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Photo-Heart Connection: August 2014

Love Forest. Forest Love. Whichever way I write it, it’s true.

Kat-Sloma-Photography-6511

I don’t know exactly where my love of the forest comes from. I don’t know when it formed. Maybe it was as a child, camping in the Colorado woods and going off with my Dad in the wee hours of the morning to find a good spot to fish for trout. Maybe it was in my mid-twenties, when the first home we owned was right up next to an 85-acre wooded park in Colorado Springs, a respite from all things suburban around me. Maybe it was moving to Oregon in my thirties, and discovering primeval-seeming forests with towering trees, that made me feel like I was a tiny blip on the historic radar.

It’s hard to think of a time when the forest didn’t play some role as backdrop to events in my life. But it’s recent, the last two years or so, that the forest moved from backdrop in key memories to a primary character of its own. The forest has become a staunch friend, a confidante. It is always there for me, ready to receive me, however I come to it. It teaches me, in its quiet way.

The tall trees remind me that there is more to life than my little worries. They remind me to stand straight, grow roots, take nourishment. When I do, it takes more than a single storm to knock me down.

The forest reminds me that it is an ecosystem. No one part can exist without the whole. I too, am part of the system. One small part of a whole. I need to rely on those around me, help those around me, as part of the system of human connection.

There is so much more I can say about my complex relationship with the forest, but I won’t. I will cut it short. Because this image reminds me it’s been five days since I’ve been in the forest. Five days since I’ve enjoyed the scent and the quiet and the feel of being part of something greater, bigger, older than me. Five days is too long, anymore. So I’m going to go now, and visit my forest.

Love Forest. Forest Love.

I’ve photographed this heart carved into the tree along the Mulkey Creek Trail so many times, it’s not surprising it would eventually become my Photo-Heart Connection. I know it’s awful, someone defacing a tree like this. But I can’t help but love it anyway, because it seems to encapsulate my feelings about the forest so well. It’s a simple symbol in a simple place, but it brings such deep feelings of connection to me. I’m not kidding about getting out and hiking now. I’m going to wrap up this post and enjoy Labor Day morning on the trail. 🙂

What have you found as your Photo-Heart Connection this month? What image or art did you create this month that calls to your soul? What does it have to tell you? Go through your images from August and find the one that calls to your heart. Write about it and learn from it. Share the results with us here.


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What a Scooter Sighting can teach about the Process of Elimination

Oh, how heavenly it was, to be back in the land of scooters! I didn’t spot any scooters in my excursions around Yorkshire, but London had a nice selection of scooters to photograph. I’ve come to realize that my little scooter photography obsession is as much about place as it is about scooters. Usually when I’m capturing a scooter sighting, I try to find out if I can find an interesting composition that tells you about the place the scooter was parked, through the context I choose to include. Interesting scooters and interesting places, a perfect combination!

When I have a scooter sighting, it’s the perfect opportunity to use the Process of Elimination, which we’re studying this month in Exploring with a Camera. This wonderful scooter was spotted on the Hampstead workshop photowalk, just off Brick Lane. I thought it might be interesting to share my Process of Elimination for this image. All of the images shared are straight out of the camera except for the final edit.

The first sighting was from walking down the sidewalk behind the scooter. It’s an interesting scooter, not your usually cute one, but I thought the chairs would be great to include. It wasn’t a busy street (thankfully) so I stepped out across/into the street to explore the scene. The first shot I tried was vertical, going with the lines of the scooter.

The vertical orientation doesn’t include enough of the chairs, which really add interest to the scene. The background becomes more of a distraction with this framing, with bits and pieces of too many things. So, the next step was to try horizontal.

Better! Got the chairs, the interesting window with the reflections, the graffiti. But the scooter is too high in the frame. The foreground of the road is doing nothing for this image. I want more of the interesting background. As I framed up the next image, this guy walked buy. Quick, catch him in a good spot!

OK, I like where he is in the frame but this image is not really what I was looking for in the scooter sighting. He’s a distraction. So I capture essentially the same frame without the guy.

You will note that I included the car on the right in the frame. That was intentional. I had the framing mostly the way I wanted it, but including a little extra would give me the most to work with later for cropping since I didn’t have time to work the scene further. I needed to move on, as the rest of the participants in the class had moved way up the street and I was lucky I hadn’t been run over by a car by this time.

Into Lightroom for crop and edit when I got back home, and here’s the final image again:

An interesting scooter in an interesting place — I couldn’t ask for more in a scooter sighting! I’m going into scooter withdrawal now that I’m home. The only one I see is in my garage, and believe me, that’s not a place you want to see! If you sight a scooter, please share it with me on Instagram or Twitter using #scootersighting. I need to get my fix one way or another. 🙂

Have you been thinking about the Process of Elimination this last week? How has the idea of eliminating what is not essential to your message affected your capture or edit of images? Please share with us! You can link your exploration into the comments on the original post here. There are a couple of folks already linked in, so be sure to visit to see what they’ve found. And how do you like the process of linking into the comments? Would you rather have a linky? Let me know! I’m on the fence myself. I kind of miss the linky.

PS – I’m off to the Vancouver Gathering with David duChemin this weekend. Yay! I’ll be away from the blog for a few days, but I’ll tell you all about it next week!

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A Favorite Sign

Today we wrap up July’s Exploring with a Camera: Signs. It’s been quite fun to investigate how signs crop up in my photographs and to see yours too.

I’ll leave this exploration with a favorite sign of mine, from Venice. All over the island of Venice are printed signs saying “Per San Marco” or “Per Rialto.” Since Venice is such a warren of walkways, bridges and canals, it is very easy to get lost. Often we found ourselves wandering and the only way to figure out where we were was to go back to Piazza San Marco or the Rialto bridge and start again, so these signs became a lifeline. My favorite sign image is this hand-painted sign, found off the beaten path in a back alley. There were none of the “official” signs around, so someone took matters into their own hands and created this one. They were probably tired of the tourists asking for directions. 🙂

You can still link in today with your sign images. I’d love to see how you use signs in your photography! Do share.


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A True Photo-Heart Connection

Meet Toan Lam. Founder of Go Inspire Go and writer for the Huffington Post and Intent.com, Toan and I first met in an online interview for Tea with Toan several months ago. We felt an instant connection as we chatted, discovering we have very similar philosophies. We both believe individuals have the power to make the world a better place; you only have to recognize your power and tap into it. Find your passion and act on it.

Toan interacting with San Francisco street art

When we discovered I was heading to San Francisco, his town, we made plans to meet up in person. Toan and I, along with his friend Erin, spent a morning together during my visit. We wandered the streets and they showed me their city. They took me on my first visit to Chinatown, where Toan introduced me to Boba Tea.

Colors and Textures of Chinatown

We hunted for interesting street art, and Erin led us to a famous piece by Banksy.

Up close and personal with Banksy street art, protected by plexiglass.

We checked out the view from Toan’s apartment, seeing his incredible view.

Toan and Erin, with Toan's incredible view

We climbed the hill to the Coit Tower, sharing a peaceful moment looking out over the Bay Bridge. They experienced my obsession with scooter sightings, as I stopped to photograph every scooter along the way.

Scooter Sighting: San Francisco

Running through our fun trek around the city was a serious conversation on inspiration, life, and doing what we love to do. For Toan, that love is sharing people’s stories and helping others to use their powers – resources, talents, network – to help others. Toan’s background is TV journalism and through Go Inspire Go he provides a multimedia platform to tell the stories of “regular people” who are making a difference in small or big ways. For me, that love is helping others find a connection to heart and soul through photography. We both feel immense gratitude for having discovered something that we feel called to do. Our lives are better for it.

Words to live by

But we also talked about the difficulty that comes along with following a path that is not mainstream. When you are building something completely new, there is no map. You can only follow your heart. Sometimes there can be a struggle with the idea of making a business out of a passion, because when you love and believe in something so much, you want everyone to have a piece of it. It is so valuable, you want to give it all away. This is the opposite of the business world, which is all about selling, monetizing and commercializing.

End Commercial? I see a mixed message.

We talked of how to find a balance between the two, and the examples we see around us of people doing it every day. The key is simple: Know your heart, follow your heart and trust that it will carry you in the right direction.

We found our heart...

Putting that key to use is not always simple, but it’s easier when you have the inspiration of people like Toan to help you along the way.

My morning with Toan reminded me of my own passion, my own power. His energy, enthusiasm and belief in the connection with the heart to inspire change is contagious. I came away reconnected and inspired to do what I am here to do.

Our morning together was wonderful. We walked. We talked. We photographed.

And found a true photo-heart connection in the streets of San Francisco.

Learn more of Toan’s story and see his post inspired by our morning together on the Go Inspire Go blog today.

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Subtle Reminders

The sun and moon come together in this tiny little bit of graffiti. The curve subtly breaks up the the lines of the bricks, the door, the strong shadow. If you aren’t looking closely, you will miss it.

I’m not sure why I like this simple image so much. It is an image that calls for the balance of shapes, as we’re studying now for Exploring with a Camera, so that is one element. But it’s more than that… There is something in the quiet whisper of the graffiti, something usually meant to be loud and bold. It’s as if it was put there especially for the observant. A test of sorts. And if you notice, if you pass the test, you are rewarded with thoughts of the cycle of the sun and moon. The never-ending nature of time.

All from a tiny bit of graffiti on a brick wall. Perhaps I’m reading into things this morning… it is an hour earlier than usual, after all. Here we are, we humans, trying to shift the cycle of the sun and the moon by changing our clocks. It must seem laughable to the universe.

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Making a Mark

What am I trying to say as an artist? Where is it that I want to go? Those questions are swirling around in my head after taking a one-day class called Preparing and Presenting your Photographic Portfolio from a wonderful instructor, Chris Eagon, at the Oregon College of Art and Craft yesterday.

The question “where do I want to go” is an important one for us as artists. Having goals and direction are what keep us moving forward, learning and growing. It’s through the continued journey that we figure out how to make our unique mark in the world.

I’ve known since living in Italy that the next step for me, upon moving back to the US, would be to bring my photographs into the real world. I needed the foundation I gained while in Italy: Confidence in the creation of my images, sharing them with others online, and identification of my unique vision. I’m building from there now, learning how to print and exhibit my work. Even harder, learning how to talk about my work and myself as an artist, with people face-to-face. I did not expect it to be such a challenge, with all of that confidence and knowledge I had gained. But it’s a new realm, and the challenges are different. The fears are different. It’s the next step I need to take in my creative journey, regardless of the resistance that comes along.

I am starting to understand that there is the journey that is “Kat the blogger and teacher” and the journey that is “Kat the artist.” The are separate yet inextricable. If I did not continue on my own artistic journey, separate from blogging and teaching, I would have nothing to share here. I have to admit, the journey of the artist feels a bit more scary and lonely. It’s the one I have to do on my own, in order to be true to myself.

So I’m letting my thoughts swirl around the questions: What am I trying to say as an artist? Where is it that I want to go? Only by answering these for myself will I figure out how to make my mark as an artist. I thought I knew the answers, but they have changed. It’s time to answer them again.

How about you, do you know the answers to these questions for yourself? Do you know where you are headed next?

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