I’ve been playing around with a few new images and some new photoshop techniques and am quite pleased with some of the results. I’ll be posting a few of these photographs over the next few days for your viewing pleasure. This particular image today was taken behind the Parks and Rec. building when my wife and I took Aiden to play in the playground, good times. It’s a bit straightforward but the color and shadows really win it over for me. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Cris

I’m a little late but I came across another fun challenge and thought I’d give it a world. The Photo Friday website works just like the Illustration Friday website, they come up with a theme and the creative minds around and about give it a world. The only difference I can see is that the PhotoFriday.com site actually picks 6 of the best from week to week to highlight on the front page of the site through links. These six are actually chosen through voting by the web surfing public. This Friday’s theme was “health” and here’s my take on health in my life at this very moment. I actually tried to think about it and tried to avoid this subject and try my hand at something different but It kept coming back to me. It was stupid of me to pretend I didn’t see it, my wife’s pregnancy and my new unborn baby have to be healthy what could be more important in the coming months. Well here’s my take on the subject, all comments are welcome and much appreciated. I really enjoyed working on this piece!

Cris

Last night we watched “Capote” and I have to say it was a great film. Much better than I had expected, now I’ve never really heard of Truman Capote but I had heard of “In Cold Blood” before so I had some background on the story. After doing a little research on the characters and the writer, it makes me appreciate the acting and writing even more than I did, it really was a fantastic performance by Phillip Seymore Hoffman. Also, Judge Amy’s tv brother wrote the screenplay crazy!

As an artist I’m always looking for a new way to express myself and as much as I love every aspect of photography, I’ve been trying to break free and try new things. So I found this little place on the web called illustrationfriday.com were artists, mostly illustrators get a theme every Friday and submit an image for the fun of it. Here’s mine, a bit rough but fun to put together none the less. I’m no illustrator, but I’ve always loved abstract and sketch like images so I gave it a shot. I think the more of these I do the easier it will be so I’ll try to make Friday’s a photography/illustration day and combine the two for a unique and fun composition. I’d love to hear some comments on what you think of the image and its execution, all comments are welcome.

Cris

Cris

I’m so glad it’s Friday! I’m sitting here in my office working on some designs and trying to come up with some marketing ideas for our off-season business. Let me just say it ain’t going well. I got nothing, drawing blanks. The weekend will hopefully give me enough relaxation to let the creativity flow in abundance. Otherwise on Monday I’ll have to fake it.

I’ve been doing some number crunching and I’ve realized that some of my work may be a little over priced. So I’ve decided to reduce the prices of all my goods on the Etsy store permanently. I’ve always considered that when it comes to fine arts work should be priced according to the value of the work as a piece of art and not necessarily its physical value. However in the last few weeks I’ve realized that my work can be valued in a much more unique way, by the amount of people who appreciate it and enjoy it in their homes. It seems to me that if they can’t afford it they can’t fully appreciate the work and love that went into creating it. So hopefully my work will have an opportunity to join many more happy homes at their new reduced prices. I’d love to hear what people think of the current prices, are they to much still or a reasonable price?

I’ve been listening to this funny and yet informative podcast for a few weeks now called Manic Mommies. Yeah, yeah I’m not much of a mommy but my wife isn’t tech savy so an ipod is scary to her. I listen and fill her in on the high points, plus I learn tons of new things not to mention I get some insider tips on what to do or not to do to keep the wife/mommy happy. Check it out and their website at www.manicmommies.com

Well I decided that I’m going to combine my personal blog, where I rant or used to rant about random everyday things that occur in my life and this visual blog into one. It occurs to me that it all comes together and it really is where all my creativity and most importantly my inspirations come from, good or bad. So from now on this space wont be specifically about my work but more on my work and where it comes from. If interested you can see some of my past posts at my personal blog which I will be putting out of commission soon. Well without much fuss here’s a little blurb on my day today. Nothing to crazy, your typical work day. I did stay quite busy and was looking forward to lunch, a break from the office for a bit, yeah well not so easy. My wife is pregnant, so bless her heart she’s a bit irritable and I’m always perfect at irritating her so lunch didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I don’t mean to piss her off but I do nonetheless, guess I have this really bad habit of saying the wrong thing . Well she’s off teaching dance tonight so hopefully she’ll be in a better mood tonight. I am cooking dinner that should put her in a better mood. Well on a lighter note, I was going through my files and found some photographs I took the other day when we went to the park I had totally forgotten about them. I’m hoping to get a chance to post some of them later this week. I’d love to hear what everyone thinks of this new combination of the blogs, it just makes sense to me, oh well. 


I’m updating the blog a bit, so things may not be working normal.

Here’s two photographs I’ve been playing with today and would love some comments on. These images are photographs of some roses my wife had received which I talked about and photographed in an earlier post. These roses are at the end of their existence. I have to say I enjoyed photographing these, I actually have quite a few more images before and after I have not shared. I hope to save them for later collages or I may play with them and pick out a few of the best ones. Things have been very busy at work the past couple of weeks and I expect they will continue to be just as busy for the rest of the summer. Maybe I’ll have some fun summer photos to post in the future. I think I’ll be able to post something at least once or twice a week if time permits. As for now, I’d love to hear what you think of these two pieces. I personally think the black and white version is a bit dark and needs a little more contrast, so I’ll be working on that. The color piece seems to be a beautiful contrast for the earlier photograph of the flower at full bloom, maybe a diptych, I’m sure its been done but I do love the contrast between the two. Well comments are always welcome and appreciated, leave one

Cris

I’m having a sale in my Etsy Shop. All featured items are discounted 25% and have free shipping until Thursday the 21 of June at midnight. Notecards and a few prints are included in the sale so check it out and let me know what you think.

I would love to share with you a great online resource for working photographers and amateur photographers alike, Photoworkshop.com: it’s filled with lots of tutorials and information on the art and technology of photography today. I discovered this community when I was in college and became a member under their student discount which was very, very nice. Along the way I was unable to continue my subscription but I’m looking forward to joining again. The photoworkshop offers various options to exclusive members such as an online gallery to host your portfolio, critiques, assignments you can join for pretty nice prizes. Best of all in my opinion are the forums which are an open door to the great community of photographers and digital imaging professionals always happy to help a fellow artist with technical questions or discussions on the latest art exhibit, camera, etc. Shoot-Abouts are another great opportunity that the photoworkshop encourages and helps set up within the community. These consist of various photographers gathering from any given location to photograph a given subject together, this allows them the opportunity to collaborate with other artists and learn from each other new skills for their craft. You should all check out the community and if not ready for the monetary commitment of joining, one can still join for free and get some email updates such as the “selection of the week” and their newsletter “Double Exposure” full of great information and beautiful photographs.

Cris

I wanted to share the following with you, I came across the blog of a fellow Etsyer a bit a go and she’s currently holding a lottery to raise funds that will go to the RSPCA - The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I’ve owned my share of pets since I was a child and have currently acquired a kitten. I have seen cruelty towards animals, it’s no laughing matter so participating in this lottery is my small way of helping out. I’d like to direct everyone who reads this post to at least take the time and see all the various items that you will be able to win by just buying a $1 lottery ticket at www.allthosethrees.etsy.com. There’s currently 7 handmade pieces that will go to one lucky lottery winner, including one of my signed archival prints (pictured above), So go and check them out and please donate by buying a ticket its just a dollar, much less than gas. Only 6 days left of the lottery.

Well today was my wife’s first real “Baby Doctor Visit”, everything seems fine and we’ve even scheduled the first ultrasound for the end of the week. On top of that my job is really gearing up for the summer, summer starts next week, and the kids will start arriving on Sunday so I’m busy, busy, busy. I hate not having the time to work on my images but I do enjoy how much time I spend behind the camera this time of year. Anyway, I went ahead and put together a quick image today with some photos I took around the house. I hate to say it but my son drove me nuts today at the doctor’s office. He really wanted his mom, but she was being examined and the doctor was trying to find the baby’s heartbeat and it was just nuts. So my little boy and I had to leave, so I was a bit disappointed about that. Luckily my wife sent for us when the doctor found the heartbeat, WOW! It was really going. Luckily it all turned out well I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and Aiden got his mommy. Getting to the point, this image is a little something to express my son’s energy and his temper these days. I love that boy, but some days I just have to take some deep breaths. - Comments are always welcome -

Cris

I photographed some roses my wife received from her students for a new piece I’m working on. I haven’t been able to work very much on it since the summer is getting started, with staff training and such I haven’t had chance for my own work. Camp is rearing up and the kids are arriving in a week, so my job has been keeping me extra busy. Hopefully things will die down a bit in the next week or so. This image is my starting point, it has just enough life in it to be enjoyable on its own. Comments are always welcome!

Cris