fort funston

at the south end of Ocean Beach in San Francisco is some beautiful dunes that rise suddenly out of the beach. at the top a fort was once built and garrisons were dug in and we were safe all during WWII. of course the army sort of tore the place up, but it's been turned into a park and many areas are being restore - with native plants and protecting nesting birds. I love to walk up from the beach, winding through the dunes and turn around and go back before it get crowed with dog walkers and deserted army structures. This is where i've been taking pictures on my morning walks.

do you shot like a fashon photographer?

recently someone asked me if i shot like a fashion photographer. They pictured me clicking away rapidly. i guess there thought was i'd be more likely to get the shot that way. It really gave me pause because i think it told me something about how my abstracts are perceived, or at least by this person, who seems like a regular person. I thought that the idea "photographer" for most people is a glamorous one, seems like an easy job capturing beauty. I know that even fashion photographers work very hard, i'm not saying i think their work is easy, i think it's perceived that way.
I think this may be because the average person taking a picture has a light weight point and shoot. they take pictures holding the camera in one hand, with out getting down on their knees or climbing up a ladder to get the shot. and they don't fuss over focus or aperture.
also for them it seems that the final shot must be due to sheer luck, because that's how it is for them. if the shot comes out they were lucky.
My work is not glamorous, easy, or a matter of luck!
I take a moderate amount of pictures very, very slowly. I usually have to hike to my subject, get up before dawn or go out in the rain, fog, windy storm to get the light and wetness i want. i get down on my hands and knees because the most interesting stuff is way down low, or it looks better that way. My cameras used to be so heavy, with my arthritis i could never do it now! I love digital for lightening things up, but still what i'm wielding weighs three or four times what the point and shoots do, what with lenses and all. So my wrists really begin to ache.
Some of my process i think is interesting. when i do macro i focus by moving my body the minutist amount. if i breathe the focus is lost. so i end up holding my breath alot. So i'm down on my knees in the mud or the damp sand curling up with a plant or rock or whatever, holding my breath and swaying tiny, tiny bits! Every now and then i exhale really hard - cuz i got the shot, but then that fogs up the camera's viewfinder. (then you may see me lift the camera over my head and wave it to clear it while i freeze the rest of my body to hold the place.
for me, getting the shot is not luck. i plan every shot i take. i take variations because it's hard to tell what exactly the shot will look like - how to best communicate what i'm trying to say. I compose the shot; as i teach my students, i look at everything in the viewfinder to make sure i have the subject where it should be and there's no distracting elements or relationships that will look weird in three D. (like a telephone pole coming out of someone's head!) i track the light so i know i need to change my f-stop or speed, and then i focus.
yes even with those blurry abstracts i spend a very longtime focusing. it's really hard to get just the edge of the leaf in focus! I work with an extremely small depth of field (which is why breathing can blow my focus). and with the lens baby i'm not twisting the nob i'm squeezing the bellows toward the camera, which takes more hands than i have to hold it perfectly still while i squeeze off the trigger.
I guess this explains why i get self conscious when i shot with other people around. I look strange working!

working with Hebrew letters

I with now that i had a Hebrew word processor on my computer. I've always relied on the very simple set up on my Mac to write in Hebrew, but now I am struggling with it's quirkiness. I have these cards that i want to add Hebrew test to, and it should be simple enough to write it up, print it on velum and put it on the card. however, even tho i have Hebrew fonts and a computer capable of typing backward, i'm pulling out my hair as it does weird things. mostly textEdit refuses to leave the punctuation where i put it and it messes up when ever it starts it's own new line. At one point i tried to see if i could use illustrator (it couldn't find the Hebrew fonts) or Photoshop. Photoshop is ultimately the right program to use because it doesn't even think about moving the test to a new line, it leaves that to you. but i'm going to have to retype everything i typed today, because it can't think in a reversed direction. so if i copy and paste a line of Hebrew text into it, the letters are all facing the correct way, but every word runs backward. I think it's because it took the sentence and ran it backwards.

in English it would look like this: !taht pots uoy yeH
so you can see that's a problem!

I've been want to make these cards for a while and now i have a show in my synagogue for Chanukah, so i have to get them done!

my biggest transfer yet!

this work still in progress. yet i really wanted to share because i feel it's going so well.

it is on a 16 x 20 canvas board with the transferred image on top of handmade paper that is very textured. the ink has been transferred from an image printed with ultrachrome K3 pigments onto Epson's enhanced mat paper with Golden's Soft Gel Gloss. additional technical aspects of this transfer are discussed on an earlier post, the link above (in the title) will take you there or click on "doing transfers again" in the side bar.

if you look closely you can see areas where the image is very clear and other areas of "distress". i hope i sharpened the photo i took of it enough so that you can see what's going on. there are several different kinds of distress. i have to decide what part is effective and therefore should leave alone and what part is distracting from the effect i want and therefore i should continue working on those areas.

When i'm done with that i plan to continue layering media. i have additional handmade paper, natural elements, and perhaps a cyanotype or cloth elements. i can't describe the final work and i'm not fixed on one result yet. but i want the viewer to feel as though they are standing under that mimosa tree in the rain with me!

Transfer Technology Workshop for Photographers and Artists

daydreaming arts' announces another
Transfer Technology Workshop for Photographers and Artists

Whether you are a fine art photographer or an artist who would like to incorporate photographic images into your work, transferring photography and other images to unique surfaces will awaken your creativity.

At this workshop you will try several methods of transferring inkjet images onto canvas, watercolor paper, wood, glass, cloth, and found objects. We will take a look at the methods that work best for photographers and mix media artists, preserving your color intent, creating archival works of art, and integrating transfers into your current work. Some processes require heat or water: some need a great deal of rubbing and some need none at all. You can mix media to create different effects on different surfaces.

You will learn the how transfer technologies work, what media and processes influence the results - and why. A process can retain a sharp image, or create a distressed look or even a stretchy emulsion. You'll gain information about the properties of the media and how too experiment in ways that work toward repeatable results! At this workshop you'll create several projects using different methods.

You will come away from the workshop with several completed projects and the ability to ask the right questions to develop a unique process that meets your artistic needs.

Come ready to experiment in a nonjudgmental atmosphere designed to inspire and motivate!

This workshop was developed at the suggestion of many visitors to kayla's show in June. During the October Open Studios this came up again. It's essential to keep the workshop small -- so sign up early! the workshop is likely to fill up fast!

Workshop details:
Cost: Early registration by Novemeber 10th fee: $65.00; materials fee $10.00*
When: Sunday November 19th: 11 am to 4 pm
Where: daydreaming arts studio in The Sunset district in San Francisco.
How: e-mail kayla at: kaylagarelick@mac.com

You will receive an e-mail with payment options and a list of tools to bring. daydreaming arts provides transfer materials and receiving surfaces. You may bring your own ink jet prints, use my images, and if you sign up early, you may send images that will be printed onto special transfer papers for use during the workshop. You may want to bring some surfaces with which to experiment.

About the workshop leader:
kayla garelick is a self taught photographer and mixed media artist who has shown her work locally in San Francisco, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, and Richmond. She has experience teaching adults, teens, and children. She has a Masters in Education from Bank Street School of Education. For more information please see her resume at: http://home.comcast.net/~daydreamingarts/resume/artistsResume.htm
kayla believes in experimentation and problem solving. She shares her explorations in a running record in the blog: http://daydreamingarts.blogspot.com/ . Her mom is a scientist who has taught her the importance of record keeping and patience!


kayla garelick
kaylagarelick@mac.com
daydreaming arts
http://daydreamingarts.home.comcast.net
http://daydreamingarts.blogspot.com/

*a separate materials fee in necessary for retail tax purposes.

dizzy on the beach!

one year on Blogger!

i just realized that yesterday was the one year anniversary of my blog here! boy what a long year!

Walking on the beach with my lensbaby

I guess i'm feeling subdued. the weather is turning colder and the wind is picking up at the beach. each day the chaparral; changes. I don't think most of the plants loose their leaves, but they turn colors and die back. It's really beautiful. getting down on my haunches and sticking my camera and nose down into the low growing succulents too see them as we normally wouldn't, it's a magical feeling; like being inside a secret. with the lensbaby it's even more like fantasy. i see the lens breaking apart the light that the plants are reflecting back at me. I'm ever aware that what i capture is reflected light but when is see it being stretched and the light positively glowing i really feel that my subject is not the plant on the ground but something completely without material substance. the reflected light interacts with and is changed by the direct light and then i mix them both inside the lens as i move each element's position relative to the other. I've always wondered why the lens is a baby. i suppose the inventor simply thought of his creation as "my baby" but i now think that the lens is birthing the baby of the new manipulated light.