Every day I cross the Clyde Wells Bridge over the Choctawhatchee Bay as I travel US 331 from my home to my office. Though I strive for present moment awareness, I often find I am focused on planning my workday, and I cross the bridge without even noticing whether the water is choppy or calm. But sometimes the view is so spectacular that I not only cannot ignore it, I am compelled to pull off the road and try to capture it with my camera. Sometimes I share the images on facebook. The mirrored image at right was especially popular with my friends.
The following series was on just such a day. The atmosphere near the ground was heavy, but backlit by the sun so that the mist created lighter values behind the successive layers of receding land masses. I have added some obnoxious watermarks to the downsized images posted here, but have preserved the originals in full resolution, without watermark, in case someone wants to purchase a print.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot
Most of my photography is composed in the viewfinder or on the LCD before I ever even shoot the picture, by where I position myself and how I frame the picture. Since most of my work is nature photography, rarely do I ever do much more in post processing than just crop and increase the brightness a little or saturate the colors just a bit. I am cautious not to alter the lighting or the color in an image very much for fear of making it look “wrong”. I don’t want the viewer to immediately describe the photograph as “Photoshopped.”
But there are many photography applications which anyone can use, and they are fun to play with. I use two on my iPhone, for fun and experimentation. One is called Value Viewer, and it is a useful tool for seeing a value study of a composition before shooting it or painting it. It also enables a lot of manipulation to create images that are strikingly different from the original. The image below, left, is a dramatic piece in 3 values. Beside it is the original rather non-descript photo of some random grasses beside the Bay. Unfortunately, for some viewing this post on their smart-phones, one of the images may be appearing sideways, which makes it difficult to compare the two. I don’t know how to correct that for phone viewing.
Final Image
Original Image
The image below left is enhanced using the iPhone app called Snapseed. The original shot is on the right. I sharpened it as far as the app would take it, and also increased the “drama” a little, to produce the image on the left.
In my last blog entry, I griped about people “borrowing” some of my images from facebook and uploading them as their own, so you will see that I am experimenting with watermarking my finished pieces that are posted here on my art blog. Should someone wish to purchase the image, the original of course does not have the watermark. I am using the iPhone app Impression for simple watermarking.
I know I really need to watermark my photography and art that I am posting on the internet, even including work posted here on my blog. I was reminded of that last week when graphic artist and printer Alison Bailey, of ABC Creations, warned us about internet theft of our art. She was the guest speaker at a Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County luncheon. She showed us the excellent quality of reproductions she was able to produce using images posted by local artists on their websites.
A myriad of software is available to create watermarks, and I have purchased several applications, including an app for my iPhone, called Impression. But I have been pretty lazy about watermarking, and have also become more prolific with uploading my photography, especially to Facebook. So as my work gets “borrowed”, I am starting to learn my lesson.
Facebook provides a “sharing” tool whereby you can re-post someone else’s image while still giving them credit for their original. And when you upload an image, Facebook asks you if the image belongs to you. When someone downloads an image and then re-uploads it as their own, they are going beyond bad manners — they actually are violating copyright law. All images remain the copyrighted property of the photographer, even if they are publicly displayed.
A watermark identifies my work as mine, via text written on the image, so that someone intent on “borrowing” it would have to do some editing in order to pass it off as their own. Some artists plaster their watermark right through the center of the image, but that completely ruins the image for ordinary viewing as far as I am concerned. I prefer a less obtrusive watermark on one of the corners of the image, even though it can more easily be edited out. As an example, my sunset image at upper left is watermarked on the lower right corner of the image. I don’t normally include the date or copyright symbol like I did here, but my practice of using one is still evolving.
Below you see an image I shot at a painting demonstration, which I posted on Facebook as a part of a series on the workshop. And below that you see my same image posted on a local merchant’s Facebook page, appearing to be the property of the local merchant, having been downloaded and re-uploaded without giving me credit. Facebook’s simple “share” function would have left my name attached, as it should be. It actually is a little more work to download and then re-upload a photo than it is to simply “share” it, so it is pretty obvious that it is intentional when someone does this. If I give an image away, that is my choice, but if someone “borrows” it without my permission, especially when they are using it to promote their merchandise, then it is theft. A merchant pays the photographer when photos are used for marketing purposes. Then the image belongs to the merchant. Without compensation, the photographer or artist’s name must remain associated with the photograph or art on Facebook, which by definition is a social (sharing) network. As a point of clarification, my website is not social media, so art and photography posted on my website is not permitted to be reproduced or re-posted without my express permission.
My name attached to my work is my own advertising. So yes, I am learning my lesson, that I need to watermark my photography.
It was exhilarating, returning to figure drawing after more than a month. Colleen Duffley, owner of Studio b, has been in Italy and other exotic places fulfilling her professional photography obligations.
I too have been elsewhere, as my last blog post indicated, including two weeks in British Columbia. So getting out the chalk and paper and easel and coming back to the Studio was like the proverbial oasis in the desert!
I wasn’t too rusty, considering how long it had been, because I had been keeping up with my daily doodling, but more than that, I think what helped me stay in tune was my continuous practice of photography, which is a great tool for maintaining my “eye” and my feeling for composition.
The model this week had amazing turquoise hair, and it demanded to be noticed. As it happens, I have a number of sticks of Nupastel of that exact color, which I had bought expecting eventually to use in background imagery with the colors of the Gulf of Mexico here in Northwest Florida where I live. The Gulf is an impossible blue-green, which looks unbelievable whenever I have used that color in my art, but which is absolutely correct for the color of the model’s hair.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot
I haven’t posted anything for a couple of weeks. Lest my readers think I have fallen off the earth, I haven’t, and here’s proof, a photo of me right now, working on my computer, early in the day, still in my PJ’s. 2500 miles away from my home, I am in British Columbia shooting photography and video for friend and fellow stand-up paddler, Leslie Kolovich, the host and producer of The Stand Up Paddle Radio Show, a collection of podcasts discussing everything and anything about the sport and recreation of stand-up paddling.
Leslie’s website, www.supradioshow.com, also includes a a number of posts On the Road, some of which are elaborated in much more detail in a series titled “On the Road with Leslie” for the Standup Journal, the premier quarterly magazine of standup paddling. We are in British Columbia to produce another article in that series.
We were invited to British Columbia by fellow SUP (Stand-Up Paddle) enthusiast and environmental activist Bob Purdy, who made a commitment more than a year-and-a-half ago to paddle every day to support his personal connection to the planet, in his mission to encourage us all to change the way we live. He is convinced, and I concur, that if we all commit to changing even just one thing in our lives, that together we will create a wave of change for the betterment of the planet. I am starting with a small change in my life, and that is to actually use all of the re-usable water containers I have collected over the years. Who knows why my willing spirit ever bought them but never actually used them. You may think this is an inconsequential change, but it is my commitment, to reduce my consumption of products packaged in plastic. When we each make a change, and really commit to it, the ripple effect will become a tide.
Today is Day 538 of Bob’s daily paddling. Five days ago, on June 16, 2012, World Paddle for the Planet Day, he completed the extraordinary feat of paddling the entire 80-mile length of Okanagan Lake without ever getting off his SUP board. It took him 19 hours, and was grueling towards the end. The weather changed from glassy calm to 2-foot swells, from tailwinds to flat calm to headwinds, throughout the day. Bob paddled through rain, wind, and sun. We took an extra paddle board on the support boat where I rode, armed with my cameras. I was honored to paddle with Bob for 12 miles in the middle of the day. Leslie started the day beside him, paddling an amazing 20 miles, 16 of it continuously, more than double the distance of our training paddles at home in Florida. Other paddlers joined in for sections of Bob’s paddle, and he also paddled alone for a good bit of it, with the support boat far enough behind that he could not hear us.
Bob’s purpose in this momentous effort was to call attention to his mission and thereby to attract participation in his effort to create a wave of change for the betterment of the earth. His mantra is “One person can make a difference. STAND UP and be that person.” He supports the David Suzuki Foundation, and all donations he collects go to the foundation to support their mission to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future, directed to Canadians but of universal message. As a side note, David Suzuki’s daughter was the opening speaker at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro yesterday.
As guests of Bob Purdy and his life partner, Sharon, we have been wined and dined in a non-stop paddle-tour of the beautiful southern part of the province of British Columbia. For my part, the kind of nature photography I have been doing here is right up my alley as far as my personal preference. And the human interest angle is perfect for “On the Road with Leslie”. Below is my unedited video for part of a segment on one of our cultural tours, First Nations Cree Russell Podgurny, singing for us in a pit house at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos, British Columbia. Leslie posted this clip on www.supradioshow.com as a prequel to upcoming posts. It is an honor and a thrill to provide photography and videography for the SUP Radio Show.
Special thank you to Leslie Kolovich and Bob Purdy for assistance with this post.
A professional photographer composes and controls his or her image. The styling, positioning, and lighting are planned to the nth degree. But today, almost everyone can be a photographer, capturing those elusive moments in time without necessarily planning any part of of the photo.
If you have a cell phone today, then chances are it has a camera. I’d like to encourage you to use it, and not merely to record events as cameras traditionally have been used, but also to start documenting visual imagery that you find interesting. There is probably no better way to become more aware of our visual world than by capturing bits and pieces of it, and nothing is more immediate than a camera image. Much of what becomes your camera sense simply starts out as what you feel comfortable with, whether capturing elements of design – line, shape, size, position, color, texture, density – or elements of composition – balance, rhythm, and harmony. As for me, my sense of composition is somewhat instinctive, not something I can put words to, so that my photographic decisions are mostly about positioning myself so that light hits the subject in an interesting way. Certainly, I know about the rule of thirds, and a few other compositional tricks, but in a complex composition such as the one pictured here, the rules of what not to do probably outweigh the rules of what to do.
To enhance the dramatic lighting and create a vintage effect, I used an app called Hipstamatic, with my favorite lens, Roboto Glitter, on Float film. The result is a mostly dark image with overexposed whites tending towards yellow, anda few turquoise highlights. The border is black. In an image with more light, the edges of this film would look spotty, sort of mildewed.
I watermarked this image with my website name, in the lower right corner, and probably should do that more often, particularly when I post something on social media. Facebook makes it very easy for someone to download an image onto his own computer, and then re-upload it, which then drops the attribution to the original photographer. If people simply “share” the image, the photographer’s name remains on the image information, but if downloaded and re-uploaded, the attribution is lost. This particularly offends me when someone uses one of my images on their own website. I post a lot of paddling photography, and tag many standup paddleboarders, so they might have their website developer use one of my images of them racing or doing some activity on a paddleboard. I don’t think people realize that images are copyrighted from the moment they are made, and that you cannot use an image without permission. If asked, I always have given permission for my photography to be used on someone’s website, but I ask the person to give me written credit. I have given only two of my best friends cart blanche permission to use my images with or without attribution.
A good photographer makes a shot look spontaneous and easy, but even if posted on social media, that doesn’t mean the image is public and free for the taking.
One of the premiere art events in Northwest Florida is ArtsQuest, the fine art and music festival held every Mother’s Day weekend. This year it includes 130 international visual artists of all genres. While the artists sit in their booths, musicians perform in the open-air amphitheater, and demonstration areas give attendees opportunity to see art being produced and perhaps even try their hand at something they may or may not have ever tried before.
I am privileged to sit on the Board of Directors of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County which produces the festival. The festival requires the assistance of many volunteers, and Directors are not exempt. So I volunteered to demonstrate figure drawing for two hours yesterday afternoon. Two of the other demonstrating artists joined me, plein air painter Lynette Miesen sketching the model, and Sue Carol Knight Woodley painting. Sue Carol had demonstrated and coached people with portrait painting for the previous two hours, and Lynette was actively plein air painting in front of the Emerald Coast Plein Air Painters booth. Margaret Rogers demonstrated weaving in the booth across from us, displaying many of her gorgeous completed weavings. We were in the courtyard next to the world-famous Bud and Alley’s Restaurant in Seaside, Florida.
The model, Beth Roth, is a professional model, and I asked her to time us so that I could concentrate on drawing. It makes a difference to me whether I am timing the pose or not, as to my level of concentration. When I am in charge of the timer, I find myself doing a little clock-watching, which inhibits the free-flowing abandon I find most conducive to expression. We were under a white tent, and although there were shadows, there was so much light that when I tried to heighten the contrast with a floodlight, I couldn’t tell the difference when I turned it on, so I gave up on that idea.
I encouraged a few passers-by to try their hand at it. One was a professional artist visiting for the festival, and he said that he goes to figure drawing sessions every month or two, because the practice improves his other work. Another had a lot of fun sketching, and she asked for one of my 10-minute sketches, above left. When I gave it to her, she insisted on paying something, so I asked her to put a tip in the kitty for the model, which she was happy to do.
I had a few pre-game jitters but once we got going, I settled in and was hardly aware of the spectators talking and looking over my shoulder as I drew. I did notice the change in pitch as people explained to their children what was going on, and I was thrilled that kids were there. I think it is important to take children to creative venues and to encourage them to make the arts a part of their everyday life.
I know that I would benefit from more portrait study. Neither of the two drawings below do justice to the model’s beauty and serenity, but distortions and all, I count them as successful.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot
I think of lighting as being one of three primary types: silhouette, which has the most impact if the shape is recognizable by its external contour; high contrast, which treats all of the lighted areas as one light value, and treats all of the shadowed areas as one dark value, or perhaps using only 3 or 4 values; and the last type of lighting, full gradual shading ranging from white through the entire value scale to black, which sometimes is referred to as chiaroscuro, exmplified by the image found in the Art Studio Chalkboard website.
I rarely work on a figure drawing after I get back to my home studio, except to correct a glaring mistake, or to clean up a smudge here or there. But two weeks ago, the model gave us a beautiful pose, and I was unhappy with the drawing I made during the figure drawing session. So I took a new sheet of paper, and redrew the pose using brown ink, showing only the primary two or three values, and leaving a lot of the edges undefined where light was hitting them. This treatment gives the drawing a completely different feeling.
The pose interested me because the model was leaning down with his elbow and forearm on one knee, which foreshortened his torso.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot
I need to warm-up for a little while before my efforts at figure drawing start to flow naturally. During the initial warm-up period, I try to capture the general directional line of the model, and a few of the light and dark patterns, or perhaps some of the essential contours or textures. Often it feels like I am drawing a stick figure, just trying to get the general angles and proportions correct. I draw fast, because our warm-up drawings start with 30-second or 1-minute or two-minute poses. The model often takes slightly off-balance or less comfortable poses during the warm-up period, knowing that he or she doesn’t have to hold them for long. I find that effort on the part of the model inspiring, and it motivates me to try harder. I usually use the broad side of a chalky medium for the warm-up drawings, sometimes even drawing with white nupastel, which helps me to see where the light is striking the model, though white alone usually doesn’t photograph well enough to post here in my blog. I draw with minimal concern for accuracy, sometimes merely trying to switch gears, from the left-brained thinking about my day-job as I drove to the session, to the right-brain activity of figure drawing. Drawing is first of all a physical activity, so like an athlete, an artist needs to work at it a little in order to coordinate the hand with the eye, and a period of warm-up drawings helps with that.
As you can see by the examples below, warm-up gestures have strange lines, curves going the wrong direction, places that get overdeveloped, and other places not drawn at all, wrong proportions, and yet an undeniable essence of the figure. These are warm-up gestures of the same pose from this past week’s figure drawing session at Studio b: one by me, one by Nancy Nichols Williams, and one by Steve Wagner.
Joan Vienot
Nancy Williams
Steve Wagner
I enjoy the time spent warming-up, but 2-minutes is always too short. But then too, 5 minutes is too short, and so is 20 minutes, and come to think of it, rarely is a pose long enough for me to feel like I actually finished! The next drawings include another of my warm-up gestures, and then two longer drawings, perhaps 20-minutes or 30 minutes. I left early from this session, exhausted from teaching all day, the 2nd of a 2½ day crash-course that I teach at a nearby college, certifying swimming pool operators to meet health department requirements.
Most of my images are available for purchase. Contact me if you are interested. — Joan Vienot
Those of you following my work know that I have been attending the weekly figure drawing sessions at Studio b. On Easter Sunday, 2012, the owner, Colleen Duffley, has just posted the design for the new venue, which will be constructed out of re-purposed shipping containers, true to the b’s intent, to be creative with immediately available resources. It will be located in Watersound, Florida, which is on Scenic Highway 30A, approximately 2½ miles west of the previous location. The temporary location, where we are having the figure drawing sessions, is in Watersound North, which is on North Watersound Parkway, 1 block north of US 98. Below is a sketch of the new venue.
I know I really need to watermark my photography and art that I am posting on the internet, even including work posted here on my blog. I was reminded of that last week when graphic artist and printer Alison Bailey, of 
I haven’t posted anything for a couple of weeks. Lest my readers think I have fallen off the earth, I haven’t, and here’s proof, a photo of me right now, working on my computer, early in the day, still in my PJ’s. 2500 miles away from my home, I am in British Columbia shooting photography and video for friend and fellow stand-up paddler, Leslie Kolovich, the host and producer of 
