Jan 30, 2014 |
Want this hanging in your house? Just click on the photo to buy now!
I believe a photo is worth a bazillion words, but these days most of us can only afford the time for about 100. I blame it on inflation and our shortened attention spans.
It’s sad to say but if the paragraph is too dense, or the page scrolls for too long, we just won’t read it. Unless it’s an email from your lover abroad, then maybe.
All throughout school I unconsciously learned to stretch out the word count. If I had a 500 word essay to write and, after I got my ideas out I was 200 words short, what did I do? I added things that weren’t really necessary. Don’t tell me you’ve never done it!
I’ll never forget the story my journalism professor told me about a man who landed a job with two words: “I’m concise.” That was his entire cover letter to a newspaper.
These ideas have inspired me to begin a new project! For the next six years I’m committing to 1 post per week. Every Friday I’ll send you a photo with around 100 words. My goal is to keep creating my art on a regular basis and learn to write short. My own little “just do it” boot camp.
You, my friends, are the most critical part of this project. You see, I’m really bad at meeting personal deadlines. If I don’t have anyone to answer to I won’t push myself as hard.
I’ve been creating photographic art for quite a while now, but it’s always been third to the product photography and pet photography that eats most of my time. I’ve decided I want to put my art first for awhile and I hope you will enjoy taking the journey with me.
Update 1/5/17
What I originally dubbed the “Photo and 100 Words” project has evolved into “Artsy Reflections.”
The 100 word limit was great practice in conciseness and how I made a weekly blog post an achievable goal… but somewhere in the first 100 blog posts I changed the rules to 100-and-something words, and then I finally realized that most posts were never less than 197 words!
I briefly toyed with the idea of moving on to a “Photo and 200 Words” project, but that idea quickly fizzled out when I realized that would limit how little I could write. So a new title, with limitless possibilities, was born!
Don’t worry, I’ll continue slashing the wordiness out of my stories, but I’ll save tons of time NOT obsessively checking the word count tool!
New Artsy Reflections come out every week! My Patrons get a sneak peek of new art 2 days before anyone else, and my Insiders are the 1st to know when new work goes public. Patrons and Insiders also get all kinds of other perks nobody else gets 😉
Become an Insider for free!
Become a Patron for as little as $1 per month!
Nov 17, 2013 |
First of all, if you don’t already have one of my printable calendars, it’s totally free and you can download either a copy of my 2016 pet calendar or my 2016 fine art calendar right now. Hell, download em both if you want =).
So you printed my calendar and and now what? How do you hang this sucker? I suppose you could use a thumbtack, but the word tacky came from somewhere right… get my drift?
I’m going to show you how to turn a stack of photos into a beautiful accent for your home or office.
What you will need:
- 14-page fine art printable calendar printed on 8.5 x 11 in. photo paper (you can print your own or grab one of mine from the 2 links above)
- 1 wooden dowel 12 in. long and 7/16 in. thick
- 2 wooden doll pin stands 1 1/8 in.
- variety pack of chain links (I got a pack of 30 with large rings 1 1/2 in. wide and smaller rings about 1 in. wide in two different textures)
- silver metallic paint
- hole punch
- 2 pairs of jewelry pliers
- 1/2 in. paint brush
- ruler
Step 1: Paint the Wooden Pieces
I used two coats of silver metallic paint on both the wooden dowel and the doll pin stands. Let the paint dry 10-15 minutes between coats.
Step 2: Connect the Rings
Start off with two 1-in. rings and connect them. Then take one of your larger rings and attach it to the two smaller rings where they intersect.
Tip:
Don’t pull the rings apart to open them, instead use your jewelry pliers to twist the rings open. Otherwise it will be nearly impossible to get the ends to match up again.
Step 3: Complete the Chain
Add your small 1-in. rings to make two chains; one hanging off of each small ring you connected in step 2. My variety pack of chain connectors came with textured rings and smooth rings, so I alternated between the two for a little extra style.
Step 4: Punch Holes in Your Calendar
Flip your calendar over and make two marks on the back, each of them 1 1/2 inches in from the sides and 1/2 in. down from the top. This is where you should punch the holes.
Tip:
Instead of going crazy and measuring the spots out on every single page, just place the punched page on top of the next page. Make sure the edges of the photos are lined up and punch your new page right through the holes in the first page. This will also assure that the holes are lined up exactly.
Step 5: Bind the Pages
Use 2 large rings to to bind all the pages together and slide your dowel through the loops.
Step 6: Finally Finish Off the Chain
Take two more large rings and loop them through the wood doll pin stands that you painted earlier. These will serve to keep your calendar on the dowel and spread the chain out into a triangle shape.
They should slide snugly onto each end of the dowel like this.
Step 7: Put it all together!
First, slide the calendar onto the wooden dowel and then add the stoppers to each end (I know, I’m showing it backwards in the photos, but I forgot to photograph this step :-/). Finally, add your chain to these ends to complete the calendar!
Step 8: Hang my Art and Enjoy!
This is how it should all come together. I’m so glad you chose my art to decorate your space and keep you organized this year!
P.S. Feel free to print out more copies of my calendar and use this tutorial to give your friends an awesome homemade gift for any occasion.
P.P.S. If you sign up below you’ll get a new calendar every year, so don’t miss out!
Nov 3, 2013
I met Aimee Cunningham at Pets Alive last year when I first started photographing the adoptable dogs. She brought Lexi to the 1st Annual Tail Wagger Dog Walk, and when they stopped by my booth for photos I could tell they were totally in love with each other. I think this photo speaks on my behalf =)
I also had the wonderful opportunity to photograph both Lexi, and her brother Ivan some months later. I’m particularly drawn to pit bull rescues, simply because they always seem to be overpopulating the “urgent” lists, and Lexi is the perfect ambassador for her breed. So, naturally, I’m just thrilled that Aimee agreed to share her story with us!
Aimee writes:
I began volunteering at Pets Alive in November 2010, basically to fill my need to love and get love from dogs. My husband is in the K9 unit for our city’s police department and while our K9, Ivan, is a wonderful, protective and very obedient dog, he is not a cuddly, snuggly dog so I decided to volunteer in order to get that loving and cuddling.
I had no intention of adopting. But it didn’t take long for me to want to bring another dog into our lives and home. I love Pets Alive, but every weekend when I would go and walk dogs and then leave, a little piece of my heart would break. So a few months later, we made the decision that we would adopt.
I was still getting to know the dogs there and wasn’t sure what dog would be a good fit for our family so I asked one of the more seasoned volunteers if she had any suggestions. She immediately said “Snoopy.” I knew who Snoopy was but never really interacted with her because at Pets Alive she was paired up with Bonesy, a dog who had some trust issues and was weary of strangers, so it didn’t make it easy to interact with Snoopy. Despite that when I would go to Pets Alive, I would have one of the staff get Snoopy out for me so I could spend time with her. I would go out there late nights to do the same.
Finally one weekend I had my husband come with me to meet her and his impression was that “she’s a pretty cool dog.” We decided to do an intro with Ivan the following weekend. It went ok, but not as good as I had hoped. Snoopy seemed scared, Ivan seemed grouchy, and I was upset.
My husband told me, “it will take some time, this doesn’t happen overnight.” So for the next 4 to 5 weekends we brought Ivan and spent time with Snoopy. Finally the staff joked with me “WHAT is it going to take for you to take her overnight???” So we did.
I went and picked Snoopy up on a Thursday for an overnight. The first few minutes at home were nerve racking for me but the dogs did well together. We all had a great night. I was getting ready to bring her back the next day when my husband said “What do we have to do to keep her overnight again?”
I made a phone call to Pets Alive and they told me sure keep her one more night. The second night was way better than the first and the next question I got was, “Soooo what do we have to do to just adopt this dog?” So I made another phone call and later that Saturday brought Snoopy back to Pets Alive to make her adoption official. I always joke she’s the dog we brought home for a night and never brought back!
The past 2 1/2 years with Snoopy, now renamed Lexi, have been spectacular. She has taught us ALL about unconditional love, how to enjoy life and how to be yourself. She was originally rescued from Pets Alive from a hoarder in West Virginia where she lived tied to a chain outside with no bed and food literally thrown on the ground. When I think about the life she had it makes me so sad, but when I think about the life she now has it makes me so happy.
The staff and volunteers at Pets Alive were nothing short of amazing helping to shape Lexi into the dog she is today and with their patience and understanding of us while we were trying things out. It may sound silly to say but other dog lovers will understand, I can’t imagine my life without this dog in it.
As a side note, after we adopted Lexi, I became “friends” with her former roommate Bonesy, we ended up having a wonderful bond.
You can find out more about the wonderful organization that brought Aimee and Lexi together on the Pets Alive website and don’t forget to like Pets Alive on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
If you have a rescue story you’d like to share as a guest on my blog please email your story to BekahAura@gmail.com for consideration.
Oct 26, 2013 |
Want this hanging in your house? Just click on the photo to buy now!
Looking at this photo you might think I’ve just come back from a relaxing retreat in the middle of the woods. Must have been such a serene experience, you might imagine, sitting nearby a beautiful waterfall and just waiting for the camera to finish its 30 second exposure.
It’s believable… right?
Although now I see this image and I can feel the peace I was trying to portray, this was in no way an easy, breezy photoshoot.
I was struggling to find the right angle for this shot. I wanted the swirling pool AND the waterfall to work together compositionally. I probably tried three different spots, and fired off dozens of photos at each. Nothing looked right.
It was while crossing the stream at the pool’s base that I realized where my camera had to be. Naturally it was in the middle of the stream where I found the best angle.
Now imagine me balancing on two slippery rocks, my tripod balancing on three, and you’ll have a clearer picture of how this photo came about.
It was all worth it though, because now I can lounge around, look at it, feel the tranquility, hear the raging, yet soft, white noise of the water, and have some deep reflections.
Oct 18, 2013
I’m super excited to be doing Halloween photos for Pets Alive West this year! Join us with your dogs on Oct. 26th to get a fun photo of your dog and support a terrific cause. Gracie Lou (my stunning model) and I had a fun pre-halloween photo session and we thought you would like to see what we have in store for you this howl-o-ween.
You can come anytime between 12pm and 4pm on October 26th to get your dog’s photos taken. A small donation of $10 will get you 1 high resolution digital file, $18 will get you 2, or get the most bang for your buck and donate $25 to get 3 fun photos! You will be able to print your photos and share online, and Pets Alive will be able to help more animals– it’s a win-win if you ask me!
Get directions to Pets Alive West in Elmsford, NY. I hope to see you and your pets there!
Oct 13, 2013 |
Photography and writing have always seemed to be in a battle to the death for my attention. A camera on my left shoulder and a pen in my right hand.
Even though they seem like perfectly compatible obsessions to have, you might be surprised to find out that’s just never been the case for me. It was always one or the other, never both.
I used to write poetry all the time. My poems went from mushy, gushy, inexperienced love to deep, dark depression. Back then being content never fostered enough emotional charge for poem writing.
Didn’t matter though, there was never an apathetic second in my life. Every moment was so dramatic because every experience was brand new. Every feeling so grandoise. Everything was always so all or nothing to me.
I’m going to be a writer! No! A photographer! Yeah, a photographer… ugh my photography sucks!! I’m going to be a writer… ugh my writing sucks even more.!!! (Well that’s the long story short – which I’m sure you appreciate ;-D)
I’m just realizing now that it wasn’t my photography and my writing that sucked… it was the photography and writing they told me I had to do if I wanted to make a living out of it. What royally sucked was being told to write about school politics and photograph bitchy women in white dresses. So I gave up.
Like a bad addiction though, they always crept back up on me, I just so happy that now they are playing nicely together.
Making this calendar was the first time I’ve ever put my two obsessions together. It was fun, it flowed, and I didn’t even realize what I was doing while I was doing it. I can have both? I can!
Not only can I do both, but I don’t need the desperate emotion to write something meaningful. The mundane can be interesting under the right lens, I just need to make someone look through it.
So I’ve been thinking about starting a weekly post featuring a photo and a poem. What do you think? Would you be interested in subscribing to this?
If you haven’t already, download my fine art calendar for 2014. It’s free!
Sep 21, 2013
I don’t have children, so with my lack of that experience can I safely say that looking at this is like watching the birth of my child? Or maybe the birth of my parrot (birds are NOT cute newborns) would make more sense in this scenario.
Anyway, thought you might be interested to see how I started out in this business. I was so eager to do everything even when I knew nothing. We all start somewhere; I’m not ashamed… I’m actually kind of proud of how far I’ve come =)
Sep 13, 2013 |
Well it’s finally happened. For the first time in my life I pointed a camera at people and they actually got excited that I was doing it!
Don’t get me wrong I know that there are people out there who love my photography, but the usual response from strangers at an event is to give me a half scowl and side step out of my frame. Ok so it’s not everyone, but it’s enough to sway my opinion on people portraiture.
So, anyway, I was totally delighted when I held my camera up to this adorable family and saw this:
Ok so I made up the quote to be silly, but just look at this adorable girl strutting her stuff for Pets Alive. I love seeing happy families!
Here are a few more of my favorites from the 2nd Annual Tail Wagger Dog Walk held at the beautiful Walkway Over the Hudson.
Aug 31, 2013
For those of you who don’t know me very well, I hate weddings. I know what you’re thinking: Who in their right mind could hate weddings? Well the answer is me, I do, but no comment on whether or not I’m in my right mind.
Well I’m in that period in my life when everyone and their mother is getting married, so I’m at least beginning to develop a numbness to all the poofy, showy, expensive nonsense of it all. But I’m not here to complain about weddings am I? No, today I’m going to be grateful for a wedding I went to.
Nearly two years ago my boyfriend’s best friend got married. We were sitting at our table, just after dinner when the DJ announced a game for everyone. If I remember correctly it was like hot potato only with a dollar bill. The dollar circled around the table and if it was in your hand when the music stopped you were kicked out of the game.
Well I won, then the DJ said with a big cocky grin, “Now pick up that centerpiece and give it to the person who originally supplied the dollar!” Well, the dollar was originally supplied by my ever generous boyfriend so I won twice! HaHa, joke’s on you Mr. DJ.
The centerpiece was a floral arrangement in a square glass vase with a big beautiful Gerbera daisy. So I took it home, pressed the flower, forgot about it, and recently discovered it again. Well thank you wedding for giving me an art opportunity, and thank you boyfriend for being such a winner!
This is the simple equation for those of you who are just a little curious, but if you’re a fellow Photoshop nerd scroll down below the photos for more details.
Want this hanging in your house? Just click on the photo to buy now!
When I first compiled these two images I thought I would come here to write a tutorial on how to give any image this opal like iridescence. I was oh so wrong though. Try as I did, I couldn’t get this effect with any other photo or photo combination.
In my Photoshop document I had two layers, with the flower image being on top of the candleholder.
I changed the opacity of the flower layer to 65% and changed the blending mode to color dodge.
Then I adjusted the hue to +11 and the saturation to +25.
The only thing I did to the candleholder layer was change the brightness to -23 and contrast to +100.
Then I merged the image together and silhouetted around the edge of the candleholder with the pen tool in order to get rid of the grey background.
That’s all there was to it, a bit of playing around, and a bit of luck!
Aug 16, 2013 |
I didn’t really plan to do my caption contest for so long, but here I am a year (and one month!) later with 13 silly and cute animal photos made even sillier and cuter by your awesome captions!
I figured you would get a kick out of seeing these again and I wanted to share some of the stories behind my pet photography. Kitties, and doggies, and birdies oh my!
This is my cat George. He loves all things shiny, but he is particularly attracted to bottle caps. Whenever he hears the hiss of a freshly opened bottle he comes running, and you better throw that bottle cap so he can chase it. Then he will grab it, carry it right into the bathroom, into the tub, and proceed to bat that thing around until his paws get tired. I call it kitty air hockey. Anyway, I caught him in the tub one day and got this photo.
This is Amiga, a Blue and Gold Macaw at Wilton Parrot Rescue. This was the first day I started volunteering my photography to animal rescues. The founder of Wilton Parrot, Liz, was telling me how Amiga had this really silly habit of scratching her head. “I wish she would do it,” Liz said as she walked away. Not 5 minutes later Amiga was doing it! She was quite an animated character and I’m happy to report that she has just recently been adopted! Go Amiga!!!
I was taking some before and after photos Shay’s beautiful work at Flawless Paws Grooming salon. Gizmo had just been beautified and Shay asked me if I wouldn’t mind trying to capture her Great Dane next to the little Pekingese. Well it didn’t end up being a best friends type of portrait, but Gizmo sure did show this boy who’s boss haha!
This is Caesar, one of the first few dogs I photographed at Pets Alive in Middletown. He was the only one I could get to even look at this ball. Who would have thought he would be giving it the nah-nah nah-nah tongue? He really made me laugh. Caesar has long since found his forever home =).
Tracey, a wonderful volunteer at Pets Alive in Middletown, brought her foster puppies to the facility for the first time ever to show them off to potential adopters. This is Randy, one of six pibble puppies. I tried to wake him up, believe me! Finally I gave up, and Anna, one of Pets Alive’s youngest volunteers, decided the toy would make a cute prop and popped it in between his paws. I’ll have to hire her as a my stylist when she’s all grown up!
Rajah is one of the most tolerant cats I’ve ever met. I got several santa hat shots of this boy, but this was the best choice for a square crop. I tried to dress up my cats, George and Callie, with this hat and an elf hat and they were just not having it! Yes he is definitely glaring at me in this photo… I’m pretty sure I woke him up :-O
Treats are my main source of attention grabbing for dogs, but sometimes a treat turns into a prop and a tool for getting silly shots of cross-eyed German Shepherd puppies. Kodiak had had enough sitting and staying in his little ADD, 4-month old body and he was ready to get the reward he so rightfully deserved. NOM!
These are my 3 all time favorite birds from Wilton Parrot Rescue. They were around the first time I visited the rescue, and they were adopted soon after. Then, a few months later, they were returned. I couldn’t believe it, I don’t even remember the reason, but I remember feeling so lucky that I would get to hang with them again! From left to right this is Baby, Applejack, and Petrie, the friendliest trio of parrots I ever had the opportunity to meet. In fact, they were so friendly that I had to constantly stop to pick them up and catch them because they kept flying to me when I would back away. Of course they found a home before I got a chance to return.
Kuna, now known as June in her wonderful forever home, was being an awesome Valentine’s Day model the day I photographed this. She was posing with hearts, X’s and O’s, and little pink pillows with lovey dovey phrases embroidered on them. She had had enough probably 20 shots before I caught her yawning on camera. I can’t help it, I just want to capture every moment I can with my foster babies. This caption was a perfect match for this photo.
Shadow was my 1st foster kitten. He was with us for about 6 weeks, and he was one of the hardest fosters to let go of. It’s just so different when you know your foster is going into a great home; in Shadow’s case he didn’t get adopted while I had him, so once he was big enough to be neutered, back to the shelter he went. I don’t know for sure how long it took for him to get adopted, but I do know that kittens go fast. This little munchkin was literally my shadow. He would climb up my jeans just to be closer to me, crawl into my lap, and take a nap. He was my baby :*)
I have no idea what this boy’s name is, but I do remember that every time he was in the ring at Stockade Agility he was barking his head off at his dad. He sure did run like the wind though! This was a true outtake that I didn’t see until much later, when I was processing images. This was the caption that made me laugh the most this year, so thanks Debbie!
Little Munchie was hanging with his mom at Benmarl Winery during Woof N Wine this past April. He was such a well behaved little guy. Thanks for posing for me Munchie!
Riley was on a walk with one of the volunteers at Pets Alive West the first day I was there. There were so many volunteers walking dogs that day that I hopped from dog to dog the whole time I was there. This big fluffy teddy bear is still up for adoption, if you want to find out more or fill out an adoption application you can do it on his Petfinder Profile. (UPDATE – Riley was adopted!!!)
