Kathryn Kolb Critques Motion Photographs

I learned a lot on Monday night during the Roswell Photographic Society's monthly critique. Kathryn Kolb pointed out positives and negatives about members' photos. Critique's theme was motion. Kathryn is a free-lance photographer living in Atlanta. She is also director of the new Serenbe Photography Center, located in Palmetto Georgia.
At the beginning of the critique Kathryn told us she would measure the images on the following:

Does it match the category (in this case motion)?
Does the image work or not?
Was it successful in communicating what the photographer intended overall?
Is this an image we've seen before?

Interesting enough there were many shots of "moving water" presented that weren't good illustrations of motion. I haven't really thought about that, but it clearly made sense during the review. The water was frozen in time, so it did not show motion. Some of the best motion shots were of a girl swinging, a swirling coke bottle, a train leaving the station and movement through a car tunnel. Kathryn said the swirling coke bottle formed a circular read on the photograph, which keeps the reader's eye in the shot longer, which made it better.

One shot that stuck out to me was a basketball "moving" outside of a picturesque barn with elements of the barn in the image. Kathryn suggested this shot worked more as fine art than as a movement shot because the ball, though blurred in motion, really served more as a design element in an image that was basically "still life."

Kathryn spoke about the weight of the subject. She explained that the item of emphasis needs more weight in the shot because the areas within a photograph have different visual "weights" and that the item of emphasis needs more weight than secondary elements in the shot. She said, "When there are equal weights we don't know what you want us to focus on." She also added that people in the photograph add emotions to shot.

Here is one of my motion images titled "Before the Game," which was not in the critique. And, certainly benefits from my new found knowledge from Kathryn Kolb.

Color Negative in Curves using Photoshop

I loved this photograph on the left for many months before I knew what to do with it. I thought it needed a little punch, but I wasn't sure what to do. Recently, I hit upon the color negative feature in curves and loved what happened to this ordinary scene taken in Tennessee at my parents' farm. Now, this image titled Family is one of my favorite canvas works.

Picturing This: How to: Open Photoshop. Pull in a photograph. Click on the background in the layer panel. (Click on window/layers if layers are not visible.) Left click on the 'Create a new fill or adjustment layer' icon shown here with the red arrow. Left click on [Curves]. In the Curves preset box select 'Color negative RGB' and your image is reversed. I also played with hue and saturation to obtain the image on the right above. Show me your images, if you try this photoshop trick.

Picturing This is a new feature on MagMoment blog about art, craft and photography. This feature will delve into photoshop topics and also send other random art and craft tricks your way.

Weingarten Pallette Series' Links to Painters

Lumiere Gallery hosted an amazing video conference with photographer Robert Weingarten on Saturday. Of course I was was right there taking notes. He spoke about his various series. I thought the discussion about the Palette Series would make for a nice post. These photographs were shot between 2004-2007. The works are close up photographs of contemporary painter's work spaces.

His original question was whether the palettes' hues resembled the location of the artist or weather of the day. He set out to discover whether there were any correlations. And, Weingarten determined their palettes were pretty random, artists painting what they wanted to paint. View their photographed palettes at Lumiere Gallery or on Weingarten's website.

I thought it would be fun to look at the paintings behind Weingarten's palette series artists. Here are the links to some of the painters he specifically mentioned during the video conference.

Jasper Johns
Ed Moses
Richard Estes
Chuck Arnoldi
Eric Fischl
David Salle
Robert Kushner

Also, pictured to the left is my palette. I use styrofoam plates and popsicle sticks to mix my paints together.

** Send me your palette photo at hazel at hazelberger dot com by March 1st and I will include in an upcoming post with your shop link. **

Lumiere has Weingarten on View Now

What a fun stop on my way home! I rushed into Lumiere Gallery to take some notes on the current show and ended up spending almost one hour. I had a  nice chat with Tony Casadonte @LumiereGallery on twitter. Tony is the Gallery Director and very charming, yet down to earth.

But back to the Robert Weingarten show, which should not be missed and is in Atlanta at Lumiere Gallery until March 20, 2010. The works are for sale and range in price from $4000-$50,000. The smallest is 11x14" and the largest 40x60". The links below are to Weingarten's site and inlcude more work than is at the gallery. The works at the gallery may not be on the site as well. The links are just meant to inspire and motivate you while giving you the flavor of the photographer.

At Lumiere there are
15 photographs from the series 6:30 AM
13 black and white Amish photographs
13 works in the palette series
11 images from the landscape as a symphony series
2 images from Portrait Unbound the new exhibit at the High Museum. (which I will review next)

As a special highlight, the gallery is hosting a video conference with Weingarten on Saturday, Feb. 20 from 1 -2 PM. This will be a nice opportunity to learn more about photography and the artist.

By far my favorites were in the 6:30 AM series. The sunsets were all about color and clouds. These 15 works were all taken during 2003 from Weingarten's home in California overlooking the Santa Monica Bay. I am so jealous! His series stems from Alfred Steiglitz's coment that "no photographer should travel anywhere for a picture if he cannnot find one close to home." Of course, Weingarten can take a beautiful, breathe taking photograph from anywhere. I imagine...

My thought and recommendation has always been to take the photogaphs in your own yard because no other photograph lives there. Your yard/neighborhood can become your niche or in to the world of photography or any medium.

No Time to Stuff Shells

Last night my daughter requested stuffed shells. I only had a few minutes to prepare dinner though, so I improvised with this original creation. It uses the ingredients for stuffed shells without the work.

No Time to Stuff Shells
by Hazel Berger

Cook penne pasta (or another small pasta) according to package directions. Do not overcook. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the following:

2 eggs

1.5 lb ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

1 T dried parsley flakes

1 T dried basil

1 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Cover bottom of steep casserole dish with ricotta mixture. Pour drained, cooked noodles on top of ricotta. Cover with the following in order.


1 C mozzarella cheese
1 jar of Prego Heart Smart Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic 26 oz jar mixed with 1/2 jar of water
1C mozzarella cheese
1/2 C parmesan cheese

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Cover casserole with tin foil, if cheese starts to get too dark.

NCAA Lacrosse Duke vs Bucknell

I attended my first lacrosse game this weekend. It seemed faster than football and soccer. But the ball was hard to find in a player's cage. The game kept my interest. Duke and Bucknell seemed pretty evenly matched as the game was officially tied until an overtime was played. Duke scored in the sudden death playoff and won 12-11.

Each team had 10 players on the field at a time. There is a white/pink colored ball about the size of a tennis ball that is tossed around with these sticks pictured. Three players guard the goal in addition to the goalkeeper. Three attack the opponent's goal and three midfielders play the whole field. These college teams were made up of about 40 players each. The game seemed agressive, but not that physical. The four quarters went by quickly. This game was played at McEachern High School and the stands were fairly full for it to have just snowed in Georgia and all other activities at the cobb county schools were cancelled.

Impressions on our Children

Last night I attended a play in Atlanta titled "Brownie Points" written by Janece Shaffer at the Theatrical Outfit downtown. The play tackled motherhood, friendship, race, history, dealing with our pasts, anti-Semitism, class lines and being nice all in one and a half hours. Yes, Janece did an amazing job of making it work. But what was her message? In my mind, the play was heavy. After a long day of children and working, I wasn't really in the mindset for thinking. I believe that plays and stories in general are more effective when the message is less obvious. There seemed to be message packed into every line. Yet, she and the actresses (They were amazing!) did their job of making me think.

After the show, the audience, facilitated by Gail Evans, Georgia Tech professor, discussed racism in our society today. So, I will write about my own African American world. My son is very curious about black people and busy learning about rap music. He studied rap's history and has filled me in on the battles of the east coast and west coast. But the impression I have (through his information and his radio stations) is that two major figures in black history today think they are above the law. In that both T.I. and Lil Wayne, major players in the rap world, have/are going to serve time for possession of weapons. These aren't people I want my children knowing or associating with (white or black), yet they love the music. I'll admit Dead and Gone (T.I.) is catchy and enjoyable. But, T. I. is singing this song because he is going to jail. It's interesting to note here that also Tiger Woods and Michael Vic have not set the best examples for our children of late. (I acknowledge there are plenty of negative actions by white major players (Bill Clinton and  Bernard Madoff) as well, but since we are white, I am speaking about the black impressions my son is experiencing right now.)

What would I do if I had the ear of so many children? But better yet, why aren't our children interested in other things? Like going on a brownie, girl scout, cub/boy scout or 4-H camping trip?

My youngest had George Washington and George Washington Carver mixed up and thought our first president was black just recently. Think about this. What a great idea that our 1st, not the 44th, president was African American. What a different world we would live in! Perhaps Janece's point and question is what to do about all these negative impressions on our children. Maybe this is why the camping brownies were missing from the production. Hopefully Barack Obama (and Michelle) will set the solid example for our white and black children and white and black adults.

"Brownie Points" is running through Feb. 28, 2010. Take a look. http://www.theatricaloutfit.org/.

Do YOU care?

It's that time of year when caring is paramount. But caring should be part of our EVERY day. This is one of the challenges of parenthood. Raising children that care. How to teach it?

This is my latest that I created around caring. I love making treasuries because I can make a statement with other people's artwork. I did add my Adopt a Pet plaque because I am so crazy about my dog I found recently. I did not want her to go to the pound, so I brought her home. What a good choice! But it was a caring one.

Children learn from example and setting them daily is the best way to get the lesson across. But first of all I make it a point to be caring in my relationships. I care that my daughter forgot her sleepover bag and was willing to take it to her. I care that my son forgot his homework and drove it to school. I care that my youngest is sad and try to discover what's up through caring conversation. I care that my son's team is playing and go to basketball games. Give it a shot.

Lemons and Tangerines Treasury

My poster sketch was saving my treasury I forgot to capture as a jpg and post here. Found it today. Just for history's sake. Here are the artists.

This treasury is made up mostly of poe team photographs.  I searched Etsy for "POE Team yellow' and "poe team orange." It's amazing what you can find. Etsy must be a decorator's heaven because they are so looking for a certain color this or that.

There are two treasuries on Etsy. One is the West Treasury and one is the main Treasury. The West has 222 treasuries at a time and the Main 333. Once they fall below these numbers we can add a treasury. Only one per artist.

John Mariana Speaks at Roswell Photographic Society

This past Monday John Mariana presented highlights from his two books to the Roswell Photographic Society's members. John showed us many photographs and illustrated the before (photoshop) and after versions of many shots. One of his suggestions was to darken the corners of the photograph using the burn tool.

I didn't realize that you can really change a photograph in camera raw before bringing it into photoshop. He showed us the sliders on the different screens within raw. Pictured to the right is a flower photograph that I altered only using camera raw. Not bad... I will note that you cannot view the photograph without the "layer" if you don't have layers, so this means you have to start over if you can't remember what you did to the photo.

Another tool John pointed out was the ability to change the color within the photograph using the targeted adjustment tool. This looks cool and could save a lot of time pulling out highlights in shadows for example. He used many other buttons duing our meeting, but I think it might be easier to buy the book then decifer my notes.

Southeastern Flower Show Opens Today

The SE Flower Show opens today and I am so honored to have four images in the show. But best of all, I have received a third place for my image titled Joy, pictured to the left. And, two of my flowers, Waltzing and Spring received honorable mentions.

The Flower Show is Thurs., Fri., and Sat 10 AM until 8 PM at the Cobb Galleria. There are 105 images in the photography exhibit, chosen from 400 submissions. It was judged by Larry Winslett and Marianne Lambert. Following is the list of winners.

P-6 - Landscape

1st Phyllis Hlavac Middle Prong River - Best in Show!
2nd Tom Query Forest Primeval
3rd George Bradfield Grand

Honorable Mentions:  Kim Bates Trunks and Shadows; David Dennard Tree; Gail Stewart First Light

P-9 Flowers (this class is double the size of the others)

1st Alan Thiese Night Blooming Cereus
2nd George Bradfield Bud & Bloom
3rd John Enslow Bedazzled

Honorable Mentions: Hazel Berger Waltzing; Hazel Berger Spring; David Foster Backlit Tulip; Valerie Gruner Coneflower; Rita Songer Poppies; Murphy Townsend White Tulip; Murphy Townsend Orange Dahlia; Brad Wilson Cypripedium parviflorum; Anne Wisgo Interlude

P-11 Travel

1st John Mariana Tyrolean Village
2nd Anne Wisgo Caution
3rd Leslie Clements Margarita Island

Honorable Mentions: Leslie Clements Zapote; Roy Gordon Tuscan Landscape; Jerome Roberts Ghosts of the Past

P-13 People and Other Critters

1st John Clemmer Wet Hawk
2nd Pamela Keene Maasai Elder
3rd Hazel Berger Joy

Honorable Mentions: Kim Bates American Icon; David Dennard Dog; John Enslow Waipu'ilani; Brad Wilson Thread-waisted wasps

P-12 Water Features

1st. Jennifer Clements Naples Botanical Garden - Most Creative Image!
2nd Debbie Paulding Cypress Party
3rd Roy Gordon Biltmore Reflections

Honorable Mentions: Karen Beedle Fall Ripple; Al Levine Flow; Gittel Price Water Crystals


P-16 All Things Green

1st Meg Dreyer Untitled (Green 2-for i.d. purposes)
2nd Brad Wilson Froghouette
3rd Ted Maloof Swampscape 3

Honorable Mentions: Kim Bates Beyond Green; Brad Wilson Green Tree Frog

David Akoubian Judges RPS Critique

We had a great judge last night, Jan 25, 2010, at the Roswell Photographic Society's (RPS) monthly critique. David Akoubian was very succinct with his comments and funny. He is a nature photographer and holds many workshops. Visit his website at http://www.bearwoodsphotography.com/.

I learned a lot during the evaluations. David said, "Photography is painting with light." His strongest recommendation was to buy a polarizing filter. He suggested adding a filter to most of the water and sky shots. His pet peeve was not to leave some space between the edge of the photo and the subject, many subjects were cut off. There were many sunsets to judge last night, and he said that the sky should be the richest element in the image. To meter for it, he suggested metering for the brightest spot and opening up one stop.

David said our goal was to pull the viewer in visually and emotionally. He suggested verbalizing what we are doing before taking the photograph. David said, "I edit before I release the shutter."  Because the eye goes to the brightest thing first in the photo, this needs to be the subject or be toned down.

From the RPS photo review and David's comments, it seems like it would be smart to take one of his workshops.

Five Quarts of Delicious

Created this last night and it was so good thought I would share.

Five Quarts of Delicious
Recipe by Hazel Berger

1 lb+ ground sirloin
parmesan cheese, shredded
fresh spinach leaves
angel hair pasta
Prego Heart Smart Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic 26 oz jar
2 C Mozzarela cheese
1/4 C shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°. Brown the ground beef in a 5 quart oven safe dish. Rinse and drain the meat and return to the pan. Cook the angel hair pasta as directed. Drain and add a little country crock to keep noodles from sticking together.

Cover the meat with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese in the 5 quart pan. Add a layer or two of spinach leaves. Layer the noodles on top of the spinach. Add half of the jar of sauce carefully covering (but not rearranging) the dish. Add water to the jar and mix with remaining sauce. Cover the rest of the dish with the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarela cheese and then top with parmesan.

Bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Check to see that the cheese does not burn. Cover with tin foil if it gets too dark. Cool 5 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Robert Weingarten Exhibits to Open

How exciting that Robert Weingarten has two photography exhibits in Atlanta, at the same time, opening next week. If you are in Atlanta, don't miss these photos.

Lumiere hosts The Road Less Traveled Jan. 23 - Mar. 20, 2010
The High Museum of Art exhibits The Portrait Unbound Jan. 23 - May 30, 2010

Weingarten's landscapes are amazing and full of color. The American was born in NYC in 1941. The photographer's website is http://www.weingartenphotography.com/. Lumiere Gallery sells his work in Atlanta.

After I view these exbibits I will update this blog entry. Can't wait!

Peaceful Easy Feeling

There are days when peace is elusive. So, I created this Etsy Treasury to the right this past week. It will expire this morning. You can find the link in my shop. Like everyone, I do stress about things sometimes and in the last few years I have learned that singing (of all things) and knitting are two easy things I can do to relieve stress and help me find peace.

I love country music and play it full blast and intentionally sing (even though I am not in the mood) when I am mad or sad. This helps a lot because I have to totally focus on the song.

Knitting is repetitive, so that the flow of the project and focusing on the steps help me relax. For years, I felt I needed to go to a gym to relax more, but working out is not for me. BUT, I didn’t need to.

In the end, the best relaxation, stress reducer has been the dog. She is still a puppy. This is her most recent photograph. I adopted her about 5 months ago and what a pick she was. (Although, she picked me by showing up at my mother’s farm.) There are days I can’t believe I found such a good, smart dog. Tennessee is helping reduce stress by getting me to walk at least once a day. She actually pulls on my jeans at the hem (kind of a tug of war) to get me outside on a walk. And, my sweet dog is always there with a friendly hello and lick whenever I need a break. You can adopt a dog in Atlanta at Petco. Their next adoption is Sat., Jan. 16th.

The Treasury above (a collection of 12 items for sale on Etsy that I fit together through color and theme) is titled “Peaceful Easy Feeling” after the Eagles’ song. You can find these items on http://www.etsy.com/ by searching for the name under the photo.

Georgia Aquarium Creates Photo Op

Thanks to StarCreations for the push to take my camera to the Georgia Aquarium. It was fun!

This is one of my favorites "Through the Looking Glass" to the right.

This fish below had the most personality...

And, then there were these... definitely took the most photos of these guys. This is titled "Mystery Fish." I love how they moved back and forth like they were on stage in the rockettes line up. They also created very nice diagonal lines for me. but this shot is cool because of the overhead light.

New Year's Day Hike

On New Year's Day, we traveled just west of Calhoun, Georgia to visit Keown Falls on John's Mountain. The hike consists of two loops: a moderate 1.8 mile loop to the falls and a more difficult 3.5 mile loop hike up to the view the valley (mileage according to Highroad Guide to the Georgia Mountains.) This area is in this book on pages 38-39. The hike to the top was harder, and there were many times I thought my heart was going to race right into an attack, but I survived and even declared "That was FUN!"

I have not hiked much, so this is a great blog to bookmark as I begin hiking. My preference is to bike, but it is too cold to bike in the winter. I cannot wait to return to Kennesaw and John's Mountain in the Spring looking for flowers!

But the best part, of course, was what I was able to do with my camera. I did wonder out loud if there were photographers who hired people to tag a long on hikes to carry the camera. I would like this...

(And, I was looking forward to a day of knitting in front of football. But... I did knit in the car back and forth.) This hiking spot is about one hour northwest of Atlanta. The guide books says that the waterfalls may be dry in the summer, but that wasn't what impressed me, obviously.

Walk in the Woods

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is just waiting for exploring. The battle of June 27, 1864 left behind  many earthworks to explore. Now there are many trails on the mountain. The park is just 3 or 4 miles off of highway 75 at Barrett Parkway just north of Atlanta. We went hiking with the puppy on a leash this past weekend. What a great family outing! Here is my treasure from the trip. Just listed on Etsy.

Open Doors and Windows

The New Year is fast approaching... In many ways the holiday is like Yom Kippur where personal reflection is in order. I like thinking of a couple manageable new habits each year. Once children are in the mix, life is so different and not about ME. So, it's a good time to take a look at my career and jobs and see what directions I should pursue and/or continue next year, too.

I believe very strongly in writing down my goals. I remember when I wanted a BMW and didn't have one. I cut out a photo in a magazine and voila. Bought it! I loved it! And, I miss it, but I long since traded that in for more seats, but it's a good lesson to write it down!

Professionally, next year I would like to be featured in a gallery show. I have already met with an Atlanta photographer, John Clemmer, who had some pointers. Take a look at John Clemmer's work for his great photography. My favorite of his shots is the black and white of the girl... running with such speed... on this page. I would also like to participate in at least four juried art festivals. I really enjoy being outdoors and showing my work.

Personally... that's another story, but I'm going to write them down. I think it takes 21 days to learn a new habit. I think I'll get a head start.

Pictured is my latest treasury which is expiring shortly. I was thinking about all the opportunity awaiting me through so many easily opened doors. Happy New Year!

Juried in SouthEastern Flower Show

Wow! I applied to the SE Flower Show recently, as my biggest work of art is flowers, and 4 of my images were juried into the show. Here is a list of images that were juried in and will be on display at the show. It is February 4-6th at the Cobb Galleria.
Pictured to the right is Waltzing. The links below are to listings in my Etsy shop.
Christmas Mag P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
Waltzing P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
Joy P13 People and Other Critters (not for sale)
Spring P09 Flowers, Flowers, Flowers
 
And, as if that weren't enough... three flower canvases (and other works) sold at the chanukah bazaar last weekend: Perfect, Zinnia c/o City of Pittsburgh and Spinning. I'm not sure if I should spend the day celebrating or working! I have printed 13 more canvases and am painting away!

Ballet Treasury

My ballet treasury is about to expire. The artists in this treasury were very generous with their kind comments. Thank you! GoodLookinTreasures said, "What a beautiful treasury! Thank you for including my little red carrying casse amongst such GoodLookinTreasures (PS... For those who look at this treasury, also take the time to visit the curator's shop. She has some lovely photographic prints.)" You can find all these items below on http://www.etsy.com/.

Introducing ACEOs

Don't miss my work at the OVS Chanukah Bazaar tomorrow, Sunday December 6th from 11 AM - 7 PM. This synagogue serves the most amazing food. I can't wait to have a potato bureka!

Just to make the day special I am introducing ACEOs of five of my photographic images and 4 of my religious works. I can't wait for you to see them. One is this Spring image shown to the left.

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals. Learn more on Wikipedia. They are art trading cards, which fit into baseball card sleeves. The movement to create, sell and purchase these works began in Switzerland. I think the Challah card will be just the right size to display in the kitchen. Can't wait to show you!

Here is the link to my ACEO section of my MagMoment shop on Etsy. Take a look.

Mints and Olives with Pepper

I really LOVE making treasuries. It is so fun to pull together random items from Etsy that look good together and form a theme.

"Definitely my favorite color forever... I love green!" was my comment on this treasury. I thought it funny to use the food names for this treasury right before the last listing expired. Kind of a take on Christmas without using the traditional Christmas green.

Treasuries expire soon. So click and comment right now. Mints and Olives with Pepper.

Lots of Christmas treasuries out there. And, tons of items tagged with Christmas. I added my Christmas Mag as an alternate in this treasury, but in the end decided to use other people's work. Here's my image. It is a photograph I printed on canvas and then highlighted with acrylic paint. I am enjoying painting and look forward to creating many of these works. Ultimately I want to sell these in art festivals. This retails for $39. Here is the Etsy link to Christmas Mag.

Parenting by Counting to Ten

Ok, so I found myself counting to ten today while I was waiting for the puppy to "Come" as I commanded. I laughed my way to ten, and I ended up carting her indoors. But this has worked great with my children all these years, so I thought I would share...

Originally, we started counting to ten when the children were first learning to buckle their car seat belts. They had to be finished by the time we got to ten.

In the preschool days, I found this a great way to keep calm and it gave me something to do while waiting. I paced the counting according to the child's ability. Now that my children are in grade school, I just breeze through all the numbers and it's an or-else kinda thing. But it still moves them into cooperation. We use it to stop inappropriate behavior and to elicit desired behavior. I just start counting after several requests to stop or start a task.

It's like magic! No yelling required. P. S. nothing happens when I get to ten and they aren't cooperating because this rarely happens. When it does happen some love and attention are in order because something is very wrong.

Etsy -- The Place to Shop

Etsy is an on-line shop with three categories of products: Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies. For holidays searching handmade or vintage will save you lots of time and you will end up with a really unique gift. Just now I ran some searches in handmade. Click on my links to see the current results.

I personally am looking for a purple initial, which found 285 items.
A search for a forest green scarf yielded 131 results.
Search for Love is in the Air and then selected Art yields 64 items.
For that man, golf love found 29 results.
Searching for ballet dance and selecting mixed media discovered 32 results.
For the boys, I searched lego art and found 85 results.
Also, I am a member of the Photographers of Etsy Team, so I searched on poe team kiss and found a few good shots. This was the subject of my latest treasury.

So with a little refining, searching among the 4,982,408 items isn't as overwhelming as it could be. Imagine going to the mall and looking through that many products. Yuk!