Hi everyone. I am sorry that I have been a bit tardy in writing. I was busy with some last minute client projects - some window treatments to install...a faux finishing project and a home staging project. Then - over the weekend, I took a wonderful Blogging Class (Road Trip, Blogging Your Way NYC) with the delightful Holly Becker, the wunder-blogger (did I just coin a new word?) behind the successful decor8 and Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint. There was so much to learn but I know that I came away with a lot of very important ideas. I also learned how to operate my Nikon 3100D Digital SLR camera much better - and I learned some new tricks on PhotoShop Elements. Here are some of the pictures I took at the workshop.
One of the other delightful things about taking the class was finally meeting one of the first people who ever commented on my blog - Shawn Byles of the blog Jamaica Byles. Shawn is an awesome textile designer and I encourage you to check out her blog. She will be revamping her blog as well though, after attending this wonderful workshop.
The Big Aha Moment: I think that the one critical thing that I learned was that I needed to share my creative process on my blog. What inspires me to create such and such a faux finish or to concoct a particular color scheme in a room. My inspirations come from many, varied places - it could be a photo of an old house in Provence, the colors in a painting, an advertisement in a magazine. Inspiration is everywhere. But, as a creative person - I usually just show the final product.
So, not many people really understand the process that brought that particular look together. I now know that I need to "tell the story" behind a room, a color scheme...a finish. I know that I have done that at times (especially when I am giving some of steps in the recipe) but I am not "showing" the whole story. Not only the reason behind the look, but the process: Show the tools, the bottles of tints that comprise the color, the bucket of plaster and me applying it. Or when it comes to using fabrics in a room - perhaps I should show the fabric showroom and how I come to choose several fabrics amid a sea of possibilities.
To compose those shots, it takes another skill that I am only beginning to develop - styling. It's one thing to pull some colors, finishes and accessories together in a room...but to pull it together for a photo shoot is another thing. I have to exercise this muscle and better my eye for this. I know that I will be taking a ton of photographs until I am happy with the result. For the above photos I must have taken hundreds of less of than beautiful shots before I loved the result. Learning to work the camera (changing the fstop and the shutter speed...the ISO) plus styling the photos is new to me so it will take a while to really get the hang of it. But, I know that it will make my blog more useful as well as beautiful to my readers.
Thank you Holly and Leslie for a great class. Looking forward to implementing everything I learned!
And...thank you for reading!
The Big Aha Moment: I think that the one critical thing that I learned was that I needed to share my creative process on my blog. What inspires me to create such and such a faux finish or to concoct a particular color scheme in a room. My inspirations come from many, varied places - it could be a photo of an old house in Provence, the colors in a painting, an advertisement in a magazine. Inspiration is everywhere. But, as a creative person - I usually just show the final product.
So, not many people really understand the process that brought that particular look together. I now know that I need to "tell the story" behind a room, a color scheme...a finish. I know that I have done that at times (especially when I am giving some of steps in the recipe) but I am not "showing" the whole story. Not only the reason behind the look, but the process: Show the tools, the bottles of tints that comprise the color, the bucket of plaster and me applying it. Or when it comes to using fabrics in a room - perhaps I should show the fabric showroom and how I come to choose several fabrics amid a sea of possibilities.
To compose those shots, it takes another skill that I am only beginning to develop - styling. It's one thing to pull some colors, finishes and accessories together in a room...but to pull it together for a photo shoot is another thing. I have to exercise this muscle and better my eye for this. I know that I will be taking a ton of photographs until I am happy with the result. For the above photos I must have taken hundreds of less of than beautiful shots before I loved the result. Learning to work the camera (changing the fstop and the shutter speed...the ISO) plus styling the photos is new to me so it will take a while to really get the hang of it. But, I know that it will make my blog more useful as well as beautiful to my readers.
Holly Becker from decor8 blog...and me
Thank you Holly and Leslie for a great class. Looking forward to implementing everything I learned!
And...thank you for reading!
Oh boy Linda. This is getting exciting. Telling the story behind the process, the sources of inspiration, etc. are the critical pieces (and the ability to implement and execute) are the important things, The furniture, the faux finish, the photograph are al byproducts of the process. But you know that, I'm preaching to the choir.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read more process oriented posts and to watch your progress asa photographer. Styling is a art, isn't it?
Cheers,
John