What a great idea! I walk and bike daily, so I will try collecting colors.
I have a friend who chose a color and spent a month photographing that color. She chose her best photo of the day. She moved to a new color each month throughout a year. Another way to collect colors!
As for the colors what surprised me was the strong reactions I had to the blocks of colors you included. Really loving or strong negative response! It’s just a color! Why do we love or hate them so?
Living in NYC and taking the subway, I am delighted when there is a color theme that day. Someone has a particular color of orange in their hat, and as I look around that same orange is someone's book, shoes, jacket etc.
I have been collecting and capturing colors found in my garden for nearly 7 years. The daily practice began shortly after the death of my dad as a way to get my mind off grief. Reading your book, TAoN is on my shelf of attention practices. Thank you. If you slide into my substack, a handmade garden, you’ll find numerous color squares, the remnants of my days. Your color feed made my heart sing. Color is powerful stuff.
I am totally with you. I'm kinda sorta totally obsessed with the Pantone colors. I can more about which color wins Color of the Year than I care about the Super Bowl or Time magazine's Person of the Year. :)
I love this!! I focus on capturing iPhone photos of colors and shapes on my Instagram, @MiamiColorTheory, because, as Dorothea Lange said, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” All of this is really about teaching people how to see. (Which is why I love The Art Of Noticing!) I love your idea of narrowing that seeing to one color at a time, inspired by William Burroughs' concept of “walking on colors.” When you focus on a single color—like red or blue—it starts to appear everywhere, much like the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, where something suddenly becomes more noticeable once it’s on your mind. This kind of focus sharpens your perception, revealing hidden beauty in everyday surroundings. That burst of dopamine from seeing vibrant colors can uplift your mood, and when you’re even just a little happier, you tend to spread that positivity in your next interaction. It’s a simple way to make the world a better place, one color at a time. Thanks for the inspiration, Rob! I can't wait to explore this further!
Fantastic post! I love it when someone writes something original and new. Thank you so much. I take my dogs for four walks each day, so even in our night time walk from now, I shall pick out colours to collect.
When my college boy was a little homeschooled kid, we did a lot of nature walks and beach clean up days. To make it more interesting, I would always ask him to find me a rainbow -- one object for each color of the spectrum. Then I photographed our rainbows and blogged them. Sometimes they were trash, sometimes treasure. I'm a painter, so I am admittedly obsessed with color...
This is me!!! I have not resonated with a post with such a full body yes in a long time. I even have this snippet in my author bio " she can often be found documenting her world and her life with a camera in hand." I love the idea of collecting colours. I host a photo challenge in November. We do some colours. Maybe I could expand it to do more. mwah.
I mean, who can resist Pantone's 2024 COTY: Peach Fuzz? On the Pantone page there's a giant header that says, "Embrace the Warmth." That warms the peachy cockles of my heart.
Back in the early days of the first lockdown I went on colour walks, compiling very similar grids to yours, but made up of a single colour and its variations. How nice it would be if Substack allowed photographs in comments so I could share them with you.
What a great idea! I walk and bike daily, so I will try collecting colors.
I have a friend who chose a color and spent a month photographing that color. She chose her best photo of the day. She moved to a new color each month throughout a year. Another way to collect colors!
Oh that's a very good variation on the idea. Thanks!
Love this week’s ice breaker!
As for the colors what surprised me was the strong reactions I had to the blocks of colors you included. Really loving or strong negative response! It’s just a color! Why do we love or hate them so?
No wonder you wear all black! Color is your trigger!
Living in NYC and taking the subway, I am delighted when there is a color theme that day. Someone has a particular color of orange in their hat, and as I look around that same orange is someone's book, shoes, jacket etc.
I have been collecting and capturing colors found in my garden for nearly 7 years. The daily practice began shortly after the death of my dad as a way to get my mind off grief. Reading your book, TAoN is on my shelf of attention practices. Thank you. If you slide into my substack, a handmade garden, you’ll find numerous color squares, the remnants of my days. Your color feed made my heart sing. Color is powerful stuff.
Thanks much, Lorene. Love the color work (and appreciate the back story)
I am totally with you. I'm kinda sorta totally obsessed with the Pantone colors. I can more about which color wins Color of the Year than I care about the Super Bowl or Time magazine's Person of the Year. :)
I love this!! I focus on capturing iPhone photos of colors and shapes on my Instagram, @MiamiColorTheory, because, as Dorothea Lange said, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” All of this is really about teaching people how to see. (Which is why I love The Art Of Noticing!) I love your idea of narrowing that seeing to one color at a time, inspired by William Burroughs' concept of “walking on colors.” When you focus on a single color—like red or blue—it starts to appear everywhere, much like the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, where something suddenly becomes more noticeable once it’s on your mind. This kind of focus sharpens your perception, revealing hidden beauty in everyday surroundings. That burst of dopamine from seeing vibrant colors can uplift your mood, and when you’re even just a little happier, you tend to spread that positivity in your next interaction. It’s a simple way to make the world a better place, one color at a time. Thanks for the inspiration, Rob! I can't wait to explore this further!
Fantastic post! I love it when someone writes something original and new. Thank you so much. I take my dogs for four walks each day, so even in our night time walk from now, I shall pick out colours to collect.
I love this!
Thanks for writing this! I tried a colour walk today and enjoyed it a lot: https://open.substack.com/pub/lovkush/p/i-tried-a-colour-walk?
Very cool!
When my college boy was a little homeschooled kid, we did a lot of nature walks and beach clean up days. To make it more interesting, I would always ask him to find me a rainbow -- one object for each color of the spectrum. Then I photographed our rainbows and blogged them. Sometimes they were trash, sometimes treasure. I'm a painter, so I am admittedly obsessed with color...
What a great practice! Thanks much
This is me!!! I have not resonated with a post with such a full body yes in a long time. I even have this snippet in my author bio " she can often be found documenting her world and her life with a camera in hand." I love the idea of collecting colours. I host a photo challenge in November. We do some colours. Maybe I could expand it to do more. mwah.
Thanks Ramona, that's fabulous!
I mean, who can resist Pantone's 2024 COTY: Peach Fuzz? On the Pantone page there's a giant header that says, "Embrace the Warmth." That warms the peachy cockles of my heart.
LOL thanks for the color commentary as it were ;)
These are beautiful colors! You might be a Light Summer
Monday–Thursday, I’d be mozzarella.
Friday, pecorino romano.
Saturday, blue cheese.
Sunday, feta.
Good answer ;)
I recently purchased a copy of Anne Varichon‘s wonderful book: “Color Charts” and have been noticing many more particular colors lately.
Today you inspired me to I indulge myself in a one hour color walk. I filled my camera roll with a gorgeous collage.
The other wonderful benefit was how well the practice grounded me in the ‘here and now’. Making me even more aware of my immediate environment.
You can see the collage on X: https://x.com/zagundo/status/1834811269553234102
Back in the early days of the first lockdown I went on colour walks, compiling very similar grids to yours, but made up of a single colour and its variations. How nice it would be if Substack allowed photographs in comments so I could share them with you.
I just started a chat thread where you could post images, would love to see!
I think this link should work:
https://substack.com/chat/14431