photography

November 26, 2016 by Kat

The Best Gift: Creating your own Greeting Cards Tutorial

What is the best gift you’ve ever gotten? Think for a moment… Bring up the gift in your mind. What was it, who gave it to you, how did it make you feel? It gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling, doesn’t it?

I’m going to take a wild guess… It probably wasn’t the latest electronic gadget or a kitchen appliance. It was probably something special, something where the giver thought about you in the choosing. Maybe it was something they had made.

I must admit, I’m partial to the handmade gift. I don’t get excited about the whole holiday shopping thing, but I love to give gifts, especially of my art. The problem is… It’s hard to give art as a gift. Choosing art for the walls of your home or office is a very personal thing. So if you give your art to someone, you risk that it may sit gathering dust in a drawer or closet, never to be used.

Over time I’ve learned that there is a great way to gift art that can work for everyone: Greeting cards.

Each year, for holiday gifts I create greeting card packs with new art pieces I’ve created in the last year. This way, I get to share my art in a format that everyone can use. The cards are blank inside and they can be used for any purpose, just write your own greeting and voila! You have a birthday card or a thank you card or whatever kind of card you choose. They are nicely packaged and can be re-gifted, if desired. I make different size packs, from three to six cards in a pack, and give these packs to coworkers, friends, and family. They have become quite the popular gift, with people letting me know how much they look forward to them!

Today, I’m going to share the ins and outs of creating your own greeting cards. I’m sharing all of the details from the card stock I use to the packaging I put them in. What I would like to encourage is less shopping and more creating this holiday season, because creating connections through art is one of the best gifts you can give.

Step One – The Paper

Finding a good greeting card paper is not easy. You want a paper that will give a nice-looking print, with good color and detail. You also want a paper stock that is enjoyable to write on, since it’s blank and the user will need to write in a greeting. You might also want the card stock pre-cut and pre-scored, so there aren’t a lot of extra steps to turn the paper into the card after printing.

I wanted all of these things, and after a lot of searching, I found Red River Paper inkjet greeting card stock. I first ordered the Sample Kit to test out the different paper stocks they offered, and then settled on the 60lb Polar Matte cardstock. This paper gives very nice detail and color and has a smooth finish which is lovely to write on. It is also pre-cut and pre-scored, which makes it super easy to create your own cards.

I buy the 7×10″ size which folds into a 5×7″ (A7) card.

Step Two – The Print

I do all of my printing through Lightroom, and if you do too, I’ll make things easy by providing a few templates for greeting cards. I’m not going to get into the details of getting a good fine art print, because that goes beyond this simple tutorial. (If you want to learn how to make a good fine art print using Lightroom or Photoshop, I recommend the eBook Making the Print by Martin Bailey.)

I’ve created three templates for the 7×10″ greeting card stock from Red River which you can download for import into Lightroom. These templates have a photo on one side and your name or website on the back. You will need to choose the correct template to ensure your image is oriented such that the card will open correctly. Download the templates here:
Square – Use for square photos
Horizontal – Use for rectangular photos in Landscape orientation
Vertical – Use for rectangular photos in Portrait orientation

To use these templates, first go into the Print Module, then right click on the template browser to create a new folder for your templates and then to import a template. Once your template is imported, click on it to select. You should see your chosen photo loaded into the template. Before printing, you will need to change the nameplate which current reads “Your Information Here.” Type in the information you would like to print on the back of the card. This would typically include your name or website address.

If you are using the square template, you need to have the bottom of the image facing toward the right side on the screen, as shown above. Unfortunately, the image will not auto-rotate to the correct orientation with a square format, so you will need to manually rotate the image before you print. Go into the Library Module and then rotate your image 90 degrees right before printing.

Before printing, check on your Print Job settings (right side menu) to ensure you have the correct printer settings and ICC profile loaded. You can get the printer settings and profile information on the 60lb Polar Matte stock from Red River here.

When you first use these templates, I recommend you run several test prints to ensure the color settings and orientation are correct. There is nothing worse than printing multiple cards that open the wrong way! Once you confirm everything is working correctly, you can print to your heart’s content.

Step Three – The Package

After the cards are ready, I add matching envelopes and then package as a gift. I’m all about simplicity, so for my gift packages, I use a simple clear bag or box with a stretch loop around it. The stretch loop gives it a nice gift-y feeling and can also hold a personalized holiday tag or note. Here is an example of a finished gift bag with three card/envelope sets inside:

I buy all of the packaging materials, including envelopes, from ClearBags. You can buy matching envelopes from Red River Paper, but I’ve found the ClearBags envelopes are also nice and are a bit cheaper when you buy in bulk. Here are the links:
Envelopes – White A7 size
Stretch Loops – The 10″ size works well for the A7 card bags and boxes below
Clear Boxes – You can easily fit 5-6 card/envelope sets in a box
Clear Bags – You can fit up to 3 card/envelope sets in a bag

I hope this tutorial helps you create some gifts with your art this year. Not only are greeting cards a great way to share your art, they also lead to meaningful connections between others as they are used. It’s one of the few gifts that truly keeps on giving.

If you don’t want to make your own greeting cards, I have sets created with my art available in my shop here. Custom orders are also available! Contact me for more info.

November 4, 2016 by Kat

Words Must Suffice

Picture this…

You are hiking in the autumn forest, enjoying the sunlight filtering through the few last vibrant leaves clinging to the branches. There is always a rewarding view at the top of this trail, and you are ready for it as you come out onto the sunny, open meadow crowning the hill. But when you reach the summit and look out onto the scene, you stop in surprise. All around, filling the expansive valley below you, is a rolling white layer of clouds reflecting the sunlight. A few hills and peaks share their summits with you above the fog, the last of their autumn color shining bright, but the rest of the world is hidden down below. You can hear there is a world down there… The sounds of the morning commute come through. You pause for the moment, realizing the people making their way through the world for their morning routine are experiencing a very different reality from you. They are surrounded by a chilly, dense fog, while you are in the warm and open sunlight, above it all. You pause, and enjoy the moment.

What do you think? Can you picture the scene?

I hope so, because I don’t have a photograph. For some reason, my trusty iPhone did not get charged last night. I plugged it in before bed, but something weird must have happened, because the battery died before I even started my ascent up the hill. Oh well, I thought. There will be other foggy mornings to photograph. I’m not missing anything.

And yet…

As I walked through the forest, I realized there won’t be other mornings like this morning. There was a beautiful layer of yellow leaves still clinging to some of the lower trees, while the oaks had lost all their leaves. OK, so I’ll miss that. Next time I’m on the same trail, at the same time of day, the leaves will all be down. A small moment of sadness, and then an increased awareness of my surroundings, realizing that my memory and experience will have to suffice. I can enjoy that.

And yet…

When I came out to the top of the hill and saw the valley shrouded in fog, I knew that this morning, this scene would never be repeated. The last of the autumn color was one thing, the perfect meeting of the fog and the sun and the autumn color was another thing altogether. I whole-heartedly wished my camera was working.

Because I couldn’t photograph it, I spent a lot of time looking at it. Memorizing it. I walked around the hill and to take in the scene from different angles and points of view. It’s still there, this image. It’s in my head, carefully stored away, for when I want to revisit it. A special moment in a familiar place.

While I wish I could have shared it with you through a photograph, mere words will have to suffice today.

I could write how this is a lesson in making sure your phone is charged, to have an extra battery pack with you, or whatever. That would be the great photography advice to give you.

But I think the lesson here is that you don’t always need a camera to capture the experience. We photographers can forget that. Because I couldn’t take any photographs, I spent more time within the moment than I otherwise would. I paid closer attention, so that I would remember the details. I savored the scene in a way I might not have, had the camera been available.

I would have spent so much time capturing the moment, I wouldn’t have experienced it.

Today, I’m happy for the experience. That’s all we really need.

July 1, 2015 by Kat

The Influence of the Camera

I like to say that the photographer makes the photograph, not the camera. A camera is just a tool.

That is absolutely true. Cameras don’t create photographs by themselves. The photographer chooses what to point the camera at, the framing, the settings.

It’s also true that the camera influences the photographs you make. It’s not possible to make the same photographs with every camera out there. A pinhole camera is going to create a different photograph than a dSLR. An iPhone is going to create a different photograph than a large format film camera. Each camera has differences.

So the photographer makes the photograph, but only within the range of parameters available from the camera.

When I choose my tool, the iPhone right now, I am choosing a range to work within. I am choosing both the limitations and the options, the advantages and disadvantages, of the specific camera system. That in turn influences the images I create.

I tell people the iPhone changed my art. It changed how and when I take photographs, it changed what I take photographs of, it changed what I do with them. All this fundamental change, because of the tool I use.

The camera I am using influences me as much as I influence the images coming from the camera. It’s a give and take.

As much as photographers might get frustrated with the ever-present gear obsession and the question, “What camera do you use?” As much as we might want to say the camera doesn’t matter, it’s the photographer…

The reality is, the camera we use does matter. How could it not? It’s the fundamental tool we use to create our art.

Your turn: How does your camera influence you?

November 6, 2014 by Kat

Is it Photography or Not?

The Philomath Open Studios Tour wrapped up on Sunday, and participating as a studio this year was both fun and challenging. Talking to so many people as they came through, I got some interesting questions and comments. The only comment that really stopped me in my tracks came from a couple of other artists participating in the event. We do an artist “pre-tour” of all of the studios, so we can see each other’s work and be able to refer people to the right studios if they are looking for something specific. It’s one of the most fun parts of the whole event, and for me it’s been the way I really get to know the other artists.

“You should call your work something other than photography,” they said, “Your work doesn’t look like any photography I’ve ever seen.” They went on to explain: People may skip my studio because they have an impression of what photography is, and they aren’t interested. I’m losing the chance to get my work in front of them by calling it photography.

I found myself with a pretty strong internal reaction to their suggestion. As I tried to explain my feelings about this as photography, I struggled to find the words. My immediate reaction and inadequate explanation left me uncomfortable. Was there something to what they were saying I should listen to? These folks are my artist friends and peers, and they have my best interests at heart. They respect my work and want to see me succeed.

So, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a renewed internal dialogue around this question: Is it photography or not? Should I change the way I position and market my work? I’ve answered this question before. But I needed to answer the question for myself, again, in a way I could confidently explain it to others, especially artists in other mediums.

My answer?

Yes, my work is photography. I will continue to call it photography, even if there is some fallout along with that. Here’s why…

My work starts as a photograph. The seeing and framing through the lens of the camera is vitally important. My art wouldn’t exist without the starting photograph, and the capture of the starting image is one of my favorite parts of my process of creating in this medium. I spent years and years learning to coax beautiful images out of the camera, from the technical expertise of exposure to the creative expertise of composition, and I use that experience every time I take a new photograph. Even if I’m altering it significantly, it starts with the photograph. I want to honor that.

I also want to honor the medium. Photography has a rich and interesting history. It is a wider and deeper medium than the general public understands. Most people’s interaction with photography is from what they see in the media — photojournalism and commercial photography — or their own experience with snapshots. Mobile photography is even less understood. Most people haven’t necessarily seen or explored fine art photography. They don’t know the range of art that the term “photography” truly covers. Why not help educate them, just a little bit? Why not expand their definition? We are never going to get past the limited perception of what a photograph is “allowed” to look like, if some of us don’t stand out there and push those boundaries.

This is where I had to stop and examine myself closely. Am I hurting myself, my ability to get my work in front of people to connect with them through my art, through taking on some one-woman crusade to expand the definition of photography? Am I hurting my sales by sticking with the “photography” moniker? I don’t think so. I’ve had many photographers tell me in the past that you can’t sell photography. People don’t want photographs. Given my results as I ventured into art fairs this year, I’ve not found that to be universally true.

But that fundamental belief — people don’t want to buy photographs — must be a driving factor behind some of the practices I’ve seen a few photographers use. I’ve witnessed people who are using altered photography techniques selling their work as nebulous “fine art prints.” No acknowledgement of the starting photograph. It’s not a lie, per se, because they truly are fine art prints, but it’s an omission that leaves the medium up to the imagination of the viewer. Let the viewer think it’s a reproduction of an original in another medium; what they don’t know doesn’t hurt them. That may be ok for other artists, but it would feel dishonest for me. Almost self-negating, as if I need to hide my medium in order for the work I produce to have value. And also not respectful of the artists who have spent years to hone their craft in other mediums. My work may end up looking a bit like a watercolor or some other medium, but it’s not. I don’t want to claim it is.

I want my work to stand on its own, for what it is. A photograph. An altered photograph, sure. But it starts as a photograph.

My art is a piece of me that I put out in the world. So when I make a sale, I want it to be an honest and heartfelt transaction. How I put my work and myself out there really matters to me. I want to connect with people openly and with integrity. I want to have a dialogue about what I’m creating, how I’m creating and why. I want to hear what the viewer has to say, how my work makes them feel. I want to honor all of those who came before me, who taught me, who paved the way for me to create in this medium, too.

So I will continue to call my work and my medium photography. I’m a photographer, and I’m proud of it. I’m happy to have the dialogue about what makes it photography. I relish a good discussion about the art of photography, and like the idea of opening some minds to new ideas about what a photograph can be.

And the folks who aren’t interested, who chose not to come to my studio because of their preconceived notions of what photography will look like? It’s their loss, not mine. They don’t know what they are missing.

November 1, 2014 by Kat

Photo-Heart Connection: October 2014

It starts with seeing.

Every photograph, every finished image, they all start with that spark of seeing.

Seeing beauty. Seeing possibility. Seeing whatever it is I see in life.

Whether or not I take a photo, whether or not I process a photo I’ve captured, I’ve still seen. Borne witness. Captured a moment in my minds eye.

No matter how busy we are, no matter how much of a hurry we are in, we can still see and acknowledge the world around us.

That’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.

One of the things I am most grateful for is how photography has taught me to see. I notice things that others don’t notice. The curve of a branch, the color variation in a leaf, the impression of a heart in the empty space. Amazing, beautiful things fill the world around us and we just have to open our eyes to see. I’ve been reminded of this as the last few weeks have been busy. Rushing to and from work and evening activities, Philomath Open Studios (come by this weekend!) and short days have meant little time for photography. But I’ve still been seeing.

My Photo-Heart Connection is a reflection of this month’s seeing, from one of the times I did have a few minutes to spare as I walked to my car in the parking lot at work, pulling out my camera and exploring the lines and colors of the autumn trees. I had been seeing them all week, and finally got that chance. The seeing for myself was enough, but capturing and sharing it with you makes it even better.

What is your Photo-Heart Connection this month? What have you seen, how has it touched your heart? Share it with us here.

An InLinkz Link-up

May 6, 2014 by Kat

Creative Display

I’m always looking for creative and easy ways to display 2D art. For many years, above my computer I’ve had multiple magnet boards to hold art cards, postcards, tickets, receipts… any little bits and pieces I wanted to see regularly or keep handy. Every so often I would clear off the magnet board and start with a clean slate, but most of the time it was a messy mismash of stuff. Kinda like life, huh?

Over Spring Break we stayed with some family in Washington, DC, and our cousin Kate, an artist herself, had an awesome solution for displaying 2D art. After arriving home I found myself looking askance at my messy magnet boards, dreaming of a solution like hers. So I emailed for the scoop on how she did it, and was extremely pleased to find out that all I needed was a trip to IKEA!

I bought two sets of the DIGNITET wire hangers, along with the RIKTIG hanging clips. The primary purpose for these items is hanging curtains so you’ll find them in the drapery section. It was approximately $30 total for two sets. It’s a perfect way to cleanly display a lot of paper items, especially POSTCARDS, don’t you think? It would work great for photographs as well, and I think our holiday cards will have a new place for display this year.

Right now, it just feels nice to not have all of the magnet board clutter hovering above me at my keyboard. My husband told me it looked waaaay too neat for my studio. I’m not quite sure how to take that comment. 🙂

Next, I just need to clean off my desk. But that’s a project for another day…