Kat Eye Studio

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Celebrating One Year – Photo-Heart Connection: December

Simplicity. Peace. Beauty.

That’s what I see when I look at this image. A brief moment in time captured, expressing something wonderful.

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I also see a landscape. And I scratch my head quizzically, wondering, “When did I become a landscape photographer?”

The answer whispered to me: When you stopped telling yourself you weren’t one.

Oh, yeah.

When I threw out the rules for my photography and starting to follow what brought me joy. When I let myself have fun and play again. When I threw out the need for perfection and pixels and began to create with a terrible, low-resolution iPod Touch camera.

When I stopped defining myself.

That’s when I became a landscape photographer. And a painter. And whatever I feel like being today. Tomorrow it will probably be something different.

Because you know what? None of the labels matter. It’s just me and my art. Approaching each day as it comes, with openness and joy.

Well. If that doesn’t conclude my transformation of the last few months, I’m not sure what would. From the fear of change in October to the emergence of November to this acceptance that arrived in December. Completely unplanned, somehow my monthly Photo-Heart Connections tracks this dramatic transition to a new approach to my art. As I worked on my “eighteen months” project I was a bit shocked to discover that I hadn’t picked up my dSLR at all between October 22nd and December 14th, when I went out for my night shoot. I mean, I knew I hadn’t picked up my “big” camera for a while, but there was something about seeing it right there in Lightroom that was a bit shocking. And you know what? I didn’t care. Because I’m having so much fun with all of this! I’m going with it.

This month concludes the first year of the Photo-Heart Connection. It’s been an amazing practice! I’ve gained so much from it, as well as the community of people who have joined me this year. The guests posts from the last week have shared some amazing stories of connection, and I am truly honored to be able to play host to such a wonderful community of artists. I’m excited to continue for 2013. Who knows what will emerge?

To celebrate a new year of the Photo-Heart Connection, I’ve created a new button that better expresses my feelings about the whole practice. You can copy the code from the sidebar here.

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And as a second part of the New Year celebration, I am going to give away a small matted print of this image, entitled “Windblown,” to one of the participants in this month’s Photo-Heart Connection. All you have to do to enter is to participate! So, what is your Photo-Heart Connection this month?


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Affinity

Is it wrong to have a favorite tree? For some reason it feels a bit like saying you have a favorite child if you have more than one. Unfair to the other trees.

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But unfair or not, I do have an affinity for this tree. It’s just off the parking lot where I work and I’ve photographed it many times over the last couple of weeks. It has the most interesting branches, and a clear view behind it. I love those seed pod things (sorry, not a botanist) hanging in the top branches like a decoration. They seem a bit like tree jewelry to me. A little something extra that makes this tree unique.

So tell me: Do you have a favorite tree?

A quick reminder today… It’s the last day to link in to the Photo-Heart Connection for this month. I talked earlier this week about belonging, and if you are looking for connection and a place to belong, there could be no better place than with those participating in the Photo-Heart Connection. Such a lovely group of kindred spirits! I encourage you to visit and get to know them, if you haven’t already.

Have a lovely weekend!

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Finding the Time

It’s been one of those weeks. It’s Wednesday and I’m already tired. Lots of meetings in the evenings, lots of meetings in the mornings. Quite unusual for me. I like to keep my time free, so I’m not rushing around from place to place.

I’m discovering an interesting thing of late though: Even with my busy schedule, I find myself creating every day. More consistently than ever before. Almost every morning these days, you will find me stopping to take a photo or two. I’ve had to start leaving earlier to work, because who knows what I will find between my front door and the door of my workplace? A rainbow! A reflection in a puddle! A bare tree! Everything I see has so much possibility.

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Almost every evening, you will find me sitting down and playing with the new photos I’ve taken, even if only for a few minutes. I’m learning this new medium, exploring the possibilities. I have lots of experiments that no one will ever see. They are hideous. But that’s ok, because I’m also creating quite a few nice images that I love, too.

What’s changed for me? I’ve never been one for 365s or other time-based art projects, since I get too obsessive about meeting the goal and lose sight of the purpose. I know this about myself. Most of my creativity with photography has been in burst mode. All at once, capture a bunch of images, like when I travel. All at once, edit and play when I’m ready. It’s worked and I’ve loved that method of creating.

Somehow, with mobile photography, it’s becoming a daily practice, like my journaling and writing have been for a long time. Nothing I track obsessively to meet a goal, just something I do because I love to do it. Because I’m a happier, more grounded person when I do it.

With mobile photography, it’s always there, always available. It doesn’t take the forethought of bringing the “big” camera or hauling it out of the bag. It doesn’t take the time sitting at the computer to upload, edit, and share. I can do this all from a coffee shop or my comfy chair (even this blog post – from my iPad!). It feels like a daily practice should feel. Accessible. Natural.

I’m excited for this shift. Not only a new medium, but a new approach. A reminder that I can always change my methods as new possibilities come along. It doesn’t have to be painful or dramatic; it can be a natural, comfortable evolution.

It can be as simple as following my joy, and finding the time to create even when my calendar tells me I have none. It’s surprising what I can find when I want to.

Off to get ready for my morning meetings now… Have a great day!

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Seeing is Believing

Have you ever had a moment where you saw someone doing something – maybe it is a physical feat or a lifestyle choice or some sort of art – and you thought, I didn’t even know that is possible! It stops you in your tracks and makes you think. It can break down some wall you didn’t know you had. Open you up to new possibilities and a breadth of thinking about the world, the people in it, and how they make choices in their life. Maybe how YOU make choices in your life.

I had the opportunity to think on this concept this weekend. A lovely friend came to Corvallis to spend the day on Saturday, and as we were chatting over chai, I asked about her daughter, who is nearing the end of her undergraduate degree. Is she going on to grad school? I asked. Probably not, she said, and we talked about what she would be doing.

It brought to mind my own experience in college. Being the first of my family to go to college, I eked my way through. Scholarships, financial aid, working two or three jobs at a time and studying like crazy to get done in four years. Exhausting. So when my advisors really wanted me to go on to grad school, I rebuffed them. Why? I couldn’t live like that for another few years. I was ready to get my degree and a job and have a life. I didn’t realize there were other ways to fund graduate school… That with my grades and as a woman in electrical engineering I could have had a full ride somewhere. I didn’t realize what was possible because I had never seen it. No one I knew, no one in my immediate experience, had ever gone to grad school.

Seeing is believing. I couldn’t see how. I didn’t believe. I didn’t even realize the possibilities that existed.

After chatting over chai about life and work and family and art, my friend and I continued on our day by visiting a few artists studios in an Open Studio event. Several professors from the Oregon State University art faculty opened their studios on Saturday to the public. It was fantastic to see the studio spaces and the range of work they were doing. Every artist’s space and art is so unique. It is wonderful to talk to the artists about the work they create and why. Our favorite visit was with Clint Brown. For a while we were the only people there, and we had a nice long conversation about his different work, his process and things he had done, and he even pulled out some of his photo collage work from years ago after talking with me about what I had recently been doing. Wonderful.

As we left his studio I realized how important these open studio visits can be. This is only the second time I’ve attended, but they’ve had an amazing impact on me. You can see where, what and how the artists create. You can see what is possible. And just like anything else, seeing is believing. For those of us coming to art later in life, who don’t have an art background or education, it can be eye opening. If you don’t know any professional artists or see how they work, how can you believe it’s a possible choice? It can seem as much a fantasy as going to grad school did to me so long ago. But when you see it first hand and talk to the artists it is different. You learn that it is possible to live a life that involves creating art as an everyday thing. I’m not sure the artists realize what an impact they can have by sharing their space and their art in this simple way.

Have you ever visited an open studio event? I encourage you to. Chances are, there is one sometime during the year near your home. It’s a fantastic way to see the art that is being created in your local area, meet the artists, and to open your eyes to possibility. Seeing is believing.

And to wrap the story back around… I eventually did get to grad school, in the way that made sense to me. I did it in the evenings while working full time, and my employer paid for it. I don’t have any regrets for the choices that I made at the time, since they all led me to the path I am on today. Looking back I can see why I made those choices: I didn’t truly understand the possibilities.

Think about what that might mean for you. What do you believe is possible?

Blogs and books are also wonderful ways to learn other people’s stories and see what is possible. The Spark & Inspire eBook is a perfect example! I’m excited to announce the winner of the eBook giveaway: Judy Salcedo of Hey Jude Photography, a long-time participant around here. Congrats Judy!

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Celebrating the Winners

It’s time to announce the winners of my 1000th Blog Post Celebration! But first I want to thank all of you who entered. 128 entries. Wow. I’ve never had so many comments on one post! It was exciting to see them come through, and to read such lovely notes. I wanted to reply to them but that would have messed up the count for the drawing so I had to resist.

So I’ll send out a global thank you here today. Thank you for being here, for your lovely words, and for the ongoing support which allows me to share something I love with the world.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Let’s get on to the winners, shall we? Drawings were done with the random.org random number generator and winners have been emailed. Join me in congratulating them!

Grand Prize: Winner receives a class registration of choice in 2013 and a matted print of the image of their choice from my work.
#108 Lee Pope

First Prizes: Each winner will receive a matted print of the image of their choice from my work.
#105 Elizabeth Gonzalez
#42 Stephanie
#88 Andrea
#44 Cheryl
#27 Stephanie Skiff

Second Prizes: Each winner will receive a set of 3 postcards from my stash.
#81 Kelley Fewer
#69 Bernell Lemaire
#22 Fiona
#84 Paula
#120 Els
#62 Becky
#73 Sherry
#38 Kathryn Dyche Dechairo
#58 Annie
#67 MG Atwood

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Photo-Heart Connection: October

Who am I?

I don’t recognize my reflection here. That’s me, but not the me I know.

There is something different. Different in the silhouette, different in the frame. I love it. I fear it.

Gah. Change. Why is it so fun and exciting, yet so hard at the same time?

I love this new direction in my photography. I love the painterly mood and emotion that I am evoking in my images. Within myself. It’s not about perfect focus or the place I am right now, but the feeling. The impressions of light and shadow and color and how they convey a sentiment beyond what is physically there.

Yet I am scared, too.

Scared because I thought I had myself all figured out as an artist and this is so radically different. I don’t know where this will lead. I’m not sure how it all fits together within my self. Within my heart and soul.

Exciting. Scary. The raw material for a period of growth. I don’t know who I am at the moment, but I’m moving ahead anyway. I will continue to reflect, and figure out how the pieces fit as I go along. Learn to recognize myself again.

This month I’ve been exploring some new directions with my photography, and it turns out the top images for my Photo-Heart Connection were all painterly in feel. Whether from my mobile camera or from my dSLR camera, these were the ones that called to my soul. I’ve always thought my painting and my photography would come together someday. I just never thought it would be like it’s happening right now. I’m reveling in the excitement but also stunned at the fear that it’s evoking in me. The questions. The rules and the “shoulds” it’s revealing, about my art and who I am as an artist.

I didn’t want to do the Photo-Heart Connection this month. I was really resistant. I think, deep down inside, I didn’t want to face my fears. But that’s what the Photo-Heart Connection does. It cracks you open and lays you out for the messages your heart has for you. It’s a powerful thing.

For that reason, I’d like to do a series of guest posts at the end of the year. I want to hear how the Photo-Heart Connection has impacted you this year. How did you approach this monthly practice? How has it fed your personal growth? Has it changed your photography? I would like to know, and I think others would too. We learn from each other, in this community of kindred spirits. Here are the submission guidelines:

  • To be eligible, you must have participated in the Photo-Heart Connection at least 3 times throughout the year.
  • Write an original (unpublished) piece about how the Photo-Heart Connection has impacted you this year. Length is up to you. Use as short or as long as you need to communicate your experience.
  • Send it to me by December 15 at kat [at] kateyestudio [dot] com.
  • Include a few of the images you selected from your Photo-Heart Connection practice this year, and a 2-3 line bio with links to your blog/site/social media.

I plan to select 5 to 6 posts from the submissions and will let you know by 20 December if you are selected. I hope you will consider participating. I’ve found the Photo-Heart Connection practice to be powerful and I know, from reading your posts each month, that many of you do too.

So what’s your Photo-Heart Connection for October? It’s time to share with us here. Link up remains open through November 7.


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