smartphone art - Kat Eye Studio

September 19, 2013 by Kat

Upcoming Workshops and Events

With the start of school, it seems that activities pick up. Gone are the lazy weekends and free evenings. Things are in gear for fall! I have a number of upcoming workshops and events I want to share with you.

And a bit of new work to share with you… Just before going on the Eastern Oregon trip I made a visit to a water garden to photograph water lilies and, joy of all joys, bamboo! Here’s the first image from that excursion. More to come!

Workshops

I’ve created a short class to introduce the basics of getting great photographs with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Offered through Corvallis Parks & Rec on November 9 and January 11, this class will be good way to get started with your mobile device. You always have your mobile device with you, right? Why not make it your primary camera. I have! In this half-day course, you’ll learn how to get the most out of your device’s camera along with the basics of editing, using the ProCamera and Snapseed apps. Whether you are a beginner or an established photographer, you’ll be creating photographs you are proud to share in no time. The cost of the 3-hour workshop is $32+apps, and you can register through Corvallis Parks & Rec.

It was so much fun, I’m doing it again! I am teaching the 1-day Smartphone Art workshop on November 16 in Hillsboro, Oregon at the wonderful Sequoia Gallery + Studios. If you want to learn how to create art with your mobile device, you can join me for a fun, hands-on day of instruction. We’ll begin by learning how to get great photographs using your mobile device, the first step to creating any type of smartphone art. From there, we’ll move into basic and creative edits using apps. By the end of the day, you’ll be combining apps and creating truly unique works of art using your device. You can find the full workshop description here. The cost for the 1-day workshop is $75+apps, and you can register through Sequoia Gallery + Studios.

Events

A group of us are creating an informal Mobile Photography Group here in Corvallis. Our first meeting will be September 24 at 7pm. We’ll share app reviews, demos and whatever the participants are interested in. At this first meeting we’ll discuss how we want to format and organize. I’m excited to develop a stronger community of mobile photographers in the local area. Contact me for details if you are interested in attending.

It’s Corvallis Fall Festival time! This is an amazing juried festival of artists which runs September 28 and 29. I’ll be there in the PhotoArts Guild booth, with my art for sale. I’ll be presenting a portfolio of my iPhone tree images from last winter, as framed and unframed prints and greeting cards. I don’t place my work for sale very often, so this is a unique opportunity to see my work in person (in my favorite format – printed!) and to purchase. I’ll be working in the booth on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, after 2pm. I would love to meet you if you are able to stop by!

The Philomath Open Studios Tour is an annual event that allows you into the studios of some amazing artists. Held the weekends of October 26/27 and November 2/3, you can visit the studios of the participating artists anytime between 12-5pm. I am excited to be a guest artist in the event this year, hosted by photographer David Paul Bayles in his gorgeous Kindred Wind Studio. I can’t wait to share and discuss my art with more people in this wonderful venue. I attended last year and it was fascinating to meet the artists, see their studios and discuss their work. I highly recommend you attend an even like this, even if you are not in my area. It’s great learning experience! Philomath Open Studios also has a booth at Fall Festival, and you’ll find me there in the morning of September 28.

So that’s it! It’s a busy fall, but it’s all doing things I love. I hope I get a chance to meet you at these different workshops and events.

July 25, 2013 by Kat

Dear Winter Trees

It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, and I wanted to let you know that you are on my mind. I’ve been missing your interesting shapes against the sky. I find myself seeing glimpses of you in your summer cousins. You know, the ones with fewer leaves? I see you in their branches and shadows. And I miss you more.

Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and don’t want to hasten its end. I love the long days of light, the heat, the fresh fruits and vegetables, running around with bare feet, wearing sunglasses and crop pants, and no homework. There is too much good in summer to hurry it along.

But the summer trees? Not as interesting as you. All their best features are hidden by their summer finery of leaves.

So know that when the time comes for you to return, at least one person will be rejoicing. I’ll be excited to see you this fall, with my camera in hand. I already have big plans for us.

Yours,
Kat

My latest article, Smartphone Art 2: Improve your images with basic editing, is up on the Seek Your Course blog now. Stop on over to get an overview of basic photo editing, selective adjustments, and how to find and choose apps. Let me know what you think!

What else do you want to learn? I’m prepping for my Smartphone Art workshop here in Oregon in a couple of weeks and starting to think about an online class. Now is the perfect time to let me know what you want to learn. Where are you having trouble? What makes you say, How did she do that? Drop me a note.

June 20, 2013 by Kat

Bright and Sleepy

Continuing my brightly colored play today! Last weekend I caught a photograph of my sleeping cat Stevie with my new fisheye lens for iPhone. These little lenses are fun but they are a little tweaky with focus so I haven’t quite figured out how and where I want to use them yet.

Sleeping Stevie, however, came out perfect for a bit of colorful editing fun. All the while I was editing, I was singing, “Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur…” Who can give me the next line?

Apps used: Popsicolor, Image Blender, Handy Photo, Aquarella HD, decim8, Portray.

May 27, 2013 by Kat

The Space Between

I have been struggling with my art. Yes, I’ve been playing and exploring, but struggling too. Learning something new is like that. The delight of new discovery. The wonder of the first, sometimes accidental, success. Then comes realization of intent. And with it the struggle to recreate what was first encountered by serendipitous accident.

For weeks, since creating this piece called “Looking Through,” I’ve been staring at it on my photo display. Trying to figure out what makes it resonate with me so much. How I can create other pieces with a similar feel.

It’s been a struggle. Lots of experimentation and failures. Many successful in their own way, but not the same as Looking Through. Finally, this weekend I created another that’s on the right track. I finally figured out one of the secret ingredients that had been eluding me — the space between.

The next day, as I was getting ready for yoga, I was wondering what I should do with myself. I had two days left in my holiday weekend, and no major plans. No classes to prepare for, since I’ve rescheduled to take the summer off. No big exhibitions to print and frame; I’m all ready for June. Newsletter written. No looming deadlines. My head started racing off onto new projects and new ideas. I started thinking of what I should do next, making plans. I suddenly stopped short, realizing…

For just a little while, I need to live in the space between.

What did I clear my schedule for this summer, if not to create space? Space for being, instead of doing. Space to take care of body and soul, instead of mind. Space to explore, and see what happens.

Even as I struggle to bring intentional openness into my art, I struggle to stay here, intentionally open, in my life, too. There must be something I need to learn here, in the space between.

April 25, 2013 by Kat

Want to learn Smartphone Art?

Since I started to explore mobile photography and app processing, almost immediately I heard the question: “Kat, are you going to teach a class? I would love one!”

“Not yet,” I would answer, “I’m still learning myself.”

That worked for a while. Now, I am still learning for myself, but the teacher in me just can’t be suppressed. When I love something, I want to share it! So there are a couple of ways I’m reaching out to teach what I’m calling “Smartphone Art.”

As a regular contributor on the Seek Your Course blog this year, I’ll be providing tutorials on Smartphone Art. The first one, Smartphone Art I: Getting good photographs with your smartphone, is available today! You can get a short introduction to taking great photographs with your mobile device.

But, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t squeeze all of the info into a few blog posts, so I’ve got a new workshop in the works!

Smartphone Art will be a one day, on location workshop first held here in Corvallis, Oregon on August 10. You can get all of the details on the workshop here and register here. In the one day, hands-on workshop, we will start with the basics of getting a great photograph using the camera on your mobile device, and by the end of the day you will be combining apps to create unique works of art. Sound fun? Yeah, I think so too. I absolutely can’t wait!! If you don’t live close by, don’t worry, I’m sure this material will eventually makes its way into an eCourse, but I’m inspired to teach it on location first. Contact me to talk about bringing it to your local area.

I’ll also be teaching A Sense of Place as a two-day workshop here in the local area this summer! Join me June 8 and 9 to explore your sense of place through photography. I’m running this workshop a little bit differently since I’m not travelling, with the classroom instruction portion on Saturday morning and then an image review and discussion on Sunday afternoon. Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning will be on your own, “homework” time. It will provide a really great opportunity to learn, practice and integrate the material. You can get all of the details on the workshop here and register here.

As I mentioned yesterday, these workshops are part of my shift to “local” that’s been going on over the last year. I look forward to meeting more of you close to home!

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