Kat Eye Studio

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Leaf Me Alone

A single leaf, the first colorful leaf of autumn, captured for Picture Fall. Most of the trees around here still have green leaves, firmly attached to their branches. The leaves that are on the ground are dead, brown, dull. This one little leaf was the exception – full of color and vibrancy and personality. A leaf ahead of its season.

I enjoyed photographing this one little leaf – capturing the light, the interesting shadows, the contrast of the lines of green moss in between the stones. You should have seen me, down on the ground on the path in the park. Brandon, who is now 9 years old, was quite embarrassed by my behavior. “Get up Mom,” he said, “You look weird.”

I find it ironic, that as I finally get to a place in my self that I don’t care what other people think, that I’m willing to lay down on the pavement in public for the sake of my art, that my son starts to care. Apparently, we are changing seasons in more than one way around here. This single leaf, a harbinger of fall, also has brought the realization that the teen years are, eventually, on their way for my son. Life is nothing, if not interesting, that’s for sure.

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First Signs of Fall

The trees haven’t started turning much yet in Italy, but in Paris they are already colorful. I liked this glimpse of Notre Dame through the leaves, and it was perfect for some experimentation with textures. I used two Kim Klassen textures in Photoshop Elements 8, “Cinnamon” texture with Overlay blending mode followed by “Break Free” texture with Soft Light blending mode. I liked how they really emphasized the changing leaves. The original is below for comparison. Which do you like best?

You can stop by the Kim Klassen Cafe to see more of her textures and sign up for her Texture Lovin’ List for some freebies. It’s fun to experiment!

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If Not Now, When?

I love this field of flowers under the trees in Parco di Monza by our home here in Italy. They are long gone now, they are only around for a brief time in the spring. As fall approachs and these trees are about to change their color and lose their leaves, and the bed of flowers has become mown grass. I met my intention to photograph them this year, since I missed them the first spring we arrived in Italy. Who knows what next spring will bring, my last spring here. Maybe there will be freak weather that prevents them from blooming, and this will have been my only opportunity. I’m glad I caught them while I had the chance.
Capturing these flowers is part of what I am calling a “no regrets” year. With limited time left on my work assignment in Italy, we return to the US next July, I have made a personal resolution that I will go home with no regrets. I don’t want to sit down, years from now and say, “I wish I had done… whatever… while we were in Italy.” Sure, there will always be ideas I have later, places I will see in pictures later and wish I had visited while I was here, but this “no regrets” year is about what I know now. If there is something I want to do now, I am doing it. If there is someplace I want to go while I’m here in Europe, I am going. If there is someone I need to meet (all these wonderful online friends!), I’m going to make every possible effort to meet them in person.
So this weekend, part of my “no regrets” year, I have a special trip planned. Just me, my camera and Paris art museums. I’ve been wanting to go there and just revel in the amazing art that is available, all in one city. To just have a little bit of time, where I plot my course for a day or two, recharge and refill the creative well on my own. Along with that blissful plan, I’m doing a nighttime photo tour with a professional photographer – absolute, and total, heaven.

I know that the pace of travel and activity and spending (!) I currently have is not sustainable long term. In a way, that’s the beauty of this situation too, it isn’t long term. There is a definite end, so I don’t have to keep anything in reserve. I also know that even with this intention I have for the year, I will not be able to go everywhere, do everything, meet everyone on my list. But I’ll be so, so much closer to it, and I’ll have no regrets.

I have actually been blessed by having this limited time, in a positive way. To have my eyes opened without having something like a life-threatening illness for me or a loved one. It is easy to see, how in the course of our ever day life, how we put things off. We say… We’ll go visit that place next month, and it turns into next year. Let’s get together for coffee sometime, and weeks go by. I should really look into that organization, and before you know it the event you were interested in is over. Life picks us up, swirls us around in the every day, and we lose our hold on the tether of our intentions. Before we know it, we’re swept along and away from what we had planned.
Think about this in your every day life. Is there one small thing you want to do, one place to visit close by that you’ve been putting off, one friend you want to meet for coffee but haven’t found the time? Do it. Have your own “no regrets” day or week, living in the moment as if you have limited time. Because the reality is, we do have limited time. It’s just not always so obvious, as it is to me right now.
And who knows, you might just find that you have spring flowers to enjoy, come fall. 

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