I’ve been pretty quiet on the video front even though it’s my favorite way of connecting. Travel, working through my art, you know, the usual! But I’m back and creating with you and I can’t wait for you to see this one!

The spirit of White Wall Wednesday is being creative in the space that you have. There are three main ways of doing this:

1. Move your subject to a new background by learning compositing.
2. Transform your wall into a different space rather than cutting your subject. Maybe use set design or composite elements in to make it more interesting.
3. Use an interesting prop or costume so that the blank white wall feels appropriately minimalist.

I went with approach #3 today, and I hope you like the result. But it’s not finished! This is part one of a two part WWW series. I’ve gone ahead and printed this image, and next week I’ll share some experimenting (really, really experimenting because I’ve never done anything like this before!) of how we could further transform the image without any digital techniques. We’re diving into alternative processes!

Share links with me here, or tag them on social media with #WhiteWallWednesday.

For a while there (and I mean the past year and a half), I found it really difficult to create. My ideas seem half-formed, and every time I thought I should be shooting, I just didn’t want to. It was a tough period of time. Last week, after I got home from Promoting Passion, something changed. I took a few days for myself, but then my desire and drive came back. I did an impromptu photo shoot for my new series and I loved it. I shot this yarn image and loved it. I ran outside chasing the fog and had such an amazing time. I edited a couple of photos I had left sitting.

Suddenly I had the energy and excitement for the things I’ve always loved but had put aside. And I realized that my problem was not actually energy or excitement, it was fear.

Isn’t it always?

I’m hesitant to use the word fear because of how flamboyantly it gets tossed around. I didn’t have a direct fear of failure or fear of wasting my time. It was more of a subtle, very-difficult-to-notice fear; a culmination of shoots gone wrong, money wasted, time not spent wisely, laziness with my techniques…and that all built up into an anxiety over creating.

I mentioned in my PPC post that something in me broke. And it was a really, really good kind of breaking. A necessary snap to put me back where I was, but better and more self-aware.

Shooting feels fun again. I want to create. I want to fail. I want to wake up before the sun and run barefoot in a field. I want to shoot on my white wall and take back the power that comes from that.

The power that comes from a white wall. That’s why I do these videos. There is a certain power that comes from shooting with what you have and making it work. Even more power from making it amazing. And even more power from doing it no matter how it turns out. White Wall Wednesday is a taking back of creativity and telling roadblocks to move out of the way, politely, because we’re here to create.

So friends, I hope you embrace your white wall this week. Get some yarn and create whatever it is you want to create. There are no expectations here, except to make something. The very act of creating is where inspiration comes from. The finished product is such a small percentage of the process that we can’t put so much stock in it. What if we only aimed to have a great experience making something? Think of how your art would change.

Happy White Wall Wednesday.

How often are we plagued with the repetitive thought that we cannot create unless we have something more to create with. A better camera, a new tripod, that awesome speed-light, or just a bigger budget entirely? There are amazing photographers out there who are able to spend a lot of cash for every photo they create, and that is a really wonderful thing to have at your disposal. I am not one of those artists, and to be honest, I get a lot of pleasure from that fact.

One of the things that inspires me more than anything is creating from nothing. I love to give myself a strict budget and see what I can do within those confines. Case in point, this picture was less than $10 total (In case you were wondering how much yarn you’ll need to cover a tree and a human for a pretty creepy photo shoot). Sometimes I challenge myself to shoot inside my house (I’ll be sharing that picture later this week!) or to use a household object as a prop. Self-portraiture is a perfect example of how you can shoot on the cheap, assuming you don’t feel the need to pay yourself and exorbitant amount for modeling. >..<

I still have moments where I feel that my work could be better (re: more personally fulfilling) if I had a grand location or prop or dress, but those instances are few and far between. And when I do have that craving, I get a bunch of photographers together to pay for the scene so we can all benefit and all afford it…because what better way is there to spend your time as a creative than geeking out with other creatives about that AMAZING ABANDONED CHURCH or that one of a kind carousel horse, or or or… you get the picture.

Never let your budget or access to locations and props hold you back. There is always something to be done with your unique imagination and the world you have before your eyes. There is always magic to be created.

Share with me your images created on a budget. Have you used really inexpensive props to create an image, or perhaps an unlikely location? Let’s inspire each other with the creative thinking that a tiny budget requires. Our images are our imaginations, and with that, anything is possible.

For these images I was smitten not only with the inspiration of creating something from nothing, but also by the concept behind it. Life giving life, or perhaps life taking life…whichever way you choose to see it. Red is such a powerful color because it can symbolize power, life, death, blood, etc. It is truly one of those emotional symbols in an image that makes me feel something instantly. A girl giving a tree her life-blood, or both of them sharing. Life giving life. Life taking life. Life-blood.

I do dumb things all the time. Like that time I thought it would be a good idea to buy 300 copies of my own book, only to realize that it is very difficult to travel with so many books. Thus, I have a lot of books just sitting in my living room like some crazy narcissist.

There was that other time when I thought it would save time and energy if I just sent 100 different galleries the same e-mailed plea as to why I thought I should have my work represented by them. Every gallery turned me down because of my time and energy saving methods.

A few years ago I was rushing to get to a shooting location in the forest. By the time I had my camera set up it was so dark I could hardly see what I was shooting, yet I did it anyway. The only problem was that I had wrapped about 10 feet of yarn around my head and couldn’t get it off while in the dark without scissors. I drove to the nearest gas station before nearly cutting off my air supply, all the while chuckling gravely at how strange a death scene that would have been.

One time (re: a lot more than one time) I failed to answer emails and then left them for months because I would start to panic every time I opened my inbox (re: re: this is happening right now).

I went to the grocery store in my favorite skirt, went to the bathroom, and came out with that same skirt tucked into my underwear in the back. Thank you random kind lady for letting me know before I got to the dairy aisle. Yes, that was highly embarrassing.

You are going to do some pretty stupid things. From whacking your head on a tree branch to royally messing up a business deal, things happen, and sometimes they happen often. In fact, sometimes it feels like all you’re doing is messing up. But even though there are endless opportunities to make mistakes, there are the same amount of opportunities to get it right.

Laugh at yourself. Realize that few things are really that serious. Laugh at yourself because if you do it first you recognize your mistakes and take responsibility. Laugh at yourself because you know how short life is, and it can’t be spent in misery. Laugh at yourself for the mistakes you’ve made and the mistakes you will make.

Remember that whacking your head on tree branches is a sign of growth, no matter how much it might hurt, so wear that bruise with pride. And next time you’re out remember to keep your chin up, because you never know where the next tree branch will come from and you don’t want it to smack you in the head.

Tomorrow I’m going out to shoot another red yarn wrapped around the body picture, and this time I am determined not to asphyxiate myself or anyone else in the process. See? Always learning.

So, what dumb things have you done?