Kat Eye Studio

Archives for November 2013

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Photographer by Choice

How many of us have heard the phrase uttered one place or another: Photography is not art. I have, many times in the past. Surprisingly, most often from others who consider themselves artists.

Or if it’s not explicitly stated, the non-art of photography is implied in some way. Even by the photographers themselves: I can’t draw a straight line, but I can photograph. As if photography is the also-ran art form, what you turn to when you have otherwise no artistic talent. I can imagine an ad: Don’t worry if you can’t paint or draw, you can be a photographer!

Those of us who practice photography know these statements are not true. Photography is art and photographers are artists. I’m not going to belabor or try to prove the point here. Whether you believe it or you don’t, that’s your concern.

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But what I want to point out is that being a photographer, being an artist who practices photography, is a choice. It’s a first choice.

It’s not a runner-up choice. It’s not what you do if you can’t paint or draw. It’s not what you do because it’s easier, or cleaner, or cheaper, or more accessible than your first choice art form.

Photography is what you do when you can help but see the details of the world. It’s what you do when the beauty of the lines around you takes your breath away. It’s what you do when you realize that you can frame things, things that everyone else might walk by everyday, and express yourself through them.

A photographer is an artist who can’t help but speak through the visual language of the lens. We are compelled to see and share the world this way. Those of us who have a deep heart and soul connection to the medium know this. There is no need to prove or justify it to anyone else.

I am a photographer by choice. It’s a choice I make, every day, as I continue to pick up my camera and seek to express myself. It’s a choice I make, as I continue to learn and grow my artistic vision.

But there are moments….

Moments I wonder if I don’t have it the wrong way around.

Moments when the need to create and communicate through a photograph is so powerful, I ask myself…

Did photography choose me?

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Out of the Blue

  • Do you ever come out on the other side of a funk, not really recognizing you were in the midst of it until it clears? You don’t even notice you were feeling blue until suddenly, one day, you feel as if you can breathe easier, your outlook is happier, you have a smile on your face again? Yeah, that’s just happened to me. I’ve come out of the “blue” in the last week and I’m looking back at the last few weeks saying, Wow, how did I miss that?

I’ve been in the “Finishing” mode of the creative spiral, which always leads to tension and stress, and that’s part of it. I haven’t talked about the Spiral of Creativity in a long, long time but I often personally reference it to find my bearing in the sometimes-tumultuous sea of creativity. Once I figure out what part of the spiral I’m in, I can often relax and say, “Oh yeah, I know this part. That’s why I’m feeling this way. Keep moving on.” Each part of the spiral has different challenges and feelings attached to it, and moving from one to the other is not always easy.

With Fall Festival and Philomath Open Studios I’ve been in “Finishing” mode for quite a long while. But the things I’ve been finishing have been different than previous projects and I didn’t recognize it as such. Along with the finishing of the photographic work – finalizing my Treescapes body of work, working on presentation, preparing for the events – I’ve also been transitioning how I interact with the world and my art. It’s been a slow transition from online-only in 2010 and 2011, to more and more in-person today. So that’s all part of it.

There is also the part of transition which is what I’m creating and for whom. My images have always been for me, so that has not changed, but there is significant amount of my creative energy that’s been applied to helping others too. Between writing ongoing series for my blog, creating and teaching classes, I’ve invested a lot of energy in the education of others. Which I love. I absolutely love.

But…

This year I’ve also realized that I’ve given a bit too much of myself. My time, over the last two years, has become more focused outward in the realm of educating others and less inward on what I personally need to do to grow and stay healthy – physically, mentally, artistically. So earlier this year I began to pare back. First, I put Exploring with a Camera on hiatus and restructured my newsletter. Next, I took the summer off of online classes and reduced my blog frequency. Finally, I decided to reduce the online classes to 2 or 3 per year and make my interaction more sustainable. And through it all I’ve felt guilt, because I feel like I have so much to share, I should be doing more. Others are asking for more. And I’ve felt loss, because if I’m not doing this, what the heck am I doing here at Kat Eye Studio? Where am I going?

And that’s the true source of the blue… I knew I needed to make some shifts, but didn’t have a clear idea of where I wanted to go in the grand scheme of my art and my business. While I was in the “Finishing” phase of the spiral on exhibition projects, and in the “Practicing” phase with creating my art, I was in the “Processing” phase on the bigger picture. With everyone else going on, I didn’t even recognize that this processing and developing a new plan was in progress, until things started to come together within the last week.

The funny thing is, the direction doesn’t really change much from what I already had in the works. It’s just that I’m clear on it now. And being clear, I can finally share it with you all. Here’s what’s in the works for the next six months to a year:

  • Photo-Heart Connection will continue, and I’d like to expand it to reach more people. I have found this practice to bring so much to me personally, I would really love to see greater participation. I have some ideas about how to do that, but I’d love to hear any ideas you might have too. How can I get it out there?
  • Smartphone Art will be an eCourse in 2014. Right now I’m thinking that it will be in April-May, which gives me enough time to put it all together.  In the meantime, reference my Mobile Resources page to keep you going.
  • Mobile Tutorials will probably continue at least once a month. I think these will be even more useful once folks have taken the Smartphone Art eCourse, because there will be more background instruction on the “how to” of the apps included in the eCourse.
  • Liberate Your Art will be early in 2014, finishing up BEFORE Spring Break this year so I can leave on vacation with my family with a clean slate. I already can’t wait for the fourth year of this swap!
  • As for my other eCourses, I will play it by ear what I will offer as Instructor-Led beyond Smartphone Art in 2014. The Find Your Eye series will be available in the next month as On Demand, and then all of my eCourses will all be available at any time. I truly believe this material is just as useful and valuable when learned on your own as with a group. You don’t always need a group for artistic growth. If you have ideas of places I can advertise or better get the word out on these available On-Demand eCourses, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Marketing and advertising is my least favorite thing to do.
  • And the biggie, for my personal art, is that I’m going to work toward participating in juried art fairs. This has probably been the area of the most underlying angst for me: Beyond this blog and online sharing, how do I want to get my art out into the greater world? It’s been an open question for a while. I used to think that I just wanted to create for myself and teach, but not sell my work. I have learned though — there is something to be said for actually putting my work out there. It needs to be part of my artistic journey. But… Did I want an online shop? Did I want to pursue the gallery/exhibition route? Did I want to do art fairs? I’ve started and stopped down the path of all three now, because I just wasn’t sure. Participating in Philomath Open Studios the last couple of weekends really sealed the deal for me. I want to share my work, in person, with the people who will buy it. I want to create it with my hands, and have the people take it from my hands and have it in their home. So that’s what I’m going to try next, and we’ll see where it leads.

All of my stepping back from online this past year has made space for something new to come in. In the back of my mind, I knew it would, but I didn’t recognize how. I also hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to continue to do online.

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Photo-Heart Connection: October

There is beauty in autumn. And no, this time I don’t mean the vivid colors that some trees and plants use to herald their demise. I mean the quiet beauty of transition.

The beauty of a graceful exit.

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I love the lines of the bare trees of winter, that is no secret. But as this fall has progressed, I’ve enjoyed the emerging lines which are accentuated with the receding leaves. Some leaves go out in a blaze of glory, falling from the tree en mass in their bright colors, still flexible and pliant until days on the ground. One day the tree is full, the next it is bare. It’s startling. But other leaves age in place, slowly and quietly making their transition, losing a bit of themselves here and there with a whisper until one day they are all gone.

It’s these leaves I’m noticing. They speak to me of tenacity. Of a will to continue, even with the inevitability of the end. And wow, aren’t they beautiful? In their demise, they are so graceful. They accentuate the beauty of the bare tree beneath, rather than covering it, as the summer leaves do. It’s almost as if this is their finest hour, their greatest contribution. This is when the tree and leaf are truly one. They tell me that a tree is not either/or, bare or full, it’s both. I can see both seasons, appreciate both, together in this brief moment. These leaves chastise me in my wishing for one or the other; in my desire to hurry or slow time. They remind me there is only this moment. Can I not see?

This time, as any other, I look to the trees for lessons. This season’s lesson for me: How to appreciate the transition. Regardless of what is coming, it can be approached and experienced in the moment, with grace.

“Graceful” is a word that keeps coming to me, over and over, to describe the lines that I want to capture in my photographs. The way I want to live my life. Lately, I see grace all the time in the lines around me, whether it’s in the trees or the sand or extension of a human hand. This month it’s been especially clear to me in the transition of the seasons, as my Photo-Heart Connection expresses. It seems so dramatic to say this, but I ache for the beauty of it all. I do. I am deeply touched by the grace I see in the face of inevitability. I want to have that kind of stoic strength in my approach to the transitions of life. I observe it, I photograph it, and I know I fall short. But I keep going, hanging on, working toward that kind of being. I wonder: Do you have to first see, before you can be?

What is your Photo-Heart Connection this month? Do you see deep longings or light playfulness in your photographs? Your heart is telling you something. Explore the message. Share it with us here.

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