Just Because in Blue

Just Because in Blue, February 2016

I think I've fallen in love with this blue tone style of imagery.

"Back in the day" of film processing they called this style Cyanotype and it was a very rare photographer who created these well.  It was before my time but I always loved them.

Thanks to today's post-processing technology I converted the warm tone image into a Cyanotype-like portrait.

I used most of the elements from the Warm Tone portrait shown previously and added a few elegant items to make this classy and feminine.  As I said when I was a portrait photographer, women can rarely go wrong with pearls.

How Long Does It Take?

Still Life in Black & White: September 6, 2015, no. 4324

“Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

How long does it take for understanding and acceptance? Ten years. Sixteen years. Never.

Today is the sixteenth wedding anniversary for my husband, Karl and I. It has been quite a journey of miles, years, experiences and we are both probably still learning about each other.

We are, as we often do, spending the weekend together up north at the cabin that he originally purchased to be the "boy cabin" for hunting, fishing and man time with friends.  Throughout the years the ambiance has changed considerably as we've used it as our photography workshop headquarters, artists' retreat, friends play ground and couples intimate personal time. How long did it take? I'd estimate it was an evolving process from 2000 to 2008 with small embellishments added each year. When I look at it now, it's hard to remember what it looked like back in 1999 before we got married.

I've been working on a photo still life series to "honor the emotive moment." It started as a learning experience to teach myself how to create fine art quality images with a new digital camera. Over a period of ten years I've been creating these still life portraits at a time/place when it had a special meaning for me, from birthdays to anniversaries to holidays.

Even though I consider one portrait to the best from each series, I usually work "in the zone" for two morning sunrise sessions before I pack it up and say, yes. I've got what I need.  How long does it take? Overall: ten years. Each session: two - four hours over two days. 

Today I came away with two favorites, the black and white at the top is in honor of all the years Karl and I spent in our black and white darkroom.

Still Life: September 6, 2015 no. 4336

The color portrait above I love because of the quality of the morning light and the props that Karl produced:  backdrop fabric and the coffee cup set he had purchased years ago for one of his past photo sets.

So, how long does it all take?  Most days I have very little patience and a short attention span. But when I take a step or two back to pause and reflect I love our years together, our many past collaborations and the ones that we're creating each and every day now in these present "emotive moments."

Floral Portrait #1, 2004

Another exciting journey begins on the world wide web.  Have you heard about The Art Stack?  A new social media site to view the classic "master" photographers, painters, sculpturist and endless more.

My husband, Karl, appears to be all excited about it.  Is it the next shiny object, or something that may have some longevity?  The founders are following 30,000 artists so how much attention does any one artist get, or need.  That's an interesting question all by itself.  How much attention does any one artist need? I'll think on that one later.

But since Karl is generously encouraging me and my photography series I should give it a try. He just started uploading a couple of my Floral Portraits so I might as well get on board, too.  However, being the eternal businesswoman and entrepreneur and taskmaster, I'm going to upload the photos here as well because this is my blog and I have some control over what I have here and where it's going. So, drumroll please....

Floral Portrait #1, 2004, B&W HandColored

Thank you Rebecca Pavlenko for the hand coloring weekend workshop I took from you "back in the day."