Tagged Photoshop

Gwenna’s Book

Bookmaking | One-of-a-Kind Treasures Gwenna's Book cover

Now that Gwenna is 2 years old…

it is her turn for an “Ama Book”. I had made one for Liliana at that age … and I gotta play fair!  Hmmm, what can I try this time?

Bookmaking. A one-of-a-kind family treasure.

I decided to combine both vector and raster file types for an imaginary, playful setting.

Cruising online through stock art files, I purchased a multi-layered Illustrator document to use as a backdrop. This file had many objects to play with and I extracted its objects (chair, bed, table, lamp, etc.) onto separate layers so I could move them around as I pleased.

Zoe and I both took photos of Gwenna’s favorite stuffed animals and exchanged them by email. As I silhouetted each character, it was fun to place the figures into this imaginary bedroom, suspended in the air as our cramped little Gwenna wails, “Roll OVER!” Then the objects and critters tumble all helter-skelter! Luckily, big sister Liliana is there to cushion their fall!

The cadence of reading this book aloud with it’s repetitive, count-down call-out is a child’s delight!

Taking the photos of the two humans was more difficult than any other part of this project.

The original idea was that Liliana and Gwen would be wearing matching pajamas … the cute ones that have penguins on the leggings and top. However, it seemed nearly impossible to have both sets fresh and clean at the same time …

Ready, Camera, Action!?

Not exactly … Coaxing both girls to pose and respond to my simple direction was hilarious and unsuccessful. “Sit still, please. Cozy up together … that’s good! Look at the camera, please?”

Tripod in place, camera settings adjusted, lighting not so good. Where’s Gwenna? Second try, hold still G!  Where’s Lil? Oops, need a diaper change. Oops, the light has shifted. Oh man, someone is tired … its nap time.

Well, for better or worse, I got the needed shots of both girls sitting upright in the bed. Liliana handled the photo shoot like a pro, posing in a variety of positions as though she was catching the tumbling critters midair! I improvised the rest with photos in my library. Their images didn’t turn out as bright and clear as I had hoped …

The most important thing is that Gwenna and Lili loved the book – and that makes me happy!

 

Bookmaking
Bookmaking

 

This book was designed in InDesign. Hard copies come from an online, print-on-demand publisher who I have used for a variety of projects. It is soft cover, printed on a bright white quality paper.  Here are a few spreads from the project…

Bookmaking | One-of-a-Kind Treasures Gwenna's Book, sample spread

Bookmaking | One-of-a-Kind Treasures Gwenna's Book, sample spread

An Artful Touch

An artful touch with Photoshop

Jesse Borrell Visuals was onsite for a shoot in Denver. The night featured the debut of Dominic Lalli’s Bluebird Quintet at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox. The mood was right, the musicians were psyched, primed to go on momentarily.

But somewhere in that very brief interlude between setting up the shot and capture, a man wandered into the frame…

When reviewing the shot later that evening Jess was rather surprised to see a slumped body in the alley below. WTF?! Perfect timing! Sorry man.  Not the shot Jess was after … but there was no going back.

A post-production fix

Jess knows that I get a kick from doing touchup work … and I owed him a favor. We have a handy creative give-and-take on various shared pursuits.

So I touched up the image. The wanderer moved on… I hope he found a warm bed.

Then I cloned the bench in place, repaired the light and shadow. While I was in there, I erased some of Jesse’s extraneous reflection in the window pane on the top left and dimmed the flash glare in the glasses of the man on the far right.

It’s all good … a light hand and a bit of Photoshop magic is a cure-all for what ails ya.

 

What Truly Matters

Montage – Inverness Dance Party

Montage – Racing and skipping on a stormy day!

In my personal life, what truly matters is quality time spent with my family. Happily, this is a priority that we all share.

This playful and joyous image evokes the natural energy of a cold, wind-whipped California coastline and the splendor of romping on Drake Beach on Inverness!  Powerful medicine!  Three generations of strong-willed women exploding with heartful joy!

 

 

Montage – Zoe and Lili Go Flying

Montage – Zoe and Lili Go Flying

In this image, my dear ones delight in play, as mother and babe roll on the floor and I crouched nearby with a camera.

Such sweet, small, daily moments take on special significance when embroidered with sincerity and thoughtfulness. This montage consists of five different images and hints of fantasy destinations of imagination. Oh, how far we can go in play!

 

“When we as a society begin to value mothers as the givers and supporters of life, then we will see social change in ways that matter.”

Wise words from Ina May Gaskin – midwife, author, women’s advocate, sage.

 

More on Ina May Gaskin:

Montage Spiritual MidwiferyI have always admired Ina May. Now 78 years old, she is an inspiration. Her life’s passion has been to support the experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding from a natural and spiritual perspective, rather than the standard clinical viewpoint.

In 1971, Ina May, with her husband Stephen Gaskin, founded a commune called The Farm located near Summertown, Tennessee.

In Tennessee, she and her fellow midwives established The Farm Midwifery Center where she served as its Director. It was one of the first out-of-hospital birthing centers in the USA. By 2011, the Farm Midwifery Center had handled approximately 3000 births, with remarkably good outcomes. Ms. Gaskin herself has attended more than 1200 births.

The work of Gaskin and the midwives might not have had such impact if it hadn’t been for the publication of her book, Spiritual Midwifery. I treasure my own worn copy.

Considered a seminal work, this book made Ina May a recognizable entity, revered widely as a respected teacher in homebirth and midwifery circles. Spiritual Midwifery is acknowledged as a “classical text on midwifery” with a “lasting impact”.

 

More publications by Ina May:

  • For twenty-two years she published Birth Gazette, a quarterly covering health care, childbirth, and midwifery issues
  • 2003 – Guide to Childbirth was released and has since been translated into Italian, Slovenian, German, and French
  • 2009 – Guide to Breastfeeding
  • 2011 – Birth Matters: A Midwife’s Manifesta

In 2011, Ina May won the Right Livelihood Award “for her whole life’s work teaching and advocating safe, woman-centered childbirth methods that best promote the physical and mental health of mother and child.”

Barbara Katz Rothman, Sociologist and Author declared,

“It’s not just the making of babies, but the making of mothers that midwives see as the miracle of birth.”