PHOTO FOLIOS

Indulge your love for photography, alternative processes, and handmade or decorative papers...create mini folios and fill them with a collection of some of your favorite images transferred onto watercolor paper. Give them as gifts, sell them at craft fairs, or set up an online shop at Etsy.com.

Mine are Polaroid image transfers, but you can use Bonny Lhotka's alcohol gel transfer process, or just print your images on a nice toothy fine art digital paper like Somerset Velvet or Museo II...maybe tearing them against the edge of a ruler instead of cutting them to add the look of a deckled edge.

If you'd like detailed instructions for making the folio, say the word and I'll send them to you!

DESERT SYMMETRY

Just got back from the desert...went to Joshua Tree with good friends and fellow photogs  Jeanne and Steve Gadol. Although I love the soft neutral tones of the desert palette and the stark landscape, I just couldn't seem to find "my shot." Then I remembered a lesson from my photographer teacher Bob Ware at Santa Monica College way back when...he had us choose a 10-foot square area, anywhere, and shoot an entire roll of film there, making each shot count.  It forced us to really see, not just look, and to use concepts of composition and depth-of-field to each shot's best advantage.

PERSONAL FAVE

I thought I'd share my very favorite technique for making invitations and announcements. This is the only technique that appears in both of my books, in Keepsake Photography as a wedding invitation and in Baby Face as a birth announcement (featuring a photo, shown here, taken by Jimmi Johnson).

Letterpress printing, a technique in which a raised surface is inked and pressed into a sheet of paper, is labor intensive and requires not only a letterpress but a high degree of skill and craftsmanship. But by combining the right fonts with a heavyweight textured digital paper, you can create a faux letterpress effect with similar appeal. In both examples I used Arches Infinity Textured paper (355 gsm) and Letterpress and P22 Cezanne fonts. Although the Arches Infinity line has been discontinued, it can still be found; a comparable substitute is Museo II (365 gsm).

To add the letterpress texture, type the text as a Photoshop layer. Go to Layer>Layer Style> Bevel and Emboss. Select Emboss, choose 'down' as the direction (which creates "debossing"), and adjust the depth and other settings until it looks good to you. I like to keep it fairly subtle. Colors other than black look best because the shadows show up better...for instance, a nice dark brown. Aside from the Letterpress font, try Bank Gothic, Adobe Caslon Pro, Copperplate, Lithos Pro, Mrs. Eaves and Papyrus.

THOSE PESKY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

There it is in black and white, right there on my list of New Year's Resolutions:
- take a photo every day
- print it on something, anything
- apply mixed media (journaling, paint, encaustic, collage, etc.)

Okay...I could pretend I didn't see it, or forgot about it, I could even cross it out. But why not JUST DO IT, starting today. Maybe I'll be like Julie in "Julie & Julia"where she challenges herself to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook and documents it in her blog.

Instead of actually taking a photo, I decided to "take one" from my archives (hey, that's fair!), and this one caught my attention. I remember being inspired by the beauty of some vegetables I had just picked up from the farmer's market so I had placed them in my grandmother's old Bauer bowl, set them on a bench outside the back door, and snapped a few shots.

Here's the original...bor-ing, and not at all what I had in my mind's eye...no wonder it's been in hiding:

A few tweaks via Photoshop layer masks, then printed on wood...ah, now this is how I remember it, a dreamy summer's day, and a still life outside of time, outside of place:

This and more coming up in my video workshops...stay tuned!

MEET NICOL

Isn't it great how you just never know when someone special is going to come into your life? I took a booth at the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers Int'l) Expo in Las Vegas a couple years ago to introduce the Auratone process to that industry. It was a great experience and I met a LOT of wonderful people, but one person stood out. Her name is Alyssa "Nicol" Ragland, and I'd like to introduce you to her.

Nicol has an aura of warmth, curiosity, and sensitivity, and she's an amazing photographer who brings those same qualities to her work, whether travel and documentary related (www.nicolragland.com) or nuptial (www.alyssanicol.com).

During a recent trip to Tanzania, she had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time with the Hadzabe tribe, numbering fewer than 1,500 and the last functioning hunter-gatherers in Africa. Her photos are a testament to the trust she obviously instills in those she photographs, and these are a people who have plenty of reason to be distrustful. Learn more about them, and her documentary project, on her website.

On a much different note but also one close to her heart, last month Nicol joined 19 other women in a group exhibition entitled CORE: Art & Design of the Torso showcasing mixed media dressform mannequins. Here's a photo of the piece she contributed...many of the photographs she included were Auratones she had made...yet another very imaginative use of the process.  I love it when "my students" surpass their teacher in pushing the boundaries of the medium!

If you've made any Auratones you'd like me to feature in an upcoming post, let me know!

IT'S ONLY NATURAL

As I left home one morning not too long ago, my attention was drawn to the ground. There, a fallen leaf lay filled with dew drops sparkling in the gray light of the morning like jewels. I just had to run back in and get my camera. On closer inspection, the subtle colors, the intricate detail, the masterful composition -- everything was just so perfect, and now I have this image to remind me to slow down, observe, and enjoy those little things in life that can really make the day come alive.

I ♥ PHOTOSHOP!

My granddaughters provide near constant inspiration, but getting a photo of the two of them without it looking too "posey" can be tough, especially since one of them (usually Hana, the youngest) insists on making faces whenever I grab my camera. Ya gotta love 'em!

Anyway, looking thru last year's archives, I found this example where I used the magic of Photoshop to bring my mental picture into focus and thought I'd share it here...this is just one of the techniques I'll be teaching in my upcoming Photoshop video workshop. Well, actually it's several techniques involving Layers and Masks and Filters...oh, my!