Julieanne Kost's Blog

Chris Orwig is absolutely inspirational in his TEDx talk:

“Finding the Magnificent in the Mundane”

I hope you will take time to watch it, you won’t be sorry!

We all need something to “Look Forward To”, and right now, my LFT is Iceland!

I’m thrilled to be returning to Iceland July 8th – 14th 2012, to spend a week with some of the most delightful people on the planet – and I’d love for you to join me and our wonderful hosts from Focus on Nature. This workshop is an incredible opportunity to give yourself permission to unplug from your daily life and reenergize your photography, your mind, and your soul.

The time we spend together: Pursuing Your Personal Project in Iceland, will be a graceful balance between creating stunning imagery in the field and learning the tools necessary to finish the images in Lightroom and Photoshop adding your personal style. The first day will be spent at the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik where we will cover the Lightroom workflow in depth to provide you with the workflow you’ll need for the rest of the week.

Then, the class will shift gears: participants will be challenged to communicate their own personal photographic project as they explore and expand upon their photography skills while traveling through the Icelandic landscape. During the field work, we will have technical and creative discussions regarding photographic conditions we encounter. The last day will be spent at the Grand Hotel processing selected images (using both Lightroom and Photoshop) before sharing work with the group.

This really is a unique opportunity to experience Iceland and all that it has to offer – glacier lagoons, Icelandic horses, waterfalls, and mud flats  are just a few of the things we may see on our excursions.  We will follow the weather and the light, photographing Iceland’s ever changing landscape with long hours of exquisite sunrise and sunset while the Focus on Nature team takes care of every little logistical detail  so that we can photograph in a relaxed, low pressure, and unhurried environment. We will come home not only with improved technique, but reenergized and inspired as a result of making the images that fulfill us as creative and passionate photographers and artists.

If you are looking for a location that will ignite your passion for photography, there is no better place than Iceland to photograph and no better workshop to participate in than Focus On Nature. Join the Focus On Nature family  as photographers, collaborate together as artists and depart with friendships that will last a lifetime.

Creative people need to exercise their creative muscles, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so! I hope you will join us!

-julieanne

Last week I took a quick trip to Colorado, Utah and Washington DC.

Is it a coincidence that I saw buffalo in all three locations?

Or, does the eye see only what it wants to see…

And is that a dolphin in the sky as well?  : )

Last Saturday we had a quick change of plans for our photo walk in New York due to the rain/slush/snow. Thankfully, Cari (who always has a back up plan) knew that Eataly was right around the corner from Foto Care (who hosted the event). Here are a few shots I grabed that morning with my iPhone:

Have a great weekend.

A big thank you to everyone that joined us in New York on Friday (for some beautiful weather), and on Saturday (and braved the weather) for our photo walk! On Friday I gave myself an assignment to shoot circles for the hour  and promised to post them so here are some of my favorites. Next I’ll take them into Photoshop Touch and see what I can do…  : )

Photo Plus starts tomorrow and I hope you will join me for one of my sessions on Photoshop and Lightroom (see descriptions below). I love how energizing NYC can be – here are a few snaps from my room. See you tomorrow!

Thursday October 27th, 2010 – 8:45 – 11:45    |     Photoshop & Lightroom: The Dynamic Duo

Are you using Lightroom to its fullest potential? Spend the morning honing your Photoshop and Lightroom skills, and learning how to streamline your workflow using these tools as the center for your image management and organization. Julianne Kost will give you an overview of Lightroom 3, the Library and Develop modules, including a discussion of file organization and management; filtering and finding files; using metadata and keywords; making collections of images; refining and adjusting photos; converting to B/W and adding special effects; and selective adjustments. Then you¹ll seamlessly edit those images into Photoshop CS5 and see some hidden feature gems and learn some time-saving best practices. Click here for the Lightroom Handout. Photoshop information is covered by video tutorials found here.

Friday October 28th, 2010 – 1:30 – 3:30    |     Maximize Your Productivity in Lightroom 3

Spend two hours honing your Lightroom skills with Julieanne Kost, Digital Imaging Evangelist at Adobe Systems. We’ll begin by discovering how to streamline your workflow using Lightroom as the center for image management and organization by taking an in-depth look at the Import dialog and the Library module. Then, discover how to work more efficiently by syncing images and use the power of presets to find out how to make the most of the many tools available in the Develop Module.  Finally, unleash the power of the output modules to deliver images to clients that express your unique vision. Click here for the Lightroom Handout.

Saturday October 28th  -3:30 – 5:30    |     Classroom 2.0: Online Teaching and Social Media (Panel)

Moderator: Jeff Curto, Panelists: Julieanne Kost, Mark Malloy, Erika Gentry & Joe Levine

Photoshop.com published a short interview on how I find inspiration. Click here to read more…

Well I spent my first week on sabbatical in bed with the flu – as you can imagine it was not exactly what I had in mind!

However, I thought, why not make use of my “down” time, to organize the  images that I shot and processed using my camera phone and Instagram in past 6 months. After selecting my favorites and printing them (yes, I printed them!) in order to decide how to sequence them, I knew that they had to be shown as diptychs. (Perhaps if you attended Photoshop World in the spring, you might remember some of the early images that I showed on the Art of Digital Photography panel.)

What I should have known, was that Kush (being the phenomenally efficient man that he is), posted the slideshow for me on Adobe TV on Monday but remember, I am on sabbatical, with the flu, and I have to admit that I wasn’t really paying attention. So you can imagine what a surprise it was to me when I clicked the link tonight and saw that there were already people viewing it! Shame on me for not paying attention because, this is not a tutorial –  “The Red Thread – Moments Alone” is simply a slideshow of my work. Sorry that I didn’t warn you earlier, but I hope that you will enjoy it for what it is.

Last week I posted a video about how we can use lines in order  to guide a viewer’s eye through an image including leading towards the primary subject, keeping movement within the frame, and adding tension to a composition. I wanted to point out that the images that were used in the composite were taken last year while in Iceland with the Focus On Nature International Photo Workshop. I had such an incredible time on that trip that I decided I absolutely had to return this year.

I’m hoping that YOU will be able to join me this summer (August 21 – August 27) on an incredible journey through the Icelandic landscape. This really is a unique opportunity to experience Iceland and all that it has to offer – glacier lagoons, Icelandic horses, waterfalls, and mud flats  are just a few of the things we may see on our excursions.  We will follow the weather and the light, photographing Iceland’s ever changing landscape with long hours of exquisite sunrise and sunset while the Focus on Nature team takes care of every little logistical detail  so that we can photograph in a relaxed, low pressure, unhurried, environment. We will come home not only with improved technique, but reenergized and inspired as a result of making the images that fulfill us as creative and passionate photographers and artists.

If you are looking for a location that will ignite your passion for photography, there is no better place than Iceland to photograph and no better workshop to participate in than Focus On Nature. Join the Focus On Nature family  as photographers, collaborate together as artists and depart with friendships that will last a lifetime.

View participants work here.

View more images that I captured in last year’s course:

Unsurpassed Beauty

Waterfalls and the Glacier Lagoon

Icelandic Horses and Textures

The Countryside

Mudflats

Forever Changed

I wanted to share some photographs that I took with my iphone on my recent travels. I hope you enjoy!

I’m sure that many of you are aware of the free application called Instagram. I’ve been having fun with it lately in order to document and share things that I see throughout my day.

I figured out how to automatically send the photos to Twitter and to Facebook but does anyone know how to automate Instagram so that I can post them to my blog? I was able to find my Instagram RSS feed through posting to Twitter.

For those of you asking – Julieanne, why do you want to do this?  The answer is simple, I would really like to continue to post from one and only one source (my blog) and from there make use of the many automation applications available in order  to send my posts to my 1) personal Facebook page, 2) Facebook “Like” page and 3) Twitter account. Otherwise, it  gets too confusing for me (I’m very simple minded) and different friends end up seeing different information (or duplicate information) depending on where they look.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you are able to provide!

Take a few minutes to check out the World Without Photoshop – a unique interactive iPad book by Marcolina Design. It features the work of a dozen Photoshop masters including Maggie Taylor, John Paul Caponigro, Bert Monroy, Adhemas Batista, Olli-Pekka Jauhiainen, Olivia Parker, and Adobe’s own Russell Brown and Julieanne Kost. World Without Photoshop provides several examples of their work, short video’s as well as insights. Go straight to the World Without Photoshop download page or read what Maria Yap, Director of Product Management, Digital Imaging, at Adobe Systems has to say about it on photoshop.com and add your own comments!

Fortunately for me, the last day of the recent CS5 tour in the Nordics wrapped up in the absolutely magnificent city of Copenhagen. I bundled up in a coat and scarf and headed out to explore the city as many of the locals do – on a bicycle! Here are a few images from the journey, including the colorfully painted buildings along Nyhavn and the Halloween decorations in Tivoli gardens.

Some details as I set out on the hotel's bicycle.

More details as I get lost around Nyhavn.

I am looking for shadows, lines and how they intersect - wishing that I could fly in order to change my perspective.

Beautifully painted houses and their reflections along Nyhavn.

More buildings from around the city.

Wonderful decorations at Tivoli that look innocent during the day...

...but come alive with light in the evenings!

As sad as I was to leave my new friends from my Focus on Nature experience, knowing that I will be returning next year made it a little bit easier. Our class spent 5 days in the field making an incredibly  diverse collection of images. We made time stand still, and gave it motion, we looked at light, composition, and color, experimented with different cameras, lenses, software, and we played with light, shadow, reflection and texture. Most of all, we worked together and shared openly, enabling us to see things that we would never have seen on our own. It was truly a unique experience, and one that I will never forget. I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone that participated –  and can’t wait to see the images that you composite as well.

Save the date! – if you’re interested in joining us next year, I’ll be returning to teach with Focus on Nature August 21-27, 2011.

Small flora found along the road.

We were also fortunate enough to be able to walk on a glacier - one of the more unnerving experiences that I've had. There is nothing like hearing the sound of the ice crack beneath your feet while knowing that if you fall in the water you have less than 2 minutes to get out.

The boat ride into the glacial lagoon was one of the highlights of the week. I was trying not think out the temperature of the water even though they have zodiac boats zipping around at all times - just in case you fall overboard. Iceland doesn't have a lot of "danger" and "warning" signs. They leave it up to you. Most if the time, common sense will keep you alive.

So put away your hesitations, and loose yourself in Iceland - the landscape is surreal.

We photographed from the moving vehicle as well. Panning with the landscape hoping to capture a feeling that we couldn't see.

There was a constant click, click, click as we drove along from one location to another. Sometimes a reluctant admission of disappointment, but more often, a delighted laugh and exclamation - "nailed it!".

From here forward, we will all look at the world differently. It may be the side of a building, the natural landscape or a reflection in a window that catches our eye. It's our challenge to capture how it makes us feel, and share that with the world. Thank you everyone who made this trip so wonderful!

As we were returning from the highlands, we crossed a vast area of mudflatsOnce again, I was reminded that everything in Iceland is intimately connected with water. I have to admit, I did have a sudden craving for chocolate.

There were an endless number of textures - as far as you could see.

It was almost impossible to decide where to start making images. I had to remind myself to slow down and think - to compose the frame and watch the light. The light moving in and out of the clouds was spectacular.

Watching you step (so as not to ruin the patterns) seemed very difficult.

In reality, there were miles of mudflats. Still, I didn't want to be the one to ruin the "perfect" image with my own footprint.

Reluctantly we had to leave each location at some point. I could have walked in the mud for days.