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November 6, 2015 by Kat

Connected through the Camera

If you’ve lost a loved one, you know how much photography matters. These little slices of time we capture in photographs are sometimes all that is left behind of a person.

My father passed away twenty years ago this year in December. He was 51 years old, and it was sudden. An accident. One day he was there and the next day gone. My family and I have our memories of him, a few sentimental items (the guitar being a big one), and some photos. My father was 21 in the photograph Brandon is holding.

Seeking Similarities: Eli 1965, Brandon Eli 2015

Seeking Similarities: Eli 1965, Brandon Eli 2015

My son, now fourteen, never met his Grandpa Eli. He only knows him through me. The stories I tell, the name I gave him, the photos I have to share. I’ve tried to help him know this missing grandfather, this person who meant so much to me, but it’s hard. My dad will never be fully real to my son. I can only give him snippets and impressions. A 2D portrait instead of the 3D person.

When the PhotoArts Guild picked the theme of “Life and Death” for our biennial exhibition, it was a chance to go outside my tree-lined comfort zone and create an image that was personal. Something that speaks to the loss of death and the continuation of life. Life always goes on after loss. Always.

Nothing expresses that quite so much as the parent-child relationship. My father to me to my son. Here, in this image, three generations are connected through the camera lens. Across space and time, there is still a connection. A photograph can remind us of that.


The “Life and Death” exhibition of the Willamette Valley PhotoArts Guild is up through December 11, 2015 at LaSells Stewart Center Giustina Gallery on the Oregon State University campus. My photograph received a “Special Mention” from Julia Bradshaw, the director of the Oregon State University photography program.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: exhibition, family, father, son

September 5, 2013 by Kat

Carleidoscopes

I never thought I would see the day. I really didn’t.

I never thought I would see the day my son asked me about photography, wanting to learn seriously. But it happened. Last weekend I found myself supplying him with my old camera body, a starter lens, camera bag and manuals. After reading for a while he asked, “What’s ISO?” and out comes my Digital Photography Basics eBook. Fun.

Sunday when my son suggested a drive to go take pictures, I couldn’t say no, could I? Not only for the photography, but I was dying to drive my just-purchased car a little bit. I wanted to see how my dog Zoey would do riding in the hatch back, since she was a good part of the reason I switched cars in the first place. Turns out regular hiking + exuberant dog + sedan with cloth seats = a giant mess of a car no one wants to ride in, no matter how hard I’ve tried to protect the back seat.

So off we went… Brandon, Zoey and I. With no real destination, we drove for a while, stopping for a break in the woods to let Zoey out a bit and to photograph. And what did we photograph? The new car, of course.

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Brandon is obsessed with the show Top Gear lately, so he worked on getting some of the interesting camera angles they always use on the show. (The show has quite good photography, if you’ve never seen it.) I played around with capturing some abstracts of the forest reflections in the shiny red body. Carleidoscopes, I call them.

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A sunny afternoon, a beautiful drive, a happy dog, sharing time and something I love with my son, and a few interesting photographs. Does it get any better? Why yes, it does. There was no dirty, panting dog at my shoulder, mucking up the back seat. Absolutely lovely!

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: abstract, car, forest, photography, son

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