johnnoltner

Pay Attention

September 23, 2020 by johnnoltner

When I was shooting a lot of travel assignments, I noticed a predictable—if mildly uncomfortable—process unfold. As I drove to the location, whether it was an autumn fly-fishing stream in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota, or a grain truck sunset tour of the Kansas wheat fields, I worried. It was hard to see the potential in the shoot. I could feel the anxiety well up. The light was no good. Power lines traced the length of the trout stream. Billboards marred […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: a peace of my mind, creativity, cry out, listen, patience, pay attention, prayer, storytelling, travel

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Thank you

September 5, 2020 by johnnoltner

They say 40 days is what it takes for transformation. 20 days to shed an old habit and 20 days to establish a new one. A few months ago, I couldn’t see a path forward for A Peace of My Mind. The public programming that supported it had vanished with the pandemic. Everything we had built the project around had shifted and at times I wondered if this lovely voice we had cultivated over the past decade was going to […]

Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: 40 days, crowdfunding, cry out, Indiegogo, storytelling, thank you

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Visioning

August 27, 2020 by johnnoltner

The creative process isn’t always tidy. My office certainly isn’t. Nor is my handwriting. I’ll often vision about project ideas and future plans on a scrap of paper. I’ll tape rough notes to my office wall and see how they hold up over time. Some of them never happen. Others could not be stopped if you tried. As I struggled through packing up 20 years of photo memories in my office, I came across this note, imagining what my third […]

Categories: Blog, Project Updates • Tags: creative process, crowd funding, cry out, fundraising, listen first, memories, photography, plans, social issues, visioning, weaving community

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Letting go

August 22, 2020 by johnnoltner

We’ve set some big wheels in motion. And now it’s our job to run fast enough to keep up with them. We expect to have the house on the market by the end of the month. Lord help us. Like a lot of people, we’ve been using COVID time to make some home improvements and catch up on overdue upgrades. But now we are ramping that up to get ready to sell. We’ve been in this house for 20 years. […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: change, letting go, loss, moving, new adventure, something new, transitions

All in

August 17, 2020 by johnnoltner

We’ve been toying with this idea for more than a year now. A Peace of My Mind’s work is out there. On the road. Everywhere. In 2019 we led programming in 20 states and on four continents. It’s good work. Mission-driven work. And more necessary every day. But every good thing has a cost. Last year Karen and I were apart for 170 nights. That’s too much. We got married because we like each other and after almost 29 years […]

Categories: Uncategorized

Tech Talk

August 13, 2020 by johnnoltner

I don’t often talk about gear and technique as I tend to be more interested in soul and story. But I’ve had several people ask about the logistics of our George Floyd portrait series from 38th and Chicago, so I thought I’d make a behind the scenes post to share a little bit about my process. These images have high production value, like a studio portrait, but also a sense of immediacy and context like street photography. That means, you […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: gear, George Floyd, how to, photo tips, photography, portrait photography, street photography

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Intent vs. perception

August 9, 2020 by johnnoltner

A few years back, I helped organize some interfaith programming at Holden Village and friends from Hamline University’s Wesley Center for Spirituality, Service and Social Justice joined us for a week of learning and fellowship in the mountains. I’d been to Holden several times previously and had been in the village already for a week when the Hamline folks arrived, so I gladly took on the role of host, tour guide and cruise director as everyone was settling in. At […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: dialogue, intent, interfaith, perception

Remote portraits

August 5, 2020 by johnnoltner

I was pretty sure it wasn’t possible. My client asked me if I could do a series of remote portraits for him and I asked, “What’s that?” Well, hang on…let me back up a little bit. I was supposed to travel to D.C. this spring to produce a series of portraits and stories for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network. They were spearheading an effort to lobby members of congress to fund research for treatment of lymphatic disease, a condition […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: Lymphatic disease

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Cry Out

July 30, 2020 by johnnoltner

By now, you may have heard that A Peace of My Mind has launched a crowdfunding campaign. Cry Out: Voices calling for radical love and justice in a broken world. It’s time to gather new stories. But I’ll need your help. Our goal is to amplify the voices of people working at the leading edge of our most difficult challenges. Race, immigration, poverty and more. It’s time to interview people on the ground, working for change. We want to celebrate […]

Categories: Uncategorized

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Making peace (signs)

July 19, 2020 by johnnoltner

The first day I went to Chicago and 38th—the site where George Floyd was killed—I didn’t bring my cameras. I went to see it, to be in the space, to bear witness and to learn. As I walked toward the site, I passed a lilac bush toward the end of its bloom. Light purple blossoms covered the ground and I bent down to gather a few handfuls and filled my pockets. At the very spot where George Floyd’s life had […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: peace

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A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Author Archives: johnnoltner

Pay Attention

Thank you

Letting go

All in

Tech Talk

Intent vs. perception

Remote portraits

Cry Out

Making peace (signs)