Aug 30, 2011

Sweet Peach

Picture Frame

I saw this HAD to share it with you. GENIUS and CREATIVE. I found this simple yet interesting way of hanging snapshots – check out this cool website called Sweet Peach. They have lots of neat ideas. May you be greatly inspired!

grace & peace,

deAnn

Aug 29, 2011

Sacred Path and Prayer Gardens

I am so VERY excited to announce that next week excavation will begin on Living Word's Sacred Path and Prayer Gardens!! If weather cooperates, the project should be complete by September 30. We welcome your prayers as we move through this project. Thank you!

grace & peace,
deAnn

Aug 16, 2011

iPhone Photography...?

Do you use your cell phone's camera much? Since I've gotten an iPhone, I have to say, I use it more than my dSLR. For one, with a 16 month old running amuck inside and out it's easy to slip it into my back pocket. I always have it with me. So I can capture just about any moment of her life on camera.

Why, would you ask, would someone passionate about photography be using their iPhone? Well, for one, the  special camera apps make it FUN and very CREATIVE. Not that my dSLR isn't fun and creative, but with the iPhone, it's instant gratificaton: open up my favorite camera app, Hipstmatic, choose a "lens," a "flash" if desired, and "film" type, set composition and volia = a photo for keeps. Such as this cute shot while playing peek-a-boo the other day.
Secondly, there are some pretty cool photo editing apps offered through iTunes. I must have about 20 editing apps that I use not only with images I've taken with my iPhone, but with images I've taken with my dSLR. The editing apps are so easy to use and offer amazing effects! I don't have any fancy photo editing software on my computer and quite frankly, with my busy daughter demanding so much of me, I don't have the time to learn  PhotoShop or Aperture. But I do have a few minutes to add an effect or two to an image using, say, SnapSeed, PhotoStudio, PhotoForge 2 or ArtistaOil.

This frosty table image was taken using the iPhone camera and then I did a little editing in one of the apps. I really like how it turned out. Before I edited it, the image was muddy and boring. But in a few minutes while sitting in a waiting room at my doctor's office, I turned it into something with pizzazz. The mobility of the iPhone makes editing possible just about anywhere.

The image below I took using my Hipstamatic camera app. Some of those faces may look familiar to you.


Below I took that original image and edited it in the WordPhoto app. This image was on the posters for the staff "Get To Know Us" exhibit this past June.


Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying this is the only way to go. It's just the only way I know. And I'm using it to its fullest capability. Maybe when life slows down a bit, I'll finally learn how to use Aperature or PhotoShop, and that is if I can afford them. Another plus with the apps - they range in cost from free to $10. But I've never paid more than $2.99 for a camera or editing app.

The image above was taken at Raystown Lake. I had just purchased the SnapSeed editing app and I was playing around with all the different effects. This crazy dreamy image is the result of my creative muse.
Maybe you've heard of Dewitt Jones? Here is a blurb from his website:
Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top professional photographers.He is also one of the nation’s most sought–after keynote speakers.


A master of the platform, he combines stories from his years with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC with his extraordinary photographs to teach both creativity and vision.


Each year his words and images inspire thousands to ‘Celebrate What’s Right With the World’!

Here is a nationally known photographer who recently started using his iPhone and the different photo apps as a way to expand his creativity. His images are spectacular...and they were taken with his 5MP iPhone and edited beautifuly with varies apps. He recently did an article in Outdoor Photography, take a look at it.

If you don't have an iPhone and have a Droid type phone, fear not. I bet there are neat camera and editing apps for you to purchase.

On Thursday this week I'll be camping at Lake Tahoe, CA...deep in the heart of Sierra Mountains, my home-away-from-home. And you can bet I'll have my dSLR in one hand and my iPhone in the other.

Grace & peace on the creative journey,
deAnn

Aug 15, 2011

Writer's Needed

The October edition of Inklings will be here before we know it. If you have a short story, reflection, or poem to contribute to this awesome little publication by Living Word Community Church, please submit your piece via email to deAnn by September 19.

Click here to read past issues of Inklings.

Aug 8, 2011

it is coming...


the studio
newly designed
wednesdays
in
september

yes
every
wednesday
in
september

6:30-8:00pm
beginning
9/7

theme~
urban art:when heaven
scrapes the pavement

graffiti
artist
ramon
trevino

urban
mixed-media
artist
maggie
flemming

be there.



got questions?
email deAnn
see
you
there

Aug 3, 2011

More on Arts and Writing

Here are a few great blogs and websites to check out if you are a writer or an artist. Or would like to be...

Art, Life & Faith
Art Lessons from God
Chatting at the Sky
(in)courage - for women, really

More to come!

grace & peace,
deAnn

Aug 2, 2011

Back to Reality

unfurl QAL flower

Ah, vacation. A time to escape the reality of work, housekeeping, laundry, bill paying, errands, grocery shopping and beyond. A time to either slow down or speed up, depending on what your vacation entails. Our vacation to a remote, no cell reception, cottage deep in the woods on the north side of Raystown Lake was a nice combination of both paces.

While exploring the single track on the Allegrippis trail system on our mountain bikes, I stopped at a little meadow of wildflowers. The sun was warm and bright, a soft breeze gently rocked the various flowers as if in tune to a melody I could not hear. I whipped out my iPhone, got low to the ground and began getting a closer look at these seemingly worshipful colorful beauties. The friend I was with said to me, “always a photographer, huh?” I replied that there is always something to see, not just look at, but see.

Even weeds are a thing of beauty if seen through the mindset of appreciating God’s wonderful creation.These innocent, yet wild, Queen Anne’s Lace and Black-eyed Susan’s looked so pretty together, dancing in sync with one another. How could I NOT stop to capture the moment with my camera??

worshipping QAL flower

I’m constantly reminded that when I slow down my rushed itinerary, even my vacation itinerary, God shows me Himself in the little things. In places where I don’t expect to see Him, really. In the simplicity of a narrow trail meandering through the woods, in time enjoyed with good friends, and even in impossible weeds.

Black Eyed Susans

Life is so full of God and His love for us. We must take time to slow and see it. Otherwise, the sorrow and darkness that our fallen world offers can kill our hope of something better beyond the present. There is beauty in the broken.

Grace & Peace,

deAnn