Kat Eye Studio

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Lose the Weight (Visual Weight, that is)

When I was visiting San Francisco, I played around with composing images that look “flat.” My goal with these images was to create a collage effect within the frame with elements that are were not in the same plane of view in the camera. As we discussed Exploring with a Camera: Visual Weight this last week, I realized one of the ways I was creating a “flat” image was by not having a dramatic visual weight difference between the elements.

This image of signs in Chinatown is an example. While there are some differences in visual weight of the elements, due to colors and size of the type, they are quite minimized on the whole. To me, the overlapping elements flatten and you don’t perceive the true distance you are looking through in the image at first glance. It looks like a collage of shapes overlaid within the frame. I could have emphasized that effect by converting to monochromatic, as I did with this image I shared last week.

It’s interesting to discover how visual weight in my images can work for me in more than one way. If I want to enhance a subject and create a clear focal point for the eye, I can use the principles of visual weight to make the subject the “weightiest” part of the composition. If I want to create an image without a clear focal point, I can use the principles of visual weight to even out the elements within the frame.

What are you discovering with Visual Weight as we explore? Please share!


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A True Photo-Heart Connection

Meet Toan Lam. Founder of Go Inspire Go and writer for the Huffington Post and Intent.com, Toan and I first met in an online interview for Tea with Toan several months ago. We felt an instant connection as we chatted, discovering we have very similar philosophies. We both believe individuals have the power to make the world a better place; you only have to recognize your power and tap into it. Find your passion and act on it.

Toan interacting with San Francisco street art

When we discovered I was heading to San Francisco, his town, we made plans to meet up in person. Toan and I, along with his friend Erin, spent a morning together during my visit. We wandered the streets and they showed me their city. They took me on my first visit to Chinatown, where Toan introduced me to Boba Tea.

Colors and Textures of Chinatown

We hunted for interesting street art, and Erin led us to a famous piece by Banksy.

Up close and personal with Banksy street art, protected by plexiglass.

We checked out the view from Toan’s apartment, seeing his incredible view.

Toan and Erin, with Toan's incredible view

We climbed the hill to the Coit Tower, sharing a peaceful moment looking out over the Bay Bridge. They experienced my obsession with scooter sightings, as I stopped to photograph every scooter along the way.

Scooter Sighting: San Francisco

Running through our fun trek around the city was a serious conversation on inspiration, life, and doing what we love to do. For Toan, that love is sharing people’s stories and helping others to use their powers – resources, talents, network – to help others. Toan’s background is TV journalism and through Go Inspire Go he provides a multimedia platform to tell the stories of “regular people” who are making a difference in small or big ways. For me, that love is helping others find a connection to heart and soul through photography. We both feel immense gratitude for having discovered something that we feel called to do. Our lives are better for it.

Words to live by

But we also talked about the difficulty that comes along with following a path that is not mainstream. When you are building something completely new, there is no map. You can only follow your heart. Sometimes there can be a struggle with the idea of making a business out of a passion, because when you love and believe in something so much, you want everyone to have a piece of it. It is so valuable, you want to give it all away. This is the opposite of the business world, which is all about selling, monetizing and commercializing.

End Commercial? I see a mixed message.

We talked of how to find a balance between the two, and the examples we see around us of people doing it every day. The key is simple: Know your heart, follow your heart and trust that it will carry you in the right direction.

We found our heart...

Putting that key to use is not always simple, but it’s easier when you have the inspiration of people like Toan to help you along the way.

My morning with Toan reminded me of my own passion, my own power. His energy, enthusiasm and belief in the connection with the heart to inspire change is contagious. I came away reconnected and inspired to do what I am here to do.

Our morning together was wonderful. We walked. We talked. We photographed.

And found a true photo-heart connection in the streets of San Francisco.

Learn more of Toan’s story and see his post inspired by our morning together on the Go Inspire Go blog today.

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Warning Signs (& New Music)

In our wanderings of San Francisco I came across this gate. Think someone needs a warning or two? It makes me chuckle, wondering what has gone on here in the past to warrant so many warnings.

I’ve got a busy morning so a short post today. As an added bonus I’m sharing a fun stop motion video of a new favorite song, Come Back Down by Greg Laswell. If you are feeling at all stuck in some emotion, just listen to this song and it will kick you in gear.

It’s the free single of the week on iTunes, so if you like it, snap it up!

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Crossing Cultures

Where to start on San Francisco? Without a doubt, my favorite part of the city was Chinatown. Wonderful alleys to wander, with infinite interesting details to frame.

The mixture of the common and the unusual was a delight. I loved the cross of the cultures to be found in Chinatown. Seeing the different languages made me feel as if I were traveling abroad, and I found myself surprised when I would enter a store or a restaurant and someone would speak to me in English. In the two years I lived in Italy, I developed some deep-rooted associations between traveling outside my culture and language: If it’s not my culture, they won’t speak my language. It was interesting to see this assumption tested so obviously in a US environment.

The sights, the sounds, the details, and the textures of Chinatown made it my kind of place. We found ourselves wandering here, for at least a little while, on most days of our trip. I just wanted to drink it all in with my camera.

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Found the Words

I found the words! I’ve been thinking about where I’ve lost my words since Monday’s post, and it turns out they weren’t gone after all. They’ve only been channeled to a specific purpose.

You see, I have this great ability to focus. It drives my family nuts. I can focus so hard on one thing that I tune the rest of the world out around me. It makes me incredibly productive when I set my mind to something, but it also makes for some unwanted side effects.

Like losing my words, for anything other than what’s in focus.

Lately, around my photography, I’ve got a laser focus on A Sense of Place. I’ve been writing and re-writing and tying it all up in a bow. I’m on a mission to put together the best class possible. That’s where my focus is, my energy is flowing, and yes the words too.

So when I talk about the class here on the blog lately, it’s not because I’m trying to advertise. It’s just what I have words for right now. I don’t have a lot of space for anything else in my brain. I’m on a deadline, now. (A self-imposed deadline for sure, but a deadline nonetheless.)

My words are found where my focus is. Whether that’s buying a new car over the weekend or working on A Sense of Place this week. It makes it a bit hard for me to blog about other random and interesting topics, and for that I apologize. The focus will lift soon, since the class is almost ready.

And the words for other things will come back. Whew.

Does this ever happen to you? Is a great strength you have ever a great disability too?

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Registration Opens with a Special Offer!

Yay! Today is the day! Registration opens for the January-February series of Find Your Eye today. Starting the Journey runs January 8 – 18, 2012 and Journey of Recognition follows from January 29 – February 24, 2012. I’ve got the gift-giving bug, so I’ve whipped up a special holiday offer too! Visit this page to register and learn more about the classes and the special offer.

I’m always excited when a new class starts, who will I meet? What will their journey be like? Each journey is unique to a person, just like our photographs. I love that!

If you’ve been considering taking the course, I hope you will join in this time. I’ll leave you with a few recent comments from Find Your Eye participants. Their words always speak much more eloquently than mine!

Kat has thought through the goals of the course, and each lesson contributes to moving the class along the journey of discovery and development. We can go at our own speed, learning through our own experience, and learning from our classmates, through their work and commentary. Kat creates an learning environment of encouragement, discovery and risk taking – so we can grow as photographers and artists. I love the sense of community that comes with doing this course in a group setting..That’s one of my favourite things.

This course made me think, made me look at what I am doing with my camera and why. I have a better understanding of why photography appeals to me because of this. I can honestly say that now when I carry my camera I’m more intentional about what I want to capture, rather than just taking a bunch of photos as fast as I can (which was kind of what I’ve been doing).

The process is very individual – meeting me where I was and moving me deeper. I like the sense of having the answers within and being guided to find them for myself. I appreciated the interaction among students and feedback received, especially from the instructor.

I learned so much from going through the same exercises with such a wide variety of photographers – women who all had different experiences, different photographic interests, different viewpoints.

These courses really helped me to figure out more about my style – likes and dislikes, how I shoot and why, etc. – and encouraged me to continue to look as I continue on my photographic journey. Thank you!

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