Paintnig With A Camera - Psychotropic Trout

Click to view larger image of "Psychotropic Trout"

This past week was a very special one for me. I created a new "painting" with my camera. For me, nothing is more exciting. Perhaps I should explain.

I believe the human urge to communicate through the creation of art is primordial and irrepressible. When I was younger I would have given anything to be able to draw or paint but even stick men were beyond my ability. It was very frustrating. But I got lucky. As a journalism major in college I was required to take a year of photography classes and that was when I found my Muse.

Back in those days (early 70's), photography was a very different medium and considered an art form by few. And, to prove the point, the curriculum was housed in the Journalism Department. I could not understand why photography was art's stepchild. To me it was nirvana. I learned a couple of years ago when I was invited back to speak that had changed and photography is in the Art Department where it belongs. The college, for those interested, was Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

As photography evolved so did I. Eventually, I was no longer satisfied with taking pretty or technically correct images. I still yearned to paint. So my ambition became to "paint" with my camera. By this I mean create images that look more like paintings than photographs. I must be having some success as more and more people are referring to my images as “your paintings”. Monet without doubt is my inspiration as far as painters go. I like all the impressionists, but Monet, he’s my favorite. His use of color is beyond beautiful.

My other passion is nature. Eight years ago I fulfilled a life long dream and moved to Montana where I could endlessly pursue both my passions. I live in a national forest and Alberta and British Columbia are literally at my doorstep. In addition to trying to create paintings I try to show nature in ways not commonly seen. There is so much beauty in this world and much of it would go unseen if it weren’t for intrepid trekkers such as myself

“Paintings” are not easy to come by. In a year’s time, if I create 15 to 20 new works of art it has been a very good year. My “paintings” are my photographs, the rest are pretty pictures. Nothing wrong with pretty pictures, I like them too. In fact I have started a little online gallery at Imagekind precisely for those pretty pictures. I will be adding to those galleries as time allows. But, the “paintings” those are what excite me and inspire me.

Now to why this was a great week. Mother Nature allowed me to create a new “painting”! It’s titled “Psychotropic Trout”. What inspired me to inpired this post was a recent blog post at AVA by interior designer Lori Wawczak What's Hot and What's not for 2010. In it Lori talks about “modern contemporary” and paisley. It got me to thinking about my trout and how it seems to fit right in with those trends. Nature and wildlife photography doesn't have to be traditional.


For more information or to view more of my "paintings" please visit Kinsey Barnard's Fine Art of Photography.

Please Note: This an actual digital photograph of a rainbow trout swimming under water, not a digital creation.

Life is short ... be inspired!



©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Every Image Has A Story

For the past couple of weeks I have been immersed in a new project and when I get into something I am as a woman possessed. I have started a new blog. That's just what I need a new blog but there you have it. The title of the new blog is Every Image Has a Story.

When I decided to have an Internet presence for my limited edition photography Kinsey Barnard's Fine Art of Photography I was planning on writing the story for each photograph. Well, I have fallen down on the job badly and the majority still are without their story. It's so very easy to procrastinate.

But, one thing I have never been able to avoid is commitment. If I make one I am honor bound to respect it. I am obsessive about it. So, I think I have come up with a way to trick myself into writing down all the stories. By starting a blog I have a natural feeling of commitment to put something in there.

Then I got to thinking it could actually be something very nice for people and that was even a more motivating thought. These are very stressful times to be certain. We are skimming through life at such a prodigious rate we are not giving ourselves permission to savor life. There seems to be a collective obsession to dart from one thing to next as quickly as possible.

Nowhere is this more true than with viewing images. It's just boom, boom, boom and on to the next thing. Believe me am as guilty as anyone. But, my photographs are not meant to be glanced at they are natural works of art that should be really looked at in order to get the maximum enjoyment and benefit.

I have a theory. That will come as no shock to people who know me. I have a "theory" for just about everything. Anyway, the theory is this; A few moments contemplating a beautiful image, especially something in nature, can lower your blood pressure a point or two and increase your sense of well-being. And, when that image is accompanied by a short story it becomes even more of a momentary escape.

It struck me that I could motivate myself to get those stories written and provide something very pleasant for people to experience at the same time. What I have discovered is that I love writing these stories because it allows me to re-live these precious moments.

So, stop in for a visit Every Image Has A Story . It doesn't cost anything but I think you will find it has real value. If you agree sign up for my private e-mail notification.

Whilst I was writing this the lyrics to an old Simon & Garfunkel song kept playing in my head. It's from their song called "59th Street Bridge Song". The lyrics go like this "Slow down you move too fast. You gotta make the morning last." So, I say, slow down, take a deep breath and savor the good things in life. The other stuff will wait.


©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Dark Moods & Recycling Kindness

The above photograph is from my Limited Editions – Photographic Abstracts gallery. I have entitled it “This Way Darkly”. A play on the words of Shakespeare’s “Something wicked this way comes”. I couldn’t really tell you where my titles come from. They just pop into my head. But, this seems a good photo to accompany this piece on dark moods and recycling kindness.

Since I have yet to achieve total enlightenment, short by light years, I have a tendency to have dark moods every now and again. Some prefer to call these episodes depression and take Zoloft. I prefer to call them “dark moods” and work my way through them with extra exercise and more attention to my diet. Inhaling deeply of fresh mountain air is also very therapeutic.

When one of these moods sets in it’s no fun at all. Even though I live in beautifully forested mountains I sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees. Even though I try and go with the flow my emotions get so twisted up my flow is round and round in circles. Sometimes I just have to hitch up my bootstraps and wait it out. Sometimes a fellow traveler bails me out.

Recently, I had one of these nasty moods. It may have been some kind of post partum reaction to ending my five-month trip in Clementine. Maybe it was this very strange spring that has refused to come. I really don’t know for sure but whatever it was it knocked me right off my happy go lucky, optimistic perch. Silver linings were not forthcoming to my consciousness.

Just when I was ready to fling myself from my ground floor window my friend and sister, Karen, sent me an e-mail and signed off with “I care”. I cannot tell you why but those two simple words were like magic. The ugly mantle of my dark mood began to lift like the fog. It wasn’t long before I was back to being my Pollyanna self.

Not long after my bout with darkness another friend wrote to tell me she was having a devil of a time. Murphy was at her house and running riot. I decided to see if those two words could do for another what they had done for me. So, I replied ending my message with “I care”. And, guess what? They worked the same magic!

Another thing about these moods, I always seem to learn something, gain some new insight or just get a refresher course in things known but ignored. What came from this episode was a reminder how very powerful recycling can be.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Creativity & The Road

One of the many things I get a big kick out of, while traveling, are the myriad of creative works one can observe right along the road. The signs and displays people dream up are just amazing.

This particular photograph was taken on the road between Morro Bay and Atascadero, California. I simply had to stop and make a picture of it. It was so colorful and clever. It made me laugh.

It also got me to ponder the very idea of creativity. It seems to me that creativity is a compulsion and basic to the human condition. It begins with the most fundamental drive, to procreate, but seems to extend so much further into our psyche. We are creative creatures.

What drives the driver? I think it's the need to communicate and connect. I certainly know that I am trying to connect and communicate with the viewers of my photographs. I would like people to feel some sense of wonder or amazement. I would like them to feel what I feel, a sense of "Wow"! See The Fine Art of Photography
The irony of creativity is that it can be applied to both good an evil. It took a lot of creativity and imagination to pull off 911 and was certainly one hell of a communication.

Well, this post is a toast to my fellow Americans who constructively fulfill their creative drives along the highways and byways of this great land. You sure make my day. Thank you very much!!!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Life is an Illusion

Life is an illusion and things are often not what they seem. Life got much easier for me, on this mortal plane, when I finally understood this simple truth.

In my youth I took myself and most everything seriously, much to the chagrin of those around me I am sure. I believed there was but one reality and that what I perceived was what everyone else perceived. I've since come to discover that there are as many realities as there are people. We each have our own.

Look at the above photograph. What do you see? The moon shining on the water? A tropical island in moonlight? Personally, I like the tropical island in moonlight interpretation. As the photographer I don't care what you see as long as what you see evokes some kind of positive emotion within you. It is what it is to you and that's all that matters.

The "truth" in this instance; The photograph is of Humboldt Bay in the middle of the afternoon. I used no post production manipulation. So, you see, even the camera can be fooled!

© Kinsey Barnard