14 Days of Self-Love

So, last year around this time, I decided that I was going to write about self-love for the first 14 days of February, leading up to Valentines Day.  You can check out the posts from last years 14 Days of Self-Love (just scroll down and you'll see all of the posts listed).

This year, I decided to ask some pals to join me.  So for the first 14 days of the month, each day there will be a different writer/photographer/artist here sharing their perspective on self-love and self-care.  Their contributions are flowing into my inbox and I'm so excited to share them with you!

You'll be hearing from Andrea Schroeder, Susan Tuttle, Susannah Conway, Liz Lamoreux, Deb Taylor, Darrah Parker and lots more.  There will even be a few fabulous giveaways too!

So be sure to come by here.  I'll be starting us of on the 1st and sharing all of the contributors with you then!

Oh.....and the winner of the WishBIG giveaway is......Lisa Call!

Congrats Lisa!  

Swan Dive is Back!

So, did you hear that Picnik is closing?

I can barely believe it as for so many of us it is one of the main ways we process our photos and get playful in post-production.

For the first year of my photography adventuring it was the only place I processed photos.  Then I started to explore Photoshop and Lightroom and now I use a combination of those but return to Picnik often to use their easy layering options and fabulous fonts.

For those of you who have been in my courses, you know I recommend Picnik pretty endlessly.  It has been such an accessible way to explore the artistic side of playing with our images.  I adore it and most of the participants in my classes use it during the courses.

I had been planning to bring back Swan Dive, but this recent news about Picnik got me inspired to have it run in April.  April 19 is the day Picnik will close, so we will use it as a part of the first week, but after that we will explore other options (photoshop, photoshop elements, a bit of lightroom and I'll be sharing ALL of the possible other options I can track down for you that can be options other than Picnik).  

I also think that having this awesome website closing down is an invitation.

To discover more about those photo processing programs we may already have but be a bit intimidated by.

To develop skills inspired by all the cool things we learned about via Picnik but to do them in other programs and have more control over how it all works (like fonts, layers, textures, borders, vingetting, effects, toning).

To approach post-processing with playfulness.  It can be an artform unto itself!

So I decided to bring back Swan Dive for those of you looking to get creative with post-processing but could use a fabulous community atmosphere and super fun activities and encouragement to get you going.

I'm not sure if I'll be offering it again (and definitely not again in 2012) so if you were hoping to get in on Swan Dive, now is the time!

I love the art of post-processing oh so much and am excited to share it with you!

I do like to give even more feedback in this course and encouragement as you develop your visual voice, so there is an even more limited number of participants in this class.  You can join in and register here and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

Wish Big E-Camp Giveaway!

I am oh so excited to be hosting a giveaway for one spot in the WishBIG E-Camp Winter Session!

It is such a fabulous collection of teachers gathered for this class, including: Connie Hozvicka, Chris Zydel, Amy Palko, Miranda Hersey, Jenna McGuiggan, Stacy De La Rosa, Rachel Awes and myself.  WishBIG E-Camp runs February 19th - 26th. 

My workshop for the course is called Twirls and Jumps : Connecting with Whimsy and Wonder through Photography.  This workshop is all about adding soul and whimsy to your photos and getting in tune with the sense of wonder that photography can bring into our lives.  

You can find out more about the course itself or the other workshops by heading over to the WishBIG Course Page.

So yes, today I'm giving away one spot to the course!

All you need to do is to leave a comment, but I'd love to hear in the comments about a time you felt full of a sense of wonder.

The giveaway will be open until this Thursday January 26th at 5pm PST and then I'll announce the winner on Friday!  

She is Three

I'm so thrilled to share that I'm one of three in a brand new blog collaboration.   It was the brainchild of the lovely Jennifer DeVille and she invited the incredible Deb Taylor and I to be a part of it.  I'm so honoured to be a part of this trio.

I met both Jennifer and Deb in different sessions of You are Your Own Muse and love their work and am super excited to be doing this monthly project with them.  Each month, on the 21st, we'll be posting a triptych of images by the three of us.

Come say hello to us over at the She is Three blog as we set out on this creative adventure!

A Few Moments

The day before had been sunny and I had grand plans of doing lots of self-portraits during the weekend on the coast. Plans rarely go as they we think they will and I hadn't taken a single self-portrait so I headed out for a few minutes alone on the sand plain ridge above the shore.   

The wind was ferocious and I let it take away my need to take self-portraits for 'work' and leave me with the simple craving to tell the story of this trip and have myself in a few of the photos while I was busy aiming the lens at all the people I love and the gorgeous landscape around us.

My scarf which was worn to keep me warm became a prop and I took just a few shots before the sand blowing around and risk of rain had me hiking back to the house again.

So glad I paused for those few moments.  Sometimes we need to let go of the 'grand plans' and just take a few moments to tell the visual story that if it were words would read 'I was here'.

Registration for You are Your Own Muse is open and class begins in February!  There is still room to join us.  As always, feel free to contact me if you have questions about the course.