Kat Eye Studio

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The Simplicity of Intention

When I went in search of beauty on Saturday, I found it. I rediscovered the beauty of flowers against warm stone. I revisited a time and a place from a couple of years ago. I recreated a feeling of peaceful exploration through my images from Korkula. It was a joy.

Is this an example of intention? I wanted beauty. I intended beauty. I found beauty. It seems too simple, but maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s the perfect example, showing that intention is not hard. It just is. Wherever we set our attention, wherever we place our thoughts, we develop intention. When we switch it around, putting intention first, it changes the dynamic. Our thoughts and attention follow.

The concept of “intention” has been coming up for me a lot lately. It’s as if there is a cosmic neon sign flashing, “Start here.” This example tells me maybe I’ve been struggling too hard with it. It really is this simple: Intend beauty. Find it.

I sense there is more for me around intention… things like not trying to control outcomes, and being open to what comes. But this is enough for today. I’m going to keep it simple, and enjoy the beauty I found.

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In Search of Beauty

Today I find myself in search of beauty. Craving flowers in my images. As I sat down to write this morning, I discovered I didn’t have any photos ready that I wanted to share today. So I set out in search of some beauty.

For some reason, this brought to mind a day spent in Korkula, Croatia, in 2010. On this day, I wandered the alleyways of the historic stone town. I remember enjoying the shady light, the summer flowers and the texture of the stone. It was a quiet day, as if I had the town to myself. Me and my camera.

Revisiting images of Korkula, I found beauty.

What are you searching for today?

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Hello… Spring?

We woke up to snow yesterday. Where we live in Oregon, snow is unusual. A bare trace of snow will cancel the schools. Snow in March? Unheard of.

But I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood, capturing the mix of the seasons. I hope the spring flowers survive!

I found this guy, waiting at the bus stop. I wonder if his bus made it on time?

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Waiting for a Sale

Waiting, waiting, waiting. How much of our lives are spent waiting? What do we do with that time? Do we use it as a breather, an enjoyable respite in the day, or are we impatient? It’s so easy to view waiting as “in our way” to get to something else. What if we change our view? How would that affect our day?

Consider this gentleman, a flower vendor in Paris. Waiting for a sale. Here at the edge of the market, customers peruse his wares and he waits. What ultimate patience he must have, to sit quietly and watch. All day, every day. Let people decide, on their own time scale and terms, if they want to buy anything. There is something we can learn from this gentleman who seems to have mastered waiting.

This is definitely one of the more “busy” of my new Market/Wheels images. There is so much going on in this picture, between the flower booth, the bike and the background. But there is this island of calm, the vendor who waits, that draws me in.

Tomorrow I will share the last of my new Market/Wheels images, and turn the tables to you to get your opinions on which I should include in the exhibition. It will be fun to hear what you have to say, and I have a great giveaway to go along with it too! See you then.

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By the Sea

By the Sea, Santorini, GreeceI’m over at Mortal Muses today, musing on “warmth” with a vision of the sea. I thought I would share another image from that same day here. One perfect, sunny, warm day on Santorini Island in Greece last spring.

I’m feeling better today, but I don’t think it will be too long before I’m crawling back to bed for a nap. I’m still not 100%. Thanks for the virtual comfort sent yesterday in the comments. I appreciated them all!

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Everything, and a Sink

And the Sink

Have you ever heard the phrase: Everything but the kitchen sink? This photo made me think: Everything and the kitchen sink. (Except it’s a bathroom sink. But it’s a sink so I hope you’ll spot me the flexibility in phrasing.)

I love the randomness of this collection. Another of my favorites from my outing to Philomath on Friday, I had much success finding photoographs along the outside of the Architectural Salvage store. I’ll have to go back and visit when it’s open sometime, I bet there are even more opportunities for random goodness to photograph inside.

All of the photos of this series have been edited using Lightroom 3, I’m now using Lightroom exclusively for my editing to learn the software. I’ve got my Scott Kelby book open on my lap and I’m flipping back and forth as I have questions. I’m learning a ton.

I am in love. Absolute, and total love, with Lightroom. What a fantastic piece of software for editing and organizing photos. It’s intuitive and powerful, and I’ve been in desperate need of the organization piece. I’m getting lost in all of the editing possibilities, and it’s just plain fun. I’m not sure why a photographer would bother with Photoshop! (OK, not totally true, I know I will still use Photoshop Elements for layers, but I’m enamored at the moment so I’m allowing myself to be dramatic.)

Here are a couple of videos I’ve watched that help explain why you would use one or the other, via Kent Weakley and Adorama TV. (The Adorama TV video is the one I watched first, and it helped me decide to go with Lightroom as my next software, but Kent’s is a nice overview and is shorter.) You can substitute “Photoshop Elements” for “Photoshop” in any of these conversations, both integrate with Lightroom the same way, I’ve found. How awesome is that?

Maybe, just maybe, with the combo of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements, I’ve discovered I have everything and the kitchen sink. I’m one happy gal.

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