Kat Eye Studio

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The Journey Continues

Camera. Italy. Me.

These things together may not have been the very start of my creative journey, but they certainly were the things that launched me high speed down the path. Somehow in the last few days I came across this photo in my archives and my heart leapt. There it is, laid out in a picture… cameras, Italia and me. Taken in the Alinari Museum of Photography in Florence in 2011, somehow this image speaks volumes to me about my time in Italy. My creative journey with the camera.

I’ve been back from Italy for over a year and my journey with the camera continues. The Corvallis Fall Festival this weekend was another step along the way. It was a successful weekend for me. Not just in sales (although that part went surprisingly well), but in learning, in getting to know my fellow members of the PhotoArts Guild, and in pushing through my fears of having my work “out there” in the public.

I learned a ton… preparing my photographs for sale, how to set up a booth, different ways of display… the list will continue on. While this was my first year participating in the PhotoArts Guild booth, for the four other photographers it was their second year. They had learned a lot and made substantial improvements to the booth to make it bright, open and accessible. Not bad for what could be begged, borrowed and bought used! We were also lucky to have beautiful weather the whole weekend, which always helps a festival like this.

I also learned that you cannot predict the public reaction to anything. There were certain photos that many people would spend a long time studying, but no one ever bought them. There were photos that generated a lot of interest in the form of conversation and questions, but no one ever bought them. In previous years, cards were the big money maker they told me, but this year fewer cards were sold and more prints were sold. Go figure.

So, how do you know what people want? You don’t. How do you predict and prepare? I’m not sure you can, other than to have a variety of options to offer. Sometimes people come to the festival with an agenda, something specific they are searching for. Sometimes people come to the festival as a way to get out and do something for the weekend, with no intent to buy. Sometimes people connect with the art you have to offer, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they have money to spend, sometimes they don’t. Responses to art are subjective. There are too many variables to predict an outcome.

After all of this, you are probably wondering: Will I do it again? Yes. It’s the next step on my journey. And now that I’ve taken the first step, gotten over the initial fears and investment, I’ll continue to move forward down this path to see where it leads. Not at a sprint, mind you, but at the pace that works for me. It was fun!

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Ignoring the Looks

Do you ever feel self-conscious taking a photo? Most of us do, when we start out in photography. Maybe for a long, long time. That little voice in our says things like…
You probably shouldn’t be photographing here.
What will people think?
They are looking at me!
If we listen to it, that little voice can prevent us from taking photos in many situations. It can prevent us from following our heart, prevent us from capturing the image we were called to take.

Today’s market/wheels photo is no exception. It was taken just off Piazza del Duomo in Florence. This little snack cart also had bicycles for rental. As we walked around the duomo, I spotted it and spent a few minutes studying it with my camera, while the vendor of the stand looked critically on. Did it make me uncomfortable to have him there? Heck yeah. But I had a mission, to get a good market/wheels photo. I was struggling with this scene, but I knew I had a unique image here to capture. So I too a deep breath, ignored him, and moved around for a while, eventually finding this composition that worked. I love the depth of the image, looking down the street past the cart to the chair and the second bicycle.

I must be honest, if I had stopped, it would not have been the first time my resolve had withered under the gaze of a watcher. There have been countless times that I have noticed people watching me photograph, and stopped what I was doing. Why? Was I doing anything wrong? Being on the street, in a public area, absolutely not. There are no people, so neither was I violating anyone’s privacy by taking their photo when they didn’t want me to. And who knows what the vendor was really thinking. Probably, “Yes, a tourist! How much money can I get her to pay for an apple?” (I’ve never felt like I was a walking dollar sign anywhere in Italy more than I did in Florence. That town is tuned to squeeze every dollar it can out of tourists.)

So, how do you get over the gazes? The seemingly critical eye of people around you?

  • First, you have to want the shot. Want it more than you care about anything else. If you’re worried about how you look more than how the photograph looks, you will not overcome your discomfort.
  • Second, you have to be willing to look a little weird to the average person. Non-photographers will not understand what you are doing when you get down on the dirty ground to get that awesome angle. You will get looks. Accept that as a fact.
  • Know your rights, but also be respectful of others wishes. Are you on private property? Is there a sign that says “no photography?” Are you in a store and the owner asks you to stop photographing? On private property, the property owner sets the rules. Respect them. In public places, a little respect also goes a long way, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t photograph.
  • It happens rarely, but if someone asks you to stop photographing, politely apologize and move on. A little humility also goes a long way.
  • Realize that the quizzical looks you get are really just passing glances. People aren’t paying much attention to you. They are off in their own world. If they stop and watch you for a while, you can acknowledge them with a smile and a shrug of your shoulders, and get back to capturing your images.

I could have let the looks of the vendor scare me off here, but I’ve grown a thicker skin. The image I’m working toward is worth more than avoiding the looks I might get. If you get tripped up by this common feeling of worry about what other people are thinking as you take a photo, I encourage you to take a deep breath and continue. Do it once or twice, to push past the discomfort, and see how it goes. What’s the worst that can happen? You apologize and offer to delete the photo if someone asks you to stop. The best that can happen? You get an awesome image, and you have a little more confidence the next time you are photographing out and about.


Don’t miss the giveaway I have going on right now for some Evidence of Love! Visit here to see the details and enter. Today is the last day for entry – I’ll draw tomorrow morning!

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Exploring Texture

Does this image have texture? I think so. Maybe on a larger scale than we normally think of texture, but it is on the surface and brings more interest to the painting of the coffee cup painted on the side of this Florence, Oregon building.

We have finished up the first with of Exploring with a Camera: Found Texture, and as usual, you all have shown how much wonderful texture there is to capture with our cameras. We still have another week with this wonderful topic! Keep looking for texture, and link in below.

Take a few moments to look at the links others have shared, see what types of textures appeal to you. Look at how light and color all work together, when photographing texture. There is so much to learn, when we open our eyes to see. Thanks for joining me!

(And don’t forget, there is a giveaway this time. You enter to win the postcards by linking in!)

FYI - Links will be moderated. Please use a permalink, ensure that your linked image is on topic, and include a link back to this site in your post through the Exploring with a Camera button (available here) or a text link. Thanks!

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At the Threshold of Balance

It’s no secret that over the last two weeks, since returning home from Chicago, I’ve been thinking about balance. I started out by diving into a plan of how to achieve it, but realized that there is a bigger question that has to be answered: What does balance mean to me anyway? I can’t develop a plan for balance if I don’t have a target of what balance looks like for my life.

For me, balance does not mean focusing on any one thing to the exclusion of others. My life is a dance, moving from side to side of the dance floor. Each side has something different to offer, something different it needs. It encompasses so much more than one “thing.” I don’t think there is one word that can capture all of this: Photographer/Teacher/Writer/Engineer/Mother/Wife/Friend. There is no all or nothing.

In my photography, balance starts with deciding what is in and out of the frame before I take the picture. But it doesn’t stop there, it continues as I play around with different compositions and views. I need to remember I’m doing the same in life – experimenting and playing with the elements that make up my life to create a balanced whole. There is no realistic expectation that says we will get it all right and perfect on the first try.  There is no realistic expectation that we will get it all right and perfect, ever. Maybe perfection happens for a brief moment in time, but life is subject to change.

I’m at the threshold of balance right now. Deciding what is in and out of the frame of life. From there I’ll experiment with the details and see how to make things fit in a balanced way. It feels much simpler and freer to think of it as an experiment, where I’m testing to see the outcome, than as a commitment where I “fail” if I don’t get it right.

What does balance mean to you? How do you manage this ever-changing process of achieving balance in your life?

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Colors don’t Fade

One of the great things about photography, the colors you capture never fade. You can come back to your images again and again, and the colors remain the same. In the depths of winter, when life can seem monochromatic, this is a joy. Bright color is always to be found in my photo archives!

I hope you’ve enjoyed studying color for the last month, with the Exploring with a Camera themes of The Color Wheel, Part 1 and Part 2. From monochromatic to triadic, you all found some great color! We finish up Part 2 today, with a bit of fall complementary color I found on the Oregon Coast this weekend.

Since I’m in Chicago this week, there will be no new Exploring with a Camera tomorrow. I have a great one brewing to share with you next week, when I am back home. In the meantime enjoy some dynamic color as you visit the links shared in Part 2.

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From Windy Coast to Windy City (Coming to Chicago!)

We spent a wonderful, relaxing weekend camping at the Oregon Coast. “Camping” is a relative term – we have a travel trailer so we camp in great comfort. The trailer is especially important in Oregon, where it rains. A lot. Over the years of living here we’ve progressed from tent to tent trailer to travel trailer, and have extended the time of year we are able to all seasons.

This weekend we had a rainy Friday night and Sunday morning, but a gorgeous day on Saturday. It was an enjoyable day of walking on the beach and then visiting Florence, a cute little town on the coast. I captured the remaining piers of Florence’s former ferry landing, inspired by this week’s Picture Inspiration prompt, “long and tall.”

But that’s the not the big news – I’m coming to Chicago this week! It’s a last minute work trip, planned Friday afternoon. There was a need for someone with my background to go and recruit at a conference, and I’ve never been to Chicago. After several months back from Italy with no travel plans in sight, I’m ready to visit someplace new and jumped on the chance.

If you are in the Chicago area and would like to meet up in downtown Chicago for a coffee and a photowalk this week, contact me via email: kat [at] kateyestudio [dot] com. I’ll be in town Wednesday through Saturday and will be squeezing in sightseeing with my camera as much as possible. I hope to meet a few of you there!

Linking in to Lisa’s Creative Exchange today.

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