Best. Thing. Ever.

I had an absolute blast, turned out some fantastic images (*ahem) and best of all, met some absolutely amazing women that I'm still friends and photo buddies with to this day. So many good things came out of being a part of Meagan's class.

Creativity Boot Camp, just like our little group here, is open to all creative types. Although f52 has only managed to attract a small number of creatives outside of photography, you will find quite a mixed bag over at Maegan's place. I was blown away by all of the talent there last year.

In Maegan's words, "This is not a photography course. This is not an art course. This is a YOU course!"

Although last year's Boot Camp was free of charge, this year's course cost is $49. I have to say, for all of the work that she puts into this, the cost is pennies. AND! Half of ALL monies collected this year will be donated to Show Hope. Because that's how Maegan rolls.

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by Maegan Beishline
Madeline Bea Photography

Last year, when I designed and hosted the original Creativity Boot Camp, my goal was really about helping others to embrace their inherently creative natures and start investing in those aspects of their lives. Realizing that I could be creative for myself…and that it was necessary… was a huge revelation in my life. It was like opening the blinds and windows in a dark and dusty house. Not only that, but it led me down paths that were the most authentic to me and to places I never thought I could be. My life has never and will never be the same since. I really just wanted to share that with others.

As I stood on the cusp of this new year, my personal creative goals were very simple…become more artistic. I had spent 2010 working on my skill set, really learning my camera and the dynamics of photography. I knew that I had to {and would inevitably} learn more by my daily practice…but I wanted and needed more. It wasn’t enough for me to just be able to use my camera well…I wanted to be a good artist. And to me, that was about shaping my soul…because being a good artist absolutely has to come from within.

There is a saying that to make more interesting art, you need to become a more interesting person. So I set out to dive into a variety of artistic activities just to experiment and play with art and expand my personal set of experiences. I also made a very distinct point not to shy away from new opportunities. And I began reading everything I could get my hands on. I wanted growth in big ways. I’m still on this journey. Now that I’m here in this exploratory phase, I feel like this is what being an artist is all about…exploration.

When I thought about hosting Boot Camp again this year, I knew I could not simply duplicate last year’s course. I’m a different person now and the participants from last year have grown and matured in their creativity as well. I knew that I needed to up the game for everyone. So I designed the course around my current journey.

CBC: Spring Training is all about artistic exploration…and through that exploration, getting to know yourself as an artist. It is all about doing the work and flexing the creative muscles in an effort to get to the place where you are producing very authentic work…the work of your soul. Each day of the two week course, there will be a different essay on creativity, an activity to go along with that essay, and some ideas for journaling or further thinking. Also, throughout the course, there will be thoughts and inspiration shared by other artists to really dive into the different mediums.

Being an artist is easier than ever in today’s internet society. But it also makes it very easy to be someone who is really good at duplicating everyone else’s work and calling themselves an artist. This course is about finding and growing the artist within and learning how to have our work come from our most authentic places. We tend to be really comfortable working in our own traditional mediums. And this makes it easy to slip into repetitive patterns and not come up with new ideas. But by forcing ourselves to be creative in new and different ways, we get better at being creative on a whole. And ultimately, that is what will bring us to new creative levels!

I hope to see you there!

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If you'd like to know more about Creativity Boot Camp, head on over to the website and check things out. While you're there, you can also download a glimpse of last year's course in a free ebook that Maegan generously put together.

Because, again, that's how she rolls :)

Boot Camp's coming! Are you ready?

From Elizabeth's blog:

It’s candy for your eyes. And your photos! Eye Candy Photoshop Overlays are simply the most adorable thing going. They’re vector shapes you add via the custom shapes tool in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. You just stretch them across your photo, rotate them and play with all the endless colour and blending possibilities to add maximum sweetness to your stuff.

Head on over to her site (here) to see what she did with them. Elizabeth is a genius, and if you don't have her in your list of daily reads, you're missing out on a ton of awesome, helpful hints and tons of information from photography and post-processing (the woman is a lightroom goddess) to client expectations, photoshoots, sales, and on and on and on. She knows her stuff. She saves my life.

But back to my point ...

I WON!  woooooot!!!

Jessica, the creator of Eye Candy Overlays contacted me with the good news and sent me two sets of my choice. I chose the Feeling Cloudy set and the Very Merrier set, and I have my eye on a few others.  They're so fun!

Tonight, I finally had a chance to play with them,

and I smiled the whole time I was editing this shot (I took it deliberately for this, this morning). I didn't have much time, for the shot OR the edit, and I'm looking forward to putting them to better use (ahem) but seriously, how fun is that?

I have some ideas for my Very Merrier set already ;)

So thank you Elizabeth for hosting such an awesome giveaway. I never win these things! go me! ;)

and thank you Jessica for being so friendly and down to earth, and of course, for creating these bits of fun and whimsy.  I love them! Thank you!

The rest of you? You really need to check out both of these ladies, if you haven't already.

Time well spent, trust me :)

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*note - word art is my own, and not included with Eye Candy Overlays*

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters and Designer Digitals.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

And you know darn well I had to try that stuff out :)

Plus, the Mortal Muses prompt this week is 'around the house' and although my vice(s) qualifies as around the house, I don't think that coffee and smokes are particularly muse worthy.

*ahem*

So anyway, this was my first attempt ...

I took two shots of my desk - one with the monitor there, and one without.  Use a tripod, and manual focus to make sure you get the same shot for both.  Open both images in photoshop and use the shot with no monitor as your top layer.  From there on, it got messy when I veered from the tutorial (link below).  In this case, I cut out the screen area from the top layer (the background shot), put it on it's own layer at the bottom, slapped a glass filter on it and messed around a bit.  It took a bit of manipulating but I think the end result is pretty cool.  The only thing I'd change is to darken the desktop icons to maybe give it more of a transparent feel.

This one is my second attempt, this time following the tutorial that you can find here ...

Not too bad!   But I should've messed around with the desktop shot a bit more - it's a little dark on the mac and slightly distorted (or in hindsight, maybe changed my monitor settings? I dunno), and maybe moved the laptop ahead a bit more (I made the mistake of moving it when I was messing around - big no-no, apparently, and a little difficult to line back up again for the final shot) but overall, it's pretty cool!

As they are, the top one is my pick.  It just looks more realistic, no?

Totally fun but I have to admit, a bit confusing in the execution.  It's not as easy as it looks.  I saw some shots where there were three or four laptops lined up in a row and omg I have no idea how they went about it.  I think I'd be lost.

You can find a flickr group here (of course you can - isn't there a flickr group for pretty much everything?!) that's full of all sorts of ideas and fun shots.

I'm pretty sure I'll revisit this idea some time soon.

And how about you?  Are you going to give it a go?  If you do, leave a link in the comments.  I'd love to see what you come up with!

Have fun!

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Taken for the women of Mortal Muses.
You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters and Designer Digitals.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

Well, besides vegetables. I'm not a vegetable grower at all.  Totally clueless.

But florals and herbs and stuff? I'm IN!

And my biggest must-have at the time?

This ...

Lavender.  I can almost smell it just looking at this.  Pretty, isn't it?

But this?

oooh ... not so pretty.

My poor lavender patch is a sadly neglected mess.  Each year I tend to it and each year I kick myself for not doing anything with it's fabulousness.

And then along comes my girl Leslie and gives me even more reason to kick myself.  I mentioned to her that I love lavender and she flaunts this in my face.  Literally, in my face. heh.

So I told her I had a dirty little secret.

I'm sure she's expecting something a little more scandalous than a neglected garden :p

Here, let's go back to the pretty ...

aahhh ... much better.

Leslie, aka Crunchy Betty, has all sorts of cool stuff on her site. Fun stuff that actually works and isn't overly complicated, although she does have this thing for vodka.

(seriously, the woman puts vodka in ev-ry-thing)
(got a scratch? vodka! zit? vodka! want a drink? vodka!!!)

She's like that greek guy with the windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Leslie's windex is vodka.

(wow, what a weird statement)

You should go check her out.

And keep your eye on her - I'll be giving her my own kind of makeover sometime in the next month or two ;)

PS - you see that long stalky pale green stuff behind the lavender up there?  that would be Russian Sage - also neglected. *sigh*

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

Who knew lattice fencing made such cool bokeh?  Love it!  And you know, before I started this project, I had no idea what the word bokeh even meant.  Seriously.  I had to google that stuff.

Processed with Isabelle Lafrance's free Morning Glow action.  Thanks Isabelle!

Short and sweet today.  I have a gazillion things to stroke off of my to-do list.

If I can find it :p

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

I'm pretty sure I peed my pants when I opened this shot on my screen ...

I was playing around with the sun and light but I had no idea I had captured this coolness. I'm totally, most geekily, thrilled. heh.

I processed it with one of the many fabulous free actions from Isabelle Lafrance.  This one is Make It Last from her Lift Up Your Soul set.  Isabelle is one talented lady. And generous! (and a fellow Canadian .. woot!) You can check out her inspiring photostream on flickr and be prepared to stay awhile.

Here's the original shot, SOOC (straight out of camera) ...

You can see how the action and a few tweaks and adjustments that I made on the first one, deepened the colours and made everything rich and bright.

Thanks Isabelle!

You know, years ago (many, many years ago!) when I didn't know how to do anything other than press the button on a toss-away film camera from the drugstore, shots like these with sun flares or 'strange' light would show up here and there and I'd throw them in the garbage, cursing them for being ruined.

Ruined!!!

omg.

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

You remember Amy's new group and slap some tomatoes on your windowsill (of course!) ...

Everything looks pretty in a windowsill.  Trust.

While you're checking out Amy's group (and really, why aren't you?) you really have to take a look at her flickr stream too.  She's fabulous.  Browse around and tell me that you don't come away with at least thirty a few favorites.  Here's one of mine.

In other news, it snowed today.

I am not pleased.

(it didn't stick, it's all gone, but still .. snow? yeesh)

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

The theme for the new Photography Assignment is…MACRO. I love macro photography, after dabbling in it for a short time a couple of years ago. I love how beautifully a macro lens opens up a whole world.

I LOVE messing around with macros.  If you browse around my flickr stream, you'll find tons of your typical florals and creepy crawlers (some good, some oh so horrid), the kind of stuff that just begs for a macro lens.  Fun!

But I wanted to try something different today, so I did this ...

100mm - f/4 - 1/60 - ISO 400

Cookies!

I've been asked before if I have a lightbox, and the answer is no.  I'd like one though, if you're giving them away.  I take shots like this on top of my stove.  Yes, my stove.  Today I fooled around with some fancy lighting (which would be the light in the hood vent with a paper towel cover) (have a fire extinguisher handy should you attempt) and some fancy flash equipment (a coffee filter over my pop-up flash) and this is the result.   Feel free to emulate my trashy ways.

PW's contest runs until ... ummmm, hell I don't know.  But she starts posting groups (photos that stand out in the stream) on Monday, so I guess you have the weekend at the very least, and you're allowed to post one photo to the flickr group per day.  I think I'll stick with this challenge and see what else I can catch.

There are some amazing submissions already.  Go browse the group.

And start snapping those macros :)

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

This is one of the shots from day 85 (and my new fun profile pic all over the interwebz)...

Drama Shades!

Nothing says drama like some new fun shades, no?

Stop by I Heart Faces to view the rest of the fabulous entries this week, or just to have a look around.

It's a great place full of info and nice peoples. You'll like it.

My inner geek is doing a happy dance.

For those of you totally uninterested, please return to your normally scheduled programming.