giveaway

October 28, 2015 by Kat

And the winners are…

Whew! That was fun. A giveaway is like a little party on the blog. Maybe even an open studio, where people come by you haven’t seen in a while. It’s been festive around here. So my piece “Party in the Sky” seems pretty appropriate to share today!

But let’s get down to the winners… Because I know that’s what you all are waiting for!

Framed Print: Lauri

eBook Download: Kate, Jen and Shelly

And the iPhone 5/5s gear…

Custom Case: Mary

Olloclip & Case: Leon

Waterproof Case: Marrianna

Everyone has been notified via email as well as announced here. Congrats to these winners, and thank you to everyone who entered! We’ll do this again soon.

October 23, 2015 by Kat

Open Studio + Giveaway Extravaganza!

Yay! It’s time for my favorite event… The Philomath Open Studios Tour. My studio will be one of 15 studios open on the next two weekends, Saturday and Sunday noon to 5pm. There are 37 artists participating and exhibiting their work. Come visit! It’s great fun to meet the artists, see where they work and talk about their process. It’s an education you just can’t get any other way. (You can find details on the artists and a map here.)

My guest artist this year is Nena Bement, who works in glass. She and I got the studio all set up yesterday, and I forgot to take pictures! Argh! I’ll post some on Instagram during the event, because it looks great. Here’s one I took the other evening, when Roman so delightfully posed in front of my work. I think he was trying to blend in. He goes quite well with Vanishing, don’t you think?

And to celebrate this big week, with the release of the Digital Photography for Beginners eBook and the Open Studio, let’s have a giveaway! I’ll give away a few things and make it an “extravaganza.” Fun!

Before I get into the prizes, here are the details:

Leave a comment on this blog post anytime between now and my next blog post (no sooner than Tuesday morning 27-Oct-15 4AM PDT, but could be a bit later). I’ll do a random drawing for the winners when I sit down to write the post.
One entry per person.
If you are interested in the iPhone 5/5s gear, add that to your comment. I will only give these items away to someone who can use them.

Here are the items I’m giving away:

Small Framed Print of Your Choice

Do you have a favorite image? Choose from any of my square iPhone pieces. These are all limited edition prints I create in my studio here in Oregon. Your piece will be numbered, signed, matted and presented in a black frame, ready to hang or sit on a table. Here is an example of several of this small size together in a group. They look great, don’t they?

If you don’t win, you can buy these in my Etsy shop, anytime!

Digital Photogaphy for Beginners

Do you need to brush up on your fundamental photography skills? Do you know someone who is just getting started? Then you need my new eBook, Digital Photography for Beginners! I’ll give away a copy or two, either to you or, if you don’t need it, you can gift your copy to a friend.

If you don’t win, be sure to take advantage of the Launch Special: The eBook is just $5.99 (reg. $9.99) right now. SALE expires Oct. 28th, 11:59pm PDT.

iPhone 5/5s Accessories

Since I’ve upgraded to my iPhone 6s I have several accessories which are now obsolete to me. Sad!! I’d love to see them continue to be useful. Please leave a note in your comment that you want to be included in this part of the drawing. All items are gently used and in good working condition.

Custom Phone Case

One of a kind! This case is printed with my iconic piece, Vanishing. It’s eye-catching!

Olloclip Lenses and Homemade Case

These Olloclip lenses have been great to use. Small, compact and good image quality. This one has the fisheye, wide angle and macro lens all-in-one. I’ll also throw in the homemade case I created by cutting off the corner of an old plastic case. Not fancy, but works great! And it’s hot pink, so it’s just plain fun.

Waterproof Case with Fisheye Lens

This Optrix waterproof case is awesome! You can fully use the phone and camera in or under the water. The attached fisheye lens is high quality, too. I had fun with this, as the image of my nephew under the water will attest.

I hope to see you at my Open Studio! And if you’re not close enough to stop by, hopefully you’ll get a little piece of my creative world through the giveaway. Don’t forget to leave your comment to enter!

April 22, 2014 by Kat

Spring Cleaning Celebration

Aaaah, breathe deep. Do you smell it? That’s the scent of clean. Spring clean.

We’ve gotten the spring cleaning bug in our house. It started as the need for more space in our garage, for my growing pile of art fair booth stuff and for my husband’s new model train modules. So the rearranging commenced. But you can’t rearrange without some reorganizing and cleaning. And that sorting and organizing and downsizing has spread its way into other areas of our house, including my art supply cabinet.

And guess what I found in there… Items that I purchased when we were living in Italy, to giveaway on my blog! Apparently I never gave them away while there, they were shipped home from Italy with all of our stuff almost three years ago, I stashed them in my cabinet and forgot all about them. Yikes!!

So guess what I’m doing today? I’m finally giving these away! Plus, I found the Photojojo lens set that didn’t work out for me, and I’d love to see these go to a good home, where they might be used.

Here’s what I’m giving away by random drawing to four lucky winners:

One lined journal, covered in my favorite Florentine paper design.

One set of gorgeous Florentine cards and envelopes.

One blank notebook, with “C is for Camera” and vintage camera imagery on the front.

One set of Photojojo lenses and case. What’s included is what is shown: Telephoto iPhone lens and cover to attach it to an iPhone 5/5S, a set of three Photojojo lenses (FishEye, 2x Telephoto and Macro. I’ve lost the wide angle lens and cover that screwed onto the macro.) plus magnetic rings for attaching to any camera, and the Lens Wallet to store them. These are used and come as-is.

All you need to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment here by Monday, April 28 at 12:01AM EST. I’ll draw the winners at that time and announce them on my blog on Tuesday, April 29. Please, only one comment per person and indicate in your comment if you can use the Photojojo lens set. I want to make sure that goes to a person who can use it, so if your comment doesn’t say you can use it, you won’t be eligible to win it.

Thanks for your help in getting these items out of my house! Spring cleaning seems awfully fun this way, doesn’t it? More like a celebration than work. 🙂

January 28, 2014 by Kat

Sharing a Success with a Giveaway

Life is funny. It really is. If we can learn to laugh at ourselves and the situations that life throws at us, we can respond to almost anything. Of that, I am convinced.

Why is life so funny, you ask?

After baring my soul, sharing my response to a disappointment last week, just two days later I experienced a really nice success. I found out that I received an Honorable Mention in the 2013 Mobile Photography Awards, in the Travel category for my image The Last Tree. Thousands of people apply to this international review and traveling exhibition of Mobile Photography. It’s juried by some fantastically talented people in the photography world. And one of my images got noticed. How cool is that??

So, yeah. Back to last week. When I found out about the Honorable Mention the disappointment I was feeling suddenly evaporated. It’s almost forgotten; replaced with a new success to celebrate. Life is funny that way, with its ups and downs. The whole experience made me laugh at myself, at my short-lived drama, and reflect in my newsletter how life as an artist is like one big roller coaster ride. It’s different every time we get on. There will be more disappointments, more successes too, as long as I keep getting on to ride.

So now that I’m on the upside, it seemed only fair to share my new success with you, after you listened and held my hand and provided such lovely encouragement through my disappointment last week. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that.

I invite you now to share in my little success. And maybe shake your head and laugh with me, at how funny life can be.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!! OK, so to celebrate this success, I’m going to give away a signed print of The Last Tree. Printed size will be the winner’s choice (up to 13×19″). To enter, leave a comment by the end of the day on Monday, February 3rd. I will draw in the morning PST on Tuesday, February 4th, and announce the winner on my blog.

Thank you for being here, sharing in my successes along with my disappointments. I appreciate all of you!

December 18, 2012 by Kat

My Name in Lights

OK, my name is not in lights literally, but I’m over on Moms Who Click today with an interview and a giveaway. If you would like to win a spot in the upcoming Find Your Eye series then click yourself right over there to enter! And of course, to learn a little more about me and my photography. Thanks so much to Kristina at Moms Who Click for inviting me to participate in their Behind the Lens series!

But back to our regularly scheduled programming… the Lights of Night.

I’ve been very much attracted to neon lights lately. After I ditched the tripod on Saturday morning, that’s what called to me. This was my favorite capture from the window of a local pizzeria. It tells a bit of a story, don’t you think?

Handheld, ISO400, 35mm, f/1.8, 1/125

I also shared one in the Exploring with a Camera: Lights of Night post from San Francisco earlier this year. I love the repetition of the neon signs in this one, and the detail you can just make out through the windows.

Handheld, ISO400, 35mm, f/3.2, 1/50

You’ll notice the last couple of days I’m adding the settings for the photos I share. I’ll do that all this week as I share night photos. I want you to get a feel for the settings I’m using to get effective images, so you can see what you might want to try if you are struggling.

Capturing neon signs can even more of a night photography challenge, because they are often so bright relative to their surroundings. I have discovered a few things about successfully photographing neon signs:

It often works best when there is some ambient light behind the sign. If you are photographing a sign in a dark window, all you are going to get is the sign on a field of black. That might be what you are going for, but I find the sign with some context of what it is advertising is more interesting.
It is easy to overexpose the neon sign relative to the rest of the frame and lose the color. Dial back your exposure so that most of the sign is not overexposed.
It is ok for the brightest part of the neon to be overexposed as long as you don’t overexpose the whole thing. In the Pizza by the Slice image above, the center of the letters is overexposed and completely blown out. Can you tell? No, because there is enough color in the rest of the sign to blend in and provide the colorful neon glow.

Good luck! Be sure to share your night photography experiments in our Exploring with a Camera link up this month. Share the triumphs and the failures, it’s all good for learning. I’m happy to help you and answer questions if you are struggling, too. Just leave a comment.

November 24, 2012 by Kat

Spark & Inspire: A Giveaway

Today I want to introduce you to a project I recently had the opportunity to participate in. Spark and Inspire: 30 Days of Meaningful Insight to Spark Your Business and Inspire Your Soul is an ebook, the brainchild of Robin Norgren. I first met Robin in Kelly Rae Robert’s first Flying Lessons course, back in 2010. It’s been fun to follow her progress since the class. She is a wonderfully upbeat person and full of amazing energy, so it’s no wonder she created this great project.

Robin had this idea of sharing the insight and inspiration of creative entrepreneurs with those who are just starting out. She interviewed 41 creative entrepreneurs (I’m one!) with different questions, and has compiled their answers into an ebook. And not just a book to read, but a book to help you think about the questions for yourself and your business. Each question has the answers of at least 8 of the artists, and then a page is provided for you to write your own answer to the question. Answer one question a day over 30 days, and you will have some amazing insights and the start of your own plans. For me personally, participating has been a great experience, because it brought clarity to me as I answered the questions and had to think about what I would share with others. I’ve learned a lot from reading the responses of the other entrepreneurs too.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a creative business, whether it’s selling your art or any other creative idea is stuck in your brain, this ebook might be a good resource for you. I know many of you have thoughts along these lines, because I get questions and comments from you here and there via email. Imagine having 41 artists experiences to draw from and 30 questions answered. Where else can you get this kind of access and insight? I can’t think of any other place.

And guess what? You can win a PDF copy of the book here this week! Just leave a comment below by the end of the day 30 November to be eligible for the drawing.

Within these pages you will find the voices of over 40 creative entrepreneurs who run their businesses both online and in brick and mortar stores, who run workshops and sell in shows, who have a range of experiences and have been in business from 1 year to more than 25 years and who offer you no nonsense information on their processes and how they have been able to keep moving in tough economic times and how they have found a way to let good ideas go when the money was not in line with the dream. We are talking on a range of topics from collaborations to big leaps that did (and did not) come together as planned. We are talking about how to get at the soul of your business and how to stay excited about the work you offer the world.

Details:

237 pages sent to your inbox
Comprehensive insight from soulful creative entrepreneurs
41 artists
30 questions
Each question offers insight from AT LEAST 8 artists

Available in PDF Format here.
Available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon.com
(disclosure: affiliate links)

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