Dark Katy Rides Again!

If you've been following me at all, you know I have a dark side. I tend to be overly cynical, suspicious and sometimes, I'd even admit to being a bit mischievous and plotting. Who knows...maybe it's my OCD, maybe it's my life experiences, or maybe I'm just inherently evil. Ha! In any event, here are two of my great loves. Black and white photography and dead flowers.

Yup, dead flowers. (Or other dead stuff. More to come on that later...it's a secret!) There is something about what a flower looks like all shriveled up, petals creased and edges brittle. I'm the person that visits the rose garden and skips the bright colors and beautiful blooms and hunts down the dead plant. Cheerful, huh?

Honestly, it's all part of the inspiration I find in the beauty of the mundane. Looking at something that is usually overlooked and seeing something completely different. I look at these dead flowers and it's almost like I can watch the process in my mind, like those slow-moving features on National Geographic that show the seed growing into a tree. Somehow, by seeing the flowers in death, I am awed by the intricacy of creation. Which probably means, I'm in awe at life. So...maybe I'm not that dark after all.

(Ironically, as I'm writing this blog, The Execution by Paul Cantelon from The Other Boleyn Girl is playing on my Pandora station. This is a great piece. I have a thing for the Boleyns, that whole time period of Queens and Kings. I know, more pieces to my weird puzzle. I love asparagus too.)

Black and white photography to me freezes time. It marks a moment. It is photojournalistic by nature, foundational, historical, classic. Earthy. Grainy. Get your hands dirty good. There's no hiding in a black and white photograph. It is what it is. Bare. Honest. Brutal. I love it.





This was the first in what I hope will become the many, play times I have awarded myself. I have promised myself that I will carve time for play. Time to simply get quiet, explore and see what I find. And while I am sure shooting dead flowers is not high on a lot of other people's to do list, I found it truly cathartic. Wait until you see my next project.

Oh, and I didn't go all black and white this go around. There were some rain droplets that caught my fancy and then some dead stuff that held it's own. So I left them be.

A Good Pair of Heels

Those who follow my work know me well. I live for shoes. There is nothing, NOTHING, on this planet like a good pair of heels. The funny thing is, I hate feet. They "ick" me out. But put those feet in a hot pair of killer shoes and suddenly I can't keep my eyes off them. Shoes are empowering. Any woman will agree...you put on the right pair of shoes and you can conquer the world. Today started off awesome. Because of these.

Adventures of Katy & Melody: Pyrotechnics

The wonderfully amazing Miss Rachel May Clarke inspired Melody and I to conduct our own series of pyrotechnics experiments after finishing up a late night wedding reception for the glorious Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Tull. Melody and I grabbed several boxes of sparklers, a lighter, and snuck around to the deepest darkest back corner of the reception hall to try our hand at some neat effects. Melody apparently has a hole in her skirt now from burning sparklers, I was afraid I was going to fall in a ditch and be violently murdered by snakes and spiders, and who knows what the departing guests were thinking as they heard giggles and frantic screaming "We did it!" from off in the pitch blackness of night.

I've played around a bit with some Lightroom presets to see what it did to the sparks. I haven't decided on what I like best yet, but here's a preview of one that I tried!



And here is one that I left myself in (I ended up being the better sparkler fairy wand waver and Melody ended up being the better photographer. Ha!) so you can see where I stood and what it looks like when it first comes out. We had the shutter speed on Bulb and the aperture on f/22 to block out as much extra light as possible and give us the time to write in the sky.



Melody, you were a fabulous second shooter, but even more so, I had so much fun playing with you and concocting our weird experiments by moonlight. Can't wait for our next adventure!

Rose Red

So lately I have had this urge to really play with focus and color. I just feel like I am painting when I take a photo. Broad strokes of a heavy brush, laden with bright paint. Today, on the way into the house, lugging mail, purse and all sorts of school gear, along with my 9 year old dragging her own mountain of life-sustaining routine gear, I happened upon a rose growing on a bush alongside my house. This bush continues to produce the most stunning roses, with no help from me I might add. We have no idea what to do with the thing! And yet it grows, and yet it showcases God's stunning masterful hand and His delicate care for every aspect of our planet, that He would create something so perfect and so serene...and it's just a plant! Imagine how much care He took with us.

Drawn to its beauty, I hurried inside, ceremoniously dumped all my junk on the table and raced outside with my camera. Technically, many photographers would think these images are a total wash. Failures. They are noisy, out of focus, and kind of all over the place. Definitely not headed to the next cover of your favorite gardening magazine. But I love them. They make me feel pretty. They make me smile. They make me feel like I painted a masterpiece. If only to borrow from the true Master's hand for just a moment, to capture His handiwork in streaks of red and green.

I hope you like them! What do you think? Failure or not??