Change (quote week, beyond layers)

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." I love that. One way I need to change is to start taking more 'shots'. I have lived too safely--often afraid to go for something--to put myself out there--because I'm afraid of rejection. I tell myself I will not succeed anyway, so why try?

I had written about my photography goals a while back (based on another prompt from Kim), and I am going to take a shot at getting my work displayed locally.

Recently, a  colleague of mine at work wrote me an instant message that said 'your photography is mind blowing and beautiful'. I did not even know where she had seen it and she said she had ran across it on the Imagekind website where I had posted some items in the past. It turns out she is an artist (a painter) who also dabbles in photography. She said she is trying to get her work displayed in a local library, so I am thinking that the two of us could at least sit down and talk about how to go about that and support each other.

She showed me some of her paintings and they are beautiful. I am going to set up an appointment with her to show her some of the websites I have found inspirational (including, of course, Kim's) and just start that conversation about our 'other' life away from the corporate world of being artists (still that artist word is hard for me to say applies to me). Who knows, much may come from it or nothing as far as publicity but still, it is certain to be a new friendship, which is enough.

Peace (quote week, beyond layers)

It's a good question . . .

Quote for Life (Beyond Layers, Day 38)

I'm jumping around quite a bit in Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class. I hope to catch up completely someday, but I'm not sure I will. Anyway . . .

This week is 'quote week'. The challenge is to search for a quote that we like based on a word prompt. Yesterday's (yes, I'm behind already) prompt was 'life'. I found this quote and it immediately struck me as true.

There are so many things people should let go of: grudges, regrets, hang-ups, fears, losses, disappointments, envies . . . to name a few.

And there are so many things people should hold on to: friends, loves, hopes, dreams, desires, happiness . . . life . . . now to get to that fine mingling.

Beyond Layers, Day 33, PS Recipe

Kim gave us a Photoshop recipe to follow for day thirty-three's lesson. I followed it almost exactly for this image, but I did end up cooling it off a bit using Rad Lab. I also added a subtle frame.

Texture Tuesday. Free and Easy Edition

After processing this with Lightroom and Rad Lab, I used one layer of Kim's 'Let Go' texture on this image.

Living Fully or Frantically? (Day 30, Beyond Layers)

Kim Klassen, in her Beyond Layers class, asked us this: are we living fully or frantically? She shared with us a few quotes about being busy from a book she is reading, which I loved:

• "We know you're busy. Now shut up about it."
• "Busy? Get in line. That's life."
• "We fill up our lives. That's what humans do. The question is what are you filling it with. Are you out of control busy, or are you full with life? Full is beautiful. Frantic is a buzz kill."

I can relate with all these quotes. I have been getting more and more frustrated with the amount of people around me who have to declare their busy-ness . . .as if it is a badge of honor to be so, so busy. One of my work colleagues consistently remarks to me when he sees that I am using my lunch hour to go for a 4 mile run, "I wish I could do that, but I am far too busy" . . . as if it is a dig. I just smile and move on, but what I want to say is, "no you don't and no you aren't". And I think this is true. We are ALL busy, but it is about priorities. I believe we can make time for the things we want to do. I believe we have a lot more time in our days than we think we do.

As far as living fully . . . well, I'm not sure I've figure that out yet. Do I eliminate the things I don't really want to do? No. That is hard . . . some of those things just feel like responsibilities. I don't think we can go through life doing just what we want to do . . . of course, that is not what Kim was trying to relay; nor what the author of the book she quoted was trying to say. It is more about doing those things just the way they need to be done--with a purpose; with a reason and with a drive to get them done and not whining through it.

 Kim urged us to slow down--in life and in our photography. Slow down enough to be present and to really see; to really think about what we are doing, to really be there in the moment. She challenged us to not snap away just because we can in this digital age (which I love). To think of it as if we were using film--24 shots, 36 shots--that is it.

One thing that helps me to slow down is to use a tripod. I know the importance of a tripod in photography but I often do not want to use one. At times, I am self-conscious about being seen with a camera and tripod and other times I just find it inconvenient and maybe even a little annoying, but it does certainly force me to slow down. The last few times I went out to take shots of water drops and dew, I used my tripod for all the shots whether I needed it or not.

 

 

Texture Tuesday

For Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday this week, the challenge was to use 2 different textures in the image.

I used two layers of 'Providence' (one at soft light blend mode 29% and one at multiply blend mode 41%) and one layer of 'Chase' at soft light blend mode 25%.

Add a Frame and Pastel Processing

Just a couple of photos for the tutorial on adding a frame and pastel processing. I am trying to catch up a bit in Beyond Layers!