I've moved!

It's a new season, and I've moved  to a new space.
You can now find me at
KristinaWoodPhotography.blogspot.com

on living creatively

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything."

-Eugene Delacroix

I love the essence of that quote.  I think he is calling us to be free.  Freedom from guilt of using our gifts, freedom to try and fail, freedom to entertain new ideas we feel are too silly or lavish, freedom to take time for ourselves, freedom to splurge a little.

I have been reading a great creative-recovery classic by Julia Cameron called, "The Artist's Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity." It has been expanding my mind as a creative being and clearing the way to become more playful and authentic in my creative pursuits.  Creativity leads to spirituality.  And, spirituality leads to creativity.  I love this quote from the book, "Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source.  As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity."

I never feel more alive than when I am letting creativity flow through me.  Maybe it is taking a pencil to my sketchbook, a watercolor brush to the page.  Chopping an array of colorful vegetables for a salad, planting seeds in the garden.  Searching for a piece of music and creating some fun choreography.  Noticing something I haven't seen before like water drops in my herbs or details in a flower bud.  There is something about just noticing the world around me that allows me to connect to the creative part of my soul.

I am learning to listen and be in touch with my creative side, the playful side that longs for beauty and meaning and life.  

It's a new journey, full of unknowns, but I like the journey I'm on.

sparklers: painting with light {photo tips}

Happy Independence Day!

Hooray for the 4th of July!

Watermelon, parades and sparklers.

These are the things I love about this day.

And, of course, capturing fireworks.

Here are some favorite photos from our last 4th of July in Orlando.

It's hard to believe we've been in Colorado for nearly a year!

There are many ways and settings to capture fireworks.

I like to start with an ISO of 200, and play with my settings based on available light.

For these shots, my goal was to capture the light painted by sparklers.

I mounted my camera on a tripod, and since it was pitch black, I left the shutter open for 2sec. 

I asked my kids to make various shapes in the air with their sparklers, tracing them over and over again, as if they were painting with light in mid-air.

Voila!

Shapes of light!

f/5, 2s, ISO 200 

f/8, 2s, ISO 200

In the shot above, I'm focusing on Mr. Z who is standing still making circles with his sparkler, while one of my girls ran through the shot, creating a stream of slightly unfocused light.

f/5, 2s, ISO 200

This took several takes to get the spacing just right.  Plus, we had quite a few backwards "S's" until we figured out how to do mirror image letters :)

f/5, 2s, ISO 200

Tips:

mount camera on tripod

shoot in manual mode and focus on the light

experiment with moving into and out of the frame

play with speed of movement (slow movements result in brighter lines)

HappyPainting!

fern lake hike

 We've been rained and hailed off the trail two times this spring.  There was a 30% chance of rain each time, and wouldn't you know, it poured on us!  Luckily, we had packed ponchos, but the downpour turned the trail into a mini-stream soaking our shoes and legs. 

It was fun at first, but by the time we got back to the car, we had some wet, cold and grumpy kids on our hands.

We didn't get to finish the Fern Lake hike, but we're hoping to try it again this summer.  It's a great family hike with a nice stream by the trail and great boulders for the kids to climb.

Colorado Springtime

It's Springtime here.  

Most of the time.  One day it was 70, the next day we had snow.

Last week, I got a tan.  This week, I'm back in my fleece jacket.

But, the grass is green again, and my garden is starting to grow.  

Flowering trees are in bloom and so are wildflowers!

I woke up early one morning last week (strange for me!)

and decided to get up and head across the street to a field 

where I knew these pretty flowers were growing.

Happy Spring!

nature lovers: frost

The frost was a great artist yesterday morning. 

 He painted the trees beautifully.

I can't believe I almost didn't take time to capture it.

Z has been sick all week, and I had to run out to get some things from the store.

Duty was calling, and almost kept me from the highlight of my day.

Yet, I felt that inner prompting saying "Go.  Take a moment.  Enjoy." 

So, I did.  

I'm so glad, because by the time I got back home, it was already starting to melt!

around the house

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Are you a Black Friday shopper or avoider?  I typically try to avoid it, but sometimes a great deal will persuade me to venture out into the crowds.  It has to be a really, really good deal, though.  Typically, we put up the Christmas tree and decorate.  I love to get in a workout too. Feels so good to move after a day of eating and being lazy.

Today, I thought I'd collect some photos to give you a glimpse of the house.  It's slowly starting to feel like home.  Space by space, room by room.  Turning a house into a home  takes a long time.  I still don't have any curtains hung.  All of my walls are still white like they were when we moved in.  (Except the kitchen which was lemon yellow and is now painted grey.)

I am sort of enjoying the process this time around.  I'm always moving things around and changing up things, so it's an ever-evolving art for me.  Here's a few snapshots of what some of the house looked like this fall.

This little space is in the entryway.  I fond the orange mirror in the Target clearance section, and the "Welcome" sign at yard sale. :)  Those square photos are Instagram prints that I stuck on with masking tape to make changing them up quick and easy.

This was a table centerpiece for awhile until I got tired of  the obstructed view across the table.  I eventually moved the vases to a shelf in the living room.

Z and I making dinner.  Notice the lovely lemon yellow?  My favorite! (sarcasm implied.)

The living room.

Master bedroom.

Repainted kitchen!  Yay for grey!

happy thanksgiving!

my boys

 Just some snaps of my boys.  I think Mr. Z had just crashed into something and hurt himself, thus the ice pack and his lovey.

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Are you on Thanksgiving break this week?

We are in the midst of Nutcracker rehearsals all week (except Thursday) and weekend full of performances!

I received a 24-page document from our ballet studio on how to do stage make-up.  No joke!  This studio's Nutcracker performance is a little bit of a bigger deal than the last studio we were a part of (gross understatement.)

Luckily for me, I sort of enjoy the art of make-up, though I am just a little overwhelmed at the detail going into it.  I have never in my life applied shadow or highlight to one's face, but I am now armed with the supplies to do so.  Wish me luck!  Maybe I'll post some photos next week :)

catching fire, sort of

I apologize, I couldn't resist the pun.  I have to admit, I am a YA fiction fan.  I probably should not admit that on a public blog post, but it's true.  I'm not sure what that says about me.  Maybe that I am young at heart.  Or that I find some adult fiction too mundane.  YA fiction must capture the reader because young readers won't tolerate a boring story.  Don't get me wrong, I love some classics and adult fiction too...

But, I was at the Catching Fire opening night on Friday.  And, it was so good!  I'd definitely recommend it.

:)

Onto the pics in the blog post.

We've been enjoying our make-shift fire pit.  Our house came with a big pile of bricks in the backyard, so we figured we'd just jerry-rig a good fire pit for now.  It was a hit with the kids and with us too.  Staring into the fire is mesmerizing and so relaxing.  Roasting marshmallows helps too!

from caterpillar to chrysalis

Two summers ago our family had the privilege of watching 20+ caterpillars hatch and go through the amazing process of turning into butterflies.  I had stumbled upon a milkweed plant at Home Depot, and that was the beginning of an amazing summer.

If you haven't read those posts, there are three and you can read them here, here and here.  At the end of the series, I promised to post some more photos...

Two years later, here they are! (Better late than never, I say.)

That summer we witnessed monarchs landing on our milkweed plants and laying eggs.  Eggs hatching, caterpillars growing, and finally crawling off to let their transformation begin.  I saw at least two dozen caterpillars hanging upside down in their "J" position (which they do for a very long time!)

Then then next thing I saw was a little green chrysalis.

Despite trying to keep a watchful eye, it was nearly impossible to catch them in the midst of their transformation.  I would get tired of waiting and give up.  Or, I'd be there at the right time, get distracted for like 5 minutes and come back only to find that I'd missed it again!

Until finally, one morning, I saw it happen!

They hang upside down like this for a very long time--at least it felt like a long time when you're trying to "catch" them in the transformation process.

They sort of curl up really tight, and then go back to the "J."

Their coloring changes a little bit.  See how he looks slightly greenish?  To me they look a little unwell during this whole process, sort of puffy and bloated.  Their antenna become a little limp and lifeless looking too.

They do this a lot, and it gets a little boring to watch them curl and unfurl over and over...

But, that morning, I saw something different.  All of a sudden, it was the right time, and he straightened out.  Something I'd never seen happen before.

And then, in a split second, his skin split open at the head.  It was honestly so freaky to witness.

His old skin looked like it was just shriveling up, and this very odd, strange green blobby-thing began to emerge.

The old skin lost its color too.  It must not have any color to it--it must just be the shell that holds this amazing creature inside.

What do you call it at this point?  It's neither caterpillar nor butterfly.  It looks like a little green alien!  Whatever you call it, the not-caterpillar-nor-butterfly's skin is all shriveled up.  To get it off, the creature starts doing a crazy dance.  Seriously, I wish you could see it.  It's like this wild wiggle dance.  I felt like we should be playing music for it.  Something akin to LMFAO's "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" line from their hit song--you know the one I'm talking about, right?

Okay, so here's the skin.  It still strikes me how this old skin that once held a caterpillar is now useless to it.

The crazy wiggle dance keeps playing in my mind as I watch continue to "dance."  Maybe he was just so happy to be out of that old skin?  Wild and free now?  And yet, this creature looks pretty naked and vulnerable, having just lost his skin and not yet being a chrysalis.  It's probably his most vulnerable state--no skin and no shell to protect it.  Yet, it doesn't last for very long at all.  The entire process probably took less than a minute.

After the crazy dance is over, he starts to shrink up and become more and more compact.  Until he becomes the little green chrysalis I was so familiar with.

It still strikes me, two years later what a miracle it is when a butterfly fully emerges from its cocoon.  So many things can go wrong in the process.  Sometimes, there were too many caterpillars on one plant, and they ran out of food before fully growing.  Wasps abounded that summer, and over and over again, I'd find half-eaten caterpillars lying dead on the ground.  Those who made it to the cocoon stage often had problems emerging successfully.  If they didn't get out of their cocoons in time, their wings would shrivel up, and they would die before the next day.  We witnessed lots and lots of crumpled up butterflies whose wings were not able to fully open up to dry in time.  Once, I saw a butterfly emerge successfully, only to have a wasp come along and attack it.  It couldn't fly yet because it's wings were not dry, and there was no way for it to escape being in such a vulnerable state.

It still makes me sad to think of all the tragedy involved in the transformation process.

Why is it such a struggle to emerge a butterfly?

I still have more questions than answers.

But, now, when I see a monarch butterfly, I know there are countless others who did not survive.   

And, I know what a miracle it is that it did.

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