fabulous hostess Marie and her family. 

Of course this kind of event is not without its dangers, the main one being ‘supplies envy’ when looking at the goodies everyone else had brought with them, and which, for some of us, has led to a post weekend online shopping spree!

Rather than write more about the weekend I  will post the time capsule I made as part of the course I am doing with Xanthe Berkley. This is my first attempted at Videoing which I found a lot more fun than I expected to  and only wish I had taken more film especially on the prom and by the pier. I shall know next time!

Hope you will find time to have a look - enjoy!

Seaside Art Retreat - Take 2 from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Photography on the Hoof! or Making the Most of your Opportunities

On Tuesday I had to go to London for a meeting. The person I was meeting suggested we meet in the members area at the Royal Festival Hall  which was very convenient as it is only a five minute walk form the mainline station and doesn't involve getting on a tube. I debated about taking my camera as I knew I wouldn't have much time to take photographs, but in the end decided to take it anyway - this turned out to be a good decision. 

I was a little early for the meeting so took these photos on my way in to the RFH, I just loved how the colour of the pansies brightened up a grey January day!

I arrived on the 6th floor via the singing glass lift - which I wasn't expecting and rather freaked me out as it not only sang but went very fast.

This next picture was taken in the members area on the 6th floor of the RFH.  Obviously lots of people choose to have business or other meetings there, or just  go there and work with their laptops.

 The views are absolutely stunning both over the river and over Westminster - I took the first of these photos through the window on the 6th floor, and the second from the balcony  one floor down

 

 My final picture is of Hungerford Bridge, the rail bridge between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations - if you look carefully you can see the white roof of a train going across. I love the juxtaposition of the trees and the bridge struts in this picture, they seem to come together to form a forest 

taking these picture probably took about 15 minutes and in no time and all I was back on the train heading for home.

Time Capsule 12.12.2012

Hi there, I decided to join in Xanthe Berkeley's  12.12.2012 time capsule Facebook Group. This is my offering, though I have to say that 12th December was a pretty boring day except for one amazing thing.

Basically I got up drove to a meeting in Southampton (thought of taking a photo of the traffic jam heading into Southampton, but realised that taking photos with my phone, even while stationary, was probably a traffic offence so decided against). Couldn't really take any photos of the meeting which went on all morning so took a picture of the view from the Car Park. After the meeting I drove back home ( too difficult to park near my office in Winchester due to large numbers of shoppers visiting the Christmas market), and spent the afternoon working  before continuing to make gift cards, have supper, and go to bed.

The amazing thing about 12.12.2012 was the hoar frost - it was magnificent, the most impressive I have ever seen - it had spikes! The photos were taken around 8am in the morning, about 2 when I got back from Southampton and the last one around 5pm. they were all taken either in our garden or just outside our gate.

Hope you enjoy my time capsule!

12Dec12 from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Lightroom and Christmas Street Decorations

If you aren't interested in my adventures in Lightroom, page down to get to the Christmassy Pictures!

I have this week at last  begun to get to grips with Lightroom. I got it back in the summer prior to signing up to Kim Klassen's   Round Trip course - then the problems began. I had started to use it just for organising my photos and had imported my Photoshop Elements catalogue. Then I realised my hard disk was amongst completely full and that I need to find a solution quickly. Panic! delete a few photos and realise this isn't going to cut it. Next step was to buy an external hard drive and then panic again about transferring the photos without them becoming disconnected from the Photoshop and light room catalogues, or worse still losing the lot!

After extensive research we found out that you needed to transfer the files from inside the programme so I had to choose which to keep connected. In the end I choose Elements as I was more familiar with the programme and felt altogether more comfortable with it. So we spent a day transferring the photos in batches and to my great relief it all worked - I had space on my hard disk and at least I could still use elements!

Next to tackle Lightroom - in theory this wasn't too difficult; delete every thing in the catalogue and then re-import the photos from the Elements catalogue - it took several days before I managed to make myself bite the bullet in case it all went horribly wrong! Then success, I was able to start using lightroom and start on the Round Trip course which I had bought extended access to my this time!

The photos I am sharing today have layouts done with the Lightroom print module - my first attempt and very much a work in progress Enjoy!

These two are taken at the iconic Conran shop in Chelsea. I loved how they decorated their windows and the the pink delivery bike was awesome. 

The Chelsea Conran shop is in an old Art Decco building that used to be a Michelin garage and is absolutely stunning!

I love Christmas decorations and the pictures above were taken in St Christopher's Place just behind Oxford Street, I think  all the silver balls and reflections are just wonderful!

This final set of photos are window displays from shops in the streets just off Oxford St and Regent St.  I adore the rich lush colours and textures

Invitation to an Autumn Walk

I though I would like to invite you to join for for a short photo walk in my neighbourhood (can you call a load of fields a neighbourhood?). We are going to start in the garden go out the gate turning right along the farm track past the farm then up the lane and back in by the main drive - not as grand as it sounds there are a number of houses!

 I am always amazed by the treasures I discover in my garden, new perspectives, small details, changing seasons.

I don't often stand at the back of the trellis  in our dustbin area and take photos looking out -  it gave a new perspective on the plants in the bed. Walking down the garden I was struck by the sun on the beech hedge we planted last year, it was so bright you would have thought it a pile of gold, and I loved the bright yellow of the Forsythia leaves by the gate.

Walking down towards the farm I loved the frost tracks on the grass with the brown leaves providing a contrast.

 Past the farm now - we could take this footpath but I think we'll continue on up the lane. When you're on a photo walk its important to keep looking in all directions to find the beauty around you and especially important to look both up and down!

 Nearly home now with a chance to admire the winter fields to our right as we turn in the main drive, and straight ahead as we head back towards the house. I hope you enjoyed our walk together!

Not taking photographs in France

At last the French holiday post which as you can see I actually started when still there!

Having got to day four of our trip so far we have been to our local small town of Parthenay, the Marais, a marshland with inland waterways and picturesque villages, and La Rochelle a medieval port on the Atlantic coast. I have taken very few pictures! Only 265 Why? On a weekend on the Isle of Wight I often take several hundred, why not here?

Perhaps it is because everything is new yet familiar; pretty houses, stone walls, flowers. New because I have not been to this exact location before, familiar because I have been to many similar places. Some of the best views are panoramic, I can't do these justice without a wide angle lens. Anyway my passion is for the small view, the detail, the sacred in the ordinary. 

 

This is the first time I have been on holiday with my new camera, the first time I have tried to make a distinction between 'holiday snaps' which perhaps can be seen as photos of record  of the 'I was here' variety and something I am more emotionally engaged with.

 

I think this is also related to one’s phase of life and the law of diminishing returns. The first time we took a car to France was in 1976. We were living in Cornwall at the time so we landed in Roscoff and drove first to the Dordogne with its beautiful medieval villages then on via the Corniche de Cevennes  to Provence where we stayed for a few days before driving home. I was a fabulous holiday everything was new and interesting. I had previously only been to Paris, Belgium and Austria all of which were very different  - there were photo opportunities galore, novelty ruled.

 

During the nineties and noughties  we visited various parts of Europe with our son, seeing  familiar places and scenes afresh through his eyes, and visiting some attractions that might otherwise have passed us by. Though happily for us he was always very keen on castles and other old buildings (now reading history at university). Now when we travel in familiar parts of Europe it does feel a bit, been there, done that, still nice, but subject to the law of diminishing returns.

 

On son joined us for the last few days of our holiday and I realized this was the only point at which we paid to go in anywhere (this was partly because we had saved one of the key trips until he arrived). So we visited the maritime museum at La Rochelle the day of his arrival followed  by Fontevraud and  Chateau de Breze the following day. I like to think this was partly because we were not in an area with loads of major attractions, but rather lots of pleasant places to visit, but I think we will need to keep an eye on ourselves during our next trip abroad! 

A Sense of Place

No sooner back from Call of the Wild Soul than I was off on another workshop, this time in London, with the wonderful Kat Sloma.  You can find out more about Kat here. 

This workshop ‘A sense of place’ based on Kats successful e-course took place in Hampstead  for the classroom session, followed by a photo safari in the Spitalfields / Brick Lane area of East London. The course also took place on my 39th wedding anniversary but I was given dispensation by my husband on the basis that I let him go to a Grateful Dead concert on our anniversary in 1981 (I didn’t like the Dead at the time I do rather now!)

Having introduced ourselves it turned out to be a small world. I already had a connection with Justine through a photography based Facebook group I belong to, and it transpired that Kat and Fiona had met some of my fellow Wild Souls at an art retreat in Yorkshire last year where Flora Bowley was also teaching. It was also great to meet the other group members Alyssa & Becs. 

The morning was spent looking through the workbook and thinking about what a sense of place means to us individually. The time raced by and after lunch it we headed over to the East End for the photo safari.

I have made a couple of trips to the Spitalfields / Brick lane area recently (here is a really good art supply warehouse there) and taken quite a few photos. There is always something different to see, however, and I had previously only been on a weekday when it’s rather quiet with no food stalls or pop up markets. Also it was really interesting to notice what my companions noticed / were attracted to that I wasn’t and vice versa. All the picture in the post were taken on that Saturday I haven’t included any that were taken on my previous visits.

The first thing that caught my eye was this old fashioned looking  that seemed to be in its own private time zone

Next I  was attracted to this window with its colourful lamps

Then we were into the main drag of Brick Lane itself full of sounds smells and colour. I wished we hadn't just had lunch, the food looked and smelled wonderful!

 Some of the restaurants had very interesting decor!

Another feature of the lane was the fascinating graffiti which was everywhere - I rather liked this one which was more of a collage - is that Patrick Moore in the centre?

I also really liked this sign in a book shop window

Finally as we were heading back I was struck with the wonderful colours of this display of shoes

the whole day was fab - many thanks to Kat and my fellow photographers

Call of the Wild Soul - Take 1

I'm just back from the fabulous Call of the Wild Soul art retreat at Croydon Hall on Exmoor. The retreat is the inspiration of Erin Faith Allen and was just amazing. My only regret is that it was only possible to take classes from 3 of the 4 wonderful teachers there. I have decided to write a separate post for each class starting with day one when I took Madelyn Mulvaney's Persisting Soul class, which was based on photography rather than painting. It was a relaxed and gentle day with words of wisdom interspersed with exercises in pairs and a post lunch photo walk.

During the first exercise we were looking and embracing and releasing and went out into the slightly damp and misty garden to take photos.

 

I also used the opportunity to take some of the wonderful moss covered tree trunks in the garden.

 

Back in the classroom we looked at examples of manifestos and began to brainstorm some ideas for our own - here is mine which I finished on my return home.

 

After a delicious lunch (would certainly recommend the food at Croydon Hall) we went on a photo walk. There was so much to capture even though we went a relatively short way. This is just a small sample of the photos I took

 

The second theme of the day  was journeys and destinations and my workshop partner and I took various  photos around the house and garden.

In between all the other activities we also played around with vintage Polaroid film which produced pictures with a soft light and interesting striped effects. I can remember these from my parents Polaroid owning days when striped photos were not seen as an interesting, artistic or desirable outcome, rather the reverse! Still finding it hard to get my head around this!

Finally we did the self portrait section of the class. Each choosing how we would like the other to photograph us and then choosing  a feature  of the other to shoot. my partner chose to have a photo just of her foot with adorning anklet and I chose to take a photo of her amazing eyes.

Finally I chose to have a head and shoulders portrait wearing one of my favourite pink scarfs from Marrakech( have photoshopped the results a bit!) whereas my partner chose to take a picture of my hair.

.

It really was a fabulous day - big thanks to Maddy and all the other wild souls!

Liberate your Art Postcard Swap

I got really excited by the postcard swap as soon as I read about it on Kat’s blog. The timing was perfect I was planning to have some postcards printed anyway as a way of showcasing some of my photos. An offer I couldn't refuse from MOO dropped into my inbox - I was away! Post cards arrived I choose a variety and posted them of to Kat in plenty of time -  mistake  - I didn’t make  note of the cards I choose so I have no idea which of my pictures are out there! 

They could include this picture

Or this one 

Or any of these

I didn’t realise this would be a problem until cards started arriving and some people put the ones they had sent on the FB page as well. Good idea! I thought,  especially as no one seems to have received any of my cards. Rather a problem for me in practice thought.

Getting other artists cards through the post was just great. First to arrive was this beautiful portrait from Dana in Michigan,

soon to be followed by this slightly surreal wooly mammoth from Katrin in Germany.

Next came this beautiful flower from Stephanie

 

and this textured flower from Phoenix and finally ( apart from Kat’s lovely card) this building in San Juan in Puerto Rico from Cheryl - memories of Westside Story abound. (sorry these 2 are on the same photo I am having some technical problems!)

In all a beautiful and varied selection of art to pin on my notice board in my study / studio 

I hope to be able  to visit and leave comments on others blogs during the blog hop, but am off to France on Friday and will have limited internet access - please forgove me if I don't get to you.

Finally please, please, please if you did get one of my cards - get in touch I would love to hear from you

September on the Blog

Hello

Welcome to September on the blog. The news is that I am suspending the Friday Five for the month. This is because I will be in France without much in the way of internet access for two of the Fridays  and at my first art retreat on the 4th Friday - so excited about this - find out more here. I will be attempting to post via my iPhone while I am away but haven’t tried it out yet  - so watch this space!

 In the meantime enjoy this quote from Henry Ford inscribed on a colourful flight of steps on the Southbank.

A Photo Walk in Steephill Cove

As usual we spent the holiday weekend on the Isle of Wight and taking advantage of the long weekend we decided to go over to Ventnor, with the aim of visiting Steephill Cove, a charming spot that can only be reached on foot via the coastal path or by boat. We had only been there once before out of season and were keen to see it in its summer glory. 

As we rounded the bend  we saw the cove was a hive of activity with kids digging on the beach, in the sea, and generally having a good time.

 

For grown ups there is the additional bonus of the Wheeler family’s foodie offerings in their restaurant the ‘Boat House’ and the ‘Crab Shack’. We hadn't booked for the Boat House  but managed to get a seat at the Crab shack where we enjoyed delicious crab pasties which are the shack speciality, washed down with a glass of cold Muscadet.

Apparently the Wheeler family have been longshoremen at Steephill for 500 years. Nowadays they sell their fresh seafood, look after the beach and hire out deck chairs. 

 The cove itself was colonized as a resort in Victorian times and boasts a few pretty cottages together with sometimes dilapidated, but ultimately picturesque shacks and huts. Some of these have been turned into attractive holiday accommodation.

 

It is hard to describe the ambience of the cove which is an attractive  jumble of flowers shacks, lobsterpots and cottages. 

 

Don’t miss it if you take a trip to the Isle of Wight.

The Friday Five - Good Reads

This weeks five are ‘good reads’ in this case novels that I have really enjoyed and either have read, or plan on reading, several times. Two of the novels I have only on my kindle, so I have included it in the phhotograph!

The List

 

The Detail

First up is The  Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris. This is the middle book of a trilogy which begins with Chocolate (book better than film which is a constant refrain in this post) and ends with the recently published Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure. I enjoyed all three but Lollipop Shoes is my favourite, perhaps because of the ending.

Next is The Help by Kathryn Stockett which after a slightly slow start becomes a real page turner - again the film was good the  book if even better

 Number three is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson published by the wonderful Persephone  books.  A delightful fairytale guaranteed to cheer you up if you’re in need of a duvet day again far better than the film

At four is Home Leave by Libby Purves who is also a well known broadcaster on BBC Radio Four. I love all her books except the last two which are understandably much more sombre in tone, due to a change in the author’s personal circumstances. The early novels are laugh our loud amusing and its hard to choose a favourite.

Finally its Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand  by Helen Simonson. No relation to Miss Pettigrew, this is a gentle but insightful book about growing old  in an English village - again it made me laugh (noticing a theme here?)

I hope you will give at least some of them a try and that if you do you will enjoy them as much as I did.

The Friday Five - Kitchen Gadgets

Hi, this week it's five of my favourite kitchen gadgets

The List

 

The Detail

1. Sweet Corn Stripper
2. Kitchen Aid mixer - this is the model I own on at a good price today!
3. Strawberry huller
4. Kitchen Aid ice cream bowl
5. Pineapple Peeler and corer

The Friday Five - Einstein Quotes

Hi there! This week's Friday Five comprises quotes from Albert Einstein. Initially it was just going to be 5 assorted quotes, but as I started to look at my favourite Einstein quotes I soon realised there was no need to search any further. For me these quotes are profound and inspirational - I hope you find something in them that speaks to you.

Winchester Celebrates!

Couldn't resist popping into town with my camera at lunch time on Thursday when at last there was a sunny day to capture  the colourful flags celebrating at the olympics. I was bemused at first when they started to take down the Jubilee flags almost straight after the event, but was relieved when they replaced them with these colourful gems. Winchester was one of the cities with a big screen so I think they must have got a bumper allocation of flags that they used to good effect!

The Friday Five - Happiness

This week the Friday Five is about happiness and websites that are focussed on this topic. I have been interested in the art and science of happiness both personally and professionally for the last couple of years and have looked into some of the different resources out there to help you lead a happier life.

The List

The Detail

Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project is a blog and website with loads of ideas about how to increase your happiness. I would recommend her current book as an enjoyable and useful read and I am planning to buy her new book which is out next month. 

Authentic Happiness is the website of Martin Seligman the grandaddy of the positive psychology movement. Here you will find lots of questionnaires you can do, together with information and links to other sites.

Appreciative Living is Jackie Kelm’s site. She has taken a tool called Appreciative Inquiry normally used in organizational development and applied it to everyday living. Guess what! It works! I am a huge fan of Appreciative Inquiry in my work and am now trying to apply some of its principles in my everyday life

Action for Happiness is a movement for positive social change. They are aiming to  bring together people from all walks of life who want to play a part in creating a happier society for everyone. Again lots of Resources to download here plus events to attend if you live in the UK 

With her Positivity Ratio website and book Barbara Fredrickson ‘gives you the lab-tested tools necessary to create a healthier, more vibrant, and flourishing life. She discovered that experiencing positive emotions in a 3-to-1 ratio with negative ones leads people to a tipping point beyond which they naturally become more resilient to adversity and effortlessly achieve what they once could only imagine.’  Another one from the positive psychology movement