2013 Festival of the Arts Regional Arts Exhibition
I was informed last night that my three entries into the 2013 Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts Regional Arts Exhibition were all accepted. The exhibition will be on display to the public from May 31, 2013 through August 18, 2013 at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts located a 2 Fulton West, Grand Rapids, Mi.
There will be free admission during the Festival of the Arts 2013 Weekend Hours.
Friday, June 7, 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Saturday, June 8, 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Sunday, June 9, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
My entries:
“Bel Air”
“Dragonfly”
“School’s Out”
Photography (another non-cover post) WARNING LOTS OF PICS!
I’m not sure why I feel the need to add “another non-cover post” to my title. LOL Seems like all my posts are about covers lately. Used to be, all my posts were about photography or art. So once in a while I need to throw something non-cover related out there.
Most of my time now days is spent on doing cover art, but not all of it. I felt the need to get away from Photoshop a bit, and get in touch with my camera again, so I took a local photography workshop called “Critiquing Your Photography” instructed by Will Fields. If you’re in the area, and have an interest in photography, I highly recommend taking one of his classes. Will offers a variety of photography classes/workshops both here in Grand Rapids, Mi and in St. Louis. Varying from a 1hr Private Instruction classes, to Beginning Photography, to In Studio Lighting, to Nature Photography, to Critiquing your Photography, to weekend Photography Tours.
I had a great time, learned a lot, made a few friends, shared a bit of Photoshop knowledge, and took a bunch of pictures over the 4 week course.
Now I’m gonna share some of my pics!
I did do a post previously on the first assignment, which was called “A Non-cover Post” (go figure!) Though technically I wasn’t doing those pics FOR the assignment, I had it in mind, was sort of a practice/prelude. I had planned on doing something else, but life happened and I wound up using those shots anyways. The assignment was to pick a famous photography, and try and recreate their work/style. For those of you who don’t want to go back and read that post, just want to see pics, here are a couple from that. (no PS)
And more pics taken during the time frame of the workshop:
A Photowalk we did downtown (only cropping done)
Clouds:
An old school house one of my classmates and I found, working on shutter speed.
More shutter priority work, we were to capture motion, decided to go downtown at night, overlooking the highway.
(played with the color a bit in PS on this one)
Then I got a bit preoccupied by the way the light reflected off the Grand River, and ignored the whole motion thing:
I also tried having the kids play with flashlights at night:
And since I’m sharing pics, here are a few, not connected to the class, but a couple of us joined the Grand Rapids Flickr Group on their monthly Photowalk.
In case you missed the link above, this is Will Fields Photography website, and his Photography Workshops website.
New Day, New Work
Man I had to go through the old posts to see what was the last new work I posted about! I guess it’s been a while. Unfortunantly, I don’t have a whole lot of new work. Not that I haven’t been out taking pictures, because I have, just nothing seems to be turning out all that great.
The latest images I have posted on Redbubble are:
Fender made some neat Zazzle Products too.
I’ve also been practicing with my Infrared Filter I bought last fall. My camera isn’t the best for digital IR photography, but I seem to be getting a little better each time around. Here are my last two pictures, the second is much better than the first in clarity, but I get the big ole hot spot in the middle.
And I was able to catch a couple cute pictures of my daughter.
What’s New?
I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I would do a quick post on what’s new and going on with me. I haven’t gotten out with the camera much this winter, but I did set up a couple floral shots. Hopefully, with the weather warming up, and grass getting greener, I’ll be able to get out and get some new work!
For more Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
And one candle image, that is only available on Zazzle.
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I also worked on a new photomanipulation. This was intended to be the ‘sequel’ to Ephemeral Partings, but it seemed to get away from the oringal design a bit.
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There are also a few new digital abstracts.
For Zazzle products featuring these images click here.
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I also have a few new t-shirt designs on both Redbubble and Zazzle.
Of course the designs are available on other products too.
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I was also asked to illustrate a Fire Saftey coloring book, which is in progress, and was able to create some products featuring 2 of the characters.
For more of my firefighter Zazzle products click here.
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I also started making business cards designs on Zazzle. You can view them all here, but here are a couple examples.
As you can see, I like the black cards. All of them are customizable, and the colored ones in the middle can have their background colors changed.
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Geesh, I guess I have been busy! But I have found time to take my kids to the park.
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Additionally, I just sent out a bunch of images to be printed. I hope to be hitting the art show circuit this year. I already have a few lined up. Wish me luck!!
The Challenge: Show us your Creativity – Textures/Layers
The Challenge: Using a particular stock image, and using it to create brushes, textures, and or layers on your own image, to create a work of art.
The Goal: Well, to make the most creative, eye-pleasing work of art, of course!
This was A Photographer’s Craft’s latest challenge. Once again I took the challenge. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds, trust me. Especially since, at the time, I was in my slump. The stock image we had to use was this:
The Catch: Not only did we have to try and be creative, we had to remember and share our processes in creating our pieces! Almost sounds like school huh? You can find the forum thread with these details here.
Being in a slump as I was, I didn’t have any new photography to play with, nor was I in the mood to take any. So, I dug through a bunch of “junk” images, old photographs I had no intention on using, but haven’t deleted them yet, you know the type. I came acrossed a photo I took this past summer of one of my miniture roses. Here’s what I started with:
And since I’m too lazy to go through all the steps I did again, I will just copy and paste what I wrote in the forum 
Let’s see if I can fully remember this.
1. Overlayed a different texture over my original image. (Hey, there was no rule stating I couldn’t use additional textures!)
2. Did a layer mask and erased the textures from the actual flowers.
3. Played with the channel mixer.
4. Brought the stock image onto my image, free transformed it much larger than my image.
5. Flipped the stock image horizontally, moved it to where I wanted it.
6. Decreased the Red channel’s saturation on the stock image, almost all the way down.
7. “Overlayed” the stock image onto my image.
8. Did another layer mask to clean up over the flowers, so the stock image was behind the flowers.
9. Did a little dodge and burn (baby).
10. Went back to the stock image and did a select color rage on the background (the blue sky) Copied it, and pasted it on my image.
11. Set the new layer over as “Pin light”
12. Flattened image
13. Decreased saturation a little, upped the brightness, decreased contrast.
14. Did a little more burning.
15. Added a sepia photo filter.
16. Created a new layer, used a faux text paintbrush for the writing, switched that layer to “Overlay”
17. Adjusted the brightness/contrast again, this time increasing contrast a tad.And Done!
And my final image, and entry was:
I didn’t win, but I did take 3rd place!
The piece that took 1st place was:
Ode to Banksy by Adrian Rachele
The rest of then entries were:
A Year of Novembers by Dana DiPasquale
afraid of the light by andreasphoto
autumn collage by Adriana Glackin
Ghosts of the New Desert by smallfox
Breath in Deeply Autumn Wind by Freelancer
Memories of Autumn by Misti Hymas
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All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
Or, if you are more interested in bulk items, or other products such as postcards, magnets, mugs, US postage, and more, visit the Art by Karri Store.
Example Product:
New Santa Holiday Cards!
I put together 2 more Christmas cards today. They are both available as high quality art cards at Redbubble, and in bulk on Zazzle.
*** TODAY ONLY (DECEMBER 2, 2008)***
****FREE SHIPPING ON ANY PRODUCTS AT ZAZZLE!!****
enter code CYBERZSHIP08 at checkout
offer valid till 11:59pm PST
On to the cards!
(note: clicking on the card images will take you to my Redbubble work, not Zazzle)
Click here for all Holiday cards through Redbubble
Click here for Zazzle Holiday Products.
Holiday Cards!
For the past month I have been trying to come up with an idea for holiday cards. My mind has been a blank. I tried a few things, but nothing jumped out at me. That is… until last night So I bring you my lastest work in the form of holiday cards.
It’s a start at least, right?
New Calendar: Flora
I just put together a new floral calendar called Flora. I have been holding off on doing a floral calendar because I wanted it to have a theme. I wanted it to have simular editing, either all manipulated, or all natural photography. But then I thought, huh, I constantly change my techniques, bouncing back and forth from this style to that, so why not allow my calendar to reflect that too? So I bring you my latest calendar Flora!
Additionally, I have added my lattest Digital Abstract, Techno Luminescence, to my Digital Abstract Calendar.
Almost all of my images in these calendars can be puchased as premium art cards, matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here.
Example Card:
The Challenge: A Light bulb, A String, and A Key
Who doesn’t love a good challenge? Especially a photography challenge. It makes you think, it broadens your horizon, it pushes you outside your comfort limit. Recently I participated in a challenged hosted by APC. The challenge, of which I chose to except, was to make a creative image using a light bulb, a piece of string, and a key. You could add anything else to the image, just as long as those 3 images were clearly visible.
Although there was not a huge turn out in the challenge, some amazing images were created. All different approaches and all different styles.
My original idea was to take a light bulb, and try to stab a key into it. Or at the very least, get a whole in the light bulb, and stick the key into it. Then I was going to set it up to look like it is laying in blood. Well if you know anything about light bulbs, they don’t break with a nice neat whole, they shatter. So I ended up working with a shattered light bulb. I set out some plastic bags, covered w/ white paper, layed out the light bulb, well the pieces at least, and created my pool of blood. I knew I was planning on taking the image in black and white, so I used good old fashioned maple syrup for blood. Since I had to have the key and string in the image, I tied the string to the key, and carefully layed on my bloody scene. Then I set my camera to the sharpest, highest contrast, black and white setting, then upped the exposure. (I was also going for a high key look. ) Set it on the tripod (I was working inside with poor lighting) and started shooting at several different angles. After a short trip in Photoshop, honestly, I did some minor editing, decreased contrast, cleaned up the edges, where the sheet of paper ended, etc. This was my final image (You might recognise it from my new banner above):
I took 2nd place in the challenge. First place went to Adriana Glackin.
Here are the rest of the entries:
Are you up to the challenge?
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All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
TTV: Through the Viewfinder
What is TTV: Through the Viewfinder?
Well, it’s pretty much what it says. It’s a technique using two cameras, an old box camera and the camera you actually take pictures with, in which you take a picture of what you see through the other camera’s viewfinder. Make sense?
What is the point you ask?
For me, I love the aged retro look you get with TTV. Yeah, you can make an image look aged or antiqued using textures and filter in Photoshop, but it’s just not the same. Most of the old box cameras are dirty, covered in dust, maybe some scratches, all of which add to the character of the image. (The dirtier the better I say!) Not to mention the challenge of balancing 2 cameras, and the whole flip flop issue. Most box camera’s used have a top viewfinder, that uses mirrors, so you have to keep your good camera at a 90 degree angle to what you want to photograph. Oh, and everything is reversed. Do you know how confusing that can get, you keep turning the direction you need to to center the image, yet in the viewfinder it’s going the other way?!?
So what do you need to get started?
First off, you need a camera to actually take the picture. I’ll assume if you are reading this, you already have one of those And to get a nice close-up shot of the viewfinder, you will need a macro lens, or zoom filters. You will need to be able to take a picture a few inches away from the object. If your camera has a macro setting that you are happy with, then by all means, just use that! Besides that, you will need some sort of old camera with a large viewfinder, and then something to block out the light between the 2 cameras.
After you have what you need, honestly, all you do is take a picture of the viewfinder.
Obviously the image above doesn’t have the light blocked out between the two cameras. I just wanted to show you the viewfinder.
My set up:
I have my Canon Rebel XTi for my primary camera (we’ll call this camera #1 from now on), an old box Argus 75 for my secondary camera (camera #2), my stackable zoom filters (I don’t have a macro lens), and my Tube of Darkness. Put together it looks like this:
You can pick up an old box camera fairly cheap at flea markets, antique stores, or ebay. Cameras like the Argus 75 were so overly mass produced in the 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s, you can find them all over the place. I picked mine up on ebay for $4.99 plus shipping!
Here it is pulled apart:
The Tube of Darkness:
To block out the light between cameras, I used a 3 inch cardboard tube that I cut down to 6 inches long, and a black (fuzzy) sock (lost the match) of which I cut the toe off. I slipped the black sock over the cardboard tube, so that there is equal excess material at the top and bottom of the tube. Then I slipped the tube over the open viewfinder on camera #2, and used saftey pins to secure it around camera #2′s straps, making sure it’s pulled tight, yet not to cover camera #2′s lens. And viola! a Tube of Darkness!
And since I use an SLR camera, I just dip my lens into the tube, and pull the top excess sock material over camera #1′s lens. The sock works great because of the elasticity, it keeps a snug fit over the camera’s, keeping out the light. Sorry, I can’t show you a picture of the SLR in the Tube of Darkness because I only have one camera!
I took the picture, now what?
Honestly, that’s up to you and your taste! First off, crop off all that excess around the image. Most people leave a small border around though. After that, editing is all up to you! I have heard that a lot of people like to used the Urban Acid Photoshop Action. I have tried it, but usually end up just playing with the tones and colors on my own, so I can’t give you an example of it. Then why not upload it to Flickr? There are a ton of TTV Flickr groups! Not to mention the ton of information you can find in those groups! The largest one, Through the Viewfinder, has a blog with a ton of information, including a list of a variety of different secondary (base) cameras that can be used. Check that out here.
I hope you enjoyed my lil tutorial/informative blog! Now I’m gonna shamelessly self-promote
More of my TTV images
This is the very first TTV I took. This is my daughter. What I love about this image, is that it looks like a picture that fell out of my baby book!
This picture was actually chosen as the picture of the day on Absolute Michigan’s Michigan in Pictures Blog!
“Museum of Newaygo”
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
Calendars!
Redbubble now offers calendars! So of course I had to make some! Currently I have 3 themed calendars, but am also willing to put together personal choice calendars. i.e. you pick 12 of my images and let me know, and I’ll create the calendar for your purchase!
So on to the calendars!
Digital Abstracts by Karri Klawiter
A collection of my 12 most popular digital abstracts.
A collection of 12 of my most popular old barn/dilapidated buildings.
Once Upon a Time: A Photographic Series by Karri Klawiter
12 images from an abandoned house in Allegan County, Mi. Most of which are done in HDR.
Almost all of my images in these calendars can be puchased as premium art cards, matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here.
Once Upon a Time, A Photographic Series
Recently I had the privelage to explore an abandoned house I came upon. The house looks to me to be turn of the century, and was obviously at one time a gorgeous home. Once upon a time this house was a home, now it is just remnents of the past. Images are in HDR.
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
Don’t forget to visit The Gift of Art, where all proceeds go to the National Cancer Institue, to help fund cancer research.
Weekly Themed Features – Still Life
Sorry, I have been a little behind on these here. I have had a lot going on in life. This weeks featured theme is Still Life. These beautiful works of art were chosen from A Photographer’s Craft. Please enjoy these works, and don’t forget to check out the artist’s personal pages, where you can view more of their gorgeous work!
“Harmonious Shells”
by Maria Medeiros
An instant classic. Huddled together, these shells make a beautiful image. Maria Medeiros washes you away to a sunny beach full of relaxation.
“Nails and Nuts Figure”
by VashR31
Funny, adorable, and an eye catcher for almost anyone. These everyday items come together in an imaginative piece of art caught on camera by VashR31.
“Want a Bagel”
by Miron Abramovici
Although this is not your typical still life, Miron Abramovici captures a wonderful, artistic, almost primal vision within a pair of rocks. Who doesn’t want a bagel?
“Still Life”
by Adriana Glackin
Adriana Glackin creativily captures the classic fruit bowel still life using the unique technique of painting with light, giving an old classic, and stunning new look.
“Lilies”
by Rose Atkinson
With beautiful composure and great lighting, Rose Atkinson gives us a gorgeous piece of Lilies in a window sill.
“Still Hooked”
by Debbie Black
Using amazing perspection and great use of negative space, Debbie Black takes an everyday, normal item, and turns it into a wonderful piece of art.
Don’t forget to visit The Gift of Art, where all proceeds go to charity.
My Latest Photography Series – Nautical
I spent a day out on a boat in Grand Traverse Bay, Traverse City, Mi, intending on scuba diving. Of course I brought my camera. This is not my typical work, but I have been pretty desperate for something to photograph!
Enjoy the veiw of the bay through my eyes….
All of my work can be puchased as premium art cards, and most are available as matted prints, laminated prints, mounted prints, canvas prints, framed prints, and posters. All in varying sizes. To see more work and/or purchase click here. (or click on a particular image)
Example Card:
Don’t forget to visit The Gift of Art, where all proceeds go to the National Cancer Institue, to help fund cancer research.
Weekly Themed Features-Emotional Attachment
This week’s feature theme is Emotional Attachment. These beautiful works of art were chosen from A Photographer’s Craft. Please enjoy these works, and don’t forget to check out the artist’s personal pages, where you can view more of their gorgeous work!
“Sister Two” by Adrian Rachele
“This image was taken of my sister-in-law after our visit to Auschwitz.
We went to a bar in the old Jewish quarter of Krakow, to have a drink and reflect.
I think this image best displays our feelings at the time. A feeling none of us had ever experienced before. To have been, too see, to smell such a place of despair and death.” – Adrian Rachele
“Waiting to Say Goodbye” 
by Dana DiPasquale
“This photograph has a very special meaning to me. I was visiting with my aunt and uncle, the family gathered, waiting to attend funeral services for a beloved uncle that has passed away. The night before we did our best to enjoy each other’s company and joke around like we usually do, but mostly we were just trying to get through the night so we could say our goodbyes in the morning. I saw these antique children’s chairs that my aunt had and decided to spend some time taking photos of them to get my mind off of things. I brought the chair out to the garage so that the smooth, rich wood would be in stark contrast to the rough, stained concrete floor. A running theme throughout my photography is viewing objects from new perspectives, so as I stood on a ladder that I found and tried taking photographs without falling, my uncle walked by and laughed at me. “You’re taking a picture of a chair?” he said. I told him “You just wait – this will be a masterpiece!” but I am pretty sure he didn’t believe me. The photograph turned out exactly the way I had envisoned, a sense of being in a room but high above it like an omnipotent source, alone, expecting someone to be there who isn’t, a bit of a faded memory. This fine art piece hangs on my own wall, and I smile when I see it for it is a reminder of the family I love.” – Dana DiPasquale
“On Her Way”
by Sue Wickham
“THIS WAS THE LAST PHOTO I TOOK OF OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE SHE LEFT IN THE CAR ON HER WAY TO THE CHURCH WITH HER DAD…
And she is on her way, The veil conceals a single tear, Her Father holds a shaking hand and the limousine pulls away.
They talk of nothing really, “You’ll always be my little girl”, he says, as they pull into the Church, and the veil conceals a single tear.
The organist plays, and everyone stands, This time she holds her Dad’s shaking hand, There is no veil to conceal his tears, and the longest walk of his life begins.
“Who gives this Woman”, a nod of consent, A secret glance, and exchange of vows, For now and forever, for better for worse, And she is on her way…” -Sue Wickham
