Kat Eye Studio

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Under the Weather

This was the scene as I descended toward PDX airport on Saturday morning. Back to the clouds, back under the weather.

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I’ve been under the weather figuratively since returning home too. I developed a cold on my trip home and I’ve spent the last three days in bed sleeping or laying on the couch watching movies. That’s about all I could muster the energy for.

I’m trying to get back to a normal routine today. There are photos to edit, postcards to pick up at the post office, errands to run and work to be done.

But maybe a nap first wouldn’t hurt.

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The Black and White Landscape

We got up early. The clouds were low and the morning was quiet as we hiked to Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park. We encountered a few photographers with their tripods at the bottom of the trail, photographing the falls, but there were few others around at that time of day. It had rained the night before and the trail was damp. The only noise was the sound of our bear bell and the rushing water, when we were near the stream flowing from the lake.

After a two mile hike, the valley opened up into glacier-fed Avalanche Lake. Amazing waterfalls crashed down cliffsides from the glacier invisible above. The clouds reached down and touched the mountainside around us, muting the colors. There were layers upon layers everywhere. In the rock…

Glacier National Park

…and the ridges…

Glacier National Park

…and the mountains themselves.

Glacier National Park

Many of the images from this morning’s hike seemed to call for black and white. I’m normally a fan of color, but I can see how landscapes like these are perfect for black and white. You see the texture and variations in light in a completely different way. I’m not sure that these images are “done” in terms of processing. I edited them a couple of weeks ago and I tweaked them again today. I think I still have much to learn about creating an effective black and white image, but recognizing the possibilities is a start.

Glacier National Park

Oh, and our quiet, misty morning hike? By the time we left the lake, the clouds were dissipating and the crowds had arrived. While we saw almost no one on the hike up to the lake, we saw a steady stream of people on the hike down. We had just beat the rush of people and just captured the clouds as they were lifting. Timing is everything.

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Where Land and Sea and Sky Meet

I spent the last week at the edge of the continent, where the land and sea and sky meet. We had family come from Colorado and we camped out at the coast, enjoying the rugged beauty of the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon coastline. After growing up landlocked in Colorado, I will never tire of living so close to the ocean. There is a power and a peace that can be found no other place.

So after a week of sand and salt water, today it’s back to the routine. I’m getting caught up on emails and everything that piles when you unplug for a week, but I had to pull out this one photo to share with you today, taken on an early morning clamming trip at low tide. Whoever made up the “rule” that the horizon shouldn’t be in the center of the photo must have never come across a scene like this, where the sea meets the sky; becomes the sky. The horizon could be no other place.

Ah, the beauty and peace of it. I am still there.

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I Will Not Take These Things for Granted

Continuing to work on A Sense of Place this weekend, this morning I’ve been exploring the big picture – landscapes and such. I love the expansiveness and peacefulness of this image, from Lake Como in Italy.

As I write this post, one of my favorite songs, I Will Not Take These Things for Granted by Toad the Wet Sprocket, is playing on iTunes. The image and the song are both a reminder to be grateful for the beauty that exists in this world around us, this day. I’ll leave you with the song today.

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Redefining My Art

In my newsletter article over the weekend, I wrote about redefining productivity. How I haven’t been feeling productive recently, but that feeling was based on an old definition. I’m not sure where the old definition came from exactly – my old artistic practices combined with external influences, perhaps. It was a reminder that I seem to gather these definitions and rules up as I go along in life. I think we all do. Sometimes we need to reexamine them and redefine them.

What was more important in that article than redefining productivity, I realize today, is the redefinition of my art. I wrote, “My art is using photos and words to explore the connection between heart and the world around us.” Up to now, I haven’t quite figured out where I “fit” in the photography world. If you look at what I practice and write and teach it’s not standard “photography.” It’s something different. Something that doesn’t have a word for it. I’m an artist that combines photos and words together. For me, they can’t be separated.

Realizing that brings freedom. I can remove the labels from who I am, what I do. I can just be me, as I have been, but without trying to figure out where I fit. I don’t fit any standard mold. I can be the seamless blend, like building and sky in this photograph, if I choose. (And no, the photograph was not edited to look this way.)

It can be uncomfortable, though, being without a title. Being without name that defines me, in the eyes of others. It makes it harder to communicate what I do, what I care about. That makes it all the more important to keep using the “words” part of my art. Maybe someday I’ll come up with one word that communicates my art to others. Until then, I’m going to memorize this phrase:

My art is using photos and words to explore the connection between heart and the world around us.

I have a feeling that this moment may be as important as when I claimed myself an artist a couple of years ago. Time will tell.

PS – If you missed it yesterday, I announced a new class coming in April: A Sense of Place. Visit the link here for more details.

PPS – Only THREE DAYS to the next Photo-Heart Connection link up. I can’t wait!

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The Sky’s the Limit

Time to finish up Exploring with a Camera: Silhouettes! The rains have returned here in Oregon, and my obsession with the shapes of the trees has been dampened. I share this one last silhouette image as a memory of a beautifully sunny day a few weeks ago, when my obsession was at its peak. Out with some photo friends, we stopped on a country road to capture this lone tree in a field. I loved the backdrop of the hazy hills, and the beautiful clouds against a blue sky. It makes me smile at the memory of it.

On this positive note, our exploration of silhouettes ends today. You can still link up your images if you haven’t done so yet. I encourage you to visit the other participants, together we have gathered a lovely collection of silhouette images. You will be inspired!


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