Kat Eye Studio

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A Single Rose

A single rose, catches my eye, as it climbs up the wall and peeks out beside a now-defunct gate.

A single rose, luscious red contrasting with deeper green foliage and grey stone, becomes the star of its surroundings.

A single rose, a promise of more to come, of more beyond, than just that solitary blossom.

A single rose, found on a walk in the town of Murten, Switzerland, transcends the place it was found. It could be anywhere. Take a walk today, and see if you can find it where you live, that single rose.

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Bonne Journee!

Wouldn’t you love to see this every morning on your way to work? Some one wishing you “Have a good day” in such a wonderful way? I would! I loved this florist display in Lausanne, in the French region of Switzerland, for it’s cheerful message and abundance of flowers and plants. It just fills me with a positive happy feeling and I can’t help but smiling. (And wondering how long it takes them to set all of those plants out each morning!)

So to you all today I say Bonne Journee, or maybe more appropriately for where I live, Buona Giornata!

PS – This was the post I was planning to write yesterday morning when the muse struck, and my heart told me I had a different message to share for the day. What an amazing experience that was, both in how it came together and with the response. Thanks so much for all of the wonderful comments, it is so awesome to connect in that way.

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The Means or the End?

A stairway is a means to an end, a way to get from one level to another. But sometimes, the “means” can be separated from the “end.” It becomes important in itself, like this stairway in the attic of Casa Battlo in Barcelona. Yes, it’s a stairway. That’s the obvious and practical “end.” But it is a beautiful work of art, nicely framed and ready to be enjoyed, in it’s own right. The “means” develops an identity on its own, a purpose of its own, without considering the intended “end.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of creating art, creating my photography. The process of creating – of noticing and seeing and capturing and playing – is as important as the end result. The photo that I present here each day is just the obvious and practical end of my art, like the purpose of a stairway to get you from one level to the next. But the fact is that the process, the means, is probably more important to me, the creator. That’s why I continue to create, why all artists continue to create. If it wasn’t, we’d all be done with the first work of art we are really happy with, especially if we aren’t doing this for a living. (Getting paid for art is another kind of wonderful “end” for the artistic process.)

Ursula K. LeGuin said, “It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

The journey, for me, is the creation of the photograph. The beauty of this “means” being it’s own “end” is that process of creating is not finite, is an ongoing, never-ending, renewable resource. Infinite. Regardless of what I created or shared yesterday, I have more to create today and tomorrow.

Isn’t that an incredibly positive and exciting way to think about it? I encourage you to think of your art, whether it’s photography or writing or cooking or yoga, in the same way. The end is not the purpose of the creative process, the means is!

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Exploring with a Camera: Reflections in Glass

I’m so excited for today’s exploration! The “Exploring with a Camera” series is about seeing things around you in a different way. To get good photographs, you first have to see, like I discussed in Monday’s post. Today we’re looking at capturing images with Reflections in Glass.

Reflections in glass are so cool because the image you see is not a direct image of a subject. What’s behind and around the glass changes the images, and the reflection itself often softens and distorts the subject.

Below is an example from our recent stay in Lucerne, Switzerland. In this image, the only “direct” image you are seeing is straight through the walkway. The rest of the arches and store windows are reflections. See the people on the right? They are really on the left, not directly visible to the camera, but in the reflection they have a “ghost image” quality. It’s like an optical illusion, but it’s just looking down a corridor lined with glass.
To get this image I moved around and took photos from several different angles and at different times with varying amounts of people. When I took this specific shot, I didn’t even notice the people visible in the reflection on the right because I was focusing on the “direct” part of the image being free of people.

Here is another example, of my son looking out of a train window. The reflection draws your eye to his profile. Look at it for a while and you start to see the symmetric shape between the two profiles. You’ll also notice that the key areas of his face in the reflection – eyes, nose, lips – are clearly visible while the other parts are modified by what is seen out the window.

If there is something immediately behind the glass, you can get really cool effects in your reflections. The security door immediately behind the glass in this photo enabled me to get an uninterrupted scene of the reflected street in Lucerne but with a really unique texture.

A reflection can completely change a setting. Without the reflection of me and my family, the image below would be just another doorway to a modern building. Nothing of note that I would routinely photograph. With the reflection, it becomes a family portrait with a sense of place – you can see the wording above the door is in Spanish (we were in Barcelona) and the funky tube things draped across the top show part of the science museum we were entering. Notice how everything in the photograph seems to draw your eye to the center, where the reflection is. Also notice also the cool “double” effect with our reflections because the entrance had two sets of glass doors.

Here is another reflection of an entrance, a self-portrait of me at our apartment building in Italy. I love the sense of place that is achieved by what is reflected in the background, along with the tiny little suggestion of what is behind the door. Not a huge fan of my pictures of myself (who is?), I also like how the reflection softens my image so that I don’t focus on all of the things I immediately see as “flaws” in a regular photograph. Maybe I’m able to better see the real me, as others see me, because it’s a reflection.

And, just a reminder, glass is just not windows and doors! Here is a wine bottle, but in it there is a reflection of me and my family along with the buildings across the street in Nice, France. The subject here is the bottle, but the reflection adds interest.

Tips for getting your own images of reflections in glass:
1. Look for indirect light on both sides of the reflection. In reviewing pictures for this topic I realized that the most interesting reflections have indirect light as the main light source – either in shade or cloudy day or evening light. When there is a direct or strong light source on either side of the glass you will not get the kind of reflections I’m showing here.
2. Look in and Look out. Keep you eye out for reflections on both sides of the glass, whether you are indoors or outdoors. When you see the reflection, also notice what you see through the reflection. That can make or break the image! It’s easy to focus so much on the reflection that you don’t see something distracting on the other side.
3. Change your perspective. If you see a cool reflection, move around and photograph it from different perspectives and compositions. Because of the way you can often see what’s on both side of the glass, you may find a more interesting composition, or even a different reflection, if you move a few steps to the left or right than where you first noticed the reflection.
4. Look for reflections in all kinds of glass – not just windows. When you start to see these, you will notice that glass is everywhere, in all shapes and sizes and colors.

Have fun seeing all of the reflections in glass around you in a whole new way! I would love to see your explorations in this topic, post a link here in the comments or join the Flickr group to share.

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Beads of Fog

What happens when it’s cloudy and foggy on the mountaintop you visit? What happens when you look out and around and all you can see is a soft white? You start to notice the little details, close at hand. The way the fog beads up on the alpine grasses and flowers, like little crowns.
The softness of the light and the splashes of color of the wildflowers against the patina of the tundra.
The way the fog fades into the distance, providing a perfect backdrop to capture shining edges of nature’s summer blanket in the Alps.

Who needs grand vistas, anyway?

(Photos from Eisel Peak on Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland.)

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Beauty Shot

The Swiss Alps at sunset, a beautiful scene from the town of Interlaken. Here is a beauty shot of the Alps for you! We had a lot of overcast and rainy weather while we were in the mountainous part of Switzerland, which made for interesting cloud and fog photos, but not always those classic Swiss Alps shots that might be expected. That’s ok with me, it just makes me get more creative with what I do capture, and also to appreciate the little bit of clear mountains we did get to see!