Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

If you follow my blog or know me you most likely know that I love to make jewelry. But what you might not know is that I also love photography. Over the last few years I’ve been playing around with different cameras and have learned so much. It’s a great creative outlet and it’s makes you look at everything in a different way. I must admit that I neglected my camera all winter but I was out yesterday taking advantage of the beautiful sunny day taking some pictures and it felt so good!

I have a craft show coming up this weekend and I’m still going to have a table for my jewelry but I’ve decided it’s time to step out of my comfort zone a little and I’m going to offer some of my photographs as well. I’m excited and nervous at the same time not knowing how people will respond to my photos. I would love some input so these are just a few of my favorite photos and I would love to know which ones are your favorites and which I should make sure to have available for my show this weekend. Please be brutally honest! ♥

Through the Lens with ellemoss

As many of you know I love photography and the work of talented photographers like that of the Etsy Shop ellemoss inspires me to pick up my camera and work on my own photography. I recently joined an Etsy team that creates amazing treasuries and that is where I came across this shop. I want to share with you just a few of my favorite photographs from an amazing collection! ♥

For a Lark

 

A Little Bit of Grace Design

Today I’m excited to introduce Alison from the Etsy Shop Grace Design. I met Alison recently at a “Creative Women in Business” Meeting in Toronto. Being new to Toronto it was so much fun to meet a wonderful group of women that I have creativity in common. Along with running her fabulous Etsy Shop, Alison holds a BDes (Bachelor of Design) from OCAD, works as a Graphic Designer and is a very talented photographer! Read a little about her creative life! ♥

Where you always crafty as a child?
I used to hold craft meetings for neighborhood children in my bedroom! I also used to always draw clothes and sketch out little clothing shops. I always thought I would go into fashion design but then for some reason, veered into graphic design. I love graphics though and it has been very useful in applying to my business ventures.

Let me introduce Crystal of Crystal Gayle Photography

Today I have another great feature all about a fabulous Etsy artist that I have recently met in the Etsy forums. She’s a very talented photographer and has been kind enough to tell us her story! Enjoy!

Hi, my name is Crystal, the photographer from Crystal Gayle Photography. I’m a stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with my children and husband, as well as many different types of art/crafts. Obviously, I really enjoy photography, but also spend time sewing, scrapbooking, crocheting, cross stitching, baking, and playing musical instruments. I have a problem with trying to learn how to do everything and then enjoying the new things I’ve learnt.

I really enjoyed photographing things a lot when my boyfriend (now my husband) bought me my first extra nice point and shoot film camera. Of course, developing film is quite expensive, so I didn’t do a lot of picture taking. When I upgraded to a digital camera, things started to change. I was snapping photos of everything and with the option of developing what I wanted, this was great. I could learn new techniques and play around with all the settings on my camera. I had a desire to learn to shoot manually, but with a point and shoot that wasn’t easy to understand, I never made the effort.

It was after I upgraded to a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera that I was encouraged by fellow DSLR users to learn the manual shooting modes. I’ve done that and now my camera is only on Auto for other users.

My work takes great inspiration from the beautiful nature God has blessed us with. I’m always in awe of the beautiful things He as made as well as all the small detail. Some people never take the time to look at some of the small details in life, and these are some of the things I like to photograph. I also take inspiration from other photographers work, seeing their work and making my own ideas of what to try.

Some have asked me about Fine Art Photography, so here goes. Fine art photography is the photographers version of art. We see something and get creative with it. Unlike the photos in the news which are to tell stories, fine art photography is more about showing our emotions, our creativity, and generally is used to decorate a wall space.

Right now, I have bookmarks, greeting cards, and magnets along with prints on lustre paper, metallic paper, metal, and canvas available for purchase. Most prints are available in any size, so please contact me if you’d like something you don’t see listed!


My photography is available for purchase at crystalphotography.etsy.com. I have a blog for announcing sales as well as featuring fellow arts and craft sellers at crystalgaylephotography.blogspot.com. Fan me on facebook for instant updates on what’s new and happening at www.facebook.com/crystalgaylephotography. If you like a lot of updates, my twitter is www.twitter.com/cgaylephoto. More print choices to choose from for custom listings at etsy are available at www.redbubble.com/people/czach.

My Inspiration…A Follow Up Entry

I hope by now everyone has had a chance to read the Guest Blog entry written by April Bowles-Olin about how to find inspiration in every day things. If you haven’t take a minute now to do so, it’s a wonderful article.

I’ve decided today write a follow up to her blog entry. As she explained, regardless of how creative you are “life has a tendency to get in the way”. This has been very true over the last two weeks for me. I’ve been busy with other commitments and haven’t had the time or energy for my creativity to come through. This past week however I was signed up to take a class to learn enameling. It’s something I’ve wanted to learn for quite some time and a class I was very much looking forward to. The only problem was that with how busy I’ve been I knew I needed to get back into a creative mind frame to get the most out of the class. So the day before my class I decided to take April’s advice to try to get those creative juices flowing.

I’ve been staying in a beautiful area of Toronto and it was a gorgeous day so I decided to take a walk with my camera. Just as April suggested I left my cell phone at home so there would be no distractions. I walked through the streets and listened to crunching leaves under my feet, looked at beautiful displays in store windows, hunted through some antique stores for interesting things, sat in the chilly wind on the lake front and spent some time people watching. It was just what I needed to have some time to myself and get back to my creative mind frame. These are a few of the pictures I took during my walk.

Whether you realize it at the time or not what you see in your everyday life has an effect on what you create. I realized this later after my first day of class when I was looking at the photos I had taken and something caught my eye. I noticed I had taken a picture of an old rusty door lock. One of the pieces I had created in class had a very familiar rusty look to it. Have a look for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. It became clear that what you see and experience comes through in what you create whether it’s intentional or not.