Kat Eye Studio

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Peace Comes Unexpectedly

What does this picture make you think of? It makes me think of an ideal kind of day. The kind of day where sunshine comes through the window, and there is personal time to bask in it. Time to work on my creative projects on my schedule. Sit and read or journal if I feel like it. It brings me a sense of peace and calm, and happiness. I took this self-portrait last weekend to show the progress in my studio, because I’m so happy with how this space is turning out. (Visit here to see what the empty space looked like.)

I am drawn to this image today, maybe because of the appearance of peace. This was not how my weekend went at all, it was a “work” weekend. With a garage sale on Saturday, we finished up our personal process of elimination. We all feel so much lighter and freer with the sale completed, left over items donated, and our garage space cleared! On Sunday we spent the day cleaning out our camping trailer, in anticipation of going away for the weekend soon. After sitting for two years, there had been a few visitors in the form of mice and bugs that left their mark. It turned out to be in very good shape overall, and after a few hours of cleaning it was bright and shiny again. Now we can’t wait to go camping!

While I had been steeling myself for this weekend of work, it actually turned out quite well. I feel better for what was accomplished, even if it wasn’t my dream day in the studio or out with my camera. I guess this is a reminder for me that there is more than one way to bring peace into your life. Sometimes it is slowing down, and spending the day in the sunshine on creative pursuits. Other times, it is completing projects and eliminating the stress associated with them being “undone.” There is a great sense of peace that comes along with accomplishing tasks that bring space and possibility into your life.

How did your weekend go? I hope you found peace through your weekend pursuits.

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What’s going on around The Kat Eye View of the World…

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From Where I Stand

I didn’t actually intend to blog today, I was kinda thinking of taking the weekend off, pondering how to bridge the gap. Then I took this cute picture to celebrate my first time going for a bike ride in a skirt, and I had to share. I’ve wanted to ride in skirt for quite a while, since seeing all of those European women riding around in their skirts so casually. No spandex there! The feet point of view is inspired by this week’s Picture Inspiration prompt and fellow Mortal Muse Holly (aka Soupatraveler), who takes these cute “where I stand” pictures every day. You can join in too, visit the Flickr group from where i stand or tweet with hashtag #fromwhereistand.

Where do you stand today?

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What’s going on around The Kat Eye View of the World…

  • The current Exploring with a Camera theme is Process of Elimination and we only have a few days left! Check out the post and explore with us. 
  • Do you want to deepen the connection between your heart and soul and your photography? Registration for the fall series of the Find Your Eye e-course is open! Visit here for more info.
  • You can subscribe to the Kat Eye News to stay up-to-date on all the happenings.

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Turning the Camera on Myself

I’m over at Mortal Muses today, kicking off a week of musing on self-portraits with this image of me in my little creative space in our apartment here in Italy. We’ve been talking about a self portrait prompt amongst the muses for quite some time, and I must admit I had been dreading it. I don’t like pictures of myself. I see all of my flaws, the things I want to change. I’ve never quite figured out the self-portrait craze that seems to be going on in photography right now.

The dread was reduced when I finally got the idea to capture a picture of me in this place, our apartment in Italy, which we are leaving so soon. This little space you see me in is where my creative journey has unfolded. Where I dream, plan, and capture all of my ideas as they emerge. This is me, right now, right here. In the process of doing this prompt, I discovered something interesting – I actually like this photo of myself. I still see all of my physical flaws, but it’s as if they diminish in importance because there is more context. This is a self-portrait of more than the outer shell, it shows what’s going on inside too. There are a thousand details in this photo I could point out, each representing some aspect of me that goes beyond what you see on the outside. I like that.

So often, with portraits, it’s all about keeping the focus on the physical person and trying to remove a distracting background. Sometimes though, the context found in that background is as important to the portrait as the person itself. Context can make a portrait something more. I learned this when I saw the work of photographer Jason Bell, at an exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery in London. The portraits were for his project, An Englishman in New York, and his work struck me for how he captured the setting as much as the person in the image. These portraits are about each person in their place, and they tell a larger story than just a great head shot alone.

I’m heading out today for another week of vacation, this time to Scotland. It’s our last week-long vacation here in Europe before we move back to the US on July 1. You’ll see a few scheduled posts from me over the next week but I’ll be back, live and in person, on June 6. Have a great week!

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Mail Time!

Wouldn’t you love to get mail in a door like this? I know I would! I loved all of the door letter slots I saw Bath, adding to the door personality. The ones marked LETTERS are cool, but kind of humorous to me. What else would the slot be for? Milk delivery? I found it interesting that much in England is labeled or named. Many houses don’t just have an address, they have names like “Victoria House” and “Park View” etched in stone above the door. So I guess it’s only fair that the mail slot has equal labeling importance.

And today, it is important because it’s Postcard Drawing Day!  Many of you think that today is a holiday in the US because of Labor Day, but this is the real reason, so you can all be online to find out if you won, right away. Too bad I don’t speak enough Italian to convince the government here we need a day off for this momentous occasion as well. 🙂

And the winner is…. Lisa, of the White Cotton Tee photography blog, aka L Gordon on Flickr. There were 42 entries, after eliminating the duplicates and unidentifiable Anonymous “Happy Sunday” comment. And Lisa was number 6! Congrats Lisa, send me your snail mail address and the postcards will be on their way to you.

But, you are all winners, do you know why? Because if you commented to win, I will send you your very own postcard with a personal note. Just send me an email at kat[at]kateyeview[dot]com, identifying your comment and include your snail mail address. Who wouldn’t like some mail from Italy? I might even have to order more postcards, perhaps with a window theme as requested. Everyone deserves some happy mail! I enjoyed reading all of the comments and appreciate the participation in this first-ever giveaway of mine. (And don’t worry, I promise your personal information will never, ever be shared. I will send the postcards and delete all info!)

Another piece of great news I am excited to share today is that I’ve joined the Mortal Muses photography site as one of the nine muses. There is a post from one of the nine muses each day, with their photo on the current theme and one from the Flickr pool, where you can participate by uploading your photos for the next theme. I was so excited to see my photo selected a couple of weeks ago in the black and white theme, and now I get to wax poetic once every nine days and be part of this wonderful team of photographers! Come on over and start participating with us.

One final shout out today… My 9-year-old son and I are participating in the Wish.Play.Create playgroup in the wishstudio. You can still join in too! We just finished up the Week 1 project yesterday, Mixed Media Love by Shona Cole. We had fun together playing with paints and coming up with the poses to go with the artwork provided in the class. Brandon said I had to use my own pictures, I couldn’t use him, so I had to get in on the fun more than I had planned. I’m glad I did, because this finished card perfectly expresses how I’m feeling right now.

 Up, up and away, borne on the wind of creative dreams.

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Alive


“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” – Agatha Christie

I read this quote this morning and it struck me as so true! I wanted to share the quote and chose this picture, a sort of self portrait of me in the mirror behind an Egyptian statue at the museum in Torino. One of the interesting things about ancient Egypt is their fascination and preparation for death. In one exhibit, they showed a tomb of a common man. This guy labored all day building the tombs of the mighty and powerful and then in his free time labored to build his own tomb. His life spent preparing for death.

I think I would rather spend my time alive in living, no matter how messy it might be.

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