On Our Own 04: Olive’s Story

Creating sunlight with Lightroom

In the middle of Portland's endless rainy season, I'm longing for sunshine. While I can't easily find it for myself, I can create it for my dolls. And, it's really easy, assuming you have any kind of touchup tool with an adjustment brush. Here's a picture I'm working on for my current episode. I start...

When relationships don’t gel: Or what to do when your characters seem to be in different stories

Well, I'm not sure that last episode solved my problems with the In the Pictures sisters at all. I mean, I went from two sisters and a dog, who were missing a certain kind of warmth in their storyline. (And, here they all are, in their initial state): And I resolved it by introducing three...

In the Pictures Episode 4: The land of milk and honey

 

Tangled up in details, Or how I got so busy writing that I forgot my own plot

I felt really terrible when I had to retire Rat at the end of the last episode. I'd really enjoyed the vibe between Rat and Cosette, and Rat was the most fantastic poser. So, when he lost his foot and I decided to retire him before other body parts began falling off, I started to...

Lighting Learnings: Light from the side

For as long as I've been taking these pictures, I've spent precious little time thinking about my lighting setup. I can tell when pictures are good and when they're not so good, but I don't mostly review them to figure out *why* they're not so good. So, the reminder to light from the side was...

One thing I didn’t expect: My life with fairies

Dolls, I sort of saw coming. No, I hadn't played with dolls as a kid, but I did collect stuffed animals and Playmobil toys well, well into adulthood. So, that I would start playing with dolls - well, no big surprise. The dogs central to every single story? I think *everyone* saw that coming. I...

What I’m working on: Lighting

For someone who takes as many photographs as I do, I know shockingly little about lighting. This year, I hope to address that gap. I'm working through a book called Light: Science and Magic, which has 400+ mostly positive reviews on Amazon. If I learn anything interesting, I'll let you know 🙂

New episode and new characters

I'm working on a new episode of In the Pictures (the storyline with the two sisters who can enter images through a magic wardrobe. So far, although I love the faces of the dolls in this series, and I adore their bullterrier dog Bodger, I just have not connected with the storyline. Why do I...