In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
I received a phone call last night from Ray while having dinner with the ladies in Encino before the Baby Meeting. I took my phone and walked outside because I was stunned, saddened and heartbroken by the news that Vince had had a massive heart attack and died hours ago.
Vince touched my life in so many ways with his unique way of passing on his experience, strength and hope. When Vince spoke, I listened. I was a little afraid of him. He was a father figure to me. He knew so much about so many things.
Vince intuitively and in the most concise way, confidently and succinctly, would give me feedback that motivated me to take his suggested actions (actions that I’d not thought to take or was previously unwilling to take).
Vince helped me in so many areas with:
1. Seeing the truth about my spending $$$…..How I was spending money for emotional reasons…to take me away from whatever I was feeling. (No one had ever or would even think to tell me to not use my credit card for 3 months before!!)
2. He got me to put down a cookie (nobody has ever been able to get me to put down a cookie!) he saw me eating outside Starbucks one night before the PG meeting after complaining about how unhappy I was with my obsession with food.
3. He asked me to call him everyday to report what exercise I was doing when I told him I was unable to get back into exercising again. If not for Vince’s motivation, I would never have hiked the PCT.
4. Learning to be direct with my communication and not giving thought to what the other person might be thinking about what I’m saying.
5. To go to a person directly with a concern rather than make that person wrong, slander and resentment resent them.
6. Show up when I don’t want to. Do what I might not want to do.
7. Being respectful to my husband by Vince’s good relationship example with Pat.
8. Want to be more of service, to reach as many people as possible, sharing my experience, strength and help.
And, so, so much more…..
Vince leaves me with a wonderful legacy – The legacy of Love and Service.
In Vince’s memory I will continue to honor my commitment to be of Love and Service.
My heart goes out to Pat, my friend, and Vince’s wonderful wife.
1
CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Kitchen Art)
PASTA DECOR
You indicated that you “tried to do what
(you’d) seen a chef do for table
decoration” and I like your set-up. Once
again (are we seeing a theme here?)
you’ve got things radiating outward (like
your previous purple/yellow pencils) and
it’s an effective compositional technique.
Your composition’s good, your colors are
good, the subject matter’s terrific. What’s
bothering you about the shot? There’s
something bothering me, too, but I don’t
know what it is.
Hmmmm . . . what if (and I wouldn’t know unless I actually saw it) there were no white bow-tie
pasta in the mix? Is the white somehow diluting the rich colors of the green, red(dish), and
warm yellow colors? Do the white guys stand out so much that they’re distracting our eye from
the overall warm tones? Could be.
And what if the background hadn’t been red? We can see bits of it here and there through the
spaghetti. What would have been a good color? Nothing. I believe you needed to completely fill
your background with pasta, pack it in so that we don’t see the background at all.
Your photo is all about rich-yet-subtle color and repeating patterns. White isn’t a color. Red
background interrupts the pattern. I think that’s it! Your lighting and composition are all good.
(Except for the one bow-tie up at the very tip-top that’s trying to escape.) You did well with this
one. Kudos to you.
RED HOT BURNER
Another in your series of “focal point with things
radiating outward” and it’s another good one! What
you’ve done with your composition is you’ve
forced us to look at something quite ordinary (the
burner on a stove) in an artistic way. You’ve
broken the scene down into color and line — and
both are bold.
2
Your blue/red combo is your photo’s
focal point. It’s the more colorful, most
in-focus element in the frame, so our eye
goes there first. From there, the three
(three!) metal lines of the burner lead
our eye over toward the upper left. We
then slide back toward the flame. Very
good.
Since your photo is about simplicity,
color, movement, what about the dark
area in the lower left corner and the
curved element in the lower right
corner? Would your photo have even
more impact if they were gone?
I brought your picture into Photoshop
Elements and cropped your picture and
then messily cloned away the darkness to give us an idea. 
(Upper photo is my submitted photo. Lower burner photo is the teacher’s edited example.) Better or not? Yes, I think so. Our
eyes now go back and forth, back and forth, without feeling we have to look down into the
lower corners to see what you’ve got there. There’s more of a smooth flow. Minor tweakage,
but I think it makes a big difference. Very good photograph overall, Linda.
INSPIRATION EGGS
You gave up on this, but your concept
was excellent, your colors great, your
lighting just right. I like how the purple/
orange combo is reflected here and there
in the glass pattern. I like how your eggs
look glossy and orange and how your
lighting enhances the glossy feel, but
doesn’t fill the frame with annoying white
spots. I like how your focus is all on the
right stuff. And I like the surprise of little
bits of light teal colors show up here and
there.
So what’s the problem? I’m thinking that you have too many eggs. How many would have been
3
better? Three! And if they’d been huddled together more, those three eggs, maybe more toward
the left of the bowl, that would have been very effective. Why? Because here we’ve got no
really tight composition of egg yolks. Your composition in general is tight, but the yolks are
sort of spread out and not in any particular design. Limit the eggs to three, cluster them together
on the left, and you’ve got it aced. Why three? It’s just that magical compositional number –
and three eggs ALWAYS make a pattern — a triangle — which solves your problem right there.
Of course, I might be wrong . . .
You should be so proud of yourself. This assignment was a difficult one. (Almost as tough as
the “ice” assignment I give in the macro class.) But you handled it well. I feel sorry for your
husband, however, being “forced” to take this photo class along with you!
Thanks for posting these.
Carol Leigh
P.S.
Here is some of yesterday’s online correspondence with a classmate to help explain the reference to my husband in the last sentence of Carol’s critique: The student wrote:
My Kitchen Art photos are ready for critique. I want you to know I really enjoyed this assignment and took what seems like zillions of pictures–learning all the time! Choosing what to submit became a monumental task in and of itself. I finally found myself asking two questions to help me select: First, is this just a photo or is there “art”
to it? Second, what
technical achievements do I feel I have achieved and want your feedback on?
And now for a complaint…-this project became such an all-consuming, task that it often determined which dishes we were allowed to eat from on some days! My husband accused my right brain of taking over the kitchen! He also accused me delaying dinner on several occasions to take pictures of a meatloaf just out of the oven, loaves of bread fresh from the oven and other “inconveniences” incurred by my right brain!
Then I wrote back:
Ditto to Betty’s post.
After interrupting and calling my husband over to give me feedback on which of the zillions of kitchen art photos I’d taken he liked best, he finally said, “I didn’t know I was going to be taking the photography class too!”
Linda Jeffers
Ok, so I’m posting my 3 Kitchen Art photos in anticipation of a critique on them tomorrow so you’ll have something to reference when I share my critique here.
I’m thinking this photo needs more light. It might be too busy too.
Maybe the teacher won’t like the ends of the spaghetti pasta showing.
After having looked at the other student’s work I’m finally getting that my photos are supposed to look like art. Hmmmm. Would I want to hang this on MY wall? I don’t think so.
I better move onto something else tonight. My head is getting the best of me. Don’t give me too much time to think.
Here is another Kitchen Art photo submission. I wonder what she’ll think of the darker gray shadows running southwest to northeast? I just now noticed them and wish they weren’t there.
I also feel like more of the lower right side of the burner should show.
I’m waiting quite impatiently for the critique on my 3 Kitchen Art photos I submitted for critique. My teacher didn’t do any critiques over the weekend. I know because I checked my email for notification of my critique every 5 minutes.We students were sent out the lineup for Kitchen Art critiques and I am next in line for a critique on Kitchen Art.
Click here to view the folder that contains the hikes I’ve organized. The Art Smith Trail is the hike I went on today.
I don’t know what happened. I am sick.
Woke up this morning to find all the photos back up on my site. Really happy about that. Not happy about how late I stayed up trying to trouble shoot.
And here is a Big Thank YOU to my friend JJ who took time to trouble shoot too after I sent him a panic email at 2am.
I love you JJ!!
More later today.
Oh, today is probably when I get my next photo class critique. Yipppppeeee.
Off for a hike with Suzy and Sandy who I knew when they lived in LA too.
Before I go, Happy Birthday to two special people: Quincy (20)and Lamont (8).