Inspirations: A Journey Through Light, Dreams, and Soul
My fine art photography collection, Inspirations, began not with a camera in hand, but with a whisper in the quiet of the night. It’s a series born from dreams, visions, and those subtle promptings that stir the heart when the world is still. For me, photography has always been more than a craft—it’s a bridge between the unseen and the tangible, a way to capture fleeting moments of wonder and give them form. Inspirations is my ongoing love letter to that mystery, a project that grows with every image, every word, every breath of intuition.
That’s how Inspirations works. It’s not methodical or planned. It’s a dance with the unknown. Some pieces start with a vision—a burst of color behind my eyes, a shape that feels like it’s calling me. Others come as promptings, those quiet nudges that pull me toward a place or a moment I can’t explain until I’m there. I’ve stood in abandoned buildings, their walls peeling with stories, or knelt in the dew-soaked grass at dawn, waiting for the light to reveal what I felt but couldn’t yet see. Each photograph is a discovery, a collaboration between me and something greater.
What sets this series apart, I think, is the writing that sometimes flows alongside it. Not every image has words—some don’t need them—but when they come, they’re like a heartbeat beneath the surface. A few lines of poetry might spill out as I process the image, or a short reflection will take shape days later as if the image has been whispering back to me.
This is my heart project, personal and alive, a way to honor what stirs me. Through photography, I hold that dove’s glow, sharing the mystery that started it all.
Inspired Vision:
Dec 18th 2017 morning vision
I was barely awake and was thinking about the book (book of JOSEPH) that was left out of the Bible when JESUS was a baby. I was thinking about how anyone that touched him or his clothes was healed. I then thought about when Mary took him to her friends house and they gave JESUS a bath. The friend had seen all the miracles and thought to save the bath water in a bottle. (Later a drop of this water healed many) So as I was picturing her doing this, suddenly I was transported to that place, under a tent with dirt floors and I was filling bottles with it. There was so much, it just kept flowing and I needed more bottles. And as I was filling them, I kept saying JESUS tears, JESUS tears over and over.
Inspired Writing:
“Tear Collector”
This is another image from my bottle shoot.
Healing happens through tears. The tears are where we let go, we give up the fight on our own strength. We hand our problems to God through the shedding of our tears. Tears are the sign of a broken spirit, open and ready to be healed. Tears are a sign of a humble heart giving up control. The shedding of tears brings me right into the presence of God, just as I am.
Erika Masterson 2019 ❤️
