Kat Eye Studio

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Loving the Lights

I am so loving the lights around me! How about you? The reflection of all of the lights in this wineglass caught my eye, that’s what I was trying to capture in this restaurant in Sorrento. The background light bokeh, self-portrait in reflection and the memory of delicious wine were just bonuses that came along for the ride.

The 9 Muses Musing theme today is LIGHTS. It’s my day as muse, and I’m sponsoring a space in my class, Find Your Eye: A photo course with heart and soul, as the giveaway. I hope you will come by and link in or comment today for a chance to win the space.

Tomorrow’s theme is BELLS. See you then!

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The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Yesterday my fellow muse Suki asked a question to the Mortal Muses, “If you did a 365, what did you learn this year by doing it?” Initially, I dismissed the question because I didn’t do a 365. (For those of you who don’t know, a “365” is where you take a photo every day, for an entire year.) But then I realized that I do my own sort of daily photography practice, if a bit different.

A little over a year ago, in November 2009, I started posting a photo a day here on the blog. Up to that point my blogging had been sporadic, and I didn’t have much focus. I had all of these great pictures from our travels, but it was so overwhelming to think of editing and posting many of them to tell the stories. I wasn’t interested in writing about our daily lives or travels. Sorting through, editing and picking one favorite photo a day, however, was doable. I decided to try that.

This simple little decision has had a profound impact on me. Today I found myself journaling this in answer to Suki’s question, on what this simple daily practice has given me:

  • The discovery that photography is art. And I am an artist. I’ve been able to claim that title, grow confident in myself as an artist. Along with seeing myself as an artist, I see my work as art.
  • Finding my “eye,” the portrayal of the world around me that is all my own. I can see it, own it as mine. There is huge confidence and satisfaction that comes with that. 
  • The discovery that photography is a passion for me. I love being in the moment. Finding the evidence of life – beauty, joy, love, happiness, even imperfection – all around me in the smallest of things.
  • I’ve become deeply aware of my art and creativity as an extension of my soul. It links to something at the core of my being, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced.
  • The discovery that I can share this passion, this confidence and wonderful self-awareness I’ve gained, with others through writing on my blog and now with my Find Your Eye course. My “corporate world” skills are not completely unrelated to my passion, they can directly translate into great things in my creative, artistic life.
  • I’ve found that I’m a writer. I enjoy writing, like communicating ideas via words, having a conversation with others online. Combining words with photos has been an incredible source of creativity for me.
  • I’ve learned that following my heart – whether it’s in taking a photo, writing a blog post, taking a course of action – is never, ever wrong. It has always led to good things, even if everyone around me is not immediately happy about it. Following your heart is not about making other people happy. 
  • I’ve found an amazing community of people here on the internet – through the blogs I read, the people who read mine and comment, Mortal Muses, other groups and challenges I’ve participated in. I’ve found people who have similar interests and passions and challenge me in such positive ways. Those connections are incredible. I look forward to forming more of them, more interaction, more friendships as I continue on.

It’s good to take a moment, look back and see all of the gifts I’ve been given through this one step. I don’t think it matters whether you specifically do a 365 or post a photo a day or write three pages every morning or whatever it might be. I don’t think it even matters that it is every single day (I certainly haven’t done that here!). What matters is that you find a regular practice that you learn and grow from, and you stick to it long enough to see the benefits.

I can’t stop doing this now, posting a photo and some words most days on my blog. I would lose some important, integral piece of myself. This practice, for me, is a gift that keeps on giving.

Today’s 9 Muses Musing challenge is GIVING. Stop by and leave a comment or link up to win the giveaway.
Tomorrow is my challenge day for 9 Muses Musing, and it’s LIGHTS. I know, big surprise! Get those holiday light photos tonight if you can – I have a great giveaway you won’t want to miss!!

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Where Fiats Retire

Through the whole region around the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, we were amazed at the number of old Fiats that were still driving around. They are only seen rarely in the north of Italy, but here they were everywhere! We decided that this is where Fiats go to retire – southern Italy. Kind of like VW bugs in Mexico.

The Fiat 500 or Cinquecento (pronounced chink-quah-chen-toh) pictured above is the most common version, and it holds a special place in the hearts of Italians because it was so prevalent years ago. The less-commonly-spotted Fiat 600 or Seicento (say-chen-toh) holds a special place in our hearts, because we have one waiting for us in the US. It’s a 1960 Fiat 600 “Convertible” and it needs some work to be driveable. It will be our little piece of Italy when we get home, thanks to our good friend Jack.

The top photo of the Fiat 500 in Sorrento just seemed to need a bit of vintage treatment. Here are the details of what I did in Photoshop Elements:
1. Pioneer Woman “Seventies” Action (these are free actions, available here)
2. Levels layer to brighten and increase contrast
3. Hue/Saturation layer with saturation set to +11 to boost the color of the car, and make it stand out a bit more against the more neutral background.

One final reminder, don’t miss out on the Mortal Muses 9 Muses Musing holiday celebration, starting tomorrow through January 1! Each day, on the Mortal Muses blog, we will be announcing a special holiday prompt word as your daily photo/creativity assignment, along with a giveaway. Just link up your blog or a Flickr photo for that day’s assignment to be entered to win. A fun, free, no pressure way to stay creative during the holiday season! I hope to see you there.

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Into the Sunset

We returned late last night from our trip to the Bay of Naples and Amalfi Coast area of Italy. My head is a-jumble with all sorts of images and experiences that will take some time to sort out, not to mention the gazillions of photos I took that will need to be sorted through. For today though, this image stuck out in my mind to share. I knew I would love it from the moment I saw it in the viewfinder and it didn’t disappoint. This is from our day on the Amalfi Coast, we were coming down the hillside from the small town of Ravello at the perfect time for an evening sunset silhouette.

I am happy to be back and getting into the routine again. Vacations are wonderful but “normal” is wonderful too. So glad to be back here with you all! If you’ve taken any holiday lights photos, don’t forget to head over and Share Your View. My linky is looking a little bit lonely… 🙂 I would love to see the lights in your part of the world.

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Share Your View: Holiday Lights

What fun, holiday lights! This is the holiday streetcar in Milan, where for the price of a transit ticket you can take a ride and get your picture taken with Santa. What a fun holiday tradition, and such festive lights!

Now it’s time to Share Your View. Link in your recent or archive image of holiday lights below to share and then visit the other links to see what others have found. Share what you’ve learned in the process, and any tips or tricks you figured out – either in the comments here or on your blog, we would all love to learn from you too.

Link will stay open for 30 days, so feel free to come back any time you have a great capture of holiday lights. I can’t wait to see your view – thanks for participating!