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Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

The August Break – A Review

I cannot believe an entire month has passed with me participating in Susannah Conway’s “The August Break” project! It’s one of those “it flew by so quickly” … and yet “I remember each and every day SO well” kind of contradiction thingies. To commemorate the experience, I thought I would wrap the month up with a bit of a summary. Woohoo!

The Good – SO many good things about this project!!! Primarily, it “encouraged” me to be disciplined about trying to take good quality photos on a daily basis, and yet gave me the freedom to just “fire one off” if I was having a bad/busy day. A month was just the right amount of time to commit to a “theme” too – long enough to make me have to “stretch”, but short enough that I didn’t get too frustrated or bored with it. And just look at the great stuff I created!!!

I’ve got to admit, it was a huge relief to not have to spend hours mulling over my blog posts – my brain definitely enjoyed the the end of summer more this way! Plus, a lot of exposure to other cool blogs over the month means I now have a better idea of what I want my own blog to be like. Yippie! I just have to figure out how to pick and choose between which ones I want to keep up with, as I now have dozens in my list that caught my eye this month.

I also “met” a lot of amazing people who were also involved with the project. We connected because we were commenting on each others photos every day, which was awesome! Ultimately this led to my “discovery” of what I really like in photos. Not that I didn’t know this before, but now I’m even more consciously aware of it when I’m composing an image. I also now have a list of techniques and tricks I’d like to try when I get the chance, thanks to the inspirational efforts of my peers. And as “enlightened” as I would like to be, the ego-stroking (via comments and homage photos) was a definite plus too.

The Bad – Now, to be fair, it wasn’t all “sunshine and roses” (though there were several photos of these as well). The biggest downside by far was the time commitment – I still ended up spending waaay too much time computer-bound! First, there was the sorting through all the photos I had taken (on average, about 100 per day!), then the editing, then the blog posting, then the linking to FB, then the posting to Flickr…and THEN, the going through all of the other posted group photos…and commenting! As a result, I felt I didn’t have time to do other creative things when the mood struck – like painting or sewing…and I actually missed doing them, but felt I had committed to a month of photos, so… I don’t know how I’m going to wean myself from this routine, but I’m going to HAVE to if I want to get anything else done!

I also found it really challenging to do this project while minding the baby (who is at that “needs near constant supervision” phase). If I restricted myself to nap-time photo taking, the light was harsh and hard to work with, or alternately the weather was crappy. If I tried to work around nap-time, I was limited to quick “point-and-shoot” images taken on the fly so I could keep one eye on the wee trouble maker. And trying to take photos anywhere beyond our baby-proofed house? Well, you can imagine the chaos that ensued. Plus, I knew it would be lame to shoot a whole month of family photos, so after about a week, the confines of my house and yard were feeling a bit claustrophobic. Yes, it’s been a challenging month, to say the least, and I am really looking forward to more time-flexible projects.

The Ugly – There really is no nice way to say this, and I don’t want to come across as mean or anything, but… one has to admit there were a lot of bad photos taken this month – many of my own included. The reason I can now clearly define my own tastes better is because I looked at hundreds of photos that made me ask “Why?” Yes, I know this wasn’t a photo competition, and yes, I understand that there were a lot of novice photographers involved…but still – even the mundane can be beautiful, people! Of course, the flipside of this is that I now try to find the “So what?” (something my favourite photography teacher was fond of asking) in my own work. Universal appeal. Timelessness. Meaning. Of course, there were many amazingly wonderful photos as well, so it was totally worth the wading through.

At one point I came across a photographer who firmly believed that taking an image directly from a camera was a “photograph”, but the minute you altered it in ANY way, it became a “digital artwork”. Hmm. This started me thinking about all of the techniques and processing being used nowadays with digital photography – a lot of it without purpose, in my opinion. I also came to believe that even the choice of camera/film used is actually akin to a treatment that you apply to an image – it absolutely needs to support or enhance that image somehow. And so, even though I enjoy a lot of Susannah’s Polaroid images, I saw enough less-than-inspiring Polaroids this summer to prevent me from pulling my own out and giving it a spin. At least not for public consumption.

The Verdict – So. Am I glad I participated? Heck, yeah! As I said, I learned a great deal this month and am totally inspired to “step up” my photographic efforts when the opportunity arises. Was it what I expected? Nope, not at all. There were way more participants and a lot more interaction than I had anticipated, so it wasn’t terribly relaxing – but that’s totally my doing. Will I continue with the group into September (“August Break Continued”, as has been suggested)? Um, no, I don’t think so. Next month will already be stupid busy with school and travel and solo parenting and getting back to some of my other creative loves (I hope)…so I’m going to have to say goodbye for now.

Bottom line – would I recommend it or do again? YES-YES-a-million-times-YES! And I will do it again next summer, for sure! Not that I’m going to totally abandon the group and the connections I’ve made until then, but I definitely won’t be checking in or posting daily. And who knows, maybe by next summer I’ll be ready to take it one step further (like some of this years participants did) and dedicate my photos to a month of “Strangers” or “Diptychs” or “Post Production Techniques” or some other funky theme.

Finally, I would like to say a HUGE thank you again to each and every one of you that took the time to comment on my work, whether here or on Flickr! I really and truly appreciate it, and am very excited to see where we all end up going to from this! Happy snapping, peeps!

Tags: August Break, Facebook, Flickr, gratitude, review, summary, Susannah Conway, the good the bad the ugly

Posted in August Break | 6 Comments »

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Six Degrees Of Kate

Kevin Bacon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (only 2 degrees).

One of the things I just love about this whole creative blogging adventure is finding cool stuff quite by chance. Years ago, when I first started “social networking” on Myspace, I could spend hours just clicking on Person A who would randomly lead me to Person B who would randomly lead me to Person C and so on. I found it interesting to play a “Six Degrees” game for myself – what kinds of people existed beyond my usual social circle, and what were they willing to share with the world? I’ve tried this with Facebook recently, but it’s not nearly as fun with everybody (myself included) cranking up their privacy settings – a dead end at the third degree? *sigh* But the blogosphere…now here’s a whole new frontier just begging to be explored!

Some days I’ll just go to a friend’s Blogger page and hit the “Next Blog” button at the top and see where it leads me. This is the most random technique, as I could end up at a page about anything from clothes for dogs to finding Jesus to somebody’s vacation photos of Spain. Talk about random! Some days I will check out the blogs that my friends know about and suggest to me, which has proven to be somewhat enlightening too. Lately I’ve been a little more focused, however, starting out at a friend’s arty/crafty page and clicking through subsequent blogroll entries. Which is exactly how I ended up at Women At Rest – “an oasis for the frazzled and overwhelmed”. Ooh, now there’s something I can relate to!

While perusing this site, I noticed they had a Facebook page I could become a fan of, and it was there that I found the following entry:

A good day doesn’t have to be big, splashy and flamboyant. Life is not a pie-eating contest. Listening is good. Hugs matter. A 30-minute run is enough. Short blog posts count.

It’s like it was written just for me. Well, except for the running part. There was also a link to this manifesto that can’t help but make you feel good, if you’re looking for a warm fuzzy feeling today.

And so with that, I am keeping this post short and sweet and heading out into my poor, neglected garden while my “domestic assistant” is here today. Time to create a little order in my yard so I can once again enjoy it without feeling guilty for spending so much time creating other things.

My garden in happier, less weedy days.

Tags: blog, Facebook, Myspace, six degrees, social networking

Posted in Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Tips for Taking Self-Portraits

I have this idea for an upcoming project. It’s something in the collage vein, and it’s taking some time to coordinate, so I’ve been working on it here and there when I get the time. Anyhow, I needed to take some photos of myself for this project, and once they were finished, I figured I’d make use of my “done” hair and makeup, as well as the beautiful rainy day light, and take some self-portraits. As I’ve been parusing the blogosphere, I’ve noticed a lot of “self-portrait a day” challenges, and it got me thinking that maybe you all might be interested in a “How do I take good self-portraits?” post, so here it is. Woo!

Now, I’m pretty sure that we’ve all had our share of bad pictures taken of us. You know the ones – the ones that make you cringe both inside and out…the ones you try to hide from people, or even destroy…the ones that you fear will end up getting posted on Facebook by some old acquaintance you barely knew. Or your ex. Yeah, you know the ones I’m talking about. Sites like Awkward Family Photos and even Ellen’s Bad Paid-For Photos (as well as Bad Santa Photos, Bad Wedding Photos, and Bad School Photos) are aplenty. Well, why not counterbalance all of these bad photos by taking a bunch of good ones yourself?

Kate, circa Jr. High. And you are welcome for the hearty laugh.

A few years back, my friend Michael asked me for some advice on taking good self-portraits. At first I told him it was easy as A-B-C … (A) take A billion of them (practice makes perfect), (B) pick your BEST (best expression, best pose, best outfit, whatever), and (C) CROP until interesting (try not to cut off body parts at the joints, though – see above). While I still stand by that advice, it wasn’t until I had taken a few more self-portraits that I realized I needed to add a bit more detail, for the less photographically inclined.

Whenever possible, use natural lighting as it is very flattering – harsh shadows and squinty eyes are not. Avoid direct or mid-day sunlight if you can, and aim for diffused or reflected light – try shooting in the morning or evening, outside on an overcast day, or in a shadow on a sunny day.
Remember that how we see ourselves is different from how other people see us (I will dedicate a whole post on this some other day). So. Experiment with a variety of angles – tilt your face in different directions AND hold your camera in different places. Straight on at eye level is the least interesting, usually. Oh, and try not to shoot too much from below unless you like the look of double chins.
Think of people, memories, ideas etc. that will show positively on your face. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then write a love letter with your eyes – imagine that your lover, your child, your long-lost friend is looking at you through the camera lens and send them some love. Or look for happy thoughts written in the clouds (not all great portraits have to have you looking at the camera you know). Or, you can always try any number of different moods – contemplative, wistful, sexy, goofy, serious, etc. Play with it. Have some fun. Reveal character.
Keep It Simple, Stupid. Try not to clutter the image with lots of patterns, “trendy” hair and clothing (that you will regret when the trend is over), or things in the background that will “compete” with you. Unless you WANT to record these things for posterity, then by all means do so. But for timeless, shameless, “universal” portraits, KISS.
Above all, relax. If you don’t feel comfortable, it’s totally going to show in your pictures. So, when you notice your face is getting that “fake smile” feel, scrunch it up or make it really wide – heck, snap a few of these faces just for laughs! Sometimes I like having music on in the background so that I can sing along if the mood strikes, or just so that my enjoyment of a songs reflects in my face. Be confident – know that if you don’t like them, you can delete them, and nobody will be the wiser.

Experiment. Practice. Have fun. And every once in a while, break the rules – you never know what might happen! With any luck, you’ll end up with something that makes you feel pretty. Or handsome. Or both.

A few of my past self-portraits.

Some others from the photo shoot.

The one I decided to run with.

Anything I forgot? Something you’d like to add? Please feel free to comment below – I promise, I won’t bite. Unless you ask.

Tags: awkward family photos, bad paid-for photos, Facebook, feel pretty, how do I, Photography, self-portraits

Posted in DIY, Musings, Photography | 4 Comments »

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Do You Copy That?

As you may remember, a little while back I asked for some input about the whole watermarking issue. I had been reluctant to post my past photography in the gallery, and even a little hesitant to post new work on this site (even though that’s the main goal of this blog…to get me creating new work, or maybe inspire others to). I was unclear about how copyright worked and was worried that I might get taken advantage of somehow. Well, after picking the brains of some of my peers and doing a little research, I have gained a basic understanding about intellectual property rights and as a result, finally made a few decisions. I thought I’d share my findings with you.

Mine mine mine mine mine.

First of all, as creator of the contents of this blog (unless otherwise noted), I automatically have copyright over what you’ll find in here. That is, I have the sole right to produce or reproduce my textual or visual work (or a substantial part of it) in any form, and am protected under the Copyright Act. There is some fabulous information about Canadian copyright at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website, if you are so interested. Even though copyright exists automatically when an original work is created, registration of that work gives you a certificate that states that you are the owner of the work, and it can be used in court as evidence of this ownership.

Now, if you know me, you’ll know that I am not one of those uptight individuals who needs to be the sole person attached to their work. I have created a lot of stuff over the years and never gotten any credit for much of it. For the most part, I am okay with that. Most of the time, if somebody wants to use one of my photos (or whatever) for something, I am more than willing to let them. BUT. I appreciate being asked before hand about these uses, and I expect to be appropriately credited if the situation warrants (like if one of my photographs is used in a newspaper or something similar).

Given that I’d rather my stuff get shared around rather than hoard it all to myself, upon the suggestion of my friend Keith, I looked into something called Creative Commons. Essentially, this group wanted to develop a set of user-friendly licenses that would enable creators to share their work under certain conditions. There are four different license categories that you can choose from, depending on how much control you wish to maintain over your copyrighted material. For a list of these conditions, please check out the Creative Commons Canada website. Bottom line, this seems a much friendlier way to go about doing things.

And so. In addition to doing “sensible” things that will hopefully deter outright theft – like posting only low resolution images, not plastering my images all over Facebook, and having an invoice ready to be sent out if I should discover some of my work being used inappropriately (thanks to Don and Andrea for their suggestions!!!) – I am also adding a Creative Commons / some copyrights reserved statement to my blog. As well, I have uploaded some of my past works to the gallery and will continue to add my new creations to my posts. Whew. That was a lot of work.

Of course, this whole endeavour took a lot of my time today, so in lieu of “creating” something new, I invite you to go and check out the photography pages in the gallery. =)

Tags: copyright, copyrighted material, Creative Commons, Facebook, intellectual property, licenses, Photography, watermarks

Posted in Musings, Photography | No Comments »

Friday, June 18th, 2010

But It’s A PHONE, People!!!

I’ve got to admit it, I’m something of a photography snob. Well, maybe “snob” isn’t the right word exactly, but I certainly do have some steadfast opinions about photos and cameras and the like. Which is why I’ve been avoiding getting a cell phone with a camera in it. I mean, come on! It’s a PHONE, people – how can you expect to take good quality photos from a phone?!?! I’d seen pictures taken with my husband’s iPhone, and they were okay…in a pinch, but certainly nothing to write epic poems about.

And then…there was the iPhone Hipstamatic ap with the whole Toy Camera thing. And suddenly, I had to rethink everything I though I knew about camera phones. Hipstamatic photos started appearing all over Facebook, and in spite of my internal snobbishness, I *Loooved* them! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Kodak Instamatic X15-F was my first camera ever, but the fuzzy moodiness of these camera phone photos makes me weak in the knees. I don’t know whether they give “Average Joe iPhone User” bragging rights as an “artiste”, but I do know what I like.

A “hip’d up” corner of my studio, taken with my husband’s iPhone.

Still, it’s probably just the “exception to the rule” phenomenon…right? Well, then my bottom-of-the-line, use-only-in-case-of-emergency cell phone exploded from within, and my husband encouraged me to get something a little more advanced to replace it. While I balked at getting an iPhone for myself (I don’t need even more instant distraction capabilities, plus I can always borrow his to take my own Hipstamatics), I agreed to upgrade to the Sony Ericsson T715A, with it’s 3.2 megapixel camera/video recorder.

Hmm. Not bad for an unaltered “catching the light” photo.

So, as I was heading to the bank the other day, I was thinking about my next crafty project (a sign for KateWares) when I noticed the storefront of a quilting establishment. I loved the lettering on the quilt and wanted to “bank” it (pardon the pun) for future inspiration – but alas, I was without my trusty “spy cam” (my awesome Nikon Coolpix S10). *heavy sigh* Oh, wait! I had my phone. My new phone – with a camera in it. (How crazy is that?) Well, I snapped a few shots and I’ve got to say, I was reasonably impressed.

Taken through a glass window and then cropped for detail.

Not that I’m going to start shooting ALL of my photos with my phone from here on in, but it’s sure nice to know that there’s photographic goodness within. Isn’t it funny how often you end up in places that you didn’t at all intend to, when you’re willing to be open to new experience? Take this post, for example. It started out being all about collage and letters and making my new sign…but somehow I got completely sidetracked. Ah, well. I guess there’s always tomorrow.

Tags: camera phone, Facebook, hipstamatic, iPhone, Photography, photos, spy cam

Posted in Photography | 10 Comments »

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Alright, Here We Go Now

Recently, it occurred to me that I spend WAAAY too much time on Facebook. Okay, well maybe not recently – but I’m finally getting to the point where it troubles me. Now, don’t get me wrong. As a “stay-at-home-mom” FB has provided me with much needed diversion over the years. But. With all of the hullabaloo lately over privacy issues and whatnot, I’m getting more and more reluctant to post anything on the site. And truth be told, I am spending far too much time being concerned with what other people are doing instead of actually doing something myself. Which, when you get down to brass tacks, is fundamentally who I am. A builder. A creator. A maker of stuff and things. So. Here I am. Attempting to get myself back on tacks…er, track.

I have been making things ever since I can remember: poorly spelled poems about a childhood trip to the sea, crookedly stitched wall-hangings that my grandmother displayed with pride, grainy photo portraits of friends and family taken with the Kodak Instamatic X-15F that my Uncle George got for me when I was 10, and that I dragged around with me everywhere. Why give somebody some crappy knick-knack manufactured in a heartless factory on the other side of the world when you can give a little bit of yourself? Hmm. Perhaps this has something profound to say about my deep-seated desire for acceptance…but that’s another post for another time.

All I know is that the act of creation is fundamental to my existence. And even though I create on a daily basis – whether via cooking or tending to my home and garden or creating healthy, happy children – I find it hard to carve out time for more “arty” endeavours. I am hoping that this blog will set me on the straight and narrow. Or rather, the curvy and wide. AND give me the opportunity to share some of that creative experience with those who may be interested in such things. So…welcome! Alright. Here we go, now.