Beautiful Strangers & Inspiration Happens

imageHas this happened to you?  You see a face in the crowd and are inspired. Something about them gets your immediate attention…  An expression, the quality of light showing off fine features… something intangible. Meet Jadice– who was once a beautiful stranger to me with just such a face.  Chris and I went to a movie premier yesterday and on our way out I saw this beautiful girl doing a selfie with a friend.  Though I walked out of the theatre I had to quickly double back and introduce myself. Moments later we were outside in good light and with my iPhone in hand to do a few quick pictures!   So here is the artistic fruit of an impromptu photo session with a beautiful and unexpected model. Shot with an iPhone, turned into art using an iPad, three different apps and four different pictures combined to create this art piece.

Why it wasn’t done traditionally?  You may wonder why I didn’t use my big pro Canon SLR camera and Adobe Photoshop program and technique on my computer instead of my iPad.   Jadice was there, I had an iPhone, there was the urgency of inspiration.  It’s the same reason Lincoln wrote down his most famous speech – the Gettysburg Address– on an envelope.  It was handy.   And the reason JK Rowling jotted down her first ideas for the Harry Potter books on a napkin while she was riding a train.  OK, I am NOT comparing my iPad art to some of the greatest minds!  The point is ideas happen, they happen fast.  It happens to us all at one time or another… 

INSPIRATION HAPPENS!  It’s fleeting, it goes so fast and we must capture it while it’s there.  Even on an envelope, a napkin or an iPhone. There may be traditionalists lurking out there but notice lately just how much a mainstream art expression our cell phones have become simply by looking at Instagram with all of it’s built in filters and ways of making pictures look extra groovy!  AND iPhone pictures get published in some of the biggest newspapers in the country!  Here’s an example slide show link with wonderful iPhone pictures by photojournalist Michael Williamson— two time Pulitzer Prize winner.  Slide Show:  The Washington Post, Michael Williamson.  

Whatever world of self expression you’re living or working in what really matters is getting it, capturing the moment, allowing the flow and letting art happen.  Feeling it, expressing it and not worrying about how to do it– just reach for the first available thing and get the idea down, the image captured. You can go back later and refine till your hearts content.  I happen to like refining on my iPad in the toned down quiet of a late night.  It has a very different feel from sitting at the workstation in a more business mind mode.  It’s more relaxed attitude and the plethora of interesting apps allows a different kind of creative exploration.   Not better, not freer, just different.

There’s a place for all of it and we, The Creatively Insatiable, appreciate that!

Be sure to sign up for my mailing list– upper right.  You’ll get free original art and you’ll be the first to know when my summer workshops are scheduled!  I’ll be teaching an App Art class too and you won’t want to miss it!

 

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About charr

Charr Crail is a Northern California photographer and artist with an avid passion for creating unique digital imagery. Charr, a full-time freelance photographer, spans the divide between photojournalism and extraordinary art via photography and can trace back her evolution as an photographer/artist from three dominant sources. Her father made his living as a newspaper photographer and as soon as he could, was taking young Charr, then four, on assignments to capture a lifetime of experiences and images. He instilled a sense of adventure and curiosity in her as they would often meander down unknown country roads of the South – just to see and capture what was out there. Soon after, Charr would develop her eye for photography and journalism as “the river that runs through everything she does”. Charr’s mother blessed her daughter with the ability to appreciate art in its various mediums. Further, her mother was able to pass along the joy, satisfaction and excitement one can experience in actively creating something beautiful. It’s no surprise, then, that Charr would become a photojournalist and later a photo editor spanning two decades working for Northern California publications including The Sacramento Bee. Often, her assignments would include community events with a “close to home” theme woven into every image and story she captured. Her photojournalistic experience has therefore been nuanced through everything she produces. She’s also drawn to the wonder of color and the beauty that can be found in the composure of a face and the make-up of the human bodyscape. Charr has won countless awards for masterful pieces including; the Professional Photographers of America LOAN Collection for two consecutive years, WPPI Grand Award and her work has been featured in the Di Rosa Museum in California’s beautiful Napa Wine Region and is also part of the permanent collection. Separately, she instructs digital photography workshops that teach students how to blow out the creativity of their photography in simple methods using programs like Adobe Photoshop and how to market using mobile devices-- Visual Content Creation using Mobile Devices.. Charr lives in Sacramento with her husband Chris and kitties Leeloo and Sadie.

One Response to Beautiful Strangers & Inspiration Happens

  1. Love the image, simply stunning.

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