video – Promoting Passion

Promoting Passion Week 93: Portfolio

brookeshaden — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 14:23:43 +0000

My travels have taken me far away this time around, and in honor of that, I disconnected. I have four videos lined up for you this week to make up for my three week absence, and gosh was it worth it. I had the best time with my friends exploring temples in Cambodia, volunteering with rescued elephants in Thailand, and finally opening a school in India. But more on all of that later. For now, I wanted to share something I’ve been thinking of for a long time, and that is how we represent ourselves as artists.

Not everyone reading this page is a traditional artist, but this thought process applies nonetheless. To understand how and why you create, and to put that out there with everything you do, takes discipline and a unique understanding of yourself. I can safely say I do not have that down yet, but I will continue to strive for it. I’ll be sharing a video soon about a change in my own thought process and how I know myself as an artist, but first, a look into the ever-important portfolio and how we put that out there.

I saw a really casual video a few weeks ago of an artist’s work, and it made me want to know more about them. Alas, it was a video put together by someone else and there was no artist credit, so I never did find that artist. It started me thinking though about how much we can control how our content is consumed, and seeing that video inspired me to make one of my own. We are largely a visual people, so to bee able to set images to music and see them scroll without having to click buttons feels like a good way to do some sharing.

Creating a Portfolio Video:

Find a video editing source, like iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, or Animoto.
Choose your images. I chose 30 of my own images to put in the slideshow, and made sure that they flowed together and represented what I feel are some of my strongest works from the past five years, favoring newer works to take up at least half of the video.
Pick a song. When I picked the music to go with my images, I chose something with no lyrics, so as not to put any unwanted ideas into the viewer’s head. I also chose something cinematic, haunting, and timeless…all keywords that I use to describe my own art.
Create a YouTube channel if you don’t have one already. (Or Vimeo, or any other video sharing site!). Talk about easy and free marketing! You never know who is going to stumble on a YouTube channel.
Share it in the comments. Once you have your video complete, share a link in the comments of this post so that I can sit back and enjoy some amazing art.

I created this incredibly simple video of my portfolio, set to music that I feel fits the tone of my work. What I know is that it can’t hurt to put it out there, and it took me about 40 minutes to create in total – from downloading the images to putting them in iMovie to exporting. I licensed the music from SongFreedom.com and it is “Mystery” by Zero Bedroom Apartment. So, for the cost of only $30, I put together a portfolio, shared it for free on YouTube, and it has the look and feel I desire for my work.

I invite everyone to create a little video of your work, and to share it in the comments here so that we can discover one another as we would like to be discovered! Happy creating as always everyone, and I hope your past month was as exhilarating as mine…can’t wait to share!

Promoting Passion Week 71: Simple Self-Portraiture

brookeshaden — Wed, 27 May 2015 11:55:05 +0000

Ever since I started photography I have loved simplicity. Heck, even when I was in film school I would always think to myself: Can’t we just use natural light? And so when I discovered I had full control over my camera and what I produced with it, I ditched the lights and the confusion in favor of simplicity. I have always loved photographing against a blank white wall, and still crave shoots like that. I used to spend hours brainstorming what I could put in front of a white wall that I haven’t done before.

A little while ago I found a big black feather and took it home with me, hoping to use it for a photo. I promptly forgot about it until it suddenly appeared in my car, and I decided to put it to use. I love the way that the human form can be so evocative, expressing emotion much the same way as our faces. Contorting a certain way, lighting a certain way, and through editing we are able to create atmosphere with almost no help from outside elements. In this case I wore an ace bandage and made sure the lighting was more severe than I normally utilize.

I chose to pose against a wall that had only one light source: a window coming from the left. After that, it became simple to find a pose that felt right, and the shoot was over quickly.

How often do you use a white wall or blank canvas to create your art? Share it if you’ve shot it!

Promoting Passion Week 70: Dreamcatching

brookeshaden — Mon, 18 May 2015 22:30:31 +0000

I had the pleasure of meeting Jen Brook a couple years ago and since then we’ve collaborated and she has come to model for three artist retreats and a couple workshops that I’ve hosted, not to mention donating her time to model for a meetup! I love being around anyone who is passionate in their own way about their craft, and that is definitely Jen. She has an ongoing project called Dreamcatcher in which she asks photographers to interpret her ideas in a lovely collaboration. I’ve shot a dreamcatcher image of hers before, and this is another one. So I wanted to share that behind the scenes process, as well as wish Jen a very happy birthday.

I’m actually en route to France right now where she will be modeling for an artist retreat I’m hosting there, and then, just a week after that, we’ll be meeting again in Iceland! I hope that you enjoy the process that went into this edit. And please check out Jen’s blog post as well!

Have you ever collaborated with another artist – model, painter, sculptor, poet, art director…anything at all? I’d love to see pics from collaborations you’ve engaged in!

Model: Jen Brook, photographed in Norfolk UK August 2014. Fish purchased from shutterstock.com.

Recent Interviews

brookeshaden — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 15:18:20 +0000

I suppose because of a new year blooming, I’ve been honored with a few-more-than-usual requests for interviews, so I thought I’d share them here. I don’t like to post about these things but wanted to share with you some of the lovely people who took time out of their schedules to speak with me recently. Now I’ll back away quickly, blushing and hiding my face.

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Sean Howard: TAKING THE LEAP Podcast

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Mimika Cooney: MIMIKATV

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Chad Saville: BEAUTIFUL SAVAGE

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Patrick @ Seamless: BE INSPIRED Podcast

Promoting Passion Video Blog: Live What You Love

brookeshaden — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:00:27 +0000

Last week I felt like I needed to get away. I had a moment where I put my head down and just let myself dream. And when I did that, I thought of a fairy, and the forest, and what I could do with that inspiration. Soon it morphed into something entirely different, and I found myself, about one hour later, flinging my body onto a rock in the middle of a creek.

And all of this is wonderful – my favorite thing to do – aside from the fact that I forgot to bring my remote and had to run across a rocky creek in bare feet while flinging myself on top of a rock to pose in under 10 seconds.

It was so much fun though. I couldn’t imagine, in that moment, spending my time any other way.

And I’m pretty sure the fly fishermen couldn’t imagine why I was spending my time that way. Tehe! But I loved it. I live for that. Adventure and fulfillment excitement so much, and that day, I felt both tenfold. To be able to inspire yourself for an image is an amazing feeling, but to inspire yourself in life is invigorating. To me, that is what keeps the passion alive. It isn’t so much about what the picture looks like, but what it took to take it. To run out in the forest barefoot and feel at peace with my surroundings – that is my happy place.

I hope you find it to be just as comforting. Now…go live your passion!

Promoting Passion Video Blog: Before They Pass

brookeshaden — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:11:14 +0000

This week I wanted to talk about something that has been close to my heart these last few months. I did a blog about it before so I won’t go into huge detail, but the subject of losing the people closest to you has been in the forefront of my creation process lately. I have been invested in photographing the people I love in ways that I feel embody who they are.

I had a health scare with my mom towards the end of last year, and it was a sad but necessary reminder of the fragility of life. I am grateful that I have had this long with her, and truly any moment could be the last. The same goes for everyone, and perhaps that is why I have been increasingly interested in making connections that really mean something rather than letting people flit past me without a true understanding of who they are.

When my mom landed in the hospital last year, it was a shock while at the same time being something that we knew could happen. She is the strongest person I know, yet also has Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis, and her health has always been fragile. I didn’t even know she was in the hospital. She didn’t want me to know because she didn’t want me to worry. That’s just who my mom is…a mom through and through, someone who puts other before herself and never wants anyone to worry.

But worry I did, and that worry lead me to this photo series: photographing the people closest to me before they pass. When my mom came to visit in December we did a photo shoot together. Not a far-fetched idea considering my mom is insanely photogenic and loves the camera. My dad assisted, throwing her dress and hair in the air for me, while my mom twirled and danced and ran from the camera, coy and energetic. It was a time I will never forget, and if I do lose her sooner than I feel ready for (but then again, that is the way with everyone), I am so glad I have this image and the memory of creating it to represent who she is to me.

Thank you, mom, for who you are and what you have given me. It is far more priceless than this photograph, but for now, it is all I could think of to give. Sometimes even the smallest gestures speak volumes about the heart.

Do you photograph the people you love, or document their lives in some way? We are storytellers, and I feel now more than ever it is my job to tell the stories of those around me, even if it is in my own twisted voice. Do you have any unique experiences with love and loss? If nothing else, I am inspired to think about the abilities we have with our creativity in new ways.