Kat Eye Studio

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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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Exploring with a Camera: Signs

It’s time for July’s Exploring with a Camera – Yay! This month we are going to explore Signs. Not signs as in symbols or messages from the universe, but signs as in those things printed on placards, streets, building walls, etc. that give us information. Have you ever noticed all of the signs around you? They are everywhere. I started paying close attention to signs a few weeks ago and have been amazed at the variety and of types and uses of signs. There is much here for us to mine photographically!

A building wall in Astoria, Oregon

Types and Uses of Signs

To prep for this topic, I started observing and categorizing the types and uses of the signs around me and that I’ve captured in the past.

Signs are used to inform…

Hot Dog Stand in rural Oregon

to educate…

A little bit of history about Astoria, Oregon

to direct…

Rainy day in Portland, Oregon

to warn…

Greenwich, England

to advertise…

Milan, Italy

to identify or specify a location…

Madrid, Spain

Do you start to see what I mean? I bet you can add even more to this list. Signs don’t have to have words either. Symbols often work just as well for their intended purpose.

Restaurant Sign in Madrid, Spain

Train Station Warning in Bacharach, Germany

Relative to Place

Signs are one of the “aspects of place” we talk about in my class, A Sense of Place. The language, imagery and surroundings of a sign all give you an idea of where the photo was taken. The signs can be the main subject or part of the background, but either way they are great indicator of place, providing the viewer clues to the location.

Lausanne, Switzerland

Chinatown in San Francisco, California

Signs can also highlight cultural differences. Instead of the bright green, reflective street signs we have in the US on every street corner to make things easy for navigation, the Italian street signs are often small marble placards on the side of a building. Impossible to use for navigation in a vehicle, but they look much more beautiful. A definite clue to cultural differences between Italy and the US.

Varenna, Italy

Modified Signs

A sign is created and placed with a specific purpose, but the age-old tradition of modifying signs to give them a different meaning is wonderful for photographers. The best modified signs are often more subtle than the typical spray-paint graffiti. These signs make you look twice!

All around Europe you will see these stickers on “Do Not Enter” signs. I especially loved this one, where the guy is “carrying” papers tucked under his arm along with the bar.

Bologna, Italy

On a family bike ride recently, I came across this modified sign telling visitors to GO AWAY. My husband and son continued to ride ahead, eventually noticing I was gone and wondering what happened to me. “Just a funny sign I had to photograph,” I explained to their worried faces when I caught up, “Sorry!” To my surprise, they hadn’t even seen the sign that stopped me.

Rural Oregon

Artistic License

We can create some wonderful images with signs, changing the sign’s intended meaning as we frame the photograph. I often like to capture one or two words of the sign with some other context to create a new story.

By framing this image with only the word “ART” and the open door and stairway visible behind, I intended the message, “The door is always open to art.” I think the sign actually said, “Art Studio.” Capturing the full sign would have eliminated this message.

The “Dream More” was added by some creative person to the exit sign of a parking lot. By framing it without the giant “Exit” to the right of the arrow, I focus in on the message of the added text.

One of the most fun ways to use signs is to capture humor or irony. The viewer has to look at the whole and then digest the contradictions within the frame to get the message. Of course, you as the photographer have to see it first, to create the image!

Yellowstone National Park, Montana

Chinatown in San Francisco, California

We can also create new messages during our post processing, combining images or words from various signs. These words both came from an old Levi Strauss ad on the side of a building, but by capturing them individually and combining them in my post-processing I create a new message.

Are you starting to see the photographic possibilities with signs? Chances are, you already have photographed many signs in different contexts, without even thinking about it.

We’d all love to see how you use signs! Go out on a photowalk or look through your archive and then come back and share with us your use of signs. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got!


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Lettere

Sometimes I marvel how the human brain works. I wanted a mail-related photo for today’s Liberate Your Art Swap update post and I thought of this photo. I remembered taking this picture in Venice, although I had never done any editing on it. I thought I took it when we were there with my husband’s parents. So, with nothing other than that to go on, I went into Lightroom and went directly to the November 2010 folder, the month we visited with his parents. Yep, there it was! Pretty darn cool the way the brain works, isn’t it? And the way Lightroom works too. Even though my photos are still not keyworded (although getting better – this folder now has keywords for Venice!), I can find things relatively quickly.

So with that… on to the update! As of this morning, there are 255 artists signed up for the swap! Yeah! If the participation rate is the same or better as last year, I should meet my goal for increasing participation this year. And, there are still a couple more weeks to sign up! I’m going to keep sign up open through July 15. After that, I figure it’s getting to late to get everything together with creating and mailing postcards. Thanks to everyone who has been sharing about the swap – there is still time to share!

A few more envelopes trickled in this week, doubling my total of envelopes to 8. I’m also keep track of where they are coming from, so that will be fun to give an update on as I receive more. From the comments in the Facebook event, lots of people are getting ready to send their postcards in, so the rush is on it’s way. How fun!!

If you haven’t ordered your postcards yet, I received a code from Moo this week: Enter the code POSTSTICK at checkout by midnight PST 4th July 2012 and you will receive free shipping (cheapest shipping option only). Order must include at least one pack of Postcards and/or Stickers. I don’t know if that will work in conjunction with my link that gives 10% off for new customers, but it’s worth a try if you haven’t ordered yet and were planning to use Moo.

One more reminder: Photo-Heart Connection link up for June opens this Sunday, July 1! I can’t wait to see what’s connecting with you this month. See you then!

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Here comes the sun

I’m heading out today! Leaving the rainy, grey skies of Oregon for hot and sunny Arizona. Yay! My sister’s 40th birthday is next month and we’re celebrating with a house full of her friends for a long weekend in Arizona. It’s been a long, crazy week of work and everything but here I am, at Friday already. It’s going to be a busy weekend, I’ve got a long list of things to do:
Soak up some sun and heat
Sit by the Pool
Get a Pedicure
Watch a few Chick Flicks
Drink some Margaritas
Talk long into the night
Nap during the day
Hug a few amazing women
Catch up with the Photo-Heart Connection

So I won’t be around here much but I will be catching up on the Photo-Heart Connection. I haven’t had time to visit you all this week, and I’m looking forward to it! It’s like my reward for a week of hard work. The Photo-Heart Connection link up is still open until May 7 if you want to join in and have me visit you from the poolside.

Today’s photo comes to you from the coast of Sicily. My sis called me earlier this week asking for a pic of Sicily. Her son was working on a project for school on Italy and wanted a photo to show the difference in the regions. I dipped into my archive and look which one popped out. It was a perfect image to share in anticipation of a sunny weekend! Enjoy!

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A Gift

I’ve been given a gift. There was no fanfare, no gift wrap, and no card that accompanied this gift. It gently settled into my heart and soul last night, as I was getting ready for bed.

I was listening to my husband and son laying on the bed, reminiscing about a trip they took together to France to see a stage of the Tour de France. As they calmly chatted and laughed, I realized that I no longer feel sadness and longing in my memories of our time in Italy. Our whole family has felt the sadness and longing since returning home, but they had only fondness in their conversation.

It was then I realized the gift I had received. Through all of my recent work on letting go of expectation and filling the space with intention, I have found acceptance. Acceptance of where I am now, along with acceptance of the joyous experience that was my time in Italy.

Each memory of that time is now it’s own precious gift. Not to be hoarded with longing, but treasured and held up to the light with joy. To be felt again, but from where I sit today. To be seen in a new perspective.

I have received an amazing gift, to be able to enjoy the memories now while also enjoying the now. I have a smile on my face and in my heart today.

In The Picture

This photo is over a year old, taken last April in Italy. I’ve had it sitting in my edited images folder, just waiting for the perfect moment to use it. Now I know I was waiting for today, because here it is, perfectly representing the gift I’m writing about. While it’s not a recent photo, so I don’t quite meet the criteria for {in the picture}, there was enough symmetry with the timing of the link up, the post and the connections in the photo I thought I would share. The gloves were knitted for me by our {in the picture} hostess, Urban Muser, while we were Mortal Muses together. The Muses had a running internal joke that winter about fingerless gloves, another precious memory that brings me joy. Thanks Christy.

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Scooter Sightings: Too Italian

I am in love. In love with a scene that just screams “Italy” to me. I decided it was time for the monthly Scooter Sightings post so I visited my archive, discovering this image. Why didn’t I see and celebrate this image before? It has so many elements that are Italian – the texture, the niche, the scooter parked where it’s not supposed to be parked. I’m entranced by the triangle of red created between the flowers, the scooter and the candle. A perfect scooter sighting. I can’t believe I’m just falling in love with it now, more than a year after I encountered the scene in Sicily.

Scooter sightings are still pretty slim around here in Oregon, what with the SNOW and all! I did see a very bundled up scooter rider the other day, the brave soul. I’m longing for warm summer days to get out on my scooter again!

Until then, I have to manage with scooter sightings from my archive. And thankfully, I have more people sharing scooter sightings with me…

This sighting comes from Sherry, in Alvin, Texas. She says the owners were taking a motorcycle class at the Community College in Alvin. How cute is that, with the red VW bug pulling the red scooter? The only thing that would make it better is if it was a FIAT 500 instead of a bug!

Next we have these unusual sightings sent by Brianna from San Francisco, California. I asked her what was up with the typewriter, and she answered, “I was working on a photo shoot for the cover of the next edition of The Edge, a local literary publication here in Tahoe. It was a fun shoot, we just walked around San Francisco shooting this old typewriter in odd places.” A typewriter on a scooter, odd indeed!

Thanks to both Brianna and Sherry for helping me get my scooter sighting fix! Do you have a scooter sighting? Send it to me and I’ll share it here on the blog in my next Scooter Sightings post.

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