New Photography Project!

I have started a new blog project which will feature photographers' work from all over the world.

I made the first blog post tonight:

http://caughtwithinframe.wordpress.com/

I have 3 other photographer friends that will be posting at this blog and will be trying to get quest blogger photographers involved as well. It should be quite fun and I am hoping it will grow, and evolve as it does so.

Yes, this is what I have been organizing the last week or two and it is finally moving forward! My friend Nek in Greece is to be the next blogger of photos and she is very excited!

I will keep everyone updated on new posts to the blog and everyone cross your fingers and toes for me that it continues to progress forward.

A sneak peek at one of the photos I posted there:

Japanese Gardens and Project Planning!

I attended another sketch group meet-up this past Saturday. It was held at Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden at Manito Park. It was a cloudy day but we did not get any rain which was a change after a very rainy week. My sketches turned out awful because it seems I was not in the sketching mood. I did take a few photos of the gardens while I was there and will share one or two in this blog post.

Nothing real fancy since I was using my Sony Cybershot camera to take quick photos. I just want to share a few photos of the location.

I will be joining the group off and on for sketching meet-ups in the future. I still feel super rusty when it comes to sketching. I am going to try and find a style and stop trying to make complete drawings. That is not what sketching is about. I just need to relax and focus on "simple is better".

I have other plans brewing. I am planning a joint photo blog project with other photographer friends. I just sent the proposal out and am waiting to hear back from the three friends I have approached for the beginning of the project. It should be a lot of fun and it has possibility for turning into a great way to promote people's photography and to share photography from lesser known (and hobby) photographers I know. I will definitely post on how the project goes and provide a link for it when it gets started.

So, this has been what I have been up to lately. Exciting stuff in the world of Brie for sure.

Life Update.

My life has been pretty slow this month. There has just not been a lot going on in it which is fine with me after having a very busy April. April was full of Sketch Group meet-ups, Analog Photo Group meet-ups, heading to see Flashdance on stage, checking out the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Jundt Museum at Gonzaga University, attending Jess Walter's reading during Get Lit! Events, and, finally, going to a Suds & Cinema movie at the Bing Crosby Theater. To think that I had planned for none of this going into April, things just happened to pop up and keep me busy. I guess you can say it is nice to take a breather this month.

I know that having nothing going on this month has allowed me to get caught up in my postal correspondence and read quite a few books that have been sitting around waiting for me to make time for them. I haven't anything big planned creatively this month because I am entering that point before I start projects. When I gather lots of influences and experience a lot of different entertainment to get inspired. People who are not creative don't understand this mindset and assume the creative person is just being lazy. Actually far from it, my mind is running at 100 mph and soaking in so many different things through various outlets. It is shuffling them around and then shuffling them again to find what will inspire me. What will fuel the next direction I take in my creative life. So, I am far from just sitting idle and doing nothing. It's just all that I am doing in inside my head at the moment.

It will be fun to see how it all explodes out in creativity because I can feel the build-up. Will it be through painting or photography? I am curious to find out. When I do start working on whatever materializes, I will definitely post about it here.

Getting Back In Touch With My Art Roots.

I have been wanting to get the artistic side of me kick-started again since it has been dormant for far too long. I have a painting I need to work on and am afraid to touch beyond laying down the background because I fear I ma have lost my touch for painting. I have been trying to get going on sketching or dabbling in art in some way but had been unsuccessful. I decided I needed to make a change this year so joined a group on Meetup.com.

The Spokane Sketch Club is a very non-threatening meet-up group on Meetup.com. I decided to give it a try and see if I could not start to get back into artistic mode this way. It is much easier to be sketching when you are around others doing the same. It is similar to being in a informal class without an instructor and where you can show up -or not- depending on your schedule. The people that come to the meet-ups vary according to day and time...and are friendly.

So, I have attended 2 meet-ups and have two sketches  I admit they are not the best sketches in the world and I need to get back in sketch mode to really do something impressive. They are a start however and I am not one to be shy so am sharing them here.

Sketch #1:

The above sketch was done of part of the windows in Riverpark Square. I had limited time for that meet-up because it was during a day of museum visiting, lunch with friend, and then a Get Lit! author reading. It could be better but it was the first sketch I did in a long time so I am okay with it's issues. I do need to loosen up a bit in style.

Sketch #2:

This was at the duck pond at Manito Park this past Thursday. I am more toward my painting style but just using pencils in it and it seems a bit messy and dark to me. I feel like I should be working in colour for sketching but that never works out for me because then it becomes a colourful mess. I am thinking I will keep playing around with sketching style and materials until I find one that I am totally comfortable with...and lighten up on the pencil when I do use it. I didn't get a chance to address the water in the pond because my ride showed up early cutting my sketching time down to just over an hour. I hope to spend more time there next time I show up for a meet-up.

I am liking the meet-ups because they are so informal and you can chat off and on to the other people or just draw on your own. I am glad I found the group.

I have also signed up for The Spokane Analog Photo Group and attended one of those meet-ups. I just haven't been able to get the film developed yet and plan to do that next week for sure. I am not sure the film will turn out since it was expired but I shall see. There should be another meet-up of this group soon and, of course, if I have any interesting photos turn out from the last meet-up, I will post them in this blog.

Angela Photo Shoot: Feb. 2013

Angela was the firs model I took photos of after taking a bit of a break. I needed to get back in the photo taking mood and start working on moving forward a little in my photography.

I was a tiny bit rusty when it came to the shoot but now I have 3 shoots under my belt, I am starting to ease right back into taking photos. The shoot was also VERY cold since it was on Feb. 9th. I think the temperature was around 39 (F). Angela and I both did a lot of hopping around in place and putting cold hands in pockets/gloves to stay warm. At least the sun was out and no rain was falling so that was a huge plus.

I have two more photo shoots and then I get to decide what to do next creatively. Spring has sprung and it is time to dust off the winter cobwebs.

Nick Photo Shoot: Feb. 2013

I have started to get back into taking photos and had 3 photo shoots in February. I have finally gotten two of them complete in editing and will share them in blog posts. The first one being the photo shoot of Nick.

It was raining, really raining hard in fact, during the whole shoot so it was not a super easy shoot. It did make me feel a little better about things since I am a bit rusty when it comes to taking photos after a few months of "taking a break" from it. I have another photo shoot tomorrow and it will be interesting since it is suppose to be raining again. Hopefully, the rain will let up some by 2 p.m. *crosses fingers*

New Photo Shoot On Saturday.

If all goes as planned, I will have my first photo shoot of the new year this Saturday. It will be my first in a series of photo shoots and I am looking forward to it.

The weather is warming up a little (if you call 40 F warm) but there is still many months until the days are warm. So, this means winter clothing and models who don't mind cold weather are to be in the photos. I was actually surprised I got as many offers to pose as I did. I just wish the snow hadn't melted as much in the past few days...but we cannot be lucky all the time and it was too dang cold when we had the huge amounts of snow.

I am feeling good things in 2013 and am hoping this year will be one full of good opportunities with my creativity and on so many levels.

Oh, and my birthday brought me this stylish camera bag for when I want to bring my camera but not the huge camera bag with me around town.

Above: Candy Red Camera Bag at That's Foxy

I think it will be perfect for looking stylish and for when I am not needing tons of equipment but want my camera with me. So, very cool gift for me to get.

Now to plan for the photo shoot on Saturday.