ladykatza

I have always been interested in photography. It started right about the time I realized I’d never been anything more than mediocre at drawing. I mean, sure I could practice and practice, but it would still leave me at sub-standard skill levels. So, I turned to the camera. However, in my very ADD way, and the expense of developing film, I never stuck with it. That and I could never really get into whatever it was I was photographing. It always left me feeling the way you do after eating one of those “diet” snack cakes. You know, that almost-but-not-quite satisfied craving?

So years go by, I get older, I have kids. Digital cameras and photoshop come along. First it just starts out as a casual thing, then I realize. I really LIKE photographing my children. They are interesting and willing subjects, full of that spark of life. They are unconcerned about how they look, or being to old, or too fat. They just ARE, and so are fun.

Now, I’m not out to make a living doing this, or become famous, or any of that. I just want something that is more interesting that random snapshots or posed pictures. Sometimes, however, I see something and think “YES, that’s it” and I try to rope the kids into cooperating with that vision. Take the High Museum trip this past Saturday. My ability to take pictures was limited, and most of it was quite boring. In particular, I always thought modern art exhibits to be *YAWN*, but looking at them though the eyes of my children became a very different experience. Now I had my camera out. My use of flash and such was very limited, so I played a bit with the pictures in photoshop and while they aren’t prize winners, they certainly capture the character of the children. Which, in reality, is the whole point. Its all subjective, right?

And in case you are interested, here are a few:

So daecon and I have long had a thing against Valentine’s day. Even prior to our being together, I never expected much more than a single flower and a box of chocolates. (I’ll take chocolates just about anytime, though) This year, however, I was alerted to a troupe called Big City Burlesque was having a show. It just HAPPENS to be on the same day as Valentine’s. I had been wanting to see them for a while now, I’ve always been fascinated by the artistic side of the “strip tease”. Sooooo, I bought tickets and told the hubby we’re going out that night. We had already splurged a bit on dinner at a hibachi place earlier in the week because we had a gift certificate.

I also tried to interest some friends. Most couldn’t get baby sitters, the rest were out of town, or SO’s not interested. That’s fine, since I figured I’d run into people I know anyway. I was more than correct on this one. We ran into one of daecon’s old high school friends, who also plays a a local “personality” at conventions and Ren Fests. He ended up sitting with us. We also ran into Ace Talkingwolf, another local personality that’s pretty much trying to start up the steam-punk scene in Atlanta. We went to Manuel’s Tavern with them afterwards and had a nice, long catching up.

In any case, the show was not just burlesque, but also vaudeville. No one was actually dressed up in black-face, but they did have a BIG BLUE GENIE, who also doubled as the “Strong Man”. The show itself was entertaining, but far from polished. Some of the girls had very polished routines, others didn’t. I think the ballerina and miss peacock were my favorites.

The two BIGGEST problems I had with the show were 1) wardrobe malfunctions and 2) lighting. I had a conversation with my Mom some time ago about this sort of thing. She pointed out that Hollywood has made our expectations of such things very high. People are so used to the perfectly polished image that anything less so is “Sub Standard”. Even so, the two problems I listed above could have been better. Having an expectation of the costumes being done for a dress rehearsal would have been good to hammer out problems. As for whoever was doing the lighting? I hope they aren’t getting paid, and even so, I’d fire them and get someone who knows how to point a spotlight.

All in all, I was entertained. Which is the point, really. I got to meet some of the girls afterwards and they are quite nice. I loved the fact that none of them were stick figures. In fact, many of the girls were quite voluptuous and some older. The theater was standing room only. I’m hoping with more money and exposure, they will have the ability to improve the quality of the show.

“Its cold” has been a popular subject this winter. I mean, its obvious as to why. Its because its been BLOODY COLD! Even here in the southeast we’re huddling under blankets and burning firewood. The ductwork in this house is less than optimal, so we’ve been keeping the heat turned down and using space heaters. And its just felt colder in other ways. Everyone is trying to find ways to save money (like not turning up the heat).
Let’s face it. Things in this world are not looking very “up” at the moment. Sure we just elected our first black president and so very many are happy about this. Of course, many are not happy. Those of us that ARE happy can’t understand why others aren’t. Mostly for the same reason why they didn’t understand why Bush Jr. and his policies were so hated. But I digress.
I have been working the overnight shift for six months now and its starting to wear me down. I’ve always preferred to stay up late and sleep until noon. Still, that gave me some daytime to work with. But barely seeing the daytime, barely seeing my family and a long cold winter can wear down one’s psyche. I’m thankful for the job that I have. Its not a bad job at all, nor is it a bad company. Its just that the pervasive overshadowing of “dark economic times” coupled with the actual dark I’ve been living in has made it hard to remember I have plenty to be thankful for.
I have been trying to keep myself occupied with creative endeavors. Things like photography and scrapbooking. Something that has made me smile recently is figuring out how to do cool stuff in Photoshop Elements. Here is an example:

Felicity is three in this photo and we were trying to do a nice photo set with my friend Tommy. There were… cooperation issues on the kids’ part. This is one of her peaking out from behind the backdrop with that lovely genuine smile she has. Its seeing those smiles and hearing their laughter that helps get me up on these cold nights and make the long drive into work.
I have never been a big fan of “resolutions” for new years. It started when I came to the realization that decisions are made in the now. One does not have to wait for a new year to re-evaluate one’s life. The evaluation should be an on-going process of self-awareness and conscious decisive action. This is, to my knowledge, a uniquely human trait that is rare even for humans.

made some paper bows that are meant to decorate gifts. The instructions I found here. What I did was take my favorite swirly christmas stamp and used grey and green inks on red cardstock. I’m very pleased with the results.

I realized that I had taken some pictures of my first few real attempts at doing scrapbooking pages. I’m still getting the feel for layouts, color schemes. Also what I like and don’t like. The following are the first few from the Jekyll Island trip.

OK, this is the OMG PINK page. Still, it went so well with the picture and is so VERY Felicity.
Its hard to read in the picture, but I really liked the circular journaling in this one.

This one I just love. The postcard I had left over went SO well with the layout I had to use it. The top of the card I used for journaling has a clear stamp from a “Travel” collection of Inkadoo.

This one is my ‘black’ design. I tried to do a “sand” look on the lettering, but unfortunately I had the wrong kind of sand and glue. Its sort of coming off. The background picture is one that was so stark, it was almost black and white, so I printed it out in black and white on a light lavender cardstock. There’s a setting on the printer that does a minimal inking of the image. I thought it turned out really well and pulled the other two pictures together.

This one gave me some trouble. I ended up loving it though. I like the ovals with the offset matting that i used for journaling. The “surf” sticker on there did not originally have a starfish. It was in a little box of trinkets i’d had lying around for years. I just glued it onto the sticker.

So that’s what I’ve done so far. I have some projects stewing in the back of my mind and SO many awesome photos to work with. Despite my struggle with bitterness and depression this time of year, I’ve put on a happy face for the kids and taken a few good pictures for future creative fodder. In the meantime, I’ve budgeted about 10-15 dollars a week for “craft supplies” (for now, it will be less to none soon if daecon doesn’t get a job).