Kat Eye Studio

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Photo-Heart Connection: March

It’s all lines and light.

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That’s what I see. Curved lines, straight lines. Diagonal, vertical, horizontal. How best to frame the lines? That’s the only question I have to answer.

And then there’s the light. Light highlights lines, creates shapes or forms. Soft light, hard light.

It’s all lines and light.

I can’t tell you how many times this mantra has popped into my head this month. It started in Singapore, the whisper about lines and light. And almost every time I pick up a camera to take an image since then that’s all I think, all I see. The lines and the light.

Maybe it’s because it’s been a crazy month. Away more than home. No time to stop and think, no time to breathe. Instead of deep contemplation, I experience the world. I do. I photograph.

And I boil it down to the essentials: lines and light. That’s all we really have to work with.

This is an interesting Photo-Heart Connection for me this month. I literally could have chosen almost any photograph I’ve taken, because this mantra was in my head for most of them. Getting home from our Spring Break trip to the California Redwoods yesterday afternoon, I didn’t even know how to begin approaching the Photo-Heart Connection for March. I have been working my way through piles of laundry, trying to transfer photographs, and getting ready for a very busy week following a very busy month. But this morning, I woke up with my “It’s all lines and light” mantra in my head and I knew that was it. My Photo-Heart Connection this month is about cutting it down to the essentials. In my photographs, in my life. That’s what has to happen sometimes. Sometimes there are periods of intense doing to feed the thinking that will come later. Right now I’m focused on lines and light. I’ll look back and pull the meaning out of that later, when I’m not so busy. I always do.

This month’s photograph, by the way, is from the Botanic Gardens in Singapore. From the Orchid Gardens, actually. I was more interested in the fantastic lines and light in these leaves than the unique, colorful flowers blooming everywhere.

How about you? Where have you found your Photo-Heart Connection this month? Share it with us.


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The Happiest Monday

And why is this the happiest Monday, you ask? Because I feel better! Woohoo! It’s amazing how happy you are for the little things, like getting up early on a Monday morning, when you’ve been feeling a bit under the weather. The four day weekend was just what I needed to recuperate.

You know how I could tell when I was on the mend? Creativity started flowing again. I sat down with my iPad this weekend and some photos I took with my brand new iPhone 5 last week and created a couple of new pieces of digital art. Well, more than a couple, but I’ll share my favorite two with you here.

Tree, Squared

I am still having so much fun with this whole mobile photography/digital art stuff! My excitement for getting the new iPhone last week was a bit damped by all of the coughing and sniffling going on at the time, but after playing with the images this weekend I am so happy to have this higher resolution tool for image capture. And of course, it’s just plain fun to enter the world of the smartphone, although I really wanted it mainly for the camera.

Reaching

I used my other favorite new tool, my printer, to print and hang a few of my recent creations in my hallway from the entry to the kitchen. You can see them there, in the center. (I found the square shadowbox frames at IKEA, if you were wondering.)

From capture to creation to wall, all in a couple of days! I love it. See, it’s a happy Monday!

PS – Don’t miss the giveaway of the Spark & Inspire eBook I have going on this week.

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The Thrill of Discovery

Do you remember when you discovered photography? Remember the feeling when you first captured something amazing with your camera? Something that expressed an idea or emotion or moment and took your breath away? The first inkling that there was a connection between your image and your heart and soul?

If you’re new to photography, it’s probably not that long ago that you first experienced this feeling of excitement and amazement. For some of us though, we have to reach a while back to remember that first thrill of discovery. Yes, excitement still comes after time, but maybe not with that rush of discovering something completely new. At least it’s been a while for me. As much as I love photography and get great joy from it, as you all who visit here regularly know, I hadn’t realized how long it had been since that “rush” of exploring something new had taken hold. Until recently, as I’ve been getting into mobile photography.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I had no idea what getting on to Instagram would open up for me. And it’s not Instagram per se, it’s using the mobile camera (iPod Touch 4th gen) and the apps. Freeing myself to have a camera in my pocket all the time, to look for interesting things, and then to process them with abandon.

Yes, processing with abandon. I feel positively giddy. Like I’m breaking all of the rules. I’m painting and layering and altering photos in ways I have never considered on the computer. And I absolutely LOVE the results. All of the images in this post were taken and processed on my iPod Touch. You can see more of the images I’ve been posting on Instagram here.

I love them so much, I was inspired to print and frame a little photo collage of a few images and put it on my wall this weekend. This is the first thing you now see when you enter my home:

This morning I realized these are the first photos I’ve put up on my walls that weren’t taken while living in Italy. Is that significant? Maybe not, as I’ve only recently purchased the printer and created the opportunity to do something like this as a quick weekend project. But maybe it is significant, because this is the first work I just want to gaze at for a long time. I want to say go around to everyone available and say, “See? Look what I did!”

At moments it seems silly, as if I’m acting like a little kid, but I’m going with it. I know inspiration when it hits me. I take joy where I find it. There is nothing like this early thrill of discovery, so I’m going to cherish it as long as I can.

PS – Have you entered my big celebration giveaway yet? If not, go here to enter.

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Not the Only One

It seems I’m not the only one who is not ready to let go of fall yet. Not only did I receive a lot of comments here yesterday in agreement, but I heard it from my family as well. We set up the Christmas tree last night and none of us felt ready. It’s very odd, normally it’s a day-after-Thanksgiving tradition to excitedly decorate for Christmas in our house. I wonder what’s going on?

In the meantime, while I search for an answer to that question, I’ll keep sharing my fall images from the weekend. I loved these leaves, all piled up next to a lightpost, in Ashland, Oregon. The colors are great, as are the shapes – they are dry! Where I live in Oregon, you don’t see these kind of leaves too often. They are usually all wet and glued together from the rain. They are still pretty, just not perky like these leaves. I love how the strong color peeks out here and there.

You can visit me over at Mortal Muses today, writing on gratitude. Come see what I am most grateful for!

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Grateful

I am grateful for the abundance I see in life.
An abundance of leaves and light.
An abundance of beauty that exists around us, everywhere, every day.
An abundance of connections, sharing friendship and love.

I am grateful that I can capture this abundant beauty with my camera, and that it helps me connect with all of you. Regardless of where you are in the world and whether you celebrate this US holiday or not, I am wishing all of you a day of beauty, abundance and gratitude. Thank you for being here.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Light Fantastic

Fall LightAt Mortal Muses we are finishing up our “Light Fantastic” theme with a blog hop, and I thought I would share a story…

On my photo walk with Julie last week, we were nearing the end of our walk, photographing the gorgeous autumn trees in a park. The sun was starting to go behind the clouds and she said, “Oh no, we’re losing the light.”

I laughed and said, “Oh yes, we’re getting the light!”

I confessed to Julie that there is something she needed to know about me… I love indirect light. I love the soft, diffused light of alleyways and cloudy days that gently highlights form and makes color pop. I took this image after we lost found the light. I find the colors incredible! This is my kind of light.

Now you know my light fantastic. What’s your favorite light?

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