flickr friends: winnie’s human

there are many pretty nature images out there, but they don’t sweep me off my feet like the ones in the simply stunning collection of pam ullman. i am easily, willingly, magically transported to a soft, sensual place when i look at these photos. i love the thoughtful compositions, the thorough attention to detail and the dreamy energy they possess, and her skillful techniques post production are really the cherry on the cake. pam leads us gently by the hand on a journey through her lens to fields, forest and sky. and here today, as it turns out, she leads us on a compelling journey through her mind too…

q: where do you live, and where do you create your collection?
a: my husband and i live in central pennsylvania, about 50 miles west of philadelphia, and just on the edge of pennsylvania dutch country. it’s fairly rural, with wet autumns, short springs, sweltering summers, and wicked winters. we escape these extremes at the jersey shore, and in the south carolina lowcountry, my two favorite places to photograph.

q: what first drew you to photography? Do you have a background in art?
a: (laughs) my path to photography was a pretty crooked one. i didn’t pick up a camera in a serious way until the summer of 2006. i’m a recovering lawyer, but i’ve always had a creative streak. i gave up lawyering in 2000 to pursue a passion for creative writing. i published literary short stories and essays in the years after that, and decided to pursue an MFA. when i was accepted into programs for both fiction and non-fiction, i found myself unable to commit to either. i was paralyzed with indecision when september 11 happened. in the aftermath of that, i published one more story and then decided to go back to work. the job was emotionally draining and i didn’t have the energy to write. i can’t say for sure what compelled me to pick up my camera, but i think that, instinctively, i was looking to replace one creative outlet with another.

i’d always been a casual photographer, but didn’t know the first thing about photography as art. my husband bought me a DSLR, and for about a year, i took on-line courses at betterphoto.com, beginning with a class on how to use my camera. (laughs) i took a fairly intellectual approach to learning: i read books about photography and photographers, and for a long time, just studied other peoples’ images, trying to decipher what the best work, in all its varied forms, seemed to have in common.

ultimately, i realized that photography, like many other things in life, is best learned by doing. explore, experiment, edit. there is no one way to see and shoot something. you bring who you are to every image; it’s the ultimate in self-expression. i love the immediacy of it. and the sense of community i’ve found in supportive environments like flickr. most of all, i love that in photography, there is always something to learn. and always something to shoot!

q: without giving away any secrets of course, can you tell us a little bit about your technique?
a: i assume you’re referring to my use of textures to render some images “painterly.” this is actually something quite new for me, and is inspired by the work of some of my flickr friends, like linda plaisted, michael ticcino, and pamela viola, photographers who trained in painting and other visual arts. they’re all very different, but they share a remarkable talent for composition that just bowls me over. another photographer who similarly inspires me is jody miller. she rarely uses textures, but the composition of her landscapes, indeed, all of her work, is decidedly painterly.

i resisted photoshop for more than a year, but when i layered in my first texture, i was hooked. when i was very young, i enjoyed making mixed media collages, and making textures images really resonates with me. it’s highly creative, and giddy fun. i don’t have a specific methodology. i’m a bit like a mad scientist, or julia child on LSD. (ed. note: this is the quote of the week.) i usually make three or four copies of an image and work them all very differently until i see something I like. i play with modes and the opacity slider quite a bit. and when i’m going for something more illustrative than realistic, i like to cross-process. as in creative writing, sometimes the creation of an image is nearly effortless. other times, it takes hours to write the photographer’s version of a single paragraph. and i never hesitate, as we writers like to say, to “kill my darlings.” it’s painful to hit the delete button after hours of effort, but i do it.

a few good and bad things i’ve learned about the process: (1) textures won’t make a bad photograph any better; (2) not every image lends itself to textures; (3) it’s easy to take textures too far; (4) textures free you up to shoot on days with bad light, and (5) they hide sensor dust. (laughs)

a word to the wise: textured images do not always print the way they look on a computer screen. i never add anything to my website until i make a print that i’d be happy to hang on my own wall. a successful print always feels like a lovely surprise.

q: what is it about nature photographs that appeals to you most?
a: originally, i thought i would concentrate on street photography. watching life through the viewfinder felt very much like the kind of observing i’d been doing as a writer, and really, for all of my life. Walking the streets, i saw a story in every image; it just felt so natural. and i’m a huge fan of black and white photography, so i liked that about the genre. but with the camera to my eye, i felt exposed, and couldn’t overcome what felt to me like an invasion of privacy. i’m a very approachable person, and from time to time, had the pleasure of shooting with my subjects’ permission. but it still didn’t feel quite right, and before i knew it, i was standing more and more often in a field of wildflowers. (laughs) it was such a relief.

i’m a country girl at heart. i’m a person for whom silence is music. nature is a very meditative environment for me. i think i photograph nature because it’s where i’m happiest.

q: what inspires your creativity? do you see yourself with a camera in your hands, say, 10 or 20 years from now?
a: it doesn’t take much to inspire me; that feeling of wanting to “make something” is always inside of me. first and foremost, i’m inspired by the light. i’ll shoot an old shoe in the road if it has great light on it. i’m inspired by beauty in the little things. by sunrises and sunsets. by small moments and grand gestures. by photographers who take the art to different places and new heights.

i can’t imagine growing old without my camera. it’s really become a part of who i am.

see much more on pam’s flickr stream, and purchase your favorite pieces of her collection on her very beautiful website.

thank you pam! (and many thanks to rachel for her great tip!)

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snapshot sunday

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bill fantini photography: miniview

i am always on the lookout for beautiful sepia toned imagery and so when i saw these pieces from bill fantini, aka etsy seller houseofsixcats, i thought the mothership had landed. the lighting, texture and composition is so lovely in each and every photo. fortunately for us, bill’s skills are not exclusive to the sepia style. as i dug deeper, i found his shop to be a virtual treasure trove of through the viewfinder, sepia, black and white, still and urban photography. it is inspiring and impressive to see such a breadth of work in just one shop, which really got the old hamster wheel in my mind running, so i thought i would ask just a few questions…

q: where do you live and where do you create your artwork?
a: well, presently i live in ossining, ny. that is in westchester county, about 45 minutes north of the city. but i have lived on both coasts and we are planning on moving back to portland, oregon in october.

i don’t have any one particular place i create my art, i shoot in many different locations. i guess the one constant is that i use adobe lightroom and photoshop to help make the shots i took into images of art.

q: how did you get into photography?
a: i got my first 35mm SLR, a Minolta X700, for my 16th birthday, and have been hooked ever since!

q: browsing through your collection, it is clear that you have a broad mastery of several different styles. do you have a favorite piece of equipment, a location or technique you like to use?
a: thank you for the wonderful compliment! i really like shooting ttv, through the viewfinder, it’s great fun using the old argus 75 to compose the shot.

i have to say my favorite shot is rusted gear (below), and it is also from my most unique location, an abandoned power station.

q: what inspires your creativity?
a: that is the most difficult question. i really don’t have any one thing that inspires me. what i love to do is walk around a location and look for unusual angles or ways to shoot what i find interesting.

q: if you could shoot anywhere in the world, where would it be?
a: the first place that comes to mind is japan, i love the asian culture, and from what i have seen that country looks fascinating. another photo journey i would love to take is to explore more abandoned buildings here and in europe!

q: are any of the six cats in the house photographers too?
a: when i started my shop we had six cats, and i wanted a unique name that people would hopefully remember. since then two have passed, but i think it is a nice homage to their memory.

see more of bill’s broad portfolio of work on his flickr stream, and purchase these prints and more at his etsy shop.

thank you bill!

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beth reitmeyer art and paintings

come and take a trip to pop candyland with me for a moment and enjoy these acrylic floral paintings and playful installations from artist beth reitmeyer. beth has a masterful use of color here that cannot help but prove the theory that color impacts moods. look again. now, are you feeling lighter, more soothed, happier?

i like these repeating patterns and perspectives. they make me feel secure. beth says she strives to engulf the viewer in art people might find in their everyday lives to knock down that 4th wall. success!

she’s got a show over at zg gallery in chicago from july 18th, 2008 through august 30th, 2008. can’t make it? check out more of beth’s pieces and read more about her here. hopefully beth will have her own website soon — i could not find one for her!

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snapshot sunday

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flower art & design (round up)

flower power is on its way, but hasn’t arrived quite yet. here are a few selections to whet your whistle before the genuine articles arrive…

sweet little ceramic dishes from leesa brinkley

poppies on blue painting by rachel austin

sterling and vintage glass pendant from anne holman

the hint of light and mystic river by blue citrus art

enamel flower rings from sarah hood

calla chair from william sawaya

sunflowers pendant lamp from paper cloud

these are for you and white love birds prints from yumi yumi

flowered chair painting by mercers daughter

cherry blossoms crochet cuff from irregular expressions

flower blend oval rug by emma gardner

red mum and in the orange blossoms 2 prints by hadley hutton

letterpress correspondence cards by pressure

felted messenger bag from daisynyc

bloom one and two encaustic paintings from angie burr for her effie girly finery

butterfly garden and hummingbird garden goccos from treetop studio

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snapshot sunday

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jared may photography: miniview

i live in a major metropolitan city, which is not without rich history, architecture, culture and charm. regularly though, i find myself someplace that’s too crowded, tight, close, jammed, noisy, stinky or crammed. it is at these times i place my (imaginary) cone of silence on my head and daydream of wide open spaces. why not indulge a little with me right now and have a peek at this lusciously lit landscape photography from kansas artist jared may!

jared’s love of the medium began at the tender age of eight, and he has been drawn to it ever since. he has a unique point of view not only through his lens but also towards his art: he feels he has experienced enough trial (and error) to be able to identify his best shots. ever curious to know just a little bit more about the brains behind the operation, i asked just a few quick questions…

q: where do you live and where do you create your artwork?
a: i live in the flint hills of northeast kansas. my favorite spot for shooting is the konza prairie, which is a research area/semi-protected grassland. they have a few trails that are open to the public, and it’s just about my favorite place to be any time of the year, but i’ll shoot anywhere. sunset/dandelion was taken in my front yard, for example. i also like to pull the car over if i see something cool on the way to work, or on the way home. if you’re driving near manhattan, and you see a guy with his car off to the side of the road and a camera in his hand, it sure might be me.

q: i see that the bulk of your collection was shot in the midwestern heartland. if you could shoot anywhere in the world, where would it be?
a: i haven’t been to alaska yet, and i’d love to spend a few months there shooting. the trouble i’ve had with taking photographs of gorgeous places as i travel around is that i’m not able to spend enough time in any one spot to really know the place, so the photographs won’t necessarily capture the essence of the place, like i try to do with my photographs of kansas. i like to think that if i travel enough, i’ll get to learn places even if i don’t live there, but i’m not quite convinced that’s possible just yet.

q: what type of equipment do you use? do you have any special techniques that you would like to share with us?
a: i got into digital photography for the first time a little over two years ago. i was introduced to flickr at right about that same time, and i ended up falling in love with both of them. i was shooting with a little nikon coolpix 4200 at the time. most of the photographs i have in my etsy shop were taken in that time period with my trusty little coolpix. i recently upgraded to a nikon d40x, my first digital SLR. i haven’t fallen in love with it just yet, but we’re still getting to know one another. i’m excited about the start of spring. i have a lot of ideas that i’m ready to try out with the new camera.

in terms of techniques to share, my major advice is to pay attention to your strangest ideas and give them a shot. with digital photography, even the worst idea can be attempted to your heart’s content, and in the end all you’ve lost is a bit of your time. the best way to come up with fun new photographs is to allow yourself to brainstorm ideas and then shoot shoot shoot until you get what you want.

when i was a kid, my mom convinced me that it was okay to go out for a photo shoot and just come back with one or two really cool shots. i continue to think that way. if i shoot 200 shots, and one of them is fantastic, i’m a happy guy.

q: which components of your composition style do you think are most unique?
a: this is a hard question for me, because my photography is really just me trying to capture what i see, so i can share it. my favorites of my photographs fall into two categories. either i’ve set up the shot so that the light is doing something crazy with the image that lends a unique mood to scene, or i’ve managed to find the beauty in something that is easily missed by folks as they go through their day. i genuinely believe that there is beauty to be found everywhere, and the trick is to learn to see it.

q: what do you do when you’re not taking photographs?
a: my favorite things are travelling and spending time with my family, so i try to do a lot of both of those things. travelling can be expensive, but luckily hanging out with the loved ones is free.

i teach math at an alternative high school, which i really enjoy, most days. i’m studying to be an administrator, but i haven’t decided how i’ll use my degree. i’m still working on the whole what-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up thing.

q: sunrise or sunset — your preference?
a: this one’s easy for me, despite the fact that my most popular photograph is a sunset. there is nothing quite like being out in a field, breathing in fresh morning air, waiting for the sun to peek out. the photographs just about take themselves.

see a much larger selection and purchase prints in a variety of sizes at jared’s etsy shop. check out his other shop for more original art, and be sure to stop by and say hi on his blog too!

thank you jared!

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