This image was taken over the summer while on a fantastic camping trip to San Simeon with some good friends. I played around with it a bit and wasn’t sure how I felt about the image. To me, it was a little random, which I thought was representative of California Annual Grasslands, but I wasn’t sure the random-ness created a good image. On the other hand, I really liked the curves of the rattlesnake grasses and the processing technique I used (it reminded me of a photo that had sat out in the sun for the afternoon). However, I wasn’t sure how the viewer would react to the image, because I was mixed about the photo.

At the beginning of July, I joined an online photo community, Weekly Shot. When I heard about Weekly Shot the concept really appealed to me. I was looking for an online photo community, where I could get feedback on my photos but I wanted that feedback to be done in a manner that was less about if they liked me and my style and more based on the image itself. Weekly Shot seemed to fit the bill.

Last week the theme for Weekly Shot was Ground Level. A few weeks back, I decided that I was going to submit images not in the hopes of getting “featured,” but shots that I really wanted feedback on how the image worked. Since this shot fit the theme, I submitted it. The feedback on the shot was mixed, but somehow it got featured. So now I open the shot up to a wider audience. Does it work?

P.S. It’s easy to leave comments on the new theme, just click on the comment link on the line right below the post.

Joni currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and primarily photographs in areas close to her home. In addition to being a photographer Joni has been an Adjunct Instructor in Photography for more than 20 years and currently teaches wet collodion photography workshops with ICP and the Center for Alternative Photography in New York City.

Joni entered art school as a fine art major, but after dabbling in photography for a year and a half decided to change her major and has been working in the field of photography ever since. After art school she worked as a professional black and white printer and was able to print for Mary Ellen Mark, Dennis Stock, and Danny Lyon.

Joni’s work has evolved over the years. The past ten years Joni has been making landscape-based photographs, capturing landscapes, seascapes, and the human imprint on these areas. She uses both large format film and wet collodion, either as a tintype, ambrotype, or glass negative. Joni works in an intituve way, and doesn’t aim for a specific style. She has found that her more successful photographs have a minimal amount of information, with plenty of space for the eye to travel through the photograph.

The ocean is a huge inspiration for Joni. She has returned regularly to the same locations which has lead her to examine the land and sea juncture, a subject matter in a constant state of transition, with surfers playing a pivotal role. Joni is facinated by both the physical and poetic way that they reside on the seascape. She is inspired by the people that she meets on the beach and photographs and the lifestyle that they choose to live. As a city dweller, the idea of coming to the beach several times a day, sometimes just to look, seems impossible to Joni.

I hope that you are also inspired by Joni’s work. Please scoot over to her website to see all of her amazing photographs.

Before meeting Shelly Kerry, of Em’s Studio, I don’t think I wore earrings for more than 10 years. But I love Shelly’s style (and it doesn’t hurt that she is a fantastic person) and over the course of getting to know her, I’ve learned more about her craft. This knowledge has made me appreciate the art of jewelry making and has translated into the beginnings of a handmade jewelry collection based on pieces by Shelly and other local artists.

Shelly grew up with really crafty women in her family and she can recall making projects with them during the summer months and vacations. Some of Shelly’s earliest memories are of spending days entertaining herself with a pencil and crayon, drawing and doodling on the floor of her living room.

She dabbled in many art forms before she fell in love with jewelry making. This love affair started when she realized that she could make jewelry better than a lot of the cheap pieces she was purchasing in chain stores. She learned by deconstructing pieces, taking them apart and figuring out how they were made. She then took questions to her jewelry maker friends and after taking a few classes, began selling pieces at local shows. For Shelly jewelry making satisfies her love of manipulating little things – twisting wires and playing with delicate pieces. Her style often leans towards big and raw, but there are always small, precious parts to each of her pieces. Her pieces often contain the juxtaposition of a raw, rough stone with a glitzy chain.

Shelly draws her inspiration from color and textures. Something as simple as the pattern on a dress or the color of an unknown plant are examples of items that have inspired a new line of pieces. She also takes 30 to 45 minutes each day to look through art and design blogs and magazines in order to get external inspiration. From personal experience, I am inspired regularly on Shelly’s ability to draw inspiration from the most unlikely places. She has the ability to keep her eyes and mind open to the possibility that anything could be inspirational. Another important aspect of being creative to Shelly is to live each day creatively, not tucking away things at 5 pm, but living every second of life as an opportunity to express yourself. She fosters this by surrounding herself with creative and supportive people and maintaining her home/studio in a visually and mentally stimulating way.

In addition to making beautiful jewelry she is one of the owners of Lightbox SF. Lightbox SF is designed to be a support system for emerging artists. They offer consulting services to these artists to assist them with things like marketing, public relations, social media, or line sheets. Their eventual goal is to create a workspace and gallery that will create a creative community for the resident artists. They also organize two art event series, The Crafty Hour and 200 Yards. The Crafty Hour is a combination of a craft show and happy hour, that features about a dozen artists who sale their wares right in the bar. While 200 Yards is a gallery show where all pieces have been created within 200 yards of the host location (yes, this is the upcoming show I am in).

Shelly is another fantastic creative person that I feel lucky to know and I hope you will take the time to investigate out her work.

I want to apologize for my absence from the blog, I’ve been busy and have let my posts go to the wayside. While that is a lame excuse, it’s the best that I’ve got.

However, I’m excited to let you all know that the above image as well as another will be featured in the 200 Yards show that opens on August 18th. All the featured images have been taken within 200 yards of the host location (Heart near 24th and Valencia). This project was a challenge for me. The first challenge was the fact that 200 yards is not a large area (about one city block in either direction). The second was a creative process hurdle. While I have shot images on a theme previously, I’ve never been totally happy with the outcome. I’m still trying to figure out the creative process that works for me with themed shoots. Luckily this time around, there were lots of little details, some of my favorite subjects.

Both the images that I’ll be featuring are textural black and whites, because of that I chose a method of printing I’ve been wanting to use for a while, aluminum. I had them printed at Bay Photo, they arrived yesterday and I’m pleased with how they turned out. I’d love it if you would drop by the show and let me know what you think.

Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: These pots were on the windowsill of the lighthouse in Monterey. I love the texture of the wood in contrast with the clean lines of the terra cotta pots.