What do you see? I wonder if the features here are as obvious to the viewer as the artist.

I’ve been away from the website for a while…been preoccupied with other creative duties the past couple of months, but the big event I was working on has come and gone. It’s time to get back to focusing on my art. Even though I wasn’t taking photographs regularly, the one thing I continued to do were my self portraits on Saturdays. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but using a face (and mine is most easily accessible) as a starting point for my images is just so interesting to me. There are some features, that no matter how much you manipulate the image, always stay recognizable. It is those bits, abstracted from the whole, be it lips, eyes, chin, nose, I find myself drawn to. This piece is one such image. Seeing that, coming to that realization (again?) makes me realize that’s what I really love doing. The self portrait is often perceived a conceited effort by the artist to be recognized by others. But the truth is, I’m trying to recognize myself for myself.

I love the layers in this one, the graphic quality of the lips and chin, as well as all the other bright colors that come out of the process. It reminds me of a mixed media piece, part print, part painting. But it’s all digital, all iPhone and how cool is that?

To make it I used a number of my favorite apps, but combined them in new ways. First I took a photo of a tiled wall, doubled it onto itself with DXP (mirrored, with difference setting) and saved it. Next I added an already edited self portrait, that was cropped into the face, layered them together in DXP, adding it a couple of times until it looked right. Then the fun began when I opened that image in Decim8 and using the “veth” setting processed the image, retrying again and again, saving whenever I saw one that I liked. Finally, I opened it in Iris to make slight adjustments to color and contrast. The thing is, I get the absolutely best images when I give myself time and permission to play. Sometimes I can do that as an assignment, because I work well with a challenge, but more often than not it’s when I’m not trying to fit a set requirement that I get my best outcomes. A couple of days ago I finished Just Kids, by Patti Smith. It’s a memoir about her and Robert Mapplethorpe. I highly recommend it. A fascinating read, beautifully written and an incredible story of love, creativity and art. It was truly inspiring to me as an artist to imagine what their lives were like, and how they both branched out to become true to themselves through the creative process.

Lately I’ve been less active as a mobile photographer, but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been creating. My interests and focus have been pointed towards a different type of project, the decorations for a my kids’ school fundraising event. I find this type of work so enjoyable, even though it is exhausting. The logistics alone take up lots of time, but this year I’m also chairing the decorations, which means it’s my vision for how it will look. With just over two weeks until the event, things are really heating up, but also really coming together, so I’m experiencing equal parts nervousness and excitement.

Here’s a self portrait I took last month that I really like. The one thing I haven’t stopped are my Saturday Self-Portraits. If nothing else, I MUST do these, and some days I even have enough time to play around until I come up with one I can be proud of. This is one of them.

This is a close up of the same 312 shed I shot at the Instameet….didn’t realize until later, when someone on IG pointed it out, that it looks  like the moon. I love that! I had been shooting in B&W with my Hipstamatic app (see previous post), but was also drawn to the slight color changes on the cement from spray paint. Switched to my standard Ina’s35 setting, but by then the sun had gone behind the clouds again, so I didn’t get the cool shadow. Nonetheless, it’s still a favorite shot of the day!

Sunday I attended the world-wide Instagram Instameet. Locally, we met at Magnuson Park. Thirty-three of us gathered in the freezing wind off of Lake Washington, to come together, shoot photographs and share our love of IG.

At first I felt out of my element, because I like to shoot city scenes, abstract details and architecture, and be alone in my thoughts. Yes, I wanted the social aspect of the community, but I realize it’s harder to be creative, for me, when I’m also aware of all the people around. I looked around and saw too much open space (kite hill), everyone shooting the same things (the sculptures and each other) and felt soooooo cold and uninspired that I wondered how long I would stay. However, as soon as I came upon this building (which at first I was really hoping was a bathroom!) I hit my stride. I wasn’t at all surprised that there were a ton of other photographers drawn there, all of us shooting it in our own way.

Here is another collection of work from early last year, all black and white images. I was really jazzed to do B&W on the iPhone after the release of Hipstamatic’s Claunch “film”. I also was acutely aware of the influence of such artists as Paul Strand, Harry Callahan and Lee Friedlander had on me and my photography.

I have an affinity for strong graphic compositions and geometric shapes.

I have some earlier work I’ve wanted to share, but feel like it makes the most sense to group these together in a batch, rather than one at a time. These particular pieces are some of my earlier iPhone/IG projects, all made in January 2011, a year before this post.

There are definitely things about them I would do differently now, but I still like all of these images. These were experiments for me, and there’s something lovely in their simplicity, if you will. I believe they were edited with only one app, then posted on IG with a filter. Now days I run my pieces through so many apps, layering in one, deconstructing in another, tweaking color here, contrast there. I think it’s good for me to go back and look at these earlier pieces to see what worked and what didn’t, to see my progress, but also where I need to scale back to a simpler style.

When I started the website I thought of it only as a place to share my photos. If you know me personally, you understand that I’m a very organized and linear person. (It’s a blessing AND a curse!) So I was thrilled to find that I could back-date my posts, so as to be able to place photos in a particular chronological order, even when I posted them out of order.

Now that I’ve had it up and running for a few months, I can see how this particular theme and format really looks and feels. I’m still happy with it visually, but wonder if it is intuitive enough. The front page grid is still striking, but is it useful? What I mean, is it clear how to get to my photos, other than in the chronological way I’ve set up the grid? i hope someone looking at the site will find the Galleries and Tags meaningful and usable. Because, just as I love the chronological order, the ability to sort by type, theme and style is also really important to me. Sometimes I struggle over how and where to categorize my works, as if I’m being graded on my choices. The amount of energy I put into this is quite high for the relatively low return of having people actually see my art. However, I must continue to think of it as an investment in myself as an artist. Was this endeavor the best choice? Would it have made more sense to focus on external group sites, promoting myself and sharing my work on those? Perhaps. I still hope to focus on that, and soon, but the days are only so long…

I attended my first organized photowalk over the weekend. I had attempted to go to others in the community over the past many months, but the timing never worked out. Truthfully, I was a bit nervous, meeting up with a group of people I didn’t know. But, the fact it turned out to be a challenge, a scavenger hunt of sorts, made me more at ease. I was immediately excited. I LOVE a challenge, so I took it seriously and easily made it to all 10 places in the hour we had to find, photograph and post the shots. The unfortunate thing was I forgot to charge my phone before going, so I was frantically trying to get to everything before I lost all battery life. If I’d had more, I certainly would have done better on the spot editing and additional shooting.

After the outing, the group returned to the coffee shop for a little round table discussion and announcements of the prize winners. I didn’t win any, but I was quite fond of the overall experience. I got to meet a few fellow Seattle-area IGers. I followed even more, as it was easy to find many on IG the next day based on tags and comments.

This shot through the window of Cafe Umbria (above) is probably my favorite of the day. It was our first stop along the route, when I was still keeping with the group. Soon afterwards, I took off on my own…loner that I am. (ha!)

I also took some in King Street Station that I really wanted to like, but as it was my last location, I was too rushed to get the compostions just right. It is a beautiful, if decrepit, building, that I hope to get back to soon.