Beyond Layers II 

Inspirational thoughts and projects hosted by Kim Klassen

Day One, Two ~ Week One

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Day One-Beyond Layers April 16, 2012 ~ The start of MY STORY

I came to the realization many years ago that I am just a simple person. It has always seemed my dreams never traveled further than what was immediately obtainable. I’ve never really thought of my self as lazy, but rather, easily satisfied. All the riches in my world could be found right outside my door. The bounty of a well tended garden, the wealth of flowers in bloom, the glorious song of birds echoing through my piece of heaven and finally, the magical whir of hummingbird wings! . . . . . .

The first day of Kim Klassen’s 52 week class, she asked us to tell our story. I dug in to only complete the first paragraph and set it aside to pick up at a later time. Interestingly enough, on the second day, her first assignment was to utilize a feeling of “just enough”, or simplicity. She asked us to think light, and if setting up a still life think ‘less is more’ and allow for some lovely negative space utilizing her texture 'awaken'.

Week one,  the challenge was on for me to ’think less’, I already had 'simple'.

You see my second posting to the project above.  Below, the before and after.

I eagerly await the opening of the buds on my Bleeding Heart each spring.   I LOVE the way the pink hearts line up on the stem, easily dancing in a gentle wind.   I am a person of color.  You can see in the original photo below the deep pink contrasting against that green foilage.  Heaven to me!  The main reason I signed up for the Beyond Layers II class was my continued admiration for the beautiful work that Kim does.  I was able to get a great feel for her style from her Sinnymini and  Essentials classes.  Through this 52 weeks, I'm hoping to ingrain more of that style into my photography and editing.  SO, starting with some cropping, desaturation, texture overlay at multiply and a few adjustments here and there including a touch of magenta filter, here we have it.  Yes. . . .yes, I'm liking this 'less'!

As I put all the components together, the negative space is begging to come into the frame each time I look through the lens.  One more composition utilizing 'less is more', negative space, the awaken texture and text (I love text!).