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Just Looking

A playful, mindful newsletter about slowing down and looking.

Hello, it's Menka here 👋🏽. Once a month, I send out a gentle nudge to pause and notice the ordinary wonders hidden in plain sight. Wonders such as the delicacy of the moon, the particularness of a local street, or the feeling that this might be the last time we do a thing. The idea is to experiment with our ways of looking. At a time when bots manage so much of what we see, let's reclaim control of our attention, and free it from algorithmic clichés.

This newsletter is a labour of love! It will always be free and ad-free. Join our curious, global community:

Recent Posts

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The Blueness of Blue

We have so many allies in this world, including just the colour blue in the sky. It is amazing how simply noticing colours and paying attention can help bring you back to the moment and feel less alone in the world.

Blue sky, grey shadow on grey bricks.
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In Defence of Wonder

Keeping one's heart open is risky business. It means anything can stop by for a visit. Sadness, sorrow, grief and, yes, joy too. We can either keep ourselves open to everything, or nothing at all.

Photo taken by Menka behind her home. Fracturing water that looks like glass.
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Our Bodies Conduct Electricity

Wetware. Organic apparatus. Bio-processor. I have serious hesitations about each of these terms for the human body. I'm wary of conflating machines with humans. But there is at least one thing we have in common with machines: we rely on electricity to function.

Vintage-looking photo of two young boys in a bath tub covered in bubbles, no smiles, having serious fun.
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Humble Ways to Slow Time

As Doctor Who sums up: time isn't simply a linear progression. It's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff. So how do we actually slow it down?

Humble Ways to Slow Time
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Stretchiness of Time

Not all minutes are made equal. Some flash past in stealth mode, and others inch forward like an old man in a high-vis jacket. That's because there are (at least) two very different things we mean when we talk about time.

Stretchiness of Time
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Terribly Composed Photographs

Rule of Thirds. Golden Ratio. Leading Lines. The conventional rules are geared to work well for a certain palette of stories. But what if you want to tell a different story?

Plan shadows on a kitchen wall with two posters up with animals on them, and two dining chairs.
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Make Your Own Beginnings

Once we've been a person for a while, it's hard to stave off feelings of mundanity. But who's to say we can't start again?

Glare making it look like a finger is emitting light - a dog looks up at the finger.
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Ditching the Magic This Season

Sometimes it's not clear if a shadow is part of the perfection or part of the imperfection in a photograph. Maybe life is like that too.

Ditching the Magic This Season