Local Events!
I will be attending a couple Art Fairs/Events over the next couple months. I will be sharing a booth with Nature’s Angle Photography. If you haven’t check out their fine art photography prints, then you are missing out on some amazing Nature and Local Photography! We will both have a variety of prints available for purchase.
So if you are in the West Michigan area, come check us out!
Saturday August 25, 2012
Art Jam in Downtown Fennville, Mi
10am-6pm
Saturday September 8, 2012
Art in the Park in Rockford, Mi
9am-5pm
The annual Rockford Art in the Park exhibition takes place the Saturday after Labor Day in the Garden Club Park between the Rogue River Dam and the White Pines Trail in downtown Rockford. With the Rogue River as a backdrop, Garden Club Park is an idyllic spot for a fine arts celebration.
Artists from across the state of Michigan compete in this juried art exhibition, featuring works in pottery, stoneware, sculpture, jewelry. glassworks, painting, photography, fiber arts and more. Artists are on hand to showcase and sell their works. A “Best of Show” award as well as six “Best of Category” awards (Jewelry, Pottery/Stoneware/Sculpture, Glassworks, Painting, Photography, & Fiber Arts) is presented each year.
15% off Framed and Canvas Prints!
15% off all Redbubble framed & canvas prints!
Offer ends Wednesday, August 26th, 5:00 p.m. US Pacific
Arts & Craft Show – Sparta, Michigan
I will be doing my first Arts and Craft Show this Saturday, July 18 2009, in Sparta, Mi.
Sparta (a neighboring town for me) celebrates each July with the Sparta Town & Country Days, which is a week full of fun family activities and more. The Arts and Craft Show will be held at Balyeat Field (click for map of Sparta Parks) 9am – 4pm. There are lots of other great stuff going on then too, for the Saturday schedule, click here.
I’m a little nervous, with this being the first time selling my art off the internet. I don’t have the typical Art show set up, the fancy walls for hanging work, but I will have to make do with my tables and easles. Everyone has to start with something, right? I will have with me about 30-40 pieces, ranging from 5×10 framed prints to 20×20 canvas print to 20×30 framed prints. Some of my more popular peices like, Echinacea Dark Dreams, Ephemeral Partings, A Pinch of Blue and Lil Red Riding Hood will be there, along with some new prints.
So come on out, stop by, and show me some love 
Photomanipulations
I thought I’d do a post sharing some of my photomanipulations. If you’re wondering what a photomanipulation is, it’s just what it sounds like, manipulation of a photograph. Now granted, most of my work would technically be considered manipulated because I did manipulate it one way or the other. Some people can get picky with that, but most consider photomanipulation a style or category of art in which the artist generally takes more than one photograph, combines them and “photoshops” them to create a totally new image.
There are a lot of photographers who offer up their images to be used as stock for photomanipulation artists, as long as they get credit, and the end product is a completely different from the original image. Personally, I’m still not terribly comfortable using other peoples images for my own work, then taking credit. I don’t know why, it just feels weird, so I try to use as much as my own stuff as possible. However, that is not always possible, especially when it comes to models. I just don’t have anyone, nor the costumes for my own models. Recently, in my attempt to combat the winter blues, I have created a few images that are all stock, and I have to say, the results speak for themselves. Sometimes you just have to give in and go with the flow. Using stock is just so much easier. There is anendless amount to choose from, if you have something specific in mind, you can usually find it, and lets face it, using stock from photographers across the world opens you up to locations you could only dream to visit on your own. So let me take a minute here and say THANK YOU TO ALL YOU STOCK PHOTOGRAPHERS that allow us couped up, sun depraved, bored artists to create something we never could without you!
I suppose I should get on with it huh? A few of these I have had around for a while. The first 3 are my newest.
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: mizzd-stock Background: cave- steppelandstock combined with one of my own images.
STOCK CREDIT:
Models: woman- mizzd-stock, man – dragon-orb, wolf - breedstock
Background: nomuh
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: faestock
Background: all mine, that’s actually my front yard LOL!
The rest of these are a little older, you may or may not have seen them before.
No stock credit, all images were mine. Except for the brushes used for the butterflies. Unfortunantly, I don’t remember where I got those.
STOCK CREDIT:
Model: faestock Foilage Brushes: LadyVictoire Background: mine
STOCK CREDITS:
Model: faestock Background: mine
I hope you enjoyed!!
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:
And most are avaible as various products at Karri’s Zazzle Store Front!
Feature: Out with the Old; In with the New.
The latest High Key Group challenge was Out with the Old, In with the New. (You know, to go along with the whole New Year thing) We left it open to interpretation.
The Top Ten:
First Place
snow in the field by muratodentro
The rest are as follows:
The Next Generation by Kristen Trapane
Keeping A Clean Act by Johanne Brunet
Don’t forget to check out these artist’s other great works!
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:
Weekly Themed Features – Symbols of Hope
This week’s feature theme is Symbols of Hope. 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!
A symbol of hope can mean a number of things to any individual person. If you were asked to take one picture creating a symbol of hope, what would it be?
Would it be a white dove in mid-flight as it was for Mark German?
(This image can also be purchased at The Gift of Art)
How about a symbolic lone tree as in Dana DiPasquale’s “Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than The Last”?
Or maybe it would be a serene landscape image like Adrian Rachele’s “Ode to Life” or “Breaking Through” by Tom Vaughan.
(“Breaking Through” can also be purchase at The Gift of Art)
Or a glorious start to a new day like it was for Sue Wickham?
What about a symbol of faith as it was for lallymac?
“And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews and they smote Him with their hands.” John 19:2-4
Maybe it’s the ever watchful guardian angel in “S A C R E D” by Redtempa?
For me, through my eyes…the symbol of hope was the innocent smile of my daughter, my future, my hope.
What is your Symbol of Hope?
Don’t forget to visit The Gift of Art, where all proceeds go to the National Cancer Institue, to help fund cancer research, and give hope to others.
