Final Review - Journey of Recognition

    At the close of the Kat Eye Journey of Recognition course, I have mixed emotions.  I don't feel I gave it my "all," due to various life circumstances.  I didn't keep up well with my inspiration files.  I didn't complete all the assignments.  I didn't find myself out in the "field" often and I barely picked up my camera in the last month.  we've been completely overwhelmed with life and lack of time, and I do wish I'd taken the course when I had more time to devote to it.

    That being said, I took away several valuable discoveries.  I learned that I can push through the block and come out with results I love.  I learned that if I want time, I have to force my family to get on board, and I have to kick them out of the house. It's just where we are right now.  I learned that I love the creative results, and I also crave to improve technically so I can achieve the things I want to.  I learned that I love wood!

    As I am driving here and there, I find myself longing to pull over and leap out of the car, set up the tripod, and capture various scenes.  I haven't ever been drawn to landscapes and I'm intimidated by them, which might be 75% of why I don't actually pull over.  It seems that I'm intimidated even by the process of setting up the camera on the tripod.  I hate using the tripod, come to think of it.  The need for a tripod actually stops me.  Huh.

     I had the opportunity to experiment with macro photography, and loved the impact of the photos, although there were so many technical imperfections that I was on the verge of hitting "BUY IT" on a macro lens.  

     I am looking forward to Journey of Inspiration as a redeemer - we'll be all settled in our new place, with new challenges but our weekends won't be spend driving hours and hours and packing and laundry and all that.  My goal going forward is to actually pull over when I feel the pull.  I might not get something out of every shoot, but unless I try, I'm not getting anything!!

    If you have the opportunity to take Kat's classes (button is around here somewhere - click to go to her page), they're phenomenal for anyone in any stage of the photographic journey!

Shake it like a milkshake

I meant to share my little "discovery" which I'm sure isn't novel but it was to me:
To reduce shake when without tripod etc etc in the crappy low light setting as per previous post, put the camera on continuous shooting mode and capture 4-5 images.  The press and release of the shutter button cause shake, but the images in the middle tend to be clearer.  A ha!

Recognizing Inspiration

    As a board certified behavior analyst, today's photojournal prompt is particularly exciting.  What Kat has presented us with is called a task analysis - a breakdown of a more complex skill, like tying shoes or.. making a photograph.  It clicks with my brain's scientific way of thinking.
     When I am at work or trying to figure out my next steps in life, small or big, I always come back to a concept I learned from a marcus buckingham podcast - strengths and weaknesses.  He conceptualizes strengths as things you are good at, yes, but also - ready for it? - things that strengthen you.  He says that things you are good at, but hate, are not actually strengths, but weaknesses.  And worse, because you're good at them, people keep throwing them at you.  I am an excellent interviewer but I hate it - but I get assigned most of the interviews, during which I am just dreaming about being somewhere else.  I am also an excellent materials-maker, and while I am laminating, creating visual supports, etc, time just flies by. I'd do it even if I didn't get paid.  It's a thrill.
    That's what we're looking at here, as well - our strengths and weaknesses in the photographic process.  (PS - something you suck at but love to do is neither a strength or weakness - it's a hobby, lol).
   
     My strengths in the photographic process are: -seeing a subject - since I had my little epiphany, I can sharply identify what exactly it is I wanted to photograph, what about that subject, and am beginning to conceptualize how I want to present that to a viewer. -I love most of the exploration except when technicalities get in the way.  -Review is a thrill, and less and less a surprise (as in, oh, I thought that would be great and it was awful kind of surprise).  -I love sharing with others and receiving feedback.

    My weaknesses are: -Editing is boring.  I also don't have proper editing software, and further, my ultimate goal is for the photographs to require little editing to begin with.  I'm not yet into the editing-as-creative-process part - probably because I haven't been exposed and I don't imagine I'll ever have time for it.  -I never get an end result although putting photos up on the blog is often disappointing because out of their context in my photostream, they're often not as exciting as I thought.  I also find the cropping or color or something about a printed product to be very disappointing when I get them back.  I don't think printing processes have caught up with the digital aspect ratio or something.

     One area of frustration I continue to come up against is lack of equipment to do what I want to do - e.g., my girlfriend would like me to take her new portraits in exchange for providing interior design for my cottage. I want to agree, but I don't have a good portrait lens, reflectors, or the skill to get good SOOTC shots, or any training regarding posing and making people look good - even though it's one of my motivations.

    One area that I see I get jazzed up about over and over is exploring the subject - and letting it reval itself.

   


  a. Intention to photograph b. Seeing a subject c. Exploring/studying a subject with your camera d. Review of your images e. Editing of your images f. Getting an end result – on the wall, on the web, etc. g. Understanding your images h. Sharing with others i. Receiving feedback

Unfamiliar Subject - Photojournal

    When the last lesson from the 4-week Kat Eye: Journey of Recognition course arrived in my mailbox, I could hardly believe it.  Life, the universe, and bad lighting seriously impaired my ability to keep up with this class, and I have been blessed with amazing "virtual" classmates that have formed a real, vibrant online community and classroom.  I hope someday Kat will sponsor a retreat and we will all get away together with our cameras and our array of personalities.  I also hope it will be in Oregon, because 1) I've always wanted to go there and 2) I think I want a tattoo from this place in Oregon that I can't remember the name of.

    The silver lining is that we have another course coming up almost immediately, the Journey of Inspiration.  So, I have hope.

    However, I don't think it was ONLY my life that got in the way  -  it was my self too.  I think I intimidated myself, set my expectations too high, had a few amazing breakthroughs and experiences in Starting the Journey, and got fearful and too expectant.

     So today I kicked everyone out of the house, didn't bother about the fact that the lighting is subpar, and decided to tackle photographing an unfamiliar object, from a couple weeks back.  I usually lean towards my daughter, or natural backgrounds like wood, and shooting outdoors, so I figured I would try some depression glass that I needed to photograph anyhoo.

     

     During the exercise (photos are here), I started out frustrated because I just wanted to capture this little glass, and 1) the light bites, 2) I couldn't get an uncluttered background 3) my camera is notorious for a lot of noise at high ISOs, 4) my husband took my todder AND my tripod, argh.  I wasn't interested in this, and then I put the little glass on the wooden bench and added some mirrors to try to capture more natural light.  Still boring. I added a different piece (with branches, of course) and got more into it - there was some texture, and interest, and something in the glass jar spoke to me.  Then I came around the corner, like Kat trained us to do, and there was the little jar, looking at itself.  In that angle, time got lost, things came together, and the little vignette in the previous post was born.

     Joke's on me: I ended up using the natural element as a backdrop, of course, and sticking with the wide aperture, of course.. but I tried, I opened up the creative gates again, and I'd still like to try sports or architecture, but once again, can't let perfect get in the way of good. I think that the challenges of light and glass, which fades into many backgrounds, made this a challenge for me.  Regardless, I feel very emotional about the results.  There was something very touching to me about objects examining themselves in the mirror, about the branches reaching out of the tiny jar, about the tiny old webs hanging off the branches, and finally, the brilliance and transcendence of the light on the glass and mirror.  The whole process gave me some hope about our situation and my mental state right now.

Unfamiliar subject- the pics

Dual Identity

Escape

Haunted

shine

La-De-Da, Foggy Day

Does anyone else remember the terrific children's CD "In Harmony"?  If you have a child in your life, you've got to look it up. There's a great song about a sailor and a mermaid, singing "la de da, foggy day, ship ahoy, and by the way..."
    This morning I was late for work as always and my charming little bubba insisted on using an umbrella in the drizzle. The last thing that would occur to me would be to pull out the camera in the fog and rain but this umbrella obsession just screams to be documented, and why let perfect get in the way of good when you also have a "weird light" assignment to fulfill!?

I absolutely loved the misty, faded look that the 8am light filtered through the fog lent to these photographs.  Obviously we didn't have much time for composition or anything like that, especially as it's impossible to photograph a kid-on-wheels safely, when standing that close to the street.  However, if I could wrap the camera in a baggie and do some planning with vintage-inspired palettes, I'd love to do a rainy/foggy photoshoot.  Don't you think this soft look has potential? 

Intuitive Photojournal - in the dark

It's not a very good photo, or a very flattering photo, and it might seem like I'm flipping the bird but I was just using a remote control.  It was a party, a friend's 50th party, and they announced they had gotten married, which would be unremarkable except that gay marriage is finally legalized in NY and these guys, who have been together longer than most married couples I know, finally tied the knot.

I dragged my camera along to the party even though I don't really have the equipment to be shooting a party in the dark.  I figured I could at least set up a "photo booth" to document the guests.
     Things didn't turn out like I planned. The second I got the camera on the tripod, folks started leaping in front of it. I should be so lucky.. except that the camera was still set to something involving bright light and sunflowers.  While trying to get the settings right, I accidentally shot this photo of myself.  And I'm sharing it with the internet because although it's a horrible photo of me, it pretty much sums it up at this moment.  Every time I come across it, my heart hurts for her.  She is in the dark, she's emerging, and she's none too happy about what she sees out there.