The other side of the camera

It is rare that I see myself in front of the lens (in a professional kind of way).  I was actually a little thrown off when I saw these… I thought, “Do I really look like that?”  It is such good exercise to be on the other side of the lens every once in a while and a must do for any photographer.  It was interesting to feel a little awkward and uncomfortable, wondering what to say, what to do, where to sit and so forth.  When I am the one with the camera, I can see exactly what I need and how to shape and form the portrait.  But, then there is the other side of the camera-the other experience.   There is this constant wonder, “Do I look ok?”  “Was I blinking?” “Do my arms look silly?” “What should I do with my hands?” “How many rolls can you see?” “Is it a good hair day or bad hair day?” and the questions go on and on.  Insecurity.  Are we ever comfortable with who we are in pictures, what we look like in pictures?  Do we have high expectations that what we see is not what really is?  Do we look at pictures and immediately start tearing ourselves apart (look at that hair, what was I thinking?  Look at my stomach, I didn’t remember my Spanx, etc.)

I like these photos by Jessica with Twist Photography.  She did a fabulous job getting little snippets of me while we were working on OCF versus natural light.  Jessica is awesome and I am thankful that I have these!  I am ok with my funny arms.  : )

Interested in an update on my personal project?  Visit THE Flickr page!  Headed into May and I still have a picture every day.  It’s clearly miraculous!  :)

Spring Cleaning and Discounts | Kirkland, WA Photographer

Who doesn’t love a discount?  : )  I’m cleaning out, archiving, and offering some savings.  This is good through May 20th.  Any orders between NOW (April 20th) and May 11th will include some savings!

Butchers, Pigs and American Thighs | Kirkland, WA Photographer

A local, organic meat shop, Bill The Butcher, was celebrating its birthday at the Redmond location.  Not only were they roasting a pig (at which my kids said, “Who would ever really eat a real pig?”) and feeding the visitors, they were doing raffle drawings and entertaining us with live music.  It was a celebration not to be missed.  American Thighs was performing (Seattle’s newest AC/DC tribute band), and we had front row seats.  It was some good rock n roll-prefect addition to the celebration. It was all quite the entertainment in Redmond!

Danger and waivers | Kirkland, WA Photographer

I signed my life away to get this shot.  Oh what I won’t do for a little color.  : )

I visited Agua Verde with some fellow camera lovers on Saturday and glanced out their window to see a very large stash of kayaks.  You see, they also rent kayaks.  (AND, I am a kayak lover.)  I suppose that could be why they are named Agua Verde Cafe & Paddle Club?  Anyhow, I knew I wanted some sort of shot-I could feel it in my bones.  I finished my lovely lunch (a VERY lovely lunch) and headed down to the kayaks.  I was gingerly walking toward the pier and was stopped by a big STOP sign.  I was redirected to the rental counter and was told that I couldn’t get down there unless I was renting a kayak, was wearing a life jacket and had signed a waiver.  Believe it or not, I was ok with their answer but they must have liked my blue camera bag because a manager of some type said it would be ok if I signed the waiver.  I signed the waiver… then wished I had more equipment to REALLY get the shot (the vision I had in my head).

In case you are worried, don’t fear-I am still sticking with my personal project, Photo A Day.  Come visit my Flickr page and see what you think, leave a note!

Loving the light | Kirkland, WA Photographer

There are few moments when I am able to go on an excursion with my camera for personal projects and fulfillment.  I’m not complaining (well, sort of) I am simply stating reality.  : )  I reserved a “day off” to visit Seattle and some of the spectacular sights on the University of Washington campus.  I was lucky enough to meet up with other photographers from the surrounding area so we could collaborate ideas and have fun.  We visited the Suzzallo Library, got about 30 steps in the door, and saw the grand staircase.  We were all in love with the light and stopped for what was probably close to an hour in this place. We walked around ooohing and ahhhing about the pretty light. We truly didn’t mind losing ourselves in here…  it was quiet and full of opportunities.  The unfortunate side of losing ourselves was losing track of time.  Why does time fly when you are having fun?

(love the shot above of all of us “in” the picture some way or another)

We wandered out to the common area where all the cherry blossoms canopied over us like fluffy umbrellas.  Amazing!  The color, the texture, the smell…   We used most of the remainder of our time together here with these trees.  Our visit together ended with refreshments at Starbucks and a walk around U Village (a shopping center that I didn’t know existed until this day).  We didn’t use our time wisely and get a shot of us together… I certainly hope we can clear our calendars once every 2-3 months to have these moments to explore and discover new things as friends and fellow photographers!

You can visit Jessica at Twist Photography.   You can see more of this day and other pictures from my Photo A Day personal Project on the Flickr Page.  Go, see, enjoy.  : )

I’ve been dying to go see these tulips | Kirkland, WA photographer

We moved to Kirkland, WA in June  of 2010.  One of my first purchases was a book of things to do from Costco.  Actually, I’ll be honest… I bought several books and brought them home, took the time to review them and see which ones met my needs and returned the rest.  (I am a returner.)  It is too difficult to decide right there in the isles of Costco with my kids begging me to buy them the Elmo read along books and the princess craft kits.  Bringing it home was the only option.  ANYHOW, I still ended up keeping two or three and I love them all.  I noticed something about a Tulip Festival in one of them and figured it would be an excellent outing.  Too bad for me, it ended in April.  But, I didn’t forget about the Tulip Festival.  In fact, I have been looking forward to April since last June.  : )

We took a drive up to Mt. Vernon on Sunday after church.  A family outing.  The kids were thrilled to be in the car for over an hour.  ha.  They were hungry and had wished we stayed home so they could play bookstore all afternoon.  Sometimes you just have to win.  So, against their will, we packed them up along with some peanut butter sandwiches and headed up north to see the famous tulips.  We drove and drove and only missed one turn off.  : )  We found the information center in town, was given a map and details about where to drive and where to go.  We went.

We pulled up to the Tulip Town and could barely open our doors since the wind was so strong.  We weren’t dressed for this (I thought).  We only had two layers on, not the four that was needed.  We unpacked cameras and children and headed out to the gardens.  (We learned that all the fields growing along side the road are for viewing purposes only.  Stopping along the road is prohibited and touching them would practically put your in jail.)  Tulip Town had a gorgeous display of tulips-most had not shown color yet.  What we did see was amazing and somehow it struck incredible energy in the complaining children… they wanted to run between the rows of tulips.  They did.  It was against the rules but the wind was too loud to try and do anything about it but stand on the sidelines and hope they looked our way to wave them back in…

What a glorious day filled with color, clear skies and flowers (I’ll take the wind given the rest).  I’m heading back in a couple weeks to see its progress.  Hopefully more rows will be showing color (and the wind will be gone and the children will not complain).

Sledding, snow, and spring | Kirkland, WA Family Photographer

This was MY family enjoying a snow break a few weeks ago.  We loved our time with the sleds and especially loved that this nice white puffy hill was only one hour away.  Convenient.  But, let’s be honest.  I am done with the cold.  I am done with 3 layers.  I am done with my permanently affixed fleece.  I am done with knee high socks. AND I am done with shivering every day.  When will it stop?  I am happy to report that I have noticed spring buds and color appearing around my home BUT I am still searching for sunshine (on a consistent basis) and temperatures in the range of 60-70.  Is that asking too much?  Oh, and I think I am fairly certain that I would not be able to bloom if I was planted in a place that continually brought snow to my doorstep in the winter.

Jumping, modeling, and serious stuff | Queen Creek Senior Photographer

Boys…  I think of sound effects, curiosities, sports, workers, and blue.  Is that stereotypical?  Probably.  My son was born with the capability to do great sound effects with his mouth.  Me, well it sounds like something is dying.  How does that happen?

Girls… I think of fashion, beauty, nurturing, friends and color.  Again-sterotypical?  Of course.  But my daughter fits the description.  : )

Although we grow up and our life experiences change us, don’t you think that our make-up (who we are) remains the same?  I love to meet people, learn about people and hopefully learn from people.  I love to see things in a different way.  I’m always impressed when you meet the ones who know who they are, where they are going and what they want out of life.  Purpose.

These incredible people, high school people, gave me energy.  They had purpose.  They inspired me for different reasons, each one of them.  You wouldn’t know that most of them didn’t know each other before this particular morning.  You wouldn’t know that they were up before 7:00am on a Saturday morning.  You can’t pick out their talents or know their backgrounds by looking at them.  And you don’t know who can jump the highest by reviewing these… or maybe you do?

Are you an artist? | Kirkland, WA photographer

What exactly is an artist?  Who determines if you ARE or AREN’T an artist?  The realization of this question asked by Kevin Kubota at WPPI made me stop.  And think.  Am I an artist?  Well, I can’t draw to save my life.  My stick figures look sickly and if you ask my daughter what happened when she asked me to draw a flamingo-you may laugh as hard as she did.  So, what is an artist?  The first thing that comes to mind when I think about an artist is some type of drawing or painting.  My dad is an artist.  He entertained us for hours at church by drawing funny things that often resembled ourselves.  My daughter is an artist (an eight year old artist) who can depict vases of flowers and barns filled with animals.  My mom is not an artist and unfortunately I have her drawing genes (sorry mom).  I have friends that are called artists and husbands of friends that are artist.  Who named them?  When did they get comfortable calling themselves artists?  How does one become an artist?

Is it education?  Is it dedication?  Is it earned or deserved?  Is it longevity?  Is it based on how much money your artistic works bring in?  Is it based on who your know or who knows you?  I looked it up and found this:

art·ist

[ahr-tist]

1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.

2. a person who practices one of the fine arts,  especially a painter or sculptor.

3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.

4. a person who works in one of the performing arts,  as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mimeartist; an artist of the dance.

5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.

6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He’s an artist with cards.

I’m happy to say that I was then open to the idea that I might, just might, be an artist .  I don’t have to draw or dance (which I do love to wear my belly dancing jingly thing and move around the house and PRETEND that I have skills) or sculpt or mime.   The title, Artist,  is subjective.  What I call art and what you call art may be on opposite sides of the spectrum.  And that’s ok.