In Our Natural State | Children

A few years ago in school I made this poetry book for class. Probably my most recognized and personal favorite pieces I have ever made. Its called Pictures & Poetry and the images in it are double exposed photographs of my sister that I took for the book.

This past Jan. a former coworker of mine saw the photos and loved them so much she wanted me to take pictures of her kids similar to the photographs I had taken for the book. I agreed and was very excited to expand on this photo series/look I had created. The hard part is each photo is a piece of art specific to itself and takes a lot of coaxing to develop into the final photo. Fortunately spring finally arrived and I had some time to get out and take some photos that work wonderfully for the children!

If you would like to know more about how I made created these let me know in the comments below and I may write a more detailed tut on it!

Here the the finals of Norah & Avyen. Stunning if I may say so myself. ;)

A little about the process if you are interested:

I have to take several different photoshoots to get the final product. One of the subject and then several shots of nature and texture to overlay on top to make the final print. Each photo needs to fit with the others to create a beautiful image, not just be slapped on top, so I end up taking lots of photos. The backgrounds of all the photos are important as well. Light and dark backgrounds react to the double exposure differently so there is a lot of experimentation going on.

On The Verge of Spring

Spring is coming!!! I believe it.

This long winter has been hard for us all, but we are survivors here in Wisconsin. I found this little beauty laying on the ground the other day ( inside unfortunately ) but was thrilled at this small reminder of spring. I grew up in Norther Wisconsin in the middle of nowhere-ville where the first sign of spring is the budding of trees, tulips popping out of the snow, and the smell of fresh earth meeting the suns rays after its hibernation.

So this is my encouragement and reminder that spring is on its way! Enjoy the sun today. Take a walk. Ride your bike. Sit in a sun ray on the couch and read a book! Spring is on its way!

Creative Collective // Anything Goes

So here we are again on this fine, warm, Wisconsin Wed. with the newest addition to Creative Collective! This week we get the chance to create some "anything goes art" which at first was a challenge for me. Being a professional artist that tends to plan things out and think way to much about the art I am creating made things tough. I decided to mess around in Photoshop on a new photography series I am working on and that's when things started to get fun!

This new body of work will be an exploration of a series of double exposed images that I created in college. I love this series and that is why I wanted to explore it further. To see my original series click // here // It was fun to dabble and explore where this new series could go and not worrying about how good the images look but instead find the potential or lack of potential in each image!

The originals were also featured in a poetry book I designed call Pictures & Poetry and featured on Neenah Papers blog! It was so much fun and I am so excited to expound on this series!

Leave feedback if you like! Hearing what other people think about the direction Im going is always good!

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So This Is What I Wore // Get To Know

I recently reconnected with a high school friend, Kathryn Morrison, who has just joined the vast blogging community. She has just started her own fashion blog focusing on woman's wearable fashion. Check it out // here // and get to know her a little better below! Its a fun read!

What was the first thing you did this morning?
I got up and worked out. That was the start of my morning. Jillian Michaels… on mute with my Pandora blasted because I find her annoying sometimes. ;)

What do you wish to accomplish?
I want to accomplish being successful in whatever I do. Whether that is fashion someday or having a family. I just want to be great at whatever I set my hand to.

Describe one thing you have learned?
I get to choose how I feel about situations and how I respond to things. There are times when I'm like… “Wait I get to choose how this affects me and how I react.” I can choose to live and move on. Its great! Its empowering. It just hit me the other day.

When did you realize you were a fashionista?
It started a few years ago and I didn't really realize it till my mom and sister brought it up. People started commenting on things that were just natural to me and what I did. Whether it was my hair or nails of cloths. I realized maybe I did have knack for this kinda of thing.

Who or what inspires your current fashion?
Pinterest is a huge help! I’ve always been a fan of Audry Hepburn, so any time I can keep it classy like her I do. Carrie Bradshaw (aka Sara Jessica Parker from Sex in the City) is a big inspiration as well because she can do crazy fashion but also pulls it together to make it work. And its not cookie cutter fashion. Its unique. Any time I have the mindset of Carrie Bradshaw, someone comments that I look like her and I'm like “NAILED IT!”

What fashion trend are you embarrassed to have been a part of?
Lets see… Ok here is the list: -The feathers and the hair. I spent way to much money on that.
-My mom used to mach all us girls… that was embarrassing.
-I used to have a dress cover in neon fish… awkward.
-Stirrup pants. Nuf said.
-I also used to have a baby blue velour pant suit that was pretty hideous.

What is your go-to piece in your closet?
Men's button down lately. I like to try and class it up and make it feminine. All you ladies should try it.

When will we see your line of clothing? Because I know you sew like BAMF!
Ya know I haven't been sewing as much lately. It may be a while. After I get into the whole boutique thing and figure it out… but who knows. All the designing I’ve been doing lately has been wedding dresses. I think if I started a brand now it would be wedding dresses. Actually I would love to conquer the Mother of the bride dress. They are all the same awful dress, with the awful jacket and I hate it! Its horrible.

If your style was a beverage what would it be?
I would say an amaretto sour, because its a little classy and a has a little kick to it!

Check her out!
Blog - So This Is What I Wore
Instagram - @kittykatmeowmor

Photography by Nicole Song and Kate Morrison.
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NEW TRASH // OLD TREASURES

Actually the trash really wasn't treasure, it was pretty much junk but it sounded good.

A few weeks ago I was driving around the neighborhood, and was intrigued by my neighborhoods garbage. Strange? Maybe, but I enjoyed looking at the different garbage people threw out and how they were randomly arranged on the side of the road. It was rather fascinating to see what things were stuffed inside of other things, inside of other things, inside of bags, inside of boxes.

My trash snooping lead me to grabbing my camera and taking some shots of said garbage. Again strange, and others must have thought so too because the local Police Officer stopped me and asked me what I was doing because someone thought I was casing their house. I thought this was funny because I live in a neighborhood of older people so Im not sure what Gramps next door has that I would want to jack, but it must be cool. It was also kind of comical trying to explain to the cop that I was just taking pictures of garbage because I thought it was interesting... the crazy things artists do.

Anyhow! After taking photos of the neighborhoods garbage I was inspired to do a little photo manipulation and add some text to tell you a short story. I love telling stories and I almost made this a social commentary on Woman's Rights and going Green but that was a little serious for me today. Instead just envision the garbage as your great Grandma Helen and your drunk friend Sam and I think you will enjoy my trashy pictures... I just had to fit that in somewhere ;)

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