Celebrating Photography

I love photography.  I am especially obsessed with fashion photography.  I'd love to do a large mural of a fashion shot.  Of course, it would have to be in black and white.  Here is some fab black and white eye candy for your Friday afternoon.

Would make a perfect mural!  I'd like to rasterize this image.  Image source unknown.

I love the contemplative romance of this photo.  For some reason, I love faceless art, maybe it's the mystery. (for previous posts featuring faceless art, click here).  Photo by personal friend of the editor.  Not to be copied without express permission.

The perfect glam pose.  One of my favorite photographers, Halim Ina.

Katie Holmes looks so fab in this ad!  I adore her chic yet casual look.  The pearls and sequined pants are feminine.  The denim shirt and slightly messy 'do gives her just the right amount of edge.  The perfect combination of hard and soft.

Speaking of feminine edge, look at this beauty.  A lot gorgeous, a little spooky.  Just the right amount of mystery.  Adds up to a whole lot of romance.  I'd love to know what's behind those soulful eyes.  Image source unknown.

Dreamy.  I'd love to float around in a bubble.  Melvin Sokolsky.

Stunning images from the Alexander McQueen retrospective Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I need one of these necklaces.  Again, soft yet edgy.  Reminds me of a dragon fly.  Manca Ahlin via See | Me.

I also adore fashion illustration.  I love me some Junko Mizuno.  The cover of this book is so awesome!  Edgy and cute.  Kinda retro.  Would make a great poster.  For previous posts about Junko Mizuno, click here.

*Note:  I have taken the liberty of making some of these photos black and white for the cohesion of this post.  Also, for photos that are uncredited, please contact me if you know the artist.  Thank you!

Photography - Natural Talent

One of the most satisfying parts of being an artist and a blogger is discovering other creative people.  I find it particularly gratifying when I stumble upon natural talent.  Such is the artistry of Kelly Van Cleave.  Kelly is the daughter of Debi, the author of Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country.  She's only 14 years old, and as the following will attest, is a natural talent.

I was very flattered when Debi asked me to take a look at Kelly's photography.  She's never had any training, just one day picked up the camera and started clicking.  And I'm glad she did.  When I speak of being a photographer, I always stress the importance of closely observing your surroundings.  Kelly has done that.  What emerges is a real feel for living in a rural area.  Kelly obviously has the eye, and that can't be taught.  I hope she continues to pursue photography.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

 I think this one is my favorite.

Or maybe this one.  I can see both of these enlarged and hanging in a modern loft.

I love the coloration of this one.  Ahh, the lazy days of summer.

Great.  Love the composition.  The boot in the foreground and the chairs in the background.  Love how their colors match too.

Ever try to photograph a cat?  They're hard!  This photo is great.  Love that she was able to capture the claws.

Love this self-portrait!  I could see this as an album cover.  Notice the reflections in the sunglasses.  Genius.  I love working with reflections.  I've been encouraging Kelly to start a flickr account.  When she does I will update this post with a link to her work, she's one to watch.  Kelly, thank you for sharing your photography with me, and thanks for being an inspiration.  Keep doing what you do, girl.  Never quit!

This concludes my series on photography for now.  If you are an artist, and would like to be featured here, please send me an email.  If you'd like to see more of my features celebrating great photographers, click here and here.  Stay tuned for decor and color inspiration.  xxoo

Photography - Negative Space

One of my favorite types of photography is where the photo is mostly negative space.  Buildings, objects or people are a teeny-tiny part of the photo and most of the photo is made of space.  Think about it, people are actually very tiny when compared the cosmos - making this type of photography profound.  Max Wanger is a master at this type of photography.

Max is one of my favorite photographers.  I've experimented with this type of photography, to see my experiment, click here.

Photography - Ultra Realism

To be a good photographer, all you have to do is closely observe your surroundings.  There is beauty to be found in every city, there's nothing more beautiful than reality.  Sometimes capturing a mundane moment can be extremely romantic.  What was this person thinking?  What is their story?  Isn't it amazing that there are six billion people on this beautiful planet and that each has a unique story?  Sometimes intentionally capturing something that is not beautiful can be extremely compelling.  Some of my favorite things to photograph are detritus, urban decay, guerrilla art and grit.  And don't worry about getting something perfectly centered.  An image is far more interesting if you place the focus of your picture to the side.

Flickr is a great place to discover raw talent and to learn more about photography in a supportive environment.  One of my favorite photojournalists, James Watkins, goes by the handle phototravel1 on flickr.  He documents interesting city scenes that seem more real to me than reality itself.  Each one tells a story.  I find his flickr set extremely compelling and can spend hours on it.  Here's a peak at just a few of my favorites.

If you look at reality, you will notice that it forms orderly patterns, like this shot of people reading in the park.  I particularly love the shot of people waiting for the bus, it looks like it could be in a romantic foreign film.  Perhaps each person is thinking about their most recent tryst.  In my own photography, I tend to prefer black and white for shots of people. Here's a secret:  If you like the deep blue of the shot of the bus above, boost is a feature in Picnik that will accomplish that nicely.  If you are interested in buying a print from James, his Red Bubble shop is here.

Photography - Sun Drenched

Dear readers, I've had a couple of busy weeks.  You know how it is.  Life.  It sometimes gets overwhelming.  When I get busy, I neglect my blog, but I miss it.  I spent a lot of time working on my Seattle posts, I love Seattle so much!  So I thought I'd spend a little time talking about one of my favorite pass times - photography - before I start obsessing about home decor and color again.  I have a lot of obsessions to share so stay tuned.

I adore photography.  I love taking pictures and I love looking at pictures others take.  Forget what you might have read about digital photography ruining the medium.  Sure, it's still great fun to learn analog if you have plenty of money to spend on the equipment, but many of us just don't have the resources.  With digital photography and the internet, everyone can have a voice, and I think that's cool.

Today I'd like to show some beautiful pictures from the web.  I love the lighting on these shots, they all look sun drenched and dreamy.

 Inmost Light via Design Squish.

 

Claudia Susana.

 

Judy Stalus.

Armas Design.

 Hound Design via Designlovefest.

Susannah Conway.

I'm going to give away some of my secrets.  Digital photo enhancing software is fun, and addicting.  I use a combination of Picasa and Picnik.  I also like Rollip, but haven't used it much lately.  Here's a way to achieve a sun-drenched look.  Use cross process in Picnik and then fill light in Picasa.  This is just one way.  The possibilities are endless.  Remember to have fun!

Sun drenched, II

Still waiting for the sun to shine.  Spring fever big time.  Some pretty happy, sunny images.  Enjoy!

I love Johnny Miller's photography of bottles with the sun shining through them.  I could sit and meditate on these shapes and colors for hours.

Cute image.  Beautiful colors.  Image from Urban Outfitters' Around the World Photographers series.

How cool are these yellow tires?  I need a bicycle.  Can't wait until it's warm enough to ride one.  Image from the Spring CB2 catalog.  How fun would it be to work as a stylist for a catalog?  Seems to me that's a dream job.

Celebrating Photography - Polaroid Display

No discussion of photography would be complete without a mention of the influence of Polaroid. Polaroid is such a popular medium, that when they attempted to obsolete it, the public spoke. Polaroid is now alive and well, and new Polaroid cameras are available.

One of my favorite Polaroid artists is Sean Tubridy. I've mentioned him before on this blog, see previous post here. Sean was active in the movement to save Polaroid and founded a website called Save Polaroid.

I love his Toys on Roids series. His book by the same name, is available here. I'm thinking of ordering a copy.

I love the way Polaroid fades. I've seen many artistic uses of Polaroid including exposing it to sunlight. But it is the display of a Polaroid collection that most intrigues me and I'd like to share some photos from my inspiration file. I think there may be some ideas here for my postcard collection.

Here is a photo from Sean's studio where he has arranged his photos like a rainbow.

The Ten Cent Designer.

sfgirlbybay.Image source unknown.

Frederic's Chic & Petit in Toronto via Apartment Therapy.

Image source unknown.

Domino.
Image source unknown.

Studioilse.

Warren Heath.