Kat Eye Studio

  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • Books
    • Art with an iPhone
    • Digital Photography for Beginners
  • Workshops
    • Mobile Photography Workshop Series
    • iPhone Art Workshop
    • Out of the Box Composition Workshop
    • Photography & Creativity Talks
  • Free Resources
    • Mobile Tutorials
    • Exploring with a Camera
    • Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap
  • Blog
  • About
    • Artist Statement
    • Background & Experience
    • Contact

March 15, 2012 by Kat

Choosing the Arrangement

Learning to anticipate the translation of three-dimensional scenes into two-dimensional images begins with recognizing that each element gets flattened and becomes … a series of lines and tones that can be rearranged, balanced and played against each other as we play with optics and angles. We arrange those lines and tones within the constraints of the frame.
— David duChemin in Photographically Speaking

Do you see it? The flattening of the frame, the objects as lines and tones. Can you see the basic shapes, and how they are balanced with each other?

If you don’t see it, try it in black and white. Blur your eyes. Do you see the shapes yet? How they balance?

While I am attracted to the complementary color contrast of the yellow and purple in the original image, the balance of shapes works in black and white as well.

I started reading David duChemin’s latest book this morning, and as always his words resonate with me. The quote at the top of the post was especially striking, with my recent fascination, discussed in Exploring with a Camera: Balancing Shapes. This is an important concept to grasp – that the elements in a photograph are not really the “things” you are photographing, but the are lines and tones and shapes arranged within the frame. And, the most exciting part, we as the photographers get to choose that arrangement. We choose what to include and exclude.

Do you see it yet? Does it excite you as much as it does me?

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: balance, black and white, Junction City, Oregon, Photographically Speaking, shapes

March 12, 2012 by Kat

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.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: brick, Corvallis, graffiti, Oregon, shapes

June 5, 2011 by Kat

The Color and Texture of Paint (+ Swap Update)

I bet you thought you were going to see peeling paint in today’s image, from the title of my post, and knowing what I love. Wrong! I’ve been neglecting to share good, colorful, fresh paint too. For equal opportunity, today I give you this wonderful color from a shop front inside the Victorian Market in Inverness. Aren’t the colors and textures of this paint just delicious? It was the shop front of a flower shop and the riot of color was fun, but I focused on simplifying things down to this architectural detail. In addition to color and texture, there is also some great shape and form here, I always love that too.

Along with this cheery image for your Sunday morning, I’ll also give you a cheery Liberate Your Art Postcard swap update. The final count for sign up is at 254 people in the swap! Wow!! That’s 1270 pieces of art that will be winging their way around the world shortly. Add to that, the 254 postcards I will be sending for meeting the goal of 200 participants. It may sounds crazy, but I can’t wait to get on it. I’m so excited for this, it fills me with such happiness. So many people have mentioned that they are getting out of their comfort zone to sign up and do this – I’m so proud of you all for putting your art out into the world!

For those of you signed up, all of the swap details will be sent to you via email later this week. Until then, be sure to visit some of your fellow participants on our AMAZING participant link list! Pick two or three links, stop by and say hi this week to a few artists in the swap. (If you’re signed up, it’s not to late to have your link added. Just drop me an email with your link.)

Enjoy your Sunday!

Links added since last blog update:

Marie Otero
Shelley Shockley
Brain Angles – Invisible Ink
Mosey Along
April Cole’s Studio
Jo Murray – Art
With Renewed Eyes
Zentangles & Stuff
michellerene
Fleeting Moments
Journaling through Photos
Stefanie Renee
Alison Behn
Gramma’s Little Corner
The Whimzy
meinca
Moon’s Musings

All the rest of the links – wow!!
How to Feather an Empty Nest
Learning as I Go
Paloma Chaffinch
Fiberworks
Ashley Sisk’s Ramblings and Photos
Jenny Shih
Life @ RuffHaven
kharliebug
Here and Now
Living in a Still Life
Bastelmania
Donna Did It
Left in Front of Right
The Red Tin
Altered Muse Art
Dreams and Whispers
Maddy’s Stitching Corner
Simply Life Photographs
Pointy Pix
Natasha May
The Vintage Artist
Digital Experiments by Carolyn
WJC’s Digital Designs
Creating my Life
icandy
i wanna be me when i grow up
Giddy-Up Let’s Ride
The Creative Identity
Elizabeth GLZ
Jofabi Photo
A New Day, A Different Way
A Rural Journal
Alchemy of Art
eyechai
Picturing the Year
Superdewa
Hounds in Heaven
BleuOiseau Photography
Aquarel Rivers
The Wright Stuff
The Mrs.
Urban Muser
deustchemexicana
{Furi Kuri}Travels
A Little Blue Sky
carola bARTz
Same Day: Thirty Years Apart
Camper
Cottage 960
Nomadic Notebook
Well of Creations
CindyLew’s Studio
Om2Art
Hysong Designs
The Weekend Photo Warrior
Tina’s Tree
The Studio 56
Kristen Walker
naperie
Rosie Grey
This Life through the Lens
Not Everyone Has Film
Sloane Solanto: A Colorful Life
Ravenous Rae
sassyangelac
My Midlife Creativities
MakieDoll
Tracy Swartz, Whimsical Gourd Art
One Thousand Paintings
One Little Promise
Amber Leigh Jacobs
Marie Z. Johanson
The Queen of Creativity
Expressive World
Random Thoughts Do or “Di”
Lyrical Journey
Karen Koch, Life Needs Art
My Sweet Prairie
dye~ing to be yours
Knottyneedle
my heart art
ODDImagination
Crafty Creativity
Jenna Kannas Inspirations
Going a Little Coastal
Starry Blue Sky
Quilting, Calle and other things
Matthew and Larissa
sightspecific
Studio Mailbox
Artimagica
Poetic Mapping
Simple Mansion
By Jen
Paper Bird
Musings of a Hennaphile
She Dreams of the Sea
The Little Things…
Tangerine Meg
amaze, surprise & delight
love PEAS
Straightlinez
Kristen Laudick Photography
Grandma’s Recipe Box
Heartwork Photography
Dixon Hill
Just me and my Art
Mia Makes…
Cosrard & Penpen
I miei due bambini
Special Moments in Time
Such stuff as dreams are made on
Pasando
Darlene Cunnup Photography
Peach Coglo
One Woman, Reinvented
Creative Explorer
Bren’s Bright Corner
Jillsy Girl Studio
BahamaDawn
Today is a Gift
My Consuming Passions

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: architecture, finding form, green, Inverness, Scotland, shapes, yellow

March 31, 2010 by Kat

Shapes of Light

Steps of a castle entrace at the Bled Castle in Slovenia.

This is a type of photo I’ve noticed catches my eye, as I go through and sort photos and pick my favorites for the blog. This kind of photo I would categorize as mostly about light, shapes and patterns. I could turn this to black and white and the photo would still work and convey a similar feeling. These images are often relatively monochromatic to begin with.

This is in contrast with the other type of photo I often share, in which COLOR plays a huge role, like yesterday’s soaps from Nice. Yes, light and shapes and patterns are still important in these photos, but turning them to black and white would completely lose the feel and story.

Just a little observation on my photography for today, that’s what I love about doing this blog. It helps me to see things in a slightly different way!

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: arch, Bled, castle, light, shapes, Slovenia, stairs

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Upcoming Events

Books Available

  Digital Photography for Beginners eBook Kat Sloma

Annual Postcard Swap

Online Photography Resources

search

Archives

Filter

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Upcoming Events

© Copyright 2017 Kat Eye Studio LLC