friday's featured resource: photo style recipes from pottery barn

Recently on my own site, I talked about how, even with as much as I enjoy the holidays, I always feel a sense of relief at the beginning of the year.  What I didn't mention, however, was how much I go into nesting mode.  I think it has something to do with taking down the Christmas tree: after putting everything away, and seeing my house go back to the way it was before we decked the halls, I feel an urge to move things around a little, make a few adjustments.  Redecorate a bit.

Since I truly don't have lots of money to spend on redecorating (does anyone?), and, well, I've been known to take a photograph or two, I've decided to see how I can enhance our home using photographs.  What's sort of strange is that in general, I don't display my photography at home, save for a couple of family snapshots here and there.  But really, why not use my photographs to help make my house feel more like home?  It feels like a no-brainer, right?

And so, a couple of days ago, I dusted off a book that I purchased a few months ago, on a whim. Photos (style recipes) is a publication from Pottery Barn, and is chock full of really lovely ideas to store your photographs, display them in your home, advice on how to mat, frame and hang photographs -- even some ideas on how to assimilate and create collages of vacation snapshots.  I've already pulled a couple of ideas out of the book, and I'm loving the changes I've made to our fireplace mantle and our breakfast area, all for a pretty nominal fee of printing a few photographs and purchasing some standard frames.

While the book is available on Amazon, I can't find it on the Pottery Barn site, or anywhere else for that matter -- so it could be the book is out of print.  I really can't recommend it enough, so be sure to snap it up if you can.

And on a related note, I'm curious:  do you display your photographs in your home?  Are your displays limited to portraits of your family, or do you frame your art photography pieces as well?

show me yours

 photoclutch from Urban Outfitters

 My daughter got a princess photo album for Christmas (among a million other things, one of which was her own camera –surprise surprise). She picked up the empty album this evening and sighed, I don’t have any pictures of me and my friends to put in my album.

Ouch. Those words get a photographer right where it hurts. She’s right. Well, sort of. It’s not that there are no pictures of she and her friends; on the contrary; I have taken more photos of her and her friends than should be legal. But as far as real, tangible photographic prints, there are none. So, for a five-year-old, it feels like there are no pictures. What a strange irony considering I document every day of our lives with my camera and yet...no pictures.

When I shot film I used to get prints made of every roll. We all did. And even when I got a digital slr, I still vowed to treat each full memory card as film and get prints made. That plan lasted for a year and then card after card turned into disc after disc and the images on my computer has grown to an ungodly amount and just like that, prints are now few and far between. I will defend myself and saw that I have bookshelves of photo albums from years past. It’s just since the digital stuff that I have gone astray.

But, alas, it’s a new year! Time to turn over a new leaf. So, I ask, how do you do it? Do you enlarge your favorite photos and display them proudly on your walls? Do you create calendars or keepsakes? Do you scrapbook? Do you print your favorites and get them into photo albums?

And what about the photo albums you do have? Where do you get them? Do you carry a little brag book (I love the one shown above)? Do you print up books from Shutterfly or iphoto?

How do you keep yourself accountable in getting those luscious images you capture printed? We’d love to hear your ideas, get links to your printing resources, or hear your best kept album secrets. Spill the beans; show us what you’ve got.

show me yours

GOD this is impossible.

(sighs in disgust, hovers on DELETE)

Screw it. I can't do this. I don't know how anyone does this.

(yanks exposure slider to far right in frustration +3.35 stops)

Hey.

(ups brightness and contrast)  That's kinda cool.

(cools temperature to 2250 - strong blues)  You know, I think that's actually... me.

(opens raw file as JPG)

(fails to resist spot-removing bubonic cold sore with crust like g-d crème brûlée, thanks the gods for digital herpes cure, lifts middle finger to no one in particular in counter-salute to authenticity)

(runs action or two for zip, zing)

(saves)

++++

Something Cheeky is playful. Myinspiredheart and camera shy momma wear hearts on sleeves. Lucrecerb is pure... well, you know. And in those jeans, so does she. Miss 1979 is interpretive. Miss Vivienne gets grassy with her polaroid. Mainemomma revels in her mommahood. Cherryvanillastudios is ‘messy', and sharp.photo is ‘drunk and dressed up'... and fabulous.

There's nothing I admire more than a well-executed, patient, soulful self-portrait - except maybe one that's impulsive and scruffy. Love ‘em all, props to all.

I've shown you mine, this keepsake. Hyper-processed, a slippery slope like that song you adored until the 472nd time you listened to it (and swore you'd never play again). But refreshing, in this rut, for being completely unlike anything I've done before. Reminiscent of the bliss and broodiness of being delicious in stiletto musk perfume, up to my neck in the decadence of my very own hotel room in my very favourite mistress-city.

Show me yours?

friday's featured resource-canvas wraps

We put so much thought into planning our portrait sessions. What to wear? Where to shoot? Then there's the challenge of coordinating schedules, and trying to make sure our kids stay clean for ten minutes. It's easy to see why some of us procrastinate family portraits year after year. Then again, sometimes we do go through all the effort of coordinating a session, only to end up with a couple 5x7s framed on a desk or on a bookcase. To me, that seems like a waste. If you're going to do it, go BIG! Don't go through all the planning and expense of a portrait session, only to have a CD sit in a drawer. And there's no easier way to turn your images into wall art, than through Simply Canvas. They have one product, and they do it well. Plus they're fast, easy to work with, and they can create any custom size that you need. Love them! 

*Edited to add: sorry everyone! When I wrote this, I didn't realize that Simply Canvas is a professional printer only. I know there are lots of places online that do gallery wraps, which you can find using a google search. I don't want to recommend one that I haven't used. So here's another great option. San Antonio Photolab is a local resource here, but they do have online services. You can easily create an account and upload your files. They do great work. You do have to pay for shipping for the wraps, but is FREE for regular prints.

Beloved Black and White

I began my photo career years before the digital age, at a time where shooting a portrait session took a number of cameras loaded with lots of different kinds of film. The norm for me was simultaneously shooting with three bodies; one loaded with color film, one with b/w film and another with high speed b/w film (1600 for the grainy/artsy stuff). In the end my clients got a good number of proof prints to peruse with a cross section of b/w, color and more b/w. Emphasis on the b/w. It was just kind of my thing—for many many years. Creating black and white images was what I enjoyed most and in the end my favorite shots from any session were -you guessed it- black and white.

Then, a few years ago entered my swift and smooth little digital SLR (that shoots everything in color of course) and the enchanting Adobe Lightroom which helps take that color to a whole new dimension. The last 2 years I have found them to be an irresistible couple that have seduced me into practically forgetting about my beloved black and white. It is only when I see shots like this and this that I am swept up in remembering my passion for the absence of color. For an image that holds the viewer captive with it’s enticing tonal range of whites to light grays to dark grays to the blackest blacks and back again. An image where texture evokes emotion and wonder, and there is no color to distract.

Lately I feel desperate to rediscover that unspoken thing that black and white images bring that drew me to photography in the first place—to rekindle that old flame, and search for ways to restrike that spark in a new world where creative tinder can come from a single stroke of the keyboard.

And you? Where do your loyalties lie? Do you ever feel torn in your processing? Do I or don’t I desaturate? What would make this image the best it can be? How do you decide? And what is your preference? Shed a little light (and shadow) if you would, because I need to know I am not alone in this. Am I?