Jul 17, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
My struggle with perfection is a constant battle.
That’s why the last magnolia petal I’m sharing with you is the odd one. While there is something beautiful about it, it’s still my least favorite. I’m a walking oxymoron… in so many ways. One minute I’m talking about snowflakes and how beautiful the imperfections are and the next I’m tossing away petals with creases, and petals with rot and wrinkles.
I’ve been struggling in my podcast with this too… it’s so hard for me to let that very 1st episode go. It was even harder to do my very first unscripted episode.
I don’t have time to be perfect in this post today. I’m letting it go to you quicker than ever – barely edited.
I have a podcast to launch in 2 weeks, a pet photo session to edit, more “Life’s a Blur” images to edit for you, and suddenly we’re moving to THE perfect house the day after my (already revised) podcast date! I’m so excited about everything that’s happening, but let me just say: my plate is loaded, I feel like my eyes are bigger than my stomach, and it’s time to chow down baby!
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jul 10, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I honked the horn of my sea green ’93 Taurus, we were at a red light on a two-lane highway, and when the driver next to us glanced over, Lauren and I smiled with the goofiest grins we could make. We waved at him with quickly flailing hands. Then we looked at each other and cackled like crazies. Before I sped off I glanced back at the man, and I saw that our silliness had spread the smiles.
I was always weirdly silly, but it never came out publicly unless I had an accomplice. I wonder if 30-year-old me can pull it off now all alone as good as 17-year-old me did with my besties back then. I predict more nervous glances than grinning giggles.
There’s something about two people laughing madly that’s contagious… but, ironically, it’s not really an inside joke if it’s only inside you. That’s where the line between hilarious and insane starts to blur.
As I’m writing this, I’m feeling unusually giddy. I’m trying hard not to laugh for fear of drawing strange glances from other coffee house patrons. I miss youth and fearlessness, and I miss all my partners in weird laughter crime.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jul 3, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Under the magnolia tree, I sat on a gravestone to rest. It was a hot day for early spring and I was cooling off in the dappled shade, and getting mesmerized by the glistening sun spots that quivered with the breeze. Every breath of wind sent pink and white petals floating and flipping to the ground.
When you stick your face to the back of a camera, all of your energy is pointed at a single perspective. It’s surprisingly easy to miss everything that’s going on around you.
Relaxing against the cool stone, my gaze floated across the flowery floor. Jutting out between petals were these little brown bunny ear looking things. Once I saw one, I saw them everywhere.They were like little cocoons, I realized, that held in the flower until its beauty was ready to burst.
In a few weeks, I thought, there will be nothing left under this tree but dirt and grass. If you blink, it seems, the flowers have fallen, they melt back into the earth, and it’s like they never existed. Life is truly a blur.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 26, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
The wedding season is finally over – now it’s baby season. I’m sure by now you’re aware of my feelings on all the fooey fluffliness of weddings.
However ridiculous I think they are, though, weddings don’t change much these days. When a couple gets married, they’ve probably already been living together. It’s more like a celebration that they haven’t killed each other yet, than an announcement of naïvely innocent love.
Babies are different though; babies are game changers. As my Facebook feed becomes swarmed with big bellies and newborns, I get a little queasy. It’s empathy, and a projection of my own fears.
I don’t want a baby. I have absolutely no desire to take on an 18-24 year project that will rip my body apart, bleed my bank account, and challenge my patience. Every once in awhile, though, I wonder what it would be like, what my kid might look like, and if it’s something I’m destined to do.
“You better check what time of the month it is when you start to think those things.” My friend, Michele, made me laugh when she said that, but it’s true. I’m fighting a biological instinct and, luckily, I’m still winning.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 24, 2015
The sky was threatening as I drove towards Alice and Fred’s home a couple of weeks ago. Every turn I made seemed to point me towards even darker clouds, and I hoped that a sudden downpour wouldn’t cut our photo session short. Although overcast skies are always welcome on photo session days, there’s always a chance the weather will turn ugly with little notice.
I was greeted with happy faces, wagging tails, and knowledgable noses that sought the chopped hot dogs I carried on my hip. Maddie, Lexie, and Allie were just as thrilled to see me as I was to meet them. Gotta love the simplicity of a dog’s happiness!
Once I had my hands buried in soft, golden retriever fur, I totally forgot about the weather. Luckily, not a single drop of rain fell, and we had my favorite kind of outdoor light: steady and soft.
Here is a sneak peek of some of my favorite photos from the day:
Every family has at least one photobomber. Thank you Allie, for this adorable shot!
Left: Lexie Right: Maddie These two girls are sisters, twins, as Fred called them.
Here’s a better look at Allie’s adorable face. She’s the spunky youngin in the trio.
Jun 19, 2015
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
“It’s a bittersweet, symphony, this life…” The song plays in my head as I write this.
Everything in life can be seen as either bitter or sweet. More often, though, things can be found floating somewhere in between those extremes, on the way from one end to the other.
A cookie comes with calories. From sweet to bitter.
Running is painfully healthy. From bitter to sweet.
There is never an instance of love that is not eventually followed by loss.
Every path we take is filled with both the opportunity to succeed and the risk of failure.
For me, every opportunity seems like another fear to overcome. It’s like juggling a chocolate chip with an orange peel on my tongue.
Before spring shows its beautiful colors it has to emerge from a barren, muddy brown world flooded by winter’s tears. The beginning of spring is bitterly sweet.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 12, 2015 |
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
My world becomes a blur of yellow and green as I jog past the forsythia flowers blooming alongside the road. Every ounce of my willpower is pushing each foot forward as it pounds against the pavement.
On earlier, chillier days I focused my attention on breathing. Every few strides, I’d inhale deeply through my nose and exhale through my mouth. I’d sort of get into a meditative state, as much as was possible while fighting the constant urge to stop, the rhythmic whoosh of breath and thumping feet lulling me into a state of submission.
Now the sun is starting to cook the earth. When I breathe in I might be filled with the sweet scent of flowers, but more often I get a stinky surprise like burning charcoal, exhaust fumes, or fresh dog shit. I stop using my nose to breathe, and I’m panting like a dog.
I miss the desensitized nose I had when I used to smoke and I wonder how Gracie’s doggie nose can deal with it all.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 5, 2015
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
When that first rain falls, after a winter of silence, the pattering awakens my senses. While snow is sneaky like death, silently killing the world it coats, rain announces it’s presence like a cheering crowd… and then brings the world back to life.
Droplets spread sensations randomly across my skin. I become more aware of my body in a way that’s like I’ve been seeing in black and white and, suddenly, I’m swept into a world of color.
Just like success can’t be be fully appreciated without failure, and friendship can’t be fully felt without first knowing loneliness, spring could never taste so sweet without the bitter taste of winter.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
Jun 2, 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)
Is There a Plan B?
When I set out to photograph these flowers my initial ideas weren’t anything like the photos you’ll see below. I had visions of waterfalls and soft streams of water in my head, but the execution was not working. I bought a water filter for a fish tank as a way to recycle the water in my sink, but that’s as far as the good ideas got. I needed a way to spread the water out, and after building a strange-looking contraption made of plexi-glass, hot glue, and plastic straws, and then fiddling with it for far too long, I decided the waterfall idea might best be suited to photographing actual waterfalls.
I had two bouquets of flowers, a sink full of water, very little time, a bombed idea, and no inspiration. I wandered around my apartment, opening drawers of knick-knacks, and scanning my surroundings for other ideas. Eventually I ended up back in the kitchen, staring down into the sink. That’s when I realized I was staring natural water movement right in the face. All I had to do was unplug the drain and the water would swirl!
Love Spell
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Making these photos was a bit like Casting a Spell.
The Setup
There were a few challenges I faced while making this batch of photos. The first was the covering up of the puke yellow drain in the center of my clean white sink. The bottom side of a white plate was an obvious choice, but it took a bit of tweaking to level it out so it didn’t wobble. A mix of folded up wads of paper towels, and a silly-putty-like substance I call blue goo, did the trick… eventually.
After all that, there was no way I was draining anything. Not only would it be wasteful, it would be far too time consuming, and I couldn’t risk clogging my sink with flower petals. My solution was a rubber spatula to carefully swirl the water around each flower. Even after all my attempts to steady the plate, the vase with the flower in it might still rock a bit if I mixed the water too hard. I had to be careful or risk getting blurry flowers along with my blurry background!
A behind the scenes look at the basic setup for these photos.
Ariel Rose
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I get a little weird in this post about Desperation, I mean weirder than usual =).
Adding a Bit of Magic
The first photo I shot was lit very simply. Just a single hot light bounced off the white ceiling shown directly onto the sink scene. I love that first rose shot (Love Spell), don’t get me wrong, but it was just a little on the boring side, and it was time to make things interesting!
I pulled the petals out of the sink and threw in a little bling. I have these little styrofoam balls that are covered in sequins, and they’ve become a go-to background element I’ve used in many of my images. In this case, it was the fact that these babies float in water that attracted me to them in the first place, but the bling was certainly a nice bonus.
As usual, though, the images never really start off how I envision they will. I wasn’t getting any sparkle at first. It just looked like a slightly shimmery, white background – super boring. Even after I added a couple of flashes for some extra pop, it wasn’t turning out quite right. I added colored gels to the flashes and that’s when the magic started to happen. There’s just something about pink and purple that makes me happy, what can I say?
The last problem I dealt with was directing the flashes at the water’s surface without getting the funky color all over the flowers. I made a snoot out of aluminum foil to give the direction of my light more control with as little power loss as possible. It was still a continuous challenge to get the positioning of these lights right when I moved on to a new flower or composition. Sometimes I’d get a hot spot or splotchy color that didn’t spread across the entire frame. It took a lot of experimentation to get things just right, but that’s just an expected part of my process by now.
Glitter Rose
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Meditating in a Tornado was the post I wrote when I figured out exactly what this series had to teach me.
Trading Order for Chaos
Once I started getting consistent results it was time to break out of the rut. I threw everything into the sink. Sparkly balls mixed with petals, petals from various flowers got thrown together, and I started to change up the movements too. Instead of swirling, I plunged the spatula from the surface to the bottom of the sink to create a bobbing motion on the surface. I had to move forcefully enough to create a few seconds of movement, but gently enough to avoid rocking the vase. There were quite a few blurry flowers.
It was during this controlled chaos stage that I think many of the best photos came out. I felt like the big bang and these were my galaxies! Magic.
Rose to the Stars
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Sparkling Sea in My Sink… sometimes you gotta think outside the sink.
Rose Galaxy
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? It’s All About Perspective.
Red Roses in a Diamond Glaze
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
A story about yours truly, the Control Freak, and how I’m trying to let go.
Dew Splattered Rose
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
This photo got posted closest to my 1-year Blogiversary, so I did what all nerds do: I totaled up all kinds of nerdy numbers for the whole year of creating I completed. Woot!
Pink Daisy Cyclone
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I get a little cynical in Down the Drain… it slips out of me sometimes, can’t help it.
Pink Pom Twister
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
How I Embraced the Chaos, a story about meditation.
Pink Pom on Fire
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
I admit it… I’m a whore… a Passion Whore.
Daisy Tie Dye
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
Painting with Motion is a story about a moment that gave me a little boost of artistic confidence.
Fire Flower Flow
Want this hanging on your wall? Click the photo to buy now!
What would you think if I told you that photography is a mixed media? That was the point of Unveiling Photography’s Hidden Layers.
What’s next?
If you get my newsletter, you already know that a batch of super close up snowflake photos came next. Just like the windswept leaf photos I showed you in Part 2, the snowflakes are inserted into a real snow scene that I blurred in the camera. I’ll show you the scenes behind the art in Part 4 in a few weeks! If you sign up below I’ll make sure you don’t miss it! (Plus you’ll get the chance to win my art EVERY MONTH and a digital download of my artsy fartsy calendar… how can you say no to an artsy fartsy calendar?)
Update: Part 4 is now available, so now you can learn how to photograph snowflakes and get a glimpse of the snow scenes I used to create abstract, windswept backgrounds.
May 29, 2015
Three petals seem to reach out from this pink spider mum to touch the blue rain falling down.
It’s 3 am and I force my heavy eyelids open, trying to focus on the words on the screen… where I left off… but it’s like trying to read an eye chart through fog. I glance at the clock and, in a blink, an hour’s gone!
My arm starts to tingle with the dull sensation of renewed blood flow, and the pins and needles strike like a charging mob is trying to break out of me with tiny pitchforks. That’s the real clue that it’s time to give in, I’ve already lost the battle.
This flower seems thirsty, its petals stretched out like fingers reaching for the rain. In the same way, I’d like to believe I’m reaching for my dreams as I struggle to stay awake… doesn’t that seem so poetic? Behind the scenes, though, my body is drooping like a flower without water, and it’s thirsty for sleep, so I finally give in and slip away.
What are these numbered posts all about? Read the introduction to my Photo & 100 Words project and find out!
