Mar 27, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
The filter, filled with coffee grounds, slipped from my fingers and spread across the floor. A second later I also crumbled onto the floor; I inhaled, bobbing to the beat of my sudden sobs, and exhaled spit bubbles.
If you’re going to tell me not to cry over spilled coffee then, obviously, you don’t buy Starbucks! It wasn’t the coffee I was crying about, though. That was just the twig on top of the mud pie that finally sent an avalanche of sludge crashing against my last bit of control.
Sometimes you just need a good cry to bleed the overwhelm out of you. I’m not ashamed to tell you this, but I’d prefer you never saw it.
When I wake up after a long cry, I have to pry my eyelids apart and scratch out the crud. Anyone who doesn’t know me personally would guess I was the loser of a fist fight or a victim of domestic violence… I’m not exaggerating, total strangers have assumed these scenarios, out loud, and to my face.
I often wish I could cry like those Hollywood stars, whose tears amplify their beauty, sparkling like snowflakes in the corners of their eyes.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Mar 20, 2015
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Minimalism has always been something I’ve strived for in photography, even before I knew that concept by name. One subject, and a simple, soft background.
When it comes to writing, though, my wordiness often envelopes the page, like overgrown vines strangling the subject of my story. I have to hack away at it until my point is clear and unobstructed.
Although simplicity is the end goal in both photography and writing, the approaches to achieving it are total opposites.
Maybe this will change as film photography creeps further and further into the past, but many of my photography mentors have taught me not to rely on Photoshop. Instead, I’ve been pushed to get things right in camera.
In writing, editing is key. Writers who don’t edit their work are the ones who are frowned upon in this industry.
Writers are encouraged to spew any and all thoughts across the page, but photographers are taught to achieve near perfection before the first draft even leaves the camera! At least this is my educational experience.
This hexagon is the simplest snowflake I found, and its simplicity reminds me of all I’m trying to achieve in my work.
Do you make things? Do you find that simpler is better when it comes to your craft?
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Mar 18, 2015
About Life’s a Blur: A photography series that experiments with long exposures and motion blur. Every photo is a combination of movement mixed with a still subject. I’d like to think of each photo like a meditation: stillness in a sea of chaos.
These photos are also part of my Photo and 100 Words project. Since January 2014, I’ve been creating a new photo and writing about it every week. If you’re interested in finding out what prompted me to begin you can read the introduction over here.
(If you’re new to this photography series you might want to read how it all began in Part 1)
Hanging Out with the Dead
This set of photos is a bit like a series within a series. Determined to capture the beauty of fall (which I seem to miss most years), I set out to my favorite outdoor photography location: the cemetery. My idea was to pan the camera with the falling leaves and capture the motion in the background, but my lack of patience combined with my Photoshop skills guided me to an easier way to create what I was after.
Although each of these photos is made up of two separate photographs, they both came from the same scene. As I blurred the landscapes in my camera, I also collected leaves from each area to be photographed later on. That makes it real enough for me! =P
Collecting some pretty leaves, freshly fallen, from each scene I captured.
It was a brutal awakening, though, when it came time to silo the leaves. Have you ever gotten a close look at the serrated edges on a maple leaf?! Let’s just say I overestimated the “easy” factor.
The snapshot that follows each one of my final creations is to show you what each scene looked like before I blurred it into oblivion. I also include links to each original blog post in case you want to read the 100 words that go with it. Scroll down to the end if you want the nerdy technical details.
Fall Leaf Flight
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I reminisce about another cemetery shoot and show off my favorite mistake in the post that compliments this photo: In the Graveyard
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Leaf Flight.”
Fall Spectrum
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
A silly story about how I expected this shoot to go, and how it actually went.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Fall Spectrum.”
Autumn in Orange and Blue
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
A Leaf is Like a Pixel is a brief personal essay on the big picture and the small details of fall.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn in Orange and Blue.”
Autumn Leaf Flight
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
The Life of a Hermit – an uncensored, and reoccurring, moment in my life.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Autumn Leaf Flight.”
Wind Swept Leaf
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
The Perfect Storm: go to the scene of the shoot with me in this post.
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Wind Swept Leaf.”
Red Zephyr
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I prove that seeing isn’t always a strong enough case for believing in this story about my dog and me. (Includes super cute photos of my pit bull in a monkey sweater, complete with monkey ears!)
A snapshot of the background scene before I blurred it in camera for “Red Zephyr.”
The Nerdy Photo Details
The background images were created with my 24-70 f/2.8 Nikkor lens set at 1 second and f/22. I shot through an adjustable neutral density filter that blocks anywhere from 1 to 4 stops of light, and I only adjusted this filter for the correct exposure in order to keep my shutter speed and aperture settings consistent.
Most of the leaf images were shot indoors with 1 flash in an umbrella up high on camera left. I might have had a white board on the right to bounce back some fill light, but I don’t remember for sure. The first leaf was actually shot outside, but dealing with the wind and cold convinced me to take the rest of the leaves into the studio to give me some more control.
What’s Next?
Well that’s all the juicy detail I thought you might enjoy about this set of photos. The Life’s a Blur series continues on with water motion blur techniques that create some magical looking backgrounds in Part 3.
Questions and comments are always welcome =)
Mar 13, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
My body folded into itself to stay warm as I hunched over a waist-high tripod. My back was starting to ache; I mean, my posture is horrible in the first place, but mix the frigid air with a way-too-low camera, and I may as well start answering to the name Quasimodo.
I caught the falling snow with a piece of glass, examined it under a macro lens, found nothing, wiped it clean, and repeat. The snow hardly resembled a flake of any kind. Shards and clumps of ice were all I saw.
Two hours into this I was ready to pack up the gear and head to some warmer ground… like the floor of my apartment. I could almost feel my toes again as I thought of my snuggly Gracie Lou.
I took the last images of the last snow catch and reviewed them on the screen. That’s when I saw it, down at the bottom of the frame: my first fully-formed snowflake!
The universe has a way of taking me right to that line before my breaking point. My excitement pushed me through the pain well past 2 am that night.
Persistence pays off.
Just as I was about to give up, I discovered this little ice gem.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Mar 6, 2015
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
An insistent sound crept into my ears. I reached for my phone, and squinted with one eye to find the please-shut-up button. Gracie shifted, and I knew any slight movement would trigger a dash to her breakfast bowl.
As I eased my eyes open, things seemed too bright. I sat straight up and gasped – I’d slept in.
Whatever, I thought, Gracie won’t get extra snuggles, but I can still be on time. Then we stepped outside into several inches of snow.
I’d wished for snow all weekend and here it was, too late for my photo-op, and just in time for our 33-mile commute. Bitter is a euphemism for what I felt.
On the way out, I noticed a huge, gorgeously intricate snowflake and, for a second, I considered blowing off work. My responsibility is seeming more and more like my fatal flaw lately.
The car stuttered during our entire drive – the problem we just paid $3,800 to “fix.” After a minor cursing fit, I forced myself to cheer up.
That perfect snowflake drowned all other thought. All day I balanced between regret for leaving home, and hope that it’d snow again soon.
It helps to have hope.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 27, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Photography. A term recognized by all, appreciated by some, and oversimplified by too many. To the average observer, it’s a 2D product AND a 2D concept: a camera captures an instant of reality.
When I think of photography, though, I see all the layers in between. In my work, I see photography as a mixed media, not just a capture of what’s already there.
Building the set is a lot like making a sculpture. It might not be very strong or permanent, but I mold it with my two hands.
Then there’s the lighting layer. Light can color a scene, set a mood, and highlight, diminish, or simply alter your subject.
Now comes the camera, and it’s not just a reality replicator, it’s a tool to further mold the image. From lens perspective to settings, there are decisions to make with sliding scales in between: Sharp or soft? Smooth or grainy? Fast or slow?
The digital layer is my favorite part of the process. With my Wacom tablet and digital pen in hand, this is when I really start to feel more like an artist and less like a manual laborer.
All these layers are now flattened onto your screen, but I just thought you’d like to know about all the others in between.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 20, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
“Where do you want your paintings?” The bitch in me is usually quick to correct, but the artist in me liked the sound of that.
“Paintings.” I repeated, just to hear it again. Yes, I did like the sound of that.
They were 20×30 photographs, printed on canvas, and Nick was helping me set up the display in my event booth at a local pet parade.
To my delight, Nick was not the last person to make this mistake about my work. If people thought my pet portraits were like paintings, what would they think about my artsy work?
The progression to more painting-like photography is another motivation behind my decision to continue this series. I know it’s a cliché for any photographer to say that they paint with light, but now I’m painting with movement too.
Each bit of motion is another brush stroke. Each brush stroke is unique; even in attempts to repeat my movements, I never get the same result twice.
What do you think? Could this photo pass for a painting?
(There is also a wide photo very similar to this one in my shop here: Wide Daisy Tie Dye)
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Feb 13, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
It’s 2:22 am. I need to wake up in less than four hours, but I can’t stop searching, scrolling, and reading. A new spark has lit a flame in me and there’s no blowing it out.
This isn’t a story that’s limited to one moment… this is a regular happening in my life. When I get an idea in my head, I need to read everything on the subject and do it. Now. Any obligation that gets in the way of my new obssession becomes extremely agitating: making dinner, doing dishes, the eight-hour interruption of a day job and, worst of all, sleep… ugh!
The firey petals in the background of these photos makes me think of my many passions; they might burn at different temperatures and dim down sometimes, but my life will always be filled with their fire. I’ll never be able to focus on only one, nor will I ever blow the others out.
Photography and writing have always burned inside of me in various forms. Sometimes, though, I go off on little – ok big – tangents. I have every supply you might need for scrapbooking, jewerly-making, beading, drawing, painting, and now nail art!
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
A girly get together to practice my new nail art skills for Valentine’s Day!
Feb 8, 2015
I barely had my toe in the door before Luna attacked me with puppy hugs and kisses. If she could talk, I’m sure she’d have been saying, “Ohmygod, ohmygod, YOU’RE HERE! I don’t really know you, but YOU’RE FINALLY HERE!”
Luna Strikes the pose, indoors and out!
This is why I love dogs. It’s the unfiltered joy they show, and their ability to fully love a complete stranger just because they’re there. It’s a contagious kind of happiness that makes it impossible not to smile.
Luna running with her newly captured squeaky as her proud Mom looks on.
After our long hello, we headed out to play in the fresh snow. Luna Romped around, chasing her new squeaky toy, and catching the snowballs I threw into the air. Then we headed indoors for a few studio style shots.
Luna, I think this is when she started tuckering out.
Her energy may have seemed endless, but she was quick to tire out. In fact, here’s some photo proof from her Mom, taken about an hour after I left.
A snapshot 1 hour after our photo session, courtesy of Mom, this is one pooped pup!
I thought you’d like that! Hey dog modeling is not easy… the sitting, the staying, the excitement, and with all those extra treats it’s like doggie Thanksgiving; the food coma is inevitable.
As a side note, Luna’s Mom has the funniest potty-training device I’ve ever seen. It’s actually a toy meant to train human babies to learn the alphabet, but it works well for Luna too, and will most likely send any visitors into a giggle fit.
You may have heard of hanging bells on your doorknob to show your dog how to make some noise when they need to go out, well this is a new take on that. The electronic toy hangs on the door, pre-loaded with the “P” block, and when Luna nose-pokes the block the toy says “Pee, Pee!”
I think I might have to head on over to Toys R Us… I’ll catch you all later!
Feb 6, 2015
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
In the early morning darkness I felt my way into the living room, piled pillows into our giant bean bag chair, plopped myself down, and crossed my legs. I popped a couple of ear buds into my head and waited for the soothing Australian man to guide me into a more aware state of mind.
This was my daily practice for nearly two years before I became involved in rescue. Unexpected, full face, doggie kisses made it harder to breathe deeply. My open arms became an invitation for my guests to partake in lap dog practice. One foster kitten who stayed with us never hesitated to jolt me with simultaneous gnawing and clawing on my feet.
It wasn’t long before meditation transformed into longer morning walks and sleepy snuggles stretched through the last minute I had to give. I didn’t mind the change, and it was probably just as good, if not better, for my mental health.
The more I dive into this series, though, the more I want to bring meditation back into my everyday life. Thanks to my teacher, Joy Baum, I know to embrace the chaos now; just let it flow all around me.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
