A little peek of my 'bucket list'....

speaking of places I want to go.. Here's a little sneak peek of things that are on my 'bucket list'... mainly items on the list that I want to photograph as I complete them...

Visit churches with rib vaulting... as many as possible...

original photo here...

Visit England...

original photo here... sooo many pieces of art I want to see here..

Travel to Alaska to photograph the Iditarod..

original photo found here...

Travel on a tall ship for at least a week...


original photo found here...

Return to Italy...

original photo found here...

Can we go??

Can we go here??? I feel like I would have a lot of photo fun here! Vacation anyone??



original link here

I'm thinking awesome jump shots in yellow dresses??

A little sneak peek....

just a little sneak peek of what I'm working on for specialization.....

Follow Friday!

Here are some fabulous people that you should all follow! Either their blog or flickr photo stream they are all pretty fabulous in my book! (as people and photographers) :)

Chelsea Peterson! The amazing woman who inspired me to start my very own 365.. (and cheered me on until I finished the project) She's a graphic designer but is great with a camera... follow her photo stream here! She's on year 2 of her 365 project!



Kelly Dudesek! A fabulous colleague of mine doing her very own 365! Follow her photo stream here!



Zenita Hill! Is also doing a 365 but a little differently from the first two.. no self portraits! *gasp* I know! lol but she is doing a fabulous job! Follow her blog here!



Allie Gravel! Is a crazy little lady but is good with a camera when she wants to be! :) Follow her blog here and her photostream here!




So go follow them! Because they are fabulous!

Kate

100 Strangers

So I'm thinking about doing a 100 Strangers project... here is a link to one of the many flickr groups about this project.. their descriptor is better than any explanation I could write so here it is...

"Step out of your comfort zone to a new level of portrait photography. Start by taking 100 portraits of people you don't know.

The idea: The One Hundred Strangers project is a learning group for people who want to improve the social and technical skills needed for taking portraits of strangers and telling their stories. The method is learning by doing.

The project is lots of fun and improves photojournalistic skills. During the process you might expand your every day living experience - and who knows, maybe you will even get a couple of new friends during the process.

We welcome both beginner and advanced photographers. You may be new to photographing strangers or already have experience of this type of photography.

The challenge: Take 100 photographs of at least 100 people you don't know. Approach a person or group of people and ask for permission to both take a photo of them and to post it to this group. Get to know your subjects. Who are they? What is their life like?

Try to tell a small story with each photo you take. This may be a story about the person or how you felt approaching that particular individual. You may have, for example, tried a new approach or used a new photographic technique. Try to learn something from every encounter you make."

I think it could be really interesting to do.. it would definitely help me step out of my comfort zone! Who wants to start this project with me?!

http://www.100strangers.com/

Kate

Textures...

I noticed the other day that I've been really into textures lately in my 52 weeks project... they just kinda add something to a photo.. and I like it!

here's an example of a photo I added a texture to..

{7/52}


here is the flickr link.

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”-Dorothea Lange

I love cute little camera things... (of course ;) ) here are a couple of my little camera trinkets.. the notebook on the bottom is slowly being filled up with favorite quotes...

Levitation Photos

While perusing flickr I always run across these awesome levitation photos... such as

L is for Levitate by Boy_Wonder..the link can be found here.


Falling Asleep by korinrochelle.. the link can be found here.


By KatBPhotography...link can be found here.


I actually attempted this too.. but I don't know how I feel about it..don't really like it.. but I'll show it... I did my levitation photo on day 286/365..



now go try your very own photo!

High Speed Photography...

One of my Flickr contacts, Photoboothguy, does high speed photography of different things like food and water balloons.. here are some examples of his work...

Jello...


water balloons...


Paint?



Peaches and Cream!


go check out his stream here.

Slinkachu

I found this installation artist/photographer a while ago and still follow him quite a bit. I really like what he does and a lot of it is pretty funny... Slinkachu uses little model people and animals that people are normally used for model train sets. He takes the figurines, paints them, places them in the streets of London and then takes their photo and leaves them for the world to decide their fate. He sometimes returns to the site to see what's happened to the figures and occasionally places another figure in the same place... (like one at a mini ATM.)

Here are some examples of his work...











here's a far away shot...


of this scene...


here's a link to his website


enjoy!

Kate

What's in your bag?

In my random flickr exploring during my 365 year (2010) and with some info from Chelsea P. I decided to do a "What's in my bag" photo. I think these photos are really fun! I like seeing what everyone carries on a day-to-day basis. Here is my version...

day 208/365... I am Mary Poppins...



here's a link to the flickr group with a bunch of photos of what's in everyone's bags!

enjoy!

Kate

Until the last drop...

Ever wonder how nature photographers get those awesome reflections in macro water droplet shots like this??



Click here to find out how!

Happy photographing!

Kate

Stars...in your multitudes..scarce to be counted...filling the darkness...

so I've always been intrigued my photographs of star trails.. I think this summer when it is finally warm at night... I'm going to give it a go.. here's an example of what I'm talking about...



This photo was taken by Scott Stulberg and his website can be found here.

DIY: Your very own light box!

So a couple of quarters ago I made my very own light box for Print Production. We had to make a 24 page catalog for the first project and I decided to do an ice cream catalog! I got this fabulous link from the lovely Sara Gardner! In the link it talks about fabric but I just used butcher/freezer paper instead. here's a pic of my light box in the works...



here's the pic I was taking in that photo...



and here is one of my ice cream pics for the catalog I built the light box for...



now go make one! You won't regret it!

Enjoy!

Kate

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe....

hey fellow photographers! Are you looking to buy a new lens? don't know exactly what one you want? but you know what you want to shoot? simple! go to this website and follow the instructions! super easy and you may find out about some lenses that you may have never heard of before!

Enjoy!

Kate

He'll say to me I see who you truly are...

"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE."-Ernst Haas

To become a photographer, it would help if you had a pair of these...





I LOVE eyes. They are not only a key part of photography because they help us decide WHAT we photograph but also HOW we photograph it. They are keys to the soul and something I always notice first when I meet someone.


A friend of mine sent me this link and I fell in love with them right away... for more of these photos click here.

Have a great day!

Kate

Somewhere down this road...

I'm often asked how I decided I wanted to become a photographer. The answer is simple. I fell in love with that instant gratification of taking a photo. It was just so simple when I was first starting out to take a photo and create something beautiful.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't always want to be a photographer... I had the standard veterinarian, and teacher (art of course) in the mix but then I received a gift. This gift changed my career goal of art teacher to photographer. What was this oh-so-wonderful gift you ask? It was the gift of a macro lens for my 16th birthday. This lens helped to get the shots I had envisioned. Shots my kit lens just couldn't handle.

and just because I was able to find my photobucket account which I haven't been to in years.... here is one VERY early Kate Barr photo....



Senior year: I had to decided where I was going to school. I ended up deciding that I would go to the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater and then transfer to an art school. Why Whitewater you ask? Because it was not only 10 miles away from home but also the Alma mater of my grandparents and parents. I lived in the dorms for two years while attending UWW.... which was definitely an experience in itself. I declared an Art Major my first semester and an Art History Minor my second semester. I fell in love with art history my first semester and ended up taking five art history courses in the time I attended UWW. After the third semester I remember deciding that the next would probably need to be my last before I transferred schools. And so began the research, and ultimately the decision of what school once again.

I then asked two art schools to send me information about themselves. The Wisconsin school I asked sent me a packet. The Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg called me the next day. If you are reading this blog you probably already know what one won by my very first post or you know me. ILIS definitely won the get-Kate-Barr-to-come-to-our-school race. And now I'm here learning more than I ever knew before and making a bunch of friends along the way. Friends that have had a great influence on me.. from completing my very own 365 project to becoming better at graphic design to appreciating the little things in life. With two and a half quarters to go I've been thinking a lot on my journey here and my journey yet to come... So I thought I would share it with all of you readers..

Have a great day!

Spotlight: Wedding Photographers

For some reason when I am surfing the interwebs I always seem to run across wedding photographer blogs... I always get sucked into their personal story and all the stories of the couples they photograph. I love how these photographers seem to effortlessly capture every moment in the day with out missing a beat. (Something I am still working on when photographing weddings) Here are just a few photographers I've stumbled across with direct links to their blogs...

First up is Susan Solo. Susan and her husband, Chris, photograph weddings in the Washington D.C. area. I love how she captures little moments and details throughout the wedding day. The couples she captures always seem to be so comfortable with her...







here blog can be found here.

Next up is Emma Case. I recently (aka yesterday) found Emma and fell in love with her style right away. It's quirky and fun and beautiful all at the same time. She's located in Birmingham, United Kingdom and is quite new to the wedding photography world. She also does fun photo booths! Ha!









her blog can be found here.

These photographers are only a couple of wedding photographers I've stumbled across.. I am so intrigued by what they do. They are so inspiring because a wedding is a one time deal. If you miss the shot there is no getting it back. I think that is one reason I have such a difficult time saying yes to shooting weddings. I really have to give wedding photographers props because they are so strong to take on that pressure. But I guess it's a rush right?

See you next time!

Kate