Brooke Shaden Challenge

Over the weekend, many of you may have watched or taken part in Brooke Shaden’s live virtual workshop. It featured many insightful and inspiring lessons. including how to create a personal style, how to work with props, and how to submit your work to galleries.

One of FPOE’s team leaders, Diane Miller, has created a challenge for the team using some of the techniques she learned in the course. We’re inviting you to create your own image and share with us the techniques you used from the workshop.

How to submit your photo:

• Create an diptych using your original photo and the finished edited version. (see Diane’s example below, and please note that it does not have to be a portrait)
• Answer the two questions below about how you incorporated what you learned into your own unique style:

1.  What techniques did you use in this image, either the shooting of it or editing, that you learned or were inspired by from the workshop?  This can be technical aspects or how you used the inspiration exercises, for example.

2.  What techniques or elements in the image are your style?

• Submit your photo to the album on our facebook page by June 2nd. We will select a few to be featured on the blog.

Here is Diane’s photo:

1.  After trying contorting my body, I went more straightforward with my pose.  I tried to create a character which was inspired by the striped dress I found at a resale store.  It reminded me of a medical smock and prison outfit combined.  I smeared makeup and teased my hair to create that character of a mental patient.  I also used a cat as a prop.  In editing I used curves as she had showed and selectively added and removed light.  I also used texture, although I already used a lot of textures in similar style.

2.  I used an off-camera flash with a diffusing umbrella to light the image.  I also converted the final image to black and white and the way she uses texture is very much the same as how I already worked with textures.

Rainbow in the Garden

It’s a long weekend in Canada- the first of one of the year with warm weather. The chance of frost has diminished, so many of us are taking the opportunity to plant our summer fruit and vegetables. Take a cue from FPOE with fresh photos of a produce rainbow:

Eat Your Beets by Susan Hale

Blueberries and Raspberries by Brittany Wright

Peppers, Spice of Life by Jean Ladzinski

Summertime is Just Peachy by 74 Lime Lane

Meet one of your Team Leaders: Diane Miller

As our photography team continues to grow, our team leaders are always trying to find ways to unite members, promote the group and create interesting collaborations. We thought it might be fun to do a series of interviews to introduce ourselves. First up, meet Diane Miller: 

How long have you been doing photography? How did you get started?
I started in High School when I took my first photography class. I became interested in it watching my father develop prints in our basement.

What are your biggest influences and how have they shaped your photography?
My biggest influences are my love of animals and nature. I also like horror movies, especially vampires and zombies.

How did you develop and how do you maintain a photography style that is truly your own?
Time. It took time and I still feel like my style is all over the place. I like a lot of different subjects and styles. I have noticed with time though that my shop looks cohesive and so I must have developed some style even if I feel like I'm doing different things with different photos.

Who are your favourite FPOE photographers?
Oh my, I love Irene Suchocki, especially her horse photos. I also love all of Lisa Sieckza's work. Honestly, when I started, her Elle Moss shop was the featured shop on Etsy and I was in awe. Those are two but there are way too many FPOE photographers I admire for me to even begin to list.

How do you contribute to the team?
My role with FPOE includes being active in the Facebook group to support and help members. I would like to see the team to maintain its supportive atmosphere as it continues to grow. I also help with a variety of projects, such as the FPOE Collective, and assisting with many behind-the-scenes tasks, such as the membership review and more. 

How do you promote your work?
I promote on social media, mostly Facebook, although I'm on so many different sites. I try to post regularly, not just listings, even though that can be hard at times.

What is the best advice you’ve been given and would like to share about photography or running your own business?
For both I would say have patience. It takes time to learn how to take good photographs. You need to truly know your equipment, how light and exposure work and develop your artistic vision. That doesn't happen the day you buy a DSLR. When I look back at the work I was listing when I first started and compare to my work now there is a huge difference. You are always learning and developing. With regards to running a business, I'd say the same thing because you can't just post a few things and expect the sales to just roll in. It's work and you'll do a lot of wrong things before you figure out the right things. I don't think I'm there yet but I'm learning more day by day.

See more of Diane’s photography:

The Shutterbug Eye
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WEBSITE
ETSY
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

Dark Raven Photo
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WEBSITE
ETSY
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

Caryn Drexl :: Featured Photographer

Have you ever been curious about the mind of a surreal photographer? Caryn Drexl answers a few questions about the inspiration and process behind her dark and moody portraits.

What are five words that describe your photography style?
I actually struggle with how to describe my work constantly. Surreal, conceptual, creepy, artsy-fartsy, and...weird?

How do you choose your subjects (between either a model or a self-portrait)?
It depends. Some ideas are self-portraits from the very beginning, often because it's something personal, others end up self-portraits because I'm the only one available at the time. Sometimes I alter ideas to fit a model, sometimes a model inspires an idea. But it always has to fit, if it doesn't I won't shoot it until it does.

What are your creative influences?
Everything! It can be the light in my backyard, an old painting, a trip to a craft store. I often get inspired at the strangest times, like in the shower. When I purposely look for inspiration I'll watch old movies, look at images [online] and figure out what speaks to me and how I can take the aspects I love and make it into something that's mine.

Learning to Sin

How do you prepare for a portrait shoot, or do you prefer spontaneity?
Again, it all depends. I try as often as possible to know what I'm doing and how I'm going to do it beforehand. Sometimes when I'm missing pieces of the puzzle I'll stand in my studio room and just look around at all my stuff until something clicks, or I'll break down the pieces I've already decided on to see if I can continue on with the theme or concept. If I've created a back story and a character it's important, to me at least, that all my choices go with that. Other people might not see it, but I'll know! Sometimes I create my own props and clothing, sometimes I spend hours shopping for these things. When I'm shooting with other people I always try to have multiple ideas to shoot, and I'll have everything as ready as possible, and a plan for the order in which I'll shoot things, just to make it worth their time and have everything go as smoothly as possible.

The Strands We Twist

What moods or emotions are you trying to convey in your portraits?
I don't have an overall plan or idea in mind for all my work. Each piece, for the most part, stands on its own. And generally speaking, I shoot for myself, and with some images I'm telling my own story, so while it's nice if people get what I've done, it's not a must for me. I started taking self-portraits as a teenager in the 90's as a way of dealing with things in my life, and in a way that still continues. Sometimes though I just shoot stuff I think will look pretty!

What are your portrait photography goals- upcoming projects or career paths you would like to try?
I do have some series I want to work on. I'm also trying to do more mixed-media work, because I really enjoy when I get to be hands on. I want to be more patient with some of my bigger ideas, because sometimes when I can't shoot them for whatever reason (usually money!) I scale them down and then end up disappointed. And I'm trying to branch out into mentoring and small workshops because I've found I enjoy helping out younger or beginning photographers who want to branch out into the more surreal portrait area.

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Time to Start Over

To see more of Caryn’s work, visit her at the following links:

ETSY SHOP
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
BLOG
TWITTER

Anticipation of Spring…

…melting snow, sunshine, and the return of FLOWERS! We are looking forward to the season that comes with one of a photographers favourite muses. With a rainbow of luscious colours to look forward to, we can’t wait for March 21st to roll around- or the first flowers to bloom- whichever comes first!

Forget-me-not by Jolanta

Tulips by Dull Blue Light

Dreaming of Spring by Gilding Lilies

Something Sweet…

Ganache by Anita Waters

Black Coffee by Silvia Vázquez

Croissant, Please by Lost in the Valley

Pears in a Row by Amelia Kay

Sunshine of Your Love

Who says Valentine’s Day has to be all about pink and red?

'My Sunny Valentine' by Debbra Obertanec

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Winter’s Blush

Whether your cheeks are still rosy from the icy winter winds, or the earliest spring flowers have started to bloom, pink breathes a fresh new life into the cold.

Bald Eagle by Sylvia Hart

Eleven by Tina Crespo

On Your Side by Karin Elizabeth

White Whiskers by Sandy Harris