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october 9, 2006 volume one : issue three This week's AEzine is inspired by this question from Karen: what in the heck is a modern photo-taker to do with all theses photos? Could you write on your favorite photography-taking tips/tricks and also possible camera selections. Great topic Karen. Photos are a huge part of what I love about this art we all enjoy. There is nothing better than a captivating photo to compliment our stories. Enjoy. Ali  Let's begin by addressing this question from Christy: I'd like to learn some tips from you regarding photography. You always have the coolest pics on your layouts. Seems like you know where to be for that "one great shot" of Simon - is it just luck, or is it planned? What kinds of lighting, tips, tricks....just your ideas and thoughts about picture taking for scrappers and life artists. How do you determine which not-so-clear pics to use? They look great on your LO's, but mine? It just looks like a screwed up picture. My photography philosophy is very, very simple: take lots of photos. I decided a few years ago that I didn't need to know all the "ins and outs" of manual photography. My head is already full of so many other things I need to remember (anyone relate to that one?). I want to be free with my photo taking without feeling like I need to be thinking about technical stuff while I am in the moment. CAPTURE LIFE When I am taking all these photos I work on getting a variety of shots: far away and up close. I like having lots of options in my photos...sometimes the story I want to tell changes by the time I am able to tell it. By having a bunch of photos I am more free to choose ones that most effectively communicate the story. And taking lots of photos definitely increases the chance you will get lucky - sounds silly, I know, but it is true. One of the things I enjoy when taking photos is getting different points of view. Shooting from above, below, straight-on, etc. Do the opposite of what seems like the normal way to shoot a scene. Stand up on a chair to photograph your child playing on the floor. Shoot a photo from the backseat of a car (if you ever have the chance to not be the driver) and show the perspective of what you see from that point of view. Have a sense of humor with your photos. Sometimes this requires setting up a shot. Other times it is a wonderful accident. Take photos of people and things that are interesting to you. By doing this you train your eye to "see" so many more things in the world - it will have an impact on the way you shoot your family. At first this will seem strange - it feels strange to take photos of people you don't know, inanimate objects such as signs, etc. But it is freeing and you will begin to see things differently than in a whole new way. Try it. Do I plan photos in advance? Usually not. I take photos based on the moment or the location or when Simon is doing something that is just too darn cool or cute to pass up (my camera - a Canon Digital Rebel is never far away). One of the things that I don't do is preview the photos while I am shooting; I just keep snapping away until the moment passes. This allows me to be "present" and not worry about my photos being perfect - I know I will have enough to chose from when the time comes to tell the story. Sometimes I do plan photos in advance. This is especially true when I know there is a story I want to tell. I need photos to support my story so I will go out with the intent of capturing those things. My biggest tip related to my camera is to shoot without the flash whenever possible. On my camera I use the "p" or the "running person" settings. I like the look of the photos that I capture without the flash - they seem softer and more real life to me. Again, you can tell I am so not technical and you know what, it is ok. It is a choice that we each get to make for ourselves and our creative process. UPLOAD & EVALUATE Do you keep all the photos you shoot? No way. Here is the simple system I tend to follow: capture, upload, evaluate, delete, burn, create. I need to add print into the mix there somewhere. Right now I print at different times. My goal is to get to the point where I am printing all of the photos we want to keep in 4 inch x 6 inch format but I have not gotten to that point yet. Right now I print as I need them (either here at home on my HP Photosmart 8750 or online at Costco or Scrapbook Pictures) for projects or to hang on our walls. DELETE How do you decide which photos to delete? My husband Chris is awesome at taking tons of photos. After he takes them all I upload and evaluate. My process, again, is simple. We don't need 50 shots of Simon sitting on the floor reading a book. One to three from that experience would be wonderful. I pick out a couple that show different views (such as a close up, a far away, etc.) and delete the rest. One of the reasons I am able to do this is that I know there will be at least 50 more photos to take tomorrow. BURN Burning your photos to a DVD is a very important part of the process of dealing with your photos. I know more than one person who has lost ALL their photos when their hard drive crashed. If you like having all your photos available to work off of from your computer, purchase a second hard drive to store all those photo files. In addition, burn them to DVD and store them in a safe location (such as a fire safe box or in a safety deposit box). CREATE ART I think the "professional" part for me comes in when I begin to work and play with the photos on my computer. This is where I begin to envision my layouts. Where I add type directly onto my photos. Where I crop, enlarge, and play. Where I choose photos that are not necessarily "the best" photo (technically speaking) but are the most interesting, most evocative, and best tell my story. Sometimes these photos are blurry, foreheads are often cut off, people are cropped to one edge of the canvas, etc. Right now I especially love photos that have "white space" within the edges of the photo - this allows me to add journaling or other elements directly onto the photo. And the reason I love blurry photos? My life is blurry right now. Photos of Simon blurred - especially the ones that show movement - are so very representative of the life we are living. Because we take so many photos, we encounter a lot of blurry ones. Not all of them need to be scrapped. Not all of them tell a story. Most of them just need to be deleted...but there are always a few gems waiting to tell a wonderful story. 
weekly challenge This week your challenge is to create a layout that tells the story of your relationship with photos and/or your camera. Consider the following questions: What is your personal photo-taking process? What are your strengths in regards to taking photos? What do you want to change about your process? Which photos that you have taken are your favorites? Why? What makes those photos your favorite? If you don't have time to create a layout this week I would encourage you to simply think about how you take photos. Write down a photo goal for yourself this week and do something about it over the next seven days. I will be posting my layout on my blog on Friday, October 13. Looking forward to seeing your layouts. question and answer Q : I am new to scrapbooking and I am also a mom to a 14 month old boy. I tend to get overwhelmed with the amount of photos I want/need to scrap in the small amount of free time I have. How do you as a working mom and artist balance it all? Thanks, Dana A : Ah, balance. Those of you who read my blog know that this is something I am constantly striving towards. Sometimes I feel like I have found it only to be set off again by a bump in the road (both unexpected and expected ). The bottom line: balance is an ongoing process. Here are a couple suggestions for balancing mama and creative time: 1. Break tasks up into smaller, more manageable amounts that you can tackle while your baby is napping. Think about the things you need to do to get ready to create: organize and/or print your photos, write your journaling, paint a miniBOOK cover, etc. Give yourself an hour a day that is designated as "you" time. Protect that time - we all need "me" time. 2. Jot down ideas for pages/topics/etc. as you go about your day so that when you have time to scrapbook you will have a wonderful list to turn to that is full of concepts you love. 3. Consider scrapbooking what you are inspired by at the moment rather than worrying about being caught up or working chronologically. I know for me, when I am creating I want to be telling a story I want to tell rather than feeling guilty that I am not working in some specific order. Tell the stories you want to tell. 4. Remember that you are a mama to a very small little guy. He will not be that small forever and will not always need you as much as he does right now. Cherish this time. This is a great time to focus on your writing - get down your feelings about being a new mom. Write about how cool it is to experience the growth of another human being. Connect yourself as deeply as you can to what you are experiencing right now. It goes so fast. Q : As a digital photographer, how do you 'file' your photos in the computer. By person, event, timeline, all of the above? I know you're not a big 'event' photographer, but as time goes on, and you have opportunities for the t-ball games and such, would you sort them by event/date? And here's another dilema - so you have all of these great photos of say, a trip to the beach that you've filed as 'Beach Trip August 2006', and one in particular stands out. Maybe a photo of Simon looking out into the ocean, and you know right away that you will want to use this one over and over again in different layouts. How would you sort it then? Just remember that it was during 'that time at the beach' or would you copy it into a 'favorite photo's of Simon' file. A : Great question Jill. Right now in iPhoto I have general folders set up for Chris' campaign, Simon, family, my layouts/projects, one for me, and Henry (my new nephew). I like having larger, more general folders because I tend to just scan through the main library folder and have not really gotten the hang of using all the options in a folder system (thanks for the reminder). I think how you set it up depends a lot on how much time you want to spend organizing all the photos. For me, since I am never far from my computer, I am pretty familiar with the timeline of my photos (meaning I don't have to search too long to find what I am looking for). If I spent less time on my computer I think it would be valuable to set up more specific folders at the time of uploading so that I would not have to spend tons of time searching when I was ready to create. Good stuff to think about in that question. Q : I know you print at home, so you have photos readily available to create layouts and miniBOOKS as your mood hits. But, those who don't have a printer and have to either order online or through the great machines at the drug store...or even those who don't have digitial and just get the regular prints back...do you have any developing strategies in order to have 'that perfect photo' ready whenever you need it? And maybe you would have that perfect photo developed in multiple sizes and color/black and white? Would you immediately go through your prints and request reprints of your favorites right away? A : I think if I didn't have the option of printing at home I would definitely print all my photos in regular size (4 inch x 6 inch) and I would identify those that I really loved and order some enlargements at that time. Doing it all at once and then having them at hand when you are ready to scrapbook seems to make the most sense. As for color or black and white, I tend to do color just about 90% of the time. Every once in awhile I will do it for variety or as a way to highlight something different in a layout - for me, I love color photos. I love seeing all the crazy colors of the world in which we live. I think the most important thing is finding the system that works best for you. Simplify your process so that you have more time to create & tell your stories and spend less time dealing with your photos. If you want more on organizing your photos I highly recommmend Stacy Julian's book The Big Picture and her Library of Memories class through Big Picture Scrapbooking. I am one of Stacy's biggest fans. I believe in her philosopy and think she is an all around wonderful person. Her Library of Memories class on Big Picture is worth every penny as she walks you through the ins and outs of her photo philosophy and album storage and system. This class will be running again in January 2007. If you have a question you would like to have answered send me an email and write "newsletter" in the subject line. Copyright � 2006 Ali Edwards/AE Design/Life Art Media.
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