Kat Eye Studio

Archives for November 2011

by

Two Things at Once

ReflectionDo you ever feel like you are trying to be two things at once? I certainly do. I am an engineer. A photographer. A mother. A wife. A friend. A teacher. A blogger. A corporate worker. A small business owner. Shall I list them all? No wonder I needed to focus on balance this last month.

The focus on balance led me to this book: One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success by Marci Alboher. As I finished it over the weekend I had to sit for a while and think about what I took away from the book. It had many strategies for managing a “slash” life like mine. Filled with stories of people who have dual careers such as computer programmer/theater director and lawyer/minister, it gave real life examples of people who have made multiple careers work. Marci covered the difficulties and pitfalls, but the rewards too. It allows a new answer to the age-old question, “What do you do?” It validated that I am not alone on this crazy path.

In fact, it’s led to me to reflect that for my entire adult life I’ve been some form of this more-than-one-thing-at-a-time path. After graduating with my bachelors in electrical engineering, I worked full time as I pursued my master’s degree in the evenings. After gaining that degree and a new job, I relocated to Oregon and started a hobby of scrapbooking. (I pursued scrapbooking with a passion equal to a job, completing book after book.) The scrapbooking led me to become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator soon after my son was born. If that’s not crazy I don’t know what is: Working at my engineering job, new mom, oh, and let’s do this side business too! To be fair, I didn’t really pursue Stampin’ Up! as a business, but when I started to teach stamping and scrapbooking, I realized how much I loved teaching. I was hooked. It got to the point I loved the teaching more than the stamping, I only stopped that to move to Italy. Is it any wonder that I found something else to fill the void? Travel, photography, blogging – all led to this new passion and desire to teach in a new realm.

The funny part: It’s starting to all make sense. I used to feel like someday I would have to choose between “being” the engineer or the photographer, but now, I don’t feel that way so much. I will probably always default to pursuing multiple things at once. I think that is who I am. It’s just how my energy flows. So it’s no longer about choosing one answer to the “what do you do” question for me, it’s about balancing the different parts to a cohesive, satisfying and not-too-overwhelming whole. It’s about letting myself embrace the idea of the “slash,” that it’s ok to be more than one thing at a time. That I am more than one thing, and I always will be. We all are.

In my “About” page you’ll see the fruits of all of this contemplation – I identified myself as a Photographer/Teacher/Engineer/Mother. I could add about five more slashes on there, but those get to the heart of who I am right now.

How would you answer the question, “What do you do?”

by

Light Fantastic

Fall LightAt Mortal Muses we are finishing up our “Light Fantastic” theme with a blog hop, and I thought I would share a story…

On my photo walk with Julie last week, we were nearing the end of our walk, photographing the gorgeous autumn trees in a park. The sun was starting to go behind the clouds and she said, “Oh no, we’re losing the light.”

I laughed and said, “Oh yes, we’re getting the light!”

I confessed to Julie that there is something she needed to know about me… I love indirect light. I love the soft, diffused light of alleyways and cloudy days that gently highlights form and makes color pop. I took this image after we lost found the light. I find the colors incredible! This is my kind of light.

Now you know my light fantastic. What’s your favorite light?

by

Italy in my Pocket

A Walk on Time, Ravenna, Italy

A Walk on Time, Ravenna, Italy

I’ve been thinking a lot about Italy lately. I find little pieces of evidence of my time in Italy various places. In my wool coat, out for the winter, I have found a few pieces of Italian memorabilia. A couple of Milan Metro tickets, a British penny, some pistachio shells. I feel them there. I take them out and look at them, and then put them back. Yes, crazily enough, even the pistachio shells. I put them back.

They all have memories for me. The pistachio shells remind me of the winter night we all went into Milan and wandered around, Brandon hounding us for a snack until we stopped at a kiosk and bought the pistachios. Then, what to do with the shells… We would collect them up in pockets as we walked around and then drop them in a trash can. Apparently I forgot a few, lingering in my pocket. In my pocket they will stay.

The Metro tickets may have been from the same night, or some other time. We used the Metro all the time when we wanted to go into Milan. The tickets were stuck everywhere… they became bookmarks and notes. My son has piles of them saved up. I have two in my coat pocket now. Where I slip my hand in and remind myself I lived in Italy for a while.

The British penny must be from my visit to London last winter, where I met up with my fellow muse Kirstin and had a fabulous weekend wandering around with my camera. What a joy that was, to connect with her and her family in person. I’ll keep that memory safely tucked away in my pocket too.

We find our lives are filled with these little memories, tucked away to be discovered again and again or in plain sight to remind us often. Our house is a veritable story book, the items “before Italy” and “from Italy” blending in to this “after Italy.” The physical space we live in has changed as we shift the elements in our lives to encompass our experience. My style of clothes has changed. My photographs have changed. It’s all a reflection of the personal changes that living abroad has brought. They are the concrete reminders that we did live in Italy. Our time there was real.

If it weren’t for the contents of my pocket, I’m not sure I would believe it anymore.

by

Curving Around: Opposing Lines

As participants share their Opposing Lines in Exploring with a Camera, I’ve come across a question: Do curves count as opposing lines?

My answer: Absolutely!

Consider today’s photo, the lines of the metal siding lead you up to the sign, but the curve of the lines in the sign leads you right back down again through the photo. Helen also shared a wonderful photo in the link up with lots of curves as opposing lines.

So many great examples of opposing lines shared so far! Galina’s bridge shot captures the principle perfectly, and I enjoyed this one below by roses4donna, shared in the Flickr pool.

Boardwalk

How is your search for Opposing Lines going? It’s not too late to link in, we have another whole week in this exploration!



FYI - Links will be moderated. Please use a permalink, ensure that your linked image is on topic, and include a link back to this site in your post through the Exploring with a Camera button (available here) or a text link. Thanks!

by

The City’s Forest

Architectural Salvage, Philomath, Oregon

Architectural Salvage

Perhaps it’s just because I enjoy framing street scenes, or perhaps it’s because the latest Find Your Eye lesson is on starting a series, but I stumbled on a new series topic in my photography last week: The city’s forest.

I first noticed an interest in capturing these trees planted along the street when we visited Hood River, Oregon a couple of months ago. I was attracted to the light and shadow. The shape of the tree contrasted with the shapes of the architecture. The interaction of these bits of nature brought into our hard, urban world. It’s as if we know we need the trees at some deeper visceral level, so we mark out spaces in regular intervals along our streets to make room for them. They shelter our path from the sun in the summer and the rain in the fall. They provide color and beauty. They are silent witnesses to the lives bustling under and around them. They survive and thrive, even where we neglect them.

Sheltering the Abandoned

Sheltering the Abandoned

Can you imagine our neighborhoods and towns without these trees? I can’t. Or maybe I can, but I don’t want to. I am always sad when a tree lining a street dies or has to be cut down. The trees we plant are physical extensions of the heart of a place, and something changes when a tree is lost.

I’m on the hunt now, to capture the city’s forest. To celebrate the life of these trees in manmade places.

by

Everything, and a Sink

And the Sink

Have you ever heard the phrase: Everything but the kitchen sink? This photo made me think: Everything and the kitchen sink. (Except it’s a bathroom sink. But it’s a sink so I hope you’ll spot me the flexibility in phrasing.)

I love the randomness of this collection. Another of my favorites from my outing to Philomath on Friday, I had much success finding photoographs along the outside of the Architectural Salvage store. I’ll have to go back and visit when it’s open sometime, I bet there are even more opportunities for random goodness to photograph inside.

All of the photos of this series have been edited using Lightroom 3, I’m now using Lightroom exclusively for my editing to learn the software. I’ve got my Scott Kelby book open on my lap and I’m flipping back and forth as I have questions. I’m learning a ton.

I am in love. Absolute, and total love, with Lightroom. What a fantastic piece of software for editing and organizing photos. It’s intuitive and powerful, and I’ve been in desperate need of the organization piece. I’m getting lost in all of the editing possibilities, and it’s just plain fun. I’m not sure why a photographer would bother with Photoshop! (OK, not totally true, I know I will still use Photoshop Elements for layers, but I’m enamored at the moment so I’m allowing myself to be dramatic.)

Here are a couple of videos I’ve watched that help explain why you would use one or the other, via Kent Weakley and Adorama TV. (The Adorama TV video is the one I watched first, and it helped me decide to go with Lightroom as my next software, but Kent’s is a nice overview and is shorter.) You can substitute “Photoshop Elements” for “Photoshop” in any of these conversations, both integrate with Lightroom the same way, I’ve found. How awesome is that?

Maybe, just maybe, with the combo of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements, I’ve discovered I have everything and the kitchen sink. I’m one happy gal.

Disclosure: Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Upcoming Events