Creative Sprinkle in 2011

So what does 2011 hold for Creative Sprinkle?
As you know, 2011 brings the start of a new job for me, and I have made a personal commitment make sure Creative Sprinkle benefits from the change. I'll continue to share things to help you explore your creative side while opening up more about what is going on in my own creative journey. The good and the bad.

What will be new, is my plan to better integrate my marketing job into Creative Sprinkle. Creativity isn't relegated to art. It is a way of life. I am a better marketing communications professional when I allow my creative side to come out and play. On the flip side, if you have a creative business, marketing communication skills are a critical part of the success package. So you will see a little more of the "marketing" me here in 2011.

That being said, my personal goal for 2011 is to delve more deeply into my exploration of what it means to be an artist and a writer. There will be lots of scrumptious photos, delicious projects, and kick-butt creative inspiration.

Posting Schedule
I'm leaning toward one major post per week on Wednesdays with secondary posts some weeks. That way, I can learn the ropes at Saint Francis University without putting too much stress on myself to publish multiple times a week. Of course, I welcome guest posts to help me through the transition period. E-mail me if you are interested.

2011 Sneak Peek

• Care and feeding of a creative soul
• Exploring your BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal)
• Art as therapy
• Creative approaches to your creative business

So what does 2011 hold for you?

Christmas Photos

We had a wonderful Christmas day celebration at my sister's house. It was a great opportunity to practice some of the tips Trish Hummer shared in her guest post series: Shooting Better People Pictures.

Rob, me, and my beautiful niece

 We "stacked" our group photo.

My niece with her DS

I focused on faces.

My nephew as Boba Fett

 I made head-to-toe shots count. The socks are authentic Boba Fett!

Rob and Greg inspecting the blasters

 And I shot when they weren't looking. I have a whole series of shots with Rob and my brother-in-law Greg, making sure the Clone Trooper blasters were "ready" for the kids to use.

Longer Days Are On The Way

Monday Pick-Me-Up: Longer Days on the Way
Yes, we have a lot of winter in front of us, but after tomorrow, the days will get progressively longer. How's that for a Monday pick-me-up.

Winter Solstice and a Lunar Eclipse
Greetings to the winter solstice which falls on June 21 this year, and for an extra treat, you can usher it in with a lunar eclipse tonight. If you or your kids love science, you'll want to hop over to NASA's solstice lunar eclipse site for lots of activities surrounding the event.

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 7)

Today's post brings a close to this week-long photography series: Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish. 

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 7)

Tip 12: Take advantage of great lighting
When you see great lighting, run for your camera and start shooting.

Tip 13: Embrace the unexpected
If something unexpected happens, just keep shooting. The photo that you didn't intend to take often ends up being a keeper.

Tip 14: Keep your friends close
When taking pictures in interesting settings, try keeping your subject close to the camera instead of off at a distance.

Tip: 15: Find the story in the sport
Indoor sports are tough, especially if you don't have a big fancy lens. Leave the action shots to the pros, and focus on the images between (and around) the action. That's where the story lies.

 

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 6)

This is Part 6 of a week-long photography series Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish. 

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 6)

Tip 10: Shoot Multiples
Shoot multiples with changes in expression. These never disappoint me. With little ones, I might ask them to show me what they look like when they're happy, when they're sad, when they're scared, when they're surprised, etc. They love this game and I think the resulting images look great framed as a series.

Tip 11: Shoot Funny Faces

Or shoot multiples with each person giving you their best funny face.

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 5)

This is Part 5 of a week-long photography series Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish.

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 5)

Tip 8: Capture people doing what they love.
Shoot people doing what they love and you'll always get good pictures of them, whether they are focused on the task at hand or showing you what they're up to.

Tip 9: Faces aren't always required.
As much as I've emphasized faces, I should point out that you don't always need to see their faces for it to be a good picture and to instantly be relevant to the subject. Some of these images might not hold much significance to an unrelated observer, but to those who know and love the subject, they can have great meaning.

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 4)

This is Part 4 of a week-long photography series Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish. 

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 4)

Tip 6: Capture Relationships
Look for pictures that reveal something about people's relationships. It is very helpful to take picture of people relating to one another so that you can avoid the awkwardness of relating to the camera. The manner in which people interact is often evident in their pictures together.

Tip 7: Shooting groups
When shooting groups of people, avoid having people stand shoulder to shoulder. Try to stack them so that you fill more of the frame with their faces. Or ask them to do something other than just standing and smiling. When shooting large groups, look for smaller subsets within the group. (This works great whether while shooting or in the cropping stage.)

Have examples of your own to show? Leave a comment with a link or share them at the Creative Sprinkle Flickr Pool.

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 3)

This is Part 3 of a week-long photography series Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish. 

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 3)

Tip 4: Capture Fun
Catch people having fun or being silly, whether close up or far away.

Tip 5: Let Kids be Kids
Catch kids being kids. It's so much easier than trying to get them to pretend they are models.

Have examples of your own to show? Leave a comment with a link or share them at the Creative Sprinkle Flickr Pool.

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a week-long photography series Shooting Better People Pictures by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish.  

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Shooting Better People Pictures (Part 2)

Tip 2: Focus on Faces
Faces are what people respond to best but you don't have to show the whole head. I will often crop off the top of a person's head because the top of their head isn't important to the picture. Everyone knows we have dome-shaped heads that are, for the fortunate, covered with hair. It's their faces that draw us in, especially the eyes.

When shooting faces, make sure they're not just giving you their "camera" smile. A good way to tell if the smile is genuine is to look at their eyes. For the picture to ring true, the emotion shown in the eyes should match the emotion shown in the smile. (I'll often point out to people that they are just smiling with their mouth and not their eyes, and they get it. If they don't, I'll demonstrate.) Don't be chagrined, though, if you are taking pictures of kids between the ages of 3 and 6 years. You need to catch these kids smiling if you don't want the typical "Say, 'CHEESE!'" smile.

Tip 3: Shoot when they're not looking.
Shoot when they're not looking (but be respectful of their privacy and don't shoot anything questionable.) These shots tend to ring most true in terms of the subject's personality and you can catch glimpses of personalities and relationships.

For more great tips, check out Part 3 tomorrow with advice on being silly and letting kids be kids.

Shooting Better People Pictures

A week-long photography series designed to help you tell better stories through your photography.
by Trish Hummer of Everyday Images by Trish

Part 1:  Digital photography basics and great full-body shots
Part 2:  Focus on faces and shoot when they're not looking
Part 3:  Being silly and letting kids be kids
Part 4:  Capturing relationships and shooting groups
Part 5:  Doing what they love and going faceless
Part 6: Shoot multiples of expressions
Part: 7: Great lighting, the unexpected, and indoor sports

Welcome to Part 1
Marie Young of Creative Sprinkle invited me to write a guest blog about taking pictures of people because it's what I love to do best. With the holidays upon us, I thought it might be the right time to offer some pointers for those hoping to capture some memories in the coming weeks.

Let me preface this by stating that I am not a professional photographer. If I were an athlete, I am what you would consider a minor-league player. I sometimes get paid to play and I dream of playing in the bigs but, for now, I'm in it for the love of the game. So the advice below is not about ISO, F-stops or aperture. It's about people.

Also, remember THERE ARE NO RULES. These are just some tips to get you started. Once you get a better sense of what you like, you will develop your own style.

Some general comments about digital photography :

It's not all about the camera. I am fortunate to be able to shoot with a really nice camera with some awesome lenses. That definitely gives me an advantage. But some of my favorite pictures have been taken with a little point-and-shoot or the camera on my cell phone. This is about doing the best with what you've got.

Shoot WAY more photos than you think you need. In this digital age, there is no reason not to. The only thing it will cost you is time in editing, but editing time is also learning time. The more you shoot, the quicker you will learn what works for you and what doesn't.


Download and review your images within 48 hours of shooting. I almost always edit the same day because I'm excited to see my results. This also helps me avoid a backlog which can become daunting if you shoot as much as I do.


Learn how to edit your photos. I cannot emphasize this enough. I took a class once in which the instructor pointed out that, with digital photography, what you shoot accounts for only part of the result; the other important part is what you do with an image once you get it out of your camera and into your computer. There are tons of software programs out there. Some are very sophisticated and work best for hardcore professionals. But learning just a few editing basics (cropping, straightening, red-eye reduction, and exposure compensation) in programs like iPhoto or Photoshop Elements can help you turn a mediocre photo into a really nice photo. Once you get the hang of it, you can edit hundreds of images in less time than you would expect.


Share your images. People love to look at pictures and with sharing sites like Shutterfly, Snapfish, and Flickr, you no longer have to order lots of expensive prints to share your photos with friends and family anywhere in the world. You will also find that you'll take lots of images that you might not consider "print worthy" but that are still fun to share. When sharing electronically, though, be courteous to your audience and weed out the truly bad photos and make sure you rotate any photos that need it in order to be right side up when viewed.

Now for the people part.

First of all, I believe you have to like people to get good pictures of them.  And you need them to stop thinking about the camera you're pointing at them.  Best way to do that is to engage them.  Talk to them.  Get them laughing.  With little ones, take their picture and then show them the result.  And don't be annoyed when they ask to see them over and over again.  Isn't that why we take them?  It will also help them see how to be a better subject.

Generally, this biggest piece of advice I give to friends who ask how to take better pictures of people is to tell them the get closer to their subjects.  Closer than may seem comfortable.  I'm not suggesting you get into the face of your intended target, but definitely get cozy with the zoom feature on your camera.  You can also get "closer" by cropping the images once you get them into your computer.

Tip 1: If it's head-to-toe, make it count.

I seldom take people pictures that show people from head-to-toe.  When I do, there better be something interesting going on from top to bottom. It's also more important in these images to pay a little closer attention to what's going on in the background.  Sometimes a simple change of angle will improve things greatly.

Change is good, right?

Saying Goodbye

Last week was a week of lasts. The last time I would walk into my office at Penn State after working there for a decade. The last time I would drive the carpool. The last time I would fill out my timetracking report. And the last time I'd say "see you tomorrow" to some of my favorite people.

My team threw me a "Goodbye Kitty" party, an homage to my love of Hello Kitty. Almost everyone wore pink in my honor. These people don't need an excuse to party, but this was a pretty good one.

Why is it that in order to take on new challenges and grow personally, we need to give up things that we cherish and people we love?

My Favorite Creative Team

Me and my Mentor

Following my Heart
It seems insane to me to want to leave such an amazing group of people, yet I know that it is time. In fact, I've known for a couple of years that I needed to shake things up, but I was too comfortable to really do anything about it. When I started my sideline business a year ago, it helped tremendously, but I still found too many hours in my day where my soul wasn't invested.

With the help of some long conversations with my friend Stacy, I set my intentions for what I wanted to put into my work and what I wanted back out in return. I created a desk shrine, which I wrote about earlier, to remind me of those intentions: Creative, Spiritual, Joyful.

During this time of soul searching, I applied for a single job:  the Director of Marketing at Saint Francis University, a small beautiful Franciscan university in Loretto, Pa. The institutions goals matched my personal goals. Six years ago my husband left politics to work there and calls it "life-changing."

Goals of Franciscan Higher Education
* A humble and generous attitude toward learning
* Reverence for all life and for the goodness of all humanity
* A global vision
* Service to the poor and needy
* Respect for the uniqueness of individual persons
* A community of faith and prayer
* The spirit of simplicity and joy
* Franciscan presence

So to make a long story short, I've finished the chapter on my Penn State career, and now I am writing a new chapter on my days at Saint Francis University. To all of you who supported me along the way, please know that I am carrying a piece of you with me in my heart.

Cold Weather Skin Care Treat

"Mermaid and Scallop" by Mandarin Moon

Here in Central PA warm ocean breezes are miles away, but a little coconut oil has me in a beach mood. My 40-year-old-skin is already feeling winter's wrath so I decided to treat myself to a little spa day. I melted a couple tablespoons of  coconut oil and rubbed the warmed liquid onto my dry skin. It feels heavenly and smells like a day at the beach.

I read a good post by Katlupe of Homesteading on the Internet about coconuts that gave me the idea:   Coconut is one of Nature's Healthiest Remedies.

About the photo: This is an Artist Cards Editions and Originals (ACEO). ACEOs are small, affordable, collectible works of art and can be made of any material. The only rule is their size which is 2.5" x 3.5" or the size of a baseball trading card. This one "Mermaid and Scallop Shell," by Mandarin Moon, one of the artists in the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy, is available in her store.

Freedom in Mokume Gane

Mokume Gane Wine Bottle Stopper

Embracing a Growth Moment
I marvel at artists who apply paint, with no particular plan in mind, only to have something beautiful  "appear" on the canvas. I can't fathom that kind of spontaneity. So what you are witnessing here is a growth moment for me. Another tiny step down the path of opening myself up to the spontaneity.


A New Creative Chapter: Enter Mokume Gane
I tried the mokume gane technique as part of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild's Monthly Challenge. There are lots of variations of the technique inspired by Japanese "wood grain" metal work. Every clay artist seems to have  his or her own "recipe."

I decided to experiment with one often called, "random." Basically, you take thin sheets of several colors of clay and stack them (sometimes with gold foil). Then you poke holes in the top, back fill them with transparent clay and squish the whole things together. You really don't know exactly what you are going to get until you slice into the block. Even the way you cut the slice changes things.

Letting the Clay Decide
 I have to admit, I kind of hated the technique. My first couple attempts looked far too random, even for the "random" technique. Now, I have to admit, I'm kind of hooked on mokume gane.

It's becoming fun to slice open the block to see what it reveals. In one block, I saw snow covered pine trees on a distant mountain. I created this little pin with a snowman carrying his freshly cut tree down from that mountain.

The Finished Products
I have been quite busy with this technique. Many of the fruits of my labor are now available in my Young Creative store. Don't forget everything is 10% off until Dec. 15 if you use the code YOUNGCREATIVE1 at checkout.

Vote and Win
You can also see how versatile this technique can be by checking out the entries in the PCAGOE December Challenge. Vote for your top 3 favorites and you have a chance to win a fantastic polymer clay prize donated by one of these artists. Go vote!