Don't Fence Me In

  It happened again.  I've described in the past how I will stop and be focused on something that caught my eye.  I'll take several photos, get just the right angle or wait for the light, only to turn and find what I was supposed to be looking at in the first place looking back at me.  That's what happened with this lady.  I was looking at the birds on my right only to turn around and burst out laughing at the Black Baldy checking me out.  Lesson reinforced. Pay attention.  Look for what you may have missed.

Be Well friend,

2020 Art Show Schedule

The 2019 Adventure begins

What an absolutely wonderful year last year has been for me professionally.  I expect new and exciting adventures to follow this year.  Along with continuing the #WindowFramed series that you'll be able to find at the art shows I attend and upcoming retail venues, I am expanding to offer private commissions for folks looking to have me create a one of a kind fine art photograph just for them.  So many of you have asked if this was possible that I decided that YES, yes it is possible.  Here's what I'll be sharing when someone asks me if .....

If this sounds like something you've been dreaming of doing, maybe the cell phone photos you take just don't do your home place, deer lease, lake house or river side justice, then allow me to create that piece of art that will.  Until my show season goes into full swing starting in March I'll be offering an introductory price with the session fee of only $200. 

 

I hope you are as excited about the upcoming year as I am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Check in and Musings

Hello Friend-

I wanted to touch base before the Spring excitement of practically weekly shows gets started for me.  I'm sharing some new images that you may not have seen if you aren't following along with me on Instagram where you'll find my "Window Frames" project that is new at the shows this season and my ongoing struggle with work gloves blow outs.  I'm using old/vintage/shabby/fabulous found window frames to bring my work to life.  It is bringing me much joy.



I'll be at the Starving Artist show in downtown San Antonio at La Villita Saturday and Sunday April 7,8th this week.  Next weekend at the Lubbock Arts Festival at the civic center April 12,13,14th, then as part of Fiesta at the King William Fair on April 28th.  Then in May at LagoFest at Lago Vista on May 5, Art on the Greene in Arlington the 11th,12th and 13th finishing the month at Kerrville Festival of the Arts May 26 and 27th. Dang gurl....I know!  Then the big Hot sets in and I'll share more later on future shows.

So, last month in Salado I had someone in the booth looking at my photographs and wondering "Why can't I take photographs like that?"  I hear something similar almost every show because everyone takes pictures now.  Everyone has a camera in their hand all the time with their phones.  I'd been thinking about what makes my work different for a while.  How would I describe my work, what am I trying to say ..etc etc and ended up landing on this idea.  I'll share it with you and you can test it and see if it doesn't make a difference in the way you see and photograph.

The disclaimer:  All types of photography are valid and worthy, one isn't better than another just like any other art form, love what you love.  This is what I've found true for me.


My photography truly changed when I embraced the notion that I could make my photographs look like what I see.  A lot of that is captured in camera and some of it is created in editing.  The idea is that when you look at something or something catches your eye, you focus on whatever that is and all else "falls away" or isn't noticed.  That isn't necessarily true when you are taking a picture.  The camera is going to pay attention to everything that is in front of it.  Yes, you can manipulate that but this isn't a technique talk but about generalizations. So for an amateur, the biggest impact they can make to upping their picture taking game is to make that realization.  Find what captured your attention in the first place and make that what the photograph is about.  Notice that trash can that is going to be in the shot if you don't take a step to the right because your camera sure will.  Once you realize that the camera sees all and doesn't discriminate like your eye and minds does instinctively then you can take steps to make your photograph look like what you saw, either by what you do in camera or afterward in processing. 

 

 

I still take "representational" photographs-ones that look exactly like real life but more and more I'm trusting that what caught my eye and attention and spoke to me will speak to others as well.  Having almost weekly feedback from folks coming through the booth looking and smiling and dreaming along with me has done wonders to validate the directions I take my work into as my confidence grows.  I say to you-Give it a try- see if you don't notice a difference in your photography when you treat camera or phone like a human eye and see if you can't recreate that feeling yourself.

That's it for now.  Please do following along with me through this season as it feels like a turning point in my photography career and I'll be out and on the show circuit more than ever and hope to meet you along the way.

See you down the road,

What's next?

 

 

Come see me at the Blanco Lavender Festival.  This summer is starting off surprisingly mild and green.  This is the perfect weekend to get some shopping done in the lovely outdoors before the a/c begins to rule our days.

 

Details on the Southwest adventure to come in my next post.

 

See you soon,

 

Kim

Water Fairy Fence

Water Fairy Fence

 

 

 

I was out and about yesterday on a "go see".  Mom was riding shotgun and we determined that we must have found every low water crossing in Medina and Bandera counties.  This particular crossing told me a story as the clear water rushed by under the car.

 

 

I imagined how hard it must be for the water folk to deal with the flash floods that frequent this part of Texas.  I could see them reaching out to the local rancher and asking for his help.  They kept losing folk to the rushing water and many downstream relocation's had been required. Could he do anything to help a fairy out?  The rancher ended up stringing a fence line across the stream to provide the little ones a chance to grab hold and ride out the rising water.

 

 

From now on I'll view this fencing differently.  No longer will it be an obstacle to shoot around in my photographs but a much needed aid in this and other worlds.

 

 

I'll be talking to you again soon and in the mean time....why not let your imagination off the leash?

 

 









Imagine

 

Imagine

 

Imagine: to think of or create (something that is not real) in your mind

to form a picture or idea in your mind of (something that is not real or present)

 

 

 

A frosty morning and a well trodden path.  The more prosaic out there would say "just a deer path".  Where is the fun in that?  What about the trolls and faerie and little folk that need to reach the river as well?  The enchanted ones that make their way by starlight and the liminal light of dawn and dusk?  See there tiny feet barely stirring the frozen blades?  Hear their work songs as they haul the steaming water back to hearth and home.  If you stay quiet and out of the way you can watch them work until the golden hour passes and the doors between our worlds ease shut once more.

 

Go ahead, imagine.