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 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.
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.
This: "I was soon noticing a lot more colors, and not always in obvious places. (One of the blues above is from a port-a-john.)" I love this approach to walking down the street, seeing beauty in the utterly ordinary.
This is such a great concept! I've been photographing walls where I live, especially where two apartment blocks meet, but the wall is joined. To make a delineation between the two, the wall sections are painted a different colour. It creates some lovely colour combinations.
..,actually, colors is one of the several topics I can exciitedly talk about for an hour easily, no preparation. I get overly excited as I find it most interesting topic-colors, and how they impact us.
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 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!
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
This: "I was soon noticing a lot more colors, and not always in obvious places. (One of the blues above is from a port-a-john.)" I love this approach to walking down the street, seeing beauty in the utterly ordinary.
This is such a great concept! I've been photographing walls where I live, especially where two apartment blocks meet, but the wall is joined. To make a delineation between the two, the wall sections are painted a different colour. It creates some lovely colour combinations.
Yeah I was really noticing combos like that -- a great subject to focus on. Thanks!
..,actually, colors is one of the several topics I can exciitedly talk about for an hour easily, no preparation. I get overly excited as I find it most interesting topic-colors, and how they impact us.
and yes, New Orleans...
..thank you for this post
Color is my happy place, so I absolutely loved "Collecting Color." Going on a color walk?! Who knew?? <smacks forehead>