I am not a fine artist, but if I was, I would paint in watercolor. It's dreamy, and imperfect, and all about composition. As I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed over morning coffee, I saw that Anne from the blog Flax and Twine, had posted this amazing still life watercolor picture using the Waterlogue app. You can take an ordinary photograph and run it through watercolor filters, to render your image as though it were hand painted. I kind of had to try it for myself. These are all pictures you've seen on my blog over the last year, totally transformed. I'm so curious to see how they print, because they are too pretty to live in a phone. Of course, the real thing is so much better, and if you can afford it, investing in the work of true artists is the best way to go for everyone, and boy do I have a list of artists I'd love to commission, but for a cheap thrill this is a beautiful new way to manipulate ordinary digital photos...
I have a lot of irons in the fire right now...school is wrapping up (I can read blueprints!), I'm working on a new design for the site to launch sometime this summer, and I'm beginning a new video project for Poppy Haus that will occasionally put me on the other side of the camera. It's this last bit that has me contemplating things. Are you comfortable in your own skin? I'll admit it, when it comes to pictures I'm my own worst critic. I've talked about this before. I took a little practice video of Wylie and I hanging out together to test out a video app and see how I looked on camera, and it took a few tries for me to really see myself objectively and realize that I didn't look that bad. I was so distracted by the little things that I'm pretty sure no one else can see. Video is funny because you see yourself talking, which looks incredibly weird. It's not like looking in the mirror, you get to see what everyone else sees all the time. I really need to get over myself, because I have a some fun ideas to share, so to conquer my fear of the camera, and for your viewing pleasure, I give you "Heather and Wylie Talk Animals", a completely unedited, grainy picture with no plot. Enjoy!
I take thousands of pictures a year, but save for a few self- portrait head shots meant for facebook, you're pretty hard pressed to find a picture of me. I'm fine with this, because I am one of those people who dreads looking at a full body picture of myself. I immediately scan to my mid section, and then up to the area above my mid-section, and then to my big hair. Being "voluptuous" is a source of frustration for me, so I'm happy to be on the other side of the camera. The problem is that there are no pictures of our family, together. This makes people like my elderly grandmother very sad, and I don't like to make my grandmother sad. Today we put on our very best Gap clothes, set the timer, and said cheese (about 100 times). There was no clear winner, except for the totally unacceptable picture above, so I chose this one:
Jasper's eyes are mostly closed and my hair is living large, but it's good enough. I recently read an essay by Allison Tate on The Huffington Post, about the phenomenon of not wanting to be photographed after having kids. It kind of struck me, I've been hiding from the camera, while celebrating the fresh faces of my children. I used to love seeing pictures of myself, as evidenced by the stacks of high school and college pictures I have lying around. Her point was that despite our own hang-ups about our bodies, and aging faces, our kids don't care. They will want to see pictures of us when we were younger, playing with them, being their parents, even with a muffin top. I suspect that I will want to see them too. It gives me pause to think about what I'm really hiding from anyway. Something to think about.
Have a lovely weekend. Get out there and do something fun! I'll be going to Bar Tartine with my special ladies tonight...
xo, Heather
I'll be heading out to Rivertown Revival in Petaluma this weekend. Billed as "The Greatest Slough On Earth" it's sort of family friendly Burning Man. I've never been to the real Burning Man, and I have no idea what I'm in for, but I suspect it will be awesome. For $5 you can get hitched or take your shot at sending your teacher down the dunk tank. I'm looking forward to taking pictures of the art boat races and the kids in their costumes.
My favorite places to take photographs are playgrounds, parks, pools and beaches. I love muted color backdrops and when my kids are running around playing I get their most natural expressions...this is what I want to remember about them. I like to frame my pictures in such a way that they are the subject, but not necessarily the focus and I take most of my pictures with Instagram, because my phone is so portable, and because they are square which I find most pleasing. I save the images without a filter, so that i can edit them later to get them right. I've even been known to take high resolution photographs with my Canon and then put them through Instagram to keep the mood consistent, and avoid the time spent editing. Here are some of my faves...
Poppy Haus has a feature in the premiere issue of Pix. Available on iTunes, Pix is a photography/lifestyle quarterly geared towards women, with content covering a variety of topics for both amateur an professional photographers. I love the concept, and I'm very excited to be a part of their first edition!
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