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February 28, 2013 by Kat

Revealing Inner Beauty

Winter allows us to see a tree’s inner beauty

I wrote that phrase as I posted this image to Instagram today. It just fit. What I love about this image is the shape of the tree. Not just the beautiful outer curve, as you would see when it is full of leaves, but the inner beauty of the limbs as they twist their way outward into smaller and smaller branches. You can see the beauty of the whole tree, not only what’s on the surface.

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And it got me to thinking… Life is like this too. Often it’s the quiet patches, the harder parts of life that really show what we are made of. It’s the difficulties and the down times that can reveal our true strength and inner beauty. It’s how we discover who we are at the core.

Just as we would not appreciate light without darkness, we wouldn’t appreciate summer as much without the comparison to the winter cold. And winter reveals an inner beauty, all its own.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: Corvallis, Mobile, Oregon, silhouette, tree

February 22, 2013 by Kat

Playing with Mood

We’re heading in to our last week of studying Artistic Blur through post-processing for this month’s Exploring with a Camera, and I want to talk about mood. Underlying my pause this week has been a definitely moodiness. There is something more driving this need for a break; something is brewing, I can feel it. And it’s the happiest of feelings either, it’s a pent up, moody feeling. It’s a harbinger-of-change kind of feeling.

Yesterday when I sat down to create, that moodiness really needed to come out. Artistic Blur was my friend. Blending gaussian blur with the original image and textures helped me create the mood in this piece:

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Even as I wanted to create a darker mood, this doesn’t strike me as a scary piece. There is still light and color. Just as I know there is light and color in whatever is brewing under the surface of this pause. I will end up where I need to be.

How is Artistic Blur in post-processing working for you? Have you had a chance to play around yet? Artistic Blur is a fantastic tool for expressing a mood. Let’s see what mood you are in.


Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: artistic blur, mobile photography, mood, silhouette, tree

February 19, 2013 by Kat

Paused

I am a bit out of sorts at the moment. With the holiday weekend and my Mom visiting I’ve lost track of the days. I forgot to blog yesterday! When does that ever happen?

I resonate with the title I gave this image: Paused.

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Like that little bird on the branch, I am just balancing in the moment, neither moving forward to backward. The moment will pass, and motion will begin again.

But for now, I remain…

Paused.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: blue, silhouette, tree

February 14, 2013 by Kat

Building on Backgrounds

I’ve started playing with creating digital pieces in a new way – building the final image onto a separate background rather than creating the background as a texture added to the photograph. I’m finding the background to be a versatile element, which can be used again and again.

For my Paint Party Friday post this week, I thought I would share how easy it is to create a painterly background with mobile apps, along with a few of the pieces created from the background.

To start a background, you need some sort of images that is mostly blank but has some texture or variation. I have started looking for these types of simple images in my daily photography… brick, stone, concrete, bark. All would have interesting texture.

For this example, I started with a Kim Klassen texture, Felicity, copied over to my iPad from my computer:

felicity by Kim Klassen

My first step was to use the Glaze app, to make it more painterly AND to increase the resolution. I love that you can save higher resolution than the original out of this app!

felicity by Kim Klassen

The output still felt a bit digital to me, so I ran the image through the Artista Oil app to add some more variation. I like this app for all of its options, both in painting styles and variation of strokes, etc.

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Finally, the blending. Starting with the Glaze output as the base, to give the highest resolution file, I blended the output from Artista Oil in Image Blender to get the final background below:

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Now I have a nice, painterly background with high resolution (4096×4096) to use for future creating. So far, I’ve used this background for four different pieces.

First, the original piece the background was created for. This is one of those pieces I mentioned earlier in the week that I liked when I shared it but a couple of days later I didn’t like it anymore. What I was trying to create originally didn’t work out, but I discovered this whole background idea so it was worth the time invested!

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Next came one of my recent favorites, called Vanishing:

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The third piece was another attempt with some of the same elements as the first one. I like this one better:

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And finally, this last one, entitled “The earth’s secrets are held within a seed,” is another recent favorite:

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While the color is similar between these pieces, due to the starting background, you probably wouldn’t notice they were all built on the same background layer if I hadn’t told you. As you build up and blend the other layers, the background changes and shifts from where it started. I could also easily shift the color of this background, and create a whole new look for the next piece.

I’ve created a couple of different backgrounds now and will continue to create and use them. They are proving to be a versatile element that adds a new dimension to my creative process. That’s the power of playing around: In the process of creating what might turn out to be a mess, you discover new ways of doing things.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: background, mobile tutorial, paint party friday, silhouette, tree

February 12, 2013 by Kat

Philosophies on Sharing

What is your philoshophy on sharing your work? Do you share ONLY your best images? Do you share only one image on a certain frequency? Or do you share multiple images, whenever inspiration strikes? Do you even have a philosophy you follow for sharing? Where did it come from?

I realized I DO have a philosophy for sharing my work yesterday, when discussing this with another photographer friend. He was talking about the idea of sharing ONLY your best work online, something that I’ve heard many times from different professional photographers. The idea is that you cull the images down to the best of the best and only share those.

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There are things I agree with in this philosophy, namely the “culling” of the many to the few. I think one of our best learning opportunities is in the review and selection of our “best” photographs. Being able to distinguish them, and to be able to consciously say why, helps us to grow our vision. The next time we are out photographing we will bring the learning from the previous session’s review, helping us to create even better photographs. It’s a never-ending cycle that builds. I think of it as a spiral: Each time you come around the spiral to photograph again, you are in a slightly different, slightly better (higher) place on the spiral if you work hard to review and select your best.

In general I don’t follow the “share only the best” philosophy, though, and that’s because regular sharing has become part of my personal practice in a different way. It’s not about sharing for feedback or to grow an audience, it’s about a regular practice of creating and what I learn from it. This practice started long ago, while in Italy, when I was being badgered by a friend to update my blog. I didn’t want to write about daily life or activities, but I could get myself interested to share a favorite photograph each day and writing a little bit about it. Holy Moly, did that change everything! I learned about my photographic eye, and myself, in amazing ways. It became an essential part of my creative process. Over time, it became more and more about writing from the heart and choosing the right photograph to complement my words, than choosing the “best” photograph to share that day.

Recently, my daily creative practice has changed, but sharing is still a big part of it. Even though I write almost daily on the blog and this is an important part of my creative practice, my daily “goal” for creating has shifted to creating at least one new, edited image a day from my mobile work. Then I share. Sharing is the completion of the process; the check in the box that says I fulfilled my personal goal. In a way I’m doing sort of a 365 project, but with editing instead of photographing every day, and without strict adherence to the “365” part. Whether it’s photographing, or painting or writing every day, it’s all creating, anyway, regardless of what type it is. It’s all useful for learning and growing.

What I’m sharing every day this way is not necessarily my “best” work. I find it takes some time to tell what’s “best.” Sometimes I look back at the things I’ve shared and am horrified. I liked it, maybe even loved it, at the time, or I wouldn’t have shared it. The ones that are the “best” are the ones I love days, weeks, months later. Sometimes, I know that in the moment I’ve created it, that it’s one of my best. Other times, a “best” image has to grow on me. The history I build through creating and then sharing helps me to learn more about what’s “best,” while also providing a record of my development over time.

I don’t share everything I create, believe me. There is some stuff in the moment of creating I know is awful and leave it on the hard drive. I have lots of failed experiments. They serve their purpose, helping me learn what does NOT work. I also do cull significantly from my original photographs, to get to the images I use for my creations. I can’t imagine trying to creatively edit every photograph I take. Whew. I wouldn’t have the time, or the inspiration.

It was an interesting conversation, yesterday, as we discussed this topic. I was figuring it out on the fly, as I realized I had a different motivation for my sharing than he did. It reminded me that each of us will have different motivations in our art, and I can’t assume yours will be the same as mine. Each person can develop their own personal rules and philosophy for sharing, like anything else. Some may share for feedback, while others share for connection. For me, it’s primarily part of a daily creative practice that keeps me learning and growing.

What is your philosophy on sharing?

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: daily practice, mobile photography, my painting, online sharing, silhouette, tree

February 11, 2013 by Kat

Another take on Apologies

Over the last few days I’ve had a sneaking suspicion. I’ve felt like there is more to this whole apologizing thing, at least for me, than meets the eye. That it is about more than fear of sharing or criticism. I’ve been journaling and am starting to sort out this “other” reason. These ideas I’m sharing with you today are fresh and not completely thought through, so bear with me. I’m hopeful sharing them here will bring commentary and insight from you all, which always helps me distill them to something clearer.

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How many of us carry along these little sayings in our head: Don’t brag. Don’t toot your own horn. Don’t hog the spotlight. Be humble. Keep quiet about your accomplishments, the right people will know.

I do. Somewhere, somehow, these sayings have been etched deeply into my psyche. Add to that my introverted and shy nature, which naturally leads me to want to avoid any attention, and you have a recipe for one quiet person. But then you contrast that with my desire to create, my desire to share, my desire (dare I say it) to lead… and you get quite a bit of inner turmoil.

You get someone who wants to do something really well, with all her heart, and have other people see it and join in. Without her having to say anything.

Yeah, right.

I’ve learned that doesn’t happen. To grow anything, relationships online, a following for your art, a business, you have to get the word out there. You have to share your message with confidence and heart. You have be able to say, “Here I am, and I have something GOOD to share with you.” You have to willing to talk and talk and talk about the good stuff you are doing, so the message is heard. It’s called marketing.

All the while, the inner voice is quietly reprimanding, “Don’t brag. Don’t toot your own horn. Don’t hog the spotlight. Be humble. Keep quiet about your accomplishments, the right people will know.” But they don’t always know, do they? Sometimes you have to tell them.

Hence, the apologies. The apologies sometimes come along to quiet that inner voice, I’m thinking. When I’m talking about what I create and do and have to offer others, if I apologize, I can keep that voice at bay. Sort of. I still feel it, deep down. I know this, because when I get any sort of feedback that validates this voice, even if it’s as simple as one person marking my newsletter as spam, it’s deeply felt. The voice comes back with a vengeance, “See? I told you so! Stop talking about this stuff!”

*Sigh*

I’m sorting this out. It’s a bit new and raw right now, this realization of why I might be apologizing. But like all of the things I’ve sorted through in the past that led to some sort of personal growth, it has to start this way. It starts with an inkling; some sort of clue to follow. We’ll see where it leads next.

Filed Under: The Kat Eye View of the World Tagged With: my painting, Oregon, personal growth, silhouette, tree

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