Kat Eye Studio

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The Possibilities of Emptiness

What do you see in this image? Maybe you see the empty room, and wonder what will go there. Maybe you see the red wall. Maybe you see the tree beyond the window, the world outside. To me, this room is not empty, it’s full of possibilities. Welcome to my studio. The Kat Eye Studio. Like a blank canvas, what will exist here is what I will create.

Kat Eye Studio has become real in more ways than one with my move home. First I have this room, what should be a “formal living room” is my physical studio, where my creative space will be. It has the best light in the house with the only south facing window, and it’s a nice big space. I’ve also officially created Kat Eye Studio, LLC as a registered business to offer my classes and whatever else I get inspired to do. I’m so excited to make the “studio” I’ve been dreaming of real in multiple ways!

This room is going to morph and change over time. During my assignment in Italy I’ve carefully thought through how I want to use this space for my creative endeavors, and now I get to execute the plan. The final incarnation is going to take a while to get to. I already plan to repaint the wall, and know what furniture I want to go here. The room is currently full of random bits and pieces as we get settled into our house, as you might expect.

But a studio is not much use if you don’t use it, and this week I took steps to move it beyond just a computer and storage room into a truly creative space. I painted! With a borrowed easel, a purchased drop cloth, the painting supplies I brought from Italy in my suitcase and a table and lamp in storage I’ve cobbled together the start of my painting space. I can’t tell you how great it felt to turn on the new Matt Nathanson CD (love his music!) and get messy with paint.

Here’s a pic of what I’ve got in progress. The blue canvas is the one I started this week (I was in a blue mood) and the other two were started in Italy before the move. I’m just adding layers right now, and am interested to see where these go. I don’t have any intention with painting right now, other than to find joy in the process. Happy Paint Party Friday! I’m back!!

Today I thought I would leave you with what I have going on “in the Studio” (I’ve been dying to say that for some time now, can you tell?):

  • Reflections in Glass is the current Exploring with a Camera theme and I’m loving the images being shared! I find reflections complex and interesting and worth seeking out.
  • Are you signed up for Superhero Summer Camp? If not, consider if it’s time to do something good for yourself. We have almost 400 participants – yay! If you’re signed up already, let me know what you think of it so far.
  • We have a wonderful group of people joining my July-August Find Your Eye series of classes. I’m so excited! Registration is open for the next week, and class starts August 24.
  • The Liberate Your Art postcard swap is bringing new mail to my mailbox every day. It’s quite amazing to see! If you missed my post Monday, head over to see a bit of the art that’s been arriving at my house. In the next two weeks that art will be liberated all over the world. So much fun!
Have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend all!

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Exploring with a Camera: Thresholds (2nd edition)

[Author’s Note: Through the summer months Exploring with a Camera will be “Second Edition” postings of previous explorations with some new images. You will find a new link up at the end of this post to share your photos, and your photos are also welcome in the Flickr pool for the opportunity to be featured here on the blog. I hope that you will join in!]


Time for another exploration! This time of a subject: Thresholds. By “threshold” I’m not referring to any technical term, but a physical place. A place where you cross over, from one locale to another, whether real or imagined. Threshold images are not merely images of doors or gates, but they are of portals that transport you to somplace different in your imagination.

The photo above is an example of the type of “threshold” I am talking about. This image is from the Roman Arena in Verona. When I look at it, I get a sense of time travel. In my imagination, if I walk through that curtain, I will be transported back to Roman times. There is a magical quality of the unknown on the other side of that curtain. It beckons me to come through.

Here is another, of a gate to Parco di Monza near my home. This image gives me the feeling of looking into another world, some sort of magical winter wonderland. The gate is merely the portal, the threshold to this place. I want to explore down that path.

And here is a threshold that I captured that has become sort of an anti-threshold to me. One that I don’t plan to pass through. You see, later this year [2010] I turn 40 years old and I started looking for places with the address 40 to capture my threshold. This image is from the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon, one of my favorite places on earth to photograph, but this is one of the most depressing images I have photographed there. After I reviewed and edited it, I realized that is not my 40 threshold at all – there is no hope, no happiness, no creativity in this threshold. It’s pretty bleak and closed off. It showed me that I have no problem with turning 40, that I reject the idea that this milestone is a bleak thing. So there is power in that too – I began to imagine what my internal 40 threshold looks like and it’s nothing like this.

To capture a special threshold image, here are some tips:

1. Look for doors or gates that have some contrast in what is behind versus what is part of the wall or structure the opening is in. This could be a contrast in light or in scenery. The greater the contrast, the greater the opportunity for the “threshold” feeling.

2. Try getting in close to the threshold. By cropping in close on the opening so you don’t see what is surrounding it, you create more opportunity for creative story telling because there is not as much physical “place” presented to distract the imagination with reality.

3. Look for openings that are not fully open, that just give a hint of what is behind them. This will give a tantalizing, magical feeling. In this case, the imagination is not distracted by the reality of what is on the other side of the threshold, but is allowed to go wild.

4. Look for thresholds that have meaning to you, whether it’s the address number or the physical place or the imagery you find there. Later, take some time to examine that image to see what meaning you find. Does the image match your imagination or feelings? Why or why not? Can this threshold be useful to you to learn something about yourself?

Photography, like any art, is symbolic. The images we capture have meaning, whether or not we know it at the time. Explore the world around you with the idea that there are magical thresholds available to you all the time, and share what you find!

Update: I am always capturing images of doors, but capturing a threshold is a different and special thing. The lead-in image is from the Do What You Love retreat I attended in May, and for me it embodies the magical feeling of creative safety and warmth found at the retreat. 


I also want to share another special threshold image I captured later in 2010, after I wrote this original post. You see, I found my “40” threshold. In a small village in the English countryside, this threshold is similar to the image I created in my head for my “40” threshold: A cozy, welcoming cottage with a gate and rose garden out front. Amazing, huh?

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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Dramatic Cropping

Today we are going back to the Rhine River Valley in Germany, to the town of Bacharach. This image has been in my file waiting to be shared for ages, and today it won’t leave my head. Isn’t it a beautiful scene? So “German,” with the timber-frame house. So “Rhine River Valley,” with the grape vines growing on the hillside behind. So summery, with the sun, the green vines, and the flowers. This house is the Altes Haus, one of the oldest timber-frame houses in existence, built in 1368.

Take a moment to look below at the original image. It’s just ho-hum. A little overexposed in the sky and the composition doesn’t do anything for me. It’s amazing what cropping can do. Reducing the extraneous information improved the image. I don’t normally crop my images this dramatically, going from vertical to horizontal, but look at the difference!

This morning I’ve been considering what “cropping” I need to do in my life, so it should be no surprise to me that this image comes to mind. Where am I filling my time with extraneous things? Am I spending my energy in places that aren’t moving me in my chosen direction? It is easy to get into a cycle of do-do-do. To join activities because they sound fun without ever considering everything else that you have going on. Ignoring the time and energy loss that being overwhelmed can create. Even if you don’t follow through on the activities, the mere guilt or remorse of having joined and not taken action can drain us.

Today I ask you to consider, is there something that you need to crop from your life? What would make your personal “composition” better, just by trimming a little extra away? Like a photo, where you have no guilt whatsoever about removing extraneous information, just decide and let it go. Focus on the part that makes the image, your life, a healthy and complete whole.

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