Archives for October 2013

October 31, 2013 by Kat

A Peek Inside the Studio

There is one more weekend in the Philomath Open Studios Tour! You will find me at David Paul Bayles studio on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 5pm. For those of you who don’t live close enough to visit, I thought would share a peek inside the studio, showing my work.

First off, the studio is a gorgeous space. It’s a repurposed pole barn, which has been finished to be a warm and welcoming multipurpose room. All of the wood on the interior and exterior is from their property. David uses the space as his professional photography studio, for portraits and commercial work, but it also serves as exhibition space, dance hall (that gorgeous floor is a sprung dance floor), and classroom. This is the place I held my first Smartphone Art workshop.

My corner of the studio for display is by the two-story front windows. I have six framed Treescapes on display with a spinning rack for smaller prints, and a box of greeting cards.

David rigged up wonderful way to separate the room as well as provide more hanging space. The wood you see here is a door, and after the Open Studios he is going to create a table out of it. Creative, huh?

As for my framed pieces, I’ve been working on a new presentation method. The images are in a deep frame, floated on a backing mat board, and shown without glass. I was getting frustrated with working so hard to create a beautiful print, only to put it behind glass and have it be hard to see because of the reflections. Without glass, the viewer can really connect with the work. It does take an extra step to add a protective coating to the paper, but it’s worth it.

One of the best parts about printing my own work is that I can play with papers and presentation like this. These prints are on a heavy, textured fine art paper and I’ve roughed the edges. It suits the subject, don’t you think?

It’s taken a lot of time and experimentation, but it was worth it. I’m very pleased with the result, and it’s generated a lot of interest.

Even if you can’t come to the Open Studios Tour, one of these pieces could still be yours. These framed Treescapes are $175 each, plus shipping to wherever you may be. Contact me via email or the contact form on my site if you are interested.

I hope you enjoyed this virtual visit to my space in the Philomath Open Studios Tour! Thanks for coming by. It was lovely to share this with you.

October 29, 2013 by Kat

Want to learn Smartphone Art?

At an ever-increasing pace, I’ve been fielding the questions: Are you going to create a Smartphone Art eCourse, Kat? When?

And the answer is: YES, definitely, I’ll be offering a Smartphone Art eCourse in 2014. Sometime in the first half, is my plan, but I haven’t penciled out dates quite yet.

I’m excited there is so much interest! But what to do until that time gets here? You can use the Smartphone Art series on the Seek your Course blog as a teaser. The third and final installment, Smartphone Art 3: Creative Editing beyond Photography is now available. In this episode, I walk you through how to blend the output of multiple apps to create a unique work of art. To me, this is the most fun part of creating Smartphone Art!

Come on over to read the article and then try it yourself. That’s the best part in all of this: Making art accessible. YOU can create Smartphone Art, too!

October 24, 2013 by Kat

Open Studios this Weekend!

The Philomath Open Studios Tour is this weekend and next. You will find me Saturday and Sunday, Oct 26/27 and Nov 2/3, from 12 to 5pm as a guest artist in David Paul Bayles’ gorgeous Kindred Wind Studio. I’ll be presenting pieces from my Treescapes portfolio.

In an established open studio tour filled with painters and potters, we are very excited to have three fine art photographers together: David, John Ritchie and myself. We all have very different styles, so it’s a wonderful comment on the range of creative photography.

I’m also personally excited to present work from this portfolio. It’s the best work of my creative fascination with bare trees and mobile photography from last winter, and I’ve been experimenting with new presentation that’s a bit out of the box. It’s not just matted prints under glass anymore.

I can’t wait to talk to more people about this body of work and to see their reaction. Come out and visit us!

October 22, 2013 by Kat

Creative Cycles

It’s been a year since I started using my mobile device to take pictures. It was this time last year that I began carrying my old iPod Touch with me everywhere, discovering a whole new world in the possibilities. The possibilities of images in the places I move through every day. The possibilities of processing with apps. The possibilities for mobile photography to change everything. Oh my, but it was a wondrous time! Creativity at its best.

This year, things are different and yet not. It is once again autumn, and the sun has been shining through the trees in their gorgeous colors. I’ve been inspired, picking up the pace of collecting photographs, doing more editing. This year, I have better tools in my iPhone 5 and iPad. This year, I have more knowledge of apps and processing. This year, I see even more possibilities.

It almost feels as if I’m waking up after a long, dry summer. I created a number of wonderful images this summer, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t like this. I didn’t make extra time, out and about, to photograph. I didn’t spend most of my free time experimenting with editing. I’ve been having a blast, exploring new techniques like I used for this image here. (You can see more on Flickr.)

I’m a big believer in creative cycles. I know that my creative energy has peaks and valleys during the day, and I try to to honor my personal cycle. I know that on a larger scale, creativity ebbs and flows over time with many variables. But what I wonder, with the arrival of autumn and inspiration, is if it’s possible to have a creative time of year. Because that’s what it feels like right now. As if I hit some threshold on the calendar and inspiration turned on. And I’m having a fantastic time.

I can sense there is lot more to come for me as the trees lose their leaves. There is so much more to explore with my new favorite artistic tools, and what may be my best time of year for creativity. I’m loving every minute.

How about you? Do you have a creative time of year? When is it and how does it show up for you?

October 17, 2013 by Kat

Fading (A Mobile Tutorial)

We have been having some gorgeously sunny autumn days, which means the trees really get to show their colors here in Oregon. We have to take advantage of this photographic opportunity when this happens, because you never know when it’s going to rain again and knock the leaves off of the trees.

I haven’t gotten out to photograph nearly as much as I should, but the fall colors have turned my attention back to the trees and I’m having a fabulous time playing with edits. Today I’ll share a very easy mobile tutorial, combining two autumn images into this piece, called Fading.

The base image is of the tree branches, captured in ProCamera 7. It was a foggy morning and the fog hadn’t lifted yet, giving me a nice blank background.

I started with Snapseed, using the Grunge filter to change the tones. The Grunge filter can have dramatic effects, or can be more subtle when you dial back the texture and the edge blur as I did here.

Next, the image went into Distressed FX to add a texture. The bottom image is ready to blend with the top image at this point.

For the top images, I started with this image of leaves.

Starting with Snapseed again, I changed the tone and contrast. To do this, I used both the grunge and Retrolux filters.

I didn’t like how the leaves in the bottom corner were starting to distract me, and I didn’t think they would blend well, so into Handy Photo for some clean up. Amazing what you can do with this app, isn’t it?

Now the top image is done, so it’s time to blend the two in Image Blender. I adjusted the size and location of the top image relative to the bottom, so that they would overlap in a pleasing way.

I wanted more texture in the final image, so the last step was editing in Pic Grunger. This app is new to me and it gives some great texture effects. Here’s the final image again:

A simple yet effective use of two images to show the transition of the seasons. And now, I need to get out and get some more fall images, while I can!

October 15, 2013 by Kat

Ever-changing

Yesterday I went for a hike on a trail I haven’t visited in a while. It was barely light as I got to the trailhead and started walking with Zoey. I couldn’t even see color. As the sky lightened I noticed the forest around me had changed since I had been here. Sprinkled throughout the trees were the yellow leaves of fall, showing just how many deciduous trees are here, hidden among the fir. Summer and winter these trees blend in with the forest’s green and brown, but in the fall they say farewell brightly, as if to remind us of how much we’ll be missing for the next few months.

In the pre-dawn light with my iPhone I couldn’t hope to capture sharp detail but I could capture impressions. Impressions of bright color in the forest, a fleeting moment before fading into the winter palette of greens and browns. Impressions of an ever-changing forest.

Archives for October 2013

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