Your Life As Art Photography by Pam
Artist & Intuitive | Pamela Zmija
1st snowfall of the winter of 2025-2026 was this weekend, much less than they forecasted, thankfully!
A reminder, the cold is coming, a time to retreat for many, once the snow is here to stay I love getting out and capturing the beauty and purity of a snow covered scene.
This month is flying by already, even though I just joined this challenge the other day, its hard to believe its already November 10th! I am grateful I found this challenge, the emotions will always be present, however this is allowing me more of a purpose of creativity each and every day. Especially during the month we loose so much light. As a photographer, that is what many of us strive for – the light. As a natural light photographer myself, that is what I seek out, and as we enter November, the darkness begins to surround.
A challenge such as this, posting daily, seeing other people’s posts daily, many photos of everyday things, nothing posed, just pure, raw creativity of everyday. The perfect inspiration. Especially this month. November will forever feel hard. This is how I can transmute my ‘hard’, to soften my heart. Round, fills this month challenge theme perfectly as well. Sometimes we just need to soften the edges of life, to realize we are all going through something…
The roundness of my crystal bracelets hanging on my selenite bracelet holder my husband gave me for Christmas last year. The first two bracelets were ones I created, the others on the top rack were ones I purchased from our local crystal store, Art Arrows earlier this year. I allowed my intuition to guide me, crystals are healing for a variety of reasons. I will admit I do not know crystals as well as my daughter, however I ‘intuitively lead’ myself and go to what I am attracted to, its always exactly what I need at the time.
First bracelet I shared the other day, I had it made custom from Leann at Art Arrows and includes beads for each of our birth months. The 2nd bracelet was created by me at the local Brain Injury Group meeting. Leann came to the meeting and led us through choosing and the various crystal meanings. I allowed myself to be intuitively led as I selected the beads.
One of the stones in the bracelet I made is Hematite:
“Hematite is one of the most powerful grounding stones in the mineral kingdom, intended to root your body and mind back to Earth. This stone helps refocus your thoughts and actions into those that matter to you most while guiding you on the right path. It’s a stone of attraction, much like that of a magnet. Hematite is constantly pulling down excess energy from your environment to help you use it towards your best interests. Once your focus becomes anchored to the Earth, Hematite shows you that anything you desire is achievable. Rooting ourselves into the present moment seems to be a harder challenge each day. In the technological world that we are advancing in; it seems difficult for us to stay present within our thoughts.” Source
One of the main stones in the family bracelet is Citrine, this is also the birth stone for November, my brothers birth month.
“Citrine is a master of one’s creativity center, which houses some of our strongest manifestative energies. This area has been known to be the key to not only unlocking our personal will but to also unlocking our truest desires. When one is truly looking for a change or a spark of imagination, Citrine’s energy has no bounds. Grasping this stone each day and letting the universe hear your goals will amplify its energies tenfold. It’s not just about thinking, or wanting, but rather focusing and doing. When Citrine brings our root chakra into play, it allows us to bring our truest desires to life.” Source
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
The past few weeks we’ve been working at decluttering and re-organizing some rooms in the house. With a recent hobby of our daughters, we were able to spark a transition within our home shifting some furniture that will benefit her needs and the rest of the house flows even better now. We were also grateful to receive furniture 2nd hand to replace ours, which the couch cushions stitching was almost all gone.
The one weekend we de-cluttered our bedroom. Its incredible how much stuff can accumulate over time, without even realizing. Last weekend we organized the storage space in the main bathroom, switched up the storage options and its working and looking so much better! Yesterday, we finished shifting my den and took a few steps further to our daughters space being set up. It feels good. When hitting hiccups in life, these spaces are important to me, my den is like my healing space – for me and our family. A mental reminder, that when the medical supplies are needed, they can come out and then go back in the closet shelf.
As a visual person, anything sitting out IS a good reminder for me, I can see what I have, however its also incredibly overwhelming with visual clutter. Clear counters and floors are a key factor for a calm and clear mental health for me.
Behind the massage table is a closet, and a couple shelves, to the left there is an antique dressing table with a 3 fold mirror, its beautiful and reflects the light from the windows beautifully. With the most logical location for the desk against the wall, its important to me to have as much light as possible. The armoire we had in our bathroom, it worked, but not exactly the best storage for in there. I love its use in my den. I also love the touch of wood, calming. I have photos and paintings that I still need to get hung up on the walls. My heart is just so happy that my floors are once again open, the energy free flowing.
The energy feels so good in there now. The diffuser going, I was also burning some palo santo to help cleanse and bring in the good energy flow with moving everything around. Helps to rid the stagnant energy.
We are almost there! With many delays, mainly health related for my boys, we are finally inching closer to completion, which feels so so good! Getting these spaces back in order again, were key. The next few spaces, its going to be even better when that time comes.
Image taken on my cell phone and edited with Photoshop Express.
Today’s round photo is for my brother Adam… its Adam’s day today – Happy Birthday little brother! I hope you are surrounded by all of our loved ones and your little T in Heaven!
He is missed beyond belief… the amount of times Ive wanted to pick up the phone to call or message. Or how it just doesn’t feel real. Or when a photo shows up at the perfect time that hits the heart just right with memories. Memories that are even more priceless now. Grateful that I photograph everything and anything to do with life.
I had these crystal bracelets made for Christmas last year, the bracelets include a birthstone for everyone in our family, our parents, us 4 siblings, our spouses and our kids. The tattoo… in his memory that came to me and I knew, as a visual person, how much it would mean to have. The round crystal beads, together to form the round bracelet.
The 444, my own meaning that holds strong to the connection I had with him and that continues to show up in the numbers as well as other signs – that I also hope continues for all my years.
The accident was Nov 8, his birthday, today Nov 9 and his final fall, 9 days after his initial accident. 9 days, 9 in numerology is endings, completion of a cycle.
I miss my brother so much. As the oldest of us 4, it is weighing my heart in a way thats almost undescribable.
ETA… Maddys team played this evening and brought home the win! Its little things, little things that can help soften the heart on a day now that pulls up all the emotions. Keep watching over us, as grateful as I am your not in any more physical or emotional pain… holy fuk I miss you! 😭
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
This week Egidio leads us to reflect on Lens-Artists Challenge #31 – Landscapes. Be sure to check our his examples in his blog post here. I really like his minimalist landscape example – so peaceful and serene. Egidio encourages us to share 6 images only for this theme, photographers can get excited and want to share more ;) his limits are helpful.
I have previously shared our recent travel photos so these images are more personal, some fav locations and one country road that really stood out to me!
2. Loon Family on Methuen Lake
3. Early Morning Mist over Methuen Lake
4. Country Road
5. Driftwood & Waves on the Beach
6. Winter on the snowmobile trail through the forest.
Thank you for joining in my view of this challenge! I specifically chose images this year that I had taken. Check out others in the wordpress reader by searching Lens-Artists!
If you are interested in joining in on the Lens-Artists Challenges, see here for more info! Be sure to use the tag Lens-Artists in your wordpress blog post!
Today’s date, this year, it hitting a little harder.
The roundness of a face.
November 8, 2008 my little brother Adam fell and hit his head multiple times. This unfortunately began a long road of recovery and major life transitions, all while living with immense pain daily.
Our family was gifted this mask, in the beautiful shadow box with some crystals and his explanation (on the back). This is a partial photo of the mask, made by my brother Adam at one of the Brain Injury Association meetings.
Adam helped bring this association to our small town, knowing first hand what life is like living with a brain injury and the help people need, yet felt out of reach. Connection, which is why the meetings were key, for people to gather with others and their loved ones to feel safe in a space where they could be heard and understood.
As hard as it is to share a part of his mask, one final fatal fall took his life. In 9 days it will be a full year without him. I honestly cannot even believe this is our reality, that my younger brother, we will never see again. He can no longer tell his story, but I can, his family can. One’s who knew his journey, shared in his ups and downs.
We never know what life is going to hold for us tomorrow, or even 5 minutes from now. I will never forget the day I got the call that he fell. Or how proud he was telling us about the brain injury group, an accomplishment that brought him true satisfaction for not just himself, but the other people who would benefit from this group and the resources that would come forward.
On the right of his mask, Pain + Pleasure = Life … a Sadness that he just couldn’t pull from, knowing he was living in pain every single day. Transformation and change, some beyond the individuals control, many aspects of their life changes and its not the same for every brain injury. A deeper compassion for those “invisible” illnesses that we cannot see and sometimes when described, its hard to believe, yet this is their daily truth. An injury that forever changes someone, especially their mental health and loving themself. Going from being incredibly eager and capable to struggling to provide for your family, a challenging reality and adjustment for a person.
Seeing first hand the group, that still continues to this day in Mount Forest on the last Tuesday of the month, makes me so humble and proud, it was hard to go back to the group after Adam’s death, however I then was quickly reminded, everyone there understands on a level that so many people do not. They themselves or a loved one have experienced a loss of some kind affecting their brain and mental health – goes hand in hand. Their level of compassion towards others, is like no other.
Round could also reference, the circle of life for our Adam. An injury that significantly impacted every area of his life, ultimately was his final moments. I know he knew he was loved, but I pray he felt it deep to his soul.
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
Living and working with tradesmen, I have many in my life and watching over me. I felt inspired to take as many ’round’ photos as I could within our home. Without setting up, as natural as possible, real life.
In the laundry room, on the counter.
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
Today’s inspiration are the ’round’ within bubbles… from a macro view! I love how some of the bubbles you can actually see how round they are in the water. Took a break from washing dishes to capture the bubbles.
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
Shot on my Canon RP and my 85mm macro lens.
I am “late” to this party, however welcoming in with open arms. I found this challenge through Ritva’s Post, which honestly had me very intrigued given that November is a ‘hard’ month for our family.
The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!
A macro shot below of berries on a local no winter maintenance road. Although dried the tree had many berries still on it and the odd bee enjoying a stop!
If you participate be sure to add your link here as well!
After an incredibly reflective weekend, I am ready for this week ahead!
