Kat Eye Studio

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Market/Wheels: The Giveaway!

I wrap up my new Market/Wheels images today with a giveaway! This is my biggest giveaway yet and I’m excited to share it with you. Celebrating the new images in this series the last week has been great fun! It has reminded me that I learn from working with my images, regardless of whether they are newly captured or from my archive.

Today’s image was found in the back alleys of Venice, where I loved to wander. It is another reminder that the work of getting the market wares to the populace of Venice is quite great. First on water, then on wheels. And not just any route! If you’ve been to Venice you know there are a great number of bridges with steps, so the route for wheels must be carefully chosen. Who wouldn’t maximize the amount carried in one trip? This cart, stacked high with crates, is a perfect example.

Before launching into the giveaway information, I want to invite you to come visit me elsewhere today! I’m guest posting on Caryn Gillen‘s site, with a photographer’s view on Enjoying Food Memories. I’ve mentioned a bit about my journey with Intuitive Eating, and Caryn has been a fantastic guide. This work has really clicked for me, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on her site today. Good timing too – with all of the yummy market food that’s been showing up here in the last week!

The Giveaway

Let’s get to the details of the giveaway, shall we? I’ll be giving away matted print of choice from my RedBubble shop to the winner. The prints are 8x12in matted to 16x20in and they are beautiful! This image shows a couple of examples, which are now framed and hanging on the wall of my home:

Greeted Cards and Matted Prints from RedBubble

Are you excited? Cool! Since there is no such thing as a free lunch – I need something from you too. Here’s what you need to do to enter:

1. Visit my updated Market/Wheels Portfolio and look through all the images. (Click on any thumbnail in the portfolio and you can scroll through full-size images.)

2. Come back to this post and leave a comment telling me which are your favorite images and why. Choose one or two or three, the number doesn’t matter. I’m interested in your feedback on any number of images – but only in one comment/entry per person please!

3. Leave your comment by the end of the day on Monday, 13 February. I’ll randomly draw from the entries on Tuesday, 14 February and contact you for your selection and mailing address.

A little bonus for you too – RedBubble has a sale going on through 15 February. Use the code cards143 at checkout and get 10% off all Greeting Cards and Postcards. Yay! I’ll have the full Market/Wheels series added to the shop over the weekend, so it’s a great time to stock up.

How “Market/Wheels” Came About

I’ve gotten a few questions about the series and how I process it over the last week. To finish up today I thought I would share how this series evolved and the creative choices I’ve made throughout.

The first image in the series, Where Fiats Retire, was captured and processed in December 2010. I chose the processing to create a vintage feel. I wanted to highlight the classic Fiat and make the image more timeless. You can read about the processing in this post.

In February 2011, I found two more images which some common elements after a trip to Parma, Classic Italian Transport and Offerta, and the series was born. Follow the links to read about the discovery of the series and more about the processing. From that time on, I’ve looked for opportunities to add to the series. I also knew early on that there were more images in my archive, and I would need to go back some day to find them.

As this series evolved, I had to become clear about what is and is not included. Since I named it Market/Wheels, it had to have an element of both. For the “Market” piece, I require some obvious element related to a market, which could be permanent, temporary, food, other wares, crates or carts. For the “Wheels” piece, I require some obvious element of wheels – used by the vendor or customer and in some close interaction with the market. This seems obvious when you look at the series, but it wouldn’t be if I hadn’t made careful choices. There are a number of interesting images in my archive that almost make it, and I’ve chosen not to include them in order to remain true to the series.

Another decision to create a stronger series was to continue with the vintage processing that started in the early images. I liked how this processing created a timeless feel, and supports the premise that markets and wheels are a combination that cross time and culture. It helps to pull the series together, especially as I add new images from the US to those I’ve already captured in Europe.

There are more Market/Wheels photographs waiting for me in the future, I know it. I look forward to seeking out new images around the US to complement and build the connection to those from Europe. Of all of the personal photographic projects I’ve undertaken, this one is closest to my heart. This is the series that tells me we are all the same, regardless of where we live. It has helped me with my emotional transition between Italy and the US, and has helped me grow as an artist.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the Market/Wheels series over the last week! I’ve truly enjoyed the opportunity to share it with you.

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Subconscious Choices

The other night as I was falling asleep, this image popped into my head as the next in my series. I’m not sure I completely agree, but I’m also not sure you can argue with your subconscious mind. It does as it wills. This image is from Lugano, Switzerland in December 2009. The odd thing is, I haven’t thought about it twice since I took it. I never edited it or even noticed it in my photo review.

Here’s my internal debate about whether to include this in the series:
– It is definitely a vehicle with groceries.
– Not really any crates involved .
– It’s not red, but there is red in the photo.
– It’s not in Italy but it’s in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. But maybe the series is Europe?
Since this series seems to be evolving on its own, I guess I just have to follow along and see where it leads.

What do you think? Is it included or not? Here you can view images one, two and three.

I am off on vacation for the next week. Again. I know, it’s crazy, but true. Tonight we go to Venice for one night, because it’s Carnevale! This was one thing that I didn’t want to miss in my No Regrets Year. Sunday we fly to Sicily for the rest of the week since Brandon has the week off of school. From what we hear, it’s completely different from Northern Italy so it will be interesting. I have a few posts ready for you over the next week, and I’ll be back with more pics in a little over a week.  Who knows, maybe more in the series will appear.

See you later!

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The Next in the Series

OK, here it is. The third in the series I showed you yesterday. This is another image found on the streets of Parma. I’m toying with calling this series “Classic Italian” but we’ll have to see how it forms up. So far, it seems to be classic red vehicles on the streets of Italy near some sort of grocery crates. I don’t know if that will hold, but who would have thought I would have three of these? We’ll see what I find next week, when we visit Sicily.

The Exploring with a Camera: Breaking the Rule of Thirds link is now closed. The winner of the “C is for Camera” journal is Michelle, who goes by Pixie Dreams on Flickr. Congrats Michelle! Thanks so much to all who linked in, it was great to see all of these wonderful images. Don’t forget to visit Tammy Lee Bradley at Bliss and Folly to see who won the Vintage Camera trio.

Come back tomorrow for the next Exploring with a Camera post, this week we’re going to Capture the Sky!

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The Birth of a Series

Walking down a side street in Parma a couple of weekends ago, I happened on this lovely scooter. Of course I had to stop and photograph it, trying out several angles and compositions. Good thing it was a pedestrian zone, as I kneeled in the street for quite some time waiting for people to walk by so I could have an empty sidewalk. Every so often a scene like this will grab me, and not let go until it has its way with me. I’m always content to just follow the photographic muse when that happens.

When I got home, realization dawned on me. This image is the second in a series. Even though I didn’t plan it, the photo is a perfect complement to Where Fiats Retire, an image from Sorrento I shared a couple of months ago. Similar processing (read below for details) and I was good to go.

I’ve never had this happen before, an image come along months later that so perfectly pairs with an earlier shot. And not just any previous shot, a favorite. I loooooove that Fiat shot. Guess what? I looked through my images and there is another shot in the series, which I’ll share tomorrow. I wonder how many more are hidden there? Will they start appearing to me more often?

I guess this is how a series is born. I had no idea!

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A quick reminder – today is the last day to link in to Exploring with a Camera: Breaking the Rule of Thirds. Tomorrow morning I’ll draw for the winner of my giveaway as will Tammy at Bliss and Folly. Take a look at all of the wonderful images shared and be sure to link yours in too!

Photo processing in Photoshop Elements 8:
1. Cropped out some distracting info on the right edge.
2. Ran Pioneer Woman Seventies Action.
3. Added a Hue/Saturation Layer, and increased Hue to +5 and Saturation to +16 to increase the color of the  scooter back a little bit brighter.
4. The wall behind the scooter was too similar in color to the scooter, competing for attention. I added another Hue/Saturation Layer with Saturation set to -27, and used a layer mask to only apply this change to the red wall.

Here’s the original, straight out of the camera, for comparison:

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Where Fiats Retire

Through the whole region around the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, we were amazed at the number of old Fiats that were still driving around. They are only seen rarely in the north of Italy, but here they were everywhere! We decided that this is where Fiats go to retire – southern Italy. Kind of like VW bugs in Mexico.

The Fiat 500 or Cinquecento (pronounced chink-quah-chen-toh) pictured above is the most common version, and it holds a special place in the hearts of Italians because it was so prevalent years ago. The less-commonly-spotted Fiat 600 or Seicento (say-chen-toh) holds a special place in our hearts, because we have one waiting for us in the US. It’s a 1960 Fiat 600 “Convertible” and it needs some work to be driveable. It will be our little piece of Italy when we get home, thanks to our good friend Jack.

The top photo of the Fiat 500 in Sorrento just seemed to need a bit of vintage treatment. Here are the details of what I did in Photoshop Elements:
1. Pioneer Woman “Seventies” Action (these are free actions, available here)
2. Levels layer to brighten and increase contrast
3. Hue/Saturation layer with saturation set to +11 to boost the color of the car, and make it stand out a bit more against the more neutral background.

One final reminder, don’t miss out on the Mortal Muses 9 Muses Musing holiday celebration, starting tomorrow through January 1! Each day, on the Mortal Muses blog, we will be announcing a special holiday prompt word as your daily photo/creativity assignment, along with a giveaway. Just link up your blog or a Flickr photo for that day’s assignment to be entered to win. A fun, free, no pressure way to stay creative during the holiday season! I hope to see you there.

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