Tuesday 29 April 2014

Texture Tuesday - 29 April 2014

Today's theme was "Free and Easy", so I've simply snapped a Germini with light and shadow from a nearby window and curtain.


I've only added one texture, kk_awaken, but twice.  Firstly at 100% soft light, then duplicated the layer at 51% multiple.  On the second layer I've lightly removed most of the texture, accept in the top left and bottom right corners.  The text is Windsong and the title comes from the song by Mumford and Sons.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Beyond Layers - Days 5 & 6

On Day 5 it was suggested we take some photos to show how our day went and on Day 6 we were shown how to create a storyboard with those images.

The following is my effort and is of images from the Heffle Cuckoo Fair on Saturday 26 April 2014.  Heffle is the old way of pronouncing Heathfield, which is a village about 20 miles from where I live, here in East Sussex.


Friday 25 April 2014

Friday Finds - 25 April 2014

Yesterday evening I went for a stroll along the beach with a couple friends (Dave and Paul).  It was perfectly still with soft clouds and a setting sun to warm the sky.  On the beach I found this battered shell and it became my find of the week.


To this I've added the 2 free textures Kim gave us on Tuesday, kk_simple1 at 78% soft light and kk_simple2 at 53% screen.

Thursday 24 April 2014

Texturize - Day 2

Kim gave us an image to practice some techniques, but I've made my own image and applied the kk_chase texture and used the same quote that Kim used.


Wednesday 23 April 2014

Start to Finish - Day 1

Kim asked us to give our creative story and what lead us to being where we are......taking pictures.  Also to give our intentions.....so here goes......

To begin with I wasn't sure about joining the class, as somehow, I wasn't sure I would be up to it, as I don't consider myself to be an artist, although I would like to make pretty pictures.  There is something in me that wants to be creative and photography has taken over as my #1 hobby.

I've been quietly following along with Kim's blog and classes for about a year, and feel it's time I came out of the shadows, hence joining S2F and Be Still 52 classes at the start and hoping to join in with community life and happenings, and all being well, I shall do my best to keep up, as well as try and visit everyone else's posts and pictures.

So my intention....think positive and be myself, whoever that might be.  Allow what will be, will be.  Take each day as it comes and enjoy the process of seeing and living.  Tomorrow is an empty page to fill, not a list of does and don't.

Anyways, I wish all the very best to my fellow S2Fer's and thank Kim for adding some meaning to my life.

PS....I love the idea of collecting bits 'n' pieces to make pictures and think I've head start there :)  I used to be a self employed curtain and soft furnishings maker, and so have lots of fabric.  Plus my hobby before picking up the camera was flower arranging, for which I gathered lots of pretty and useless things.  I'm also firing up the other half to find bits of wood in his junk store.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Texture Tuesday - 22 April 2014

This week the theme was Simple and my image is simply a bottle placed half in shadow and half in light.



The textures for this were kk_2801 and kk_coolgrunge.

Since Kim announced her Start to Finish classes, I've been umming are arring about whether to join in, as I am so far behind with all her other classes I've subscribed to, but yesterday I took the plunge and have joined.  It will be the first time I've joined at the beginning and fingers crossed, I'll get to the end on time.  It will be an adventure!

Beyond Layers - Day 4

The title for this day was Vision and Blur, but as you'll see, I didn't quite follow the brief.  We were also asked to think of a single word and mine was Grace.  I then went in search of a suitable quote and then set about thinking up an image.


The textures used were kk_savour and kk_cinnamon.

Monday 21 April 2014

Texturize - Day 1

My Texture Story - I had to look through my Flickr photostream to see when I first up loaded an image with texture and it was on 24 May 2012, with the following:



I'd noted that I'd used 3 textures and they were most probably from "Shadowhouse", although I've long since flattened the image so can't remember what or how.  Before this I'd had a little play with free boarders from photography magazines, some of which gave distressed appearances to images.

On 9 April 2013 I uploaded the following image, which I think was my first with Kim's textures:


For this I used the Soft and Faded action from The Pioneer Woman and then applied the following 2 textures from Kim:  kk_401 (Soft Light blend at 100%) and kk_canvasgrunge (Multiply blend at 16%, plus lightly removed some of this texture from the middle).  The font is Tall Paul.

As yet I've not made any of my own textures, although I have photographed to odd image that I think could be used or worked with to make a texture.

Beyond Layers - Day 3

Kim introduced us to Smith Magazine and our 6 word stories.  This got me a thinking and I jotted down some words and after just a short while came up with "Seeking quiet in a noisy world", which just about sums me up.  I like the simple and uncomplicated life.


My picture was taken a couple of weeks back of an unknown lady on the beach, gazing out to sea, which is something I do quite often.

I've added kk_pumpkingrunge at 80% soft light just to the beach, then kk_totalgrunge at 100% soft light.  The font is Italianno.

Beyond Layers - Day 2

On this day, Kim urged us to be simplistic with our composition and think "Less is More".  Also to look for the light and be light with our processing.



So, this is my effort.  I've added the texture Kim gave us in the lesson, kk_awaken, firstly at 40% soft light and then duplicated the layer at 20% hard light.  I've brushed out some of the texture over the vase, stem and centre of the image.

The text is Alex Brush to which I've applied a drop shadow at a distance of 7, spread of 70% in black at soft light.

At the beginning I made slight adjustments in levels and hue/saturation and then used the high pass sharpener at 4.5 pixels.  To end I resized to 1400 pixels wide and sharpened slightly again with unsharp mask.

The plant material is a stem of Comfrey from my garden and the little vase was a £1 from Asda.  They are on a mantelpiece, with light from an east facing window about 10 feet away, at 8.30am.

Sunday 20 April 2014

Beyond Layers - Day 1

In 2012 Kim ran a year long workshop called "Beyond Layers".  This is now a self paced course and free to those who subscribe to Kim's Test Kitchen, but I bought it along with "Beyond Beyond" which was another year long course from 2013/14.

On Day 1 of "Beyond Layers" Kim encouraged us to write our creative story, and had even anticipated we would say we don't have a creative story!  Well I'm one of those who doesn't think I have a creative story, or not much of one, but here goes......

As a kid I played with Lego, using my imagination to create and build - it was very basic when I was a kid.

At about aged 7, I was trying to make dolls clothes out of scraps of fabric and a kind lady (the landlady of the flats where we lived) showed me some basic stitches and how to cut and fit the outfits.  Also at this age I started to take an interest in cooking - I usually say I learnt to cook in self defence.  My Dad did most of the cooking and it was plain and dull, but heaps better than anything my Mum put on the table.  (I'm an only child.)

My Dad bought me my first sewing machine when I was 11 and I started to make my own clothes.  At about the same time my Gran and an Aunt taught me to knit, and Dad taught me about gardening and home DIY.  I didn't really learn very much from my Mum as she had no hobbies and was always too busy to spend any time with me - unlike me, she loved ironing, hoovering and dusting!

And so, any creativity I had was expressed in cooking, sewing and gardening.  In 1997 I joined the local flower club and for many years I enjoyed flower arranging.  Then in 2009 I discovered photography.  At the end of 2011 I found my way to Flickr and was completely bowled over by some of the images, and that lead me to Kim and her wonderful style of photography.

So my creative story is brief and whilst I like to create, I don't consider myself to be a natural creative.

Saturday 19 April 2014

Friday Finds - 18 April 2014

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my photos and like to crop them to the same ratio, i.e. 16 x 9.15.....don't ask!  And I normally try and compose my images in a landscape orientation.  But for today's Friday Find, I turned the camera and my find was some little plants growing in the grass in the local park.



I've added kk_rest at 50% soft light and kk_paperstained at 10% hardlight.  The font is Dreamer.


I did give a little thought to this....the light was striking from about the 3 o'clock position and I focused on the top weed head at F5.6, the widest my 18-200mm can manage at 200mm.  I always shoot in manual mode and have since I first got my Nikon D90 in 2009 - it's been a long journey teaching myself how my camera works, but I'm there now, and hardly give the settings a second thought.  I went straight from a little Sony compact that I could just about switch on to the D-SLR.

Texture Tuesday - 15 April 2014

Texture Tuesday this week was to create a Wabi-sabi image, or in other words, perfectly imperfect.  This was the first time I'd heard of Wabi-sabi, although there is lots out there on the web.

My image was of some bluebells I'd picked 11 days before, so they were passed their best, but still pretty.  They had been sitting on my kitchen windowsill, but for this image I placed them in front of a west facing window where the sun was casting shadows from the leaded light windows on the wall.


To this I've added kk_3112 at 80% multiply and kk_jay at 60% soft light.

Friday Finds - 11 April 2014

My Friday Find was some little bowls I found that morning in an animal charity shop.



To this I've added kk_wish at 40% soft light and kk_urban at 25% soft light.

Texture Tuesday - 8 April 2014

I admire Kim Klassen and her style of photography and have been following her blog for sometime, but it's taken till now to join in.  Each week she inspires us to make images for Texture Tuesday and Friday Finds.

Texture Tuesday on the 8 April was "For the love of....." and my simple image was "For the love of light on the horizon", as I love sitting on the beach and just watching the light falling on the water.



To this I added kk_storm at 42% screen blend and kk_paperandpaste at 20% linear burn.

In the Beginning

On 14 May 2014 I shall be starting a year long on-line workshop with Kim Klassen, entitled "Be Still 52", and I am creating this blog to record my journey with Kim.

I will also be including anything else I do connected with Kim, i.e. Texture Tuesday, Friday Finds, Beyond Layers from 2012, Beyond Beyond from 2013, Picture Process, Round Trip, Test Kitchen, Texturize, Skinny Mini and anything else that comes along.