A decent exposure...

Hello friends! I hope you're having an amazing weekend! I have had a busy few days working away in the studio but today I decided to take a small break from designing to have a little fun with insta-prints and animations. I hope you haven't grown tired of my insta-print obsession yet...it seems that's all I post about these days and for that I am sorry...but only a little!

Since the beginning of June I have been participating in the Blogging Your Way 2.0 online course and I am having so much fun! I quite like the way this animation turned out and in response to one of our "homework" assignments (How awesome is that? I have HOMEWORK!)...I hope to turn this kind of animated post into a series. My mind is overflowing with ideas for many more of these and it will be a fun way to show you some of the prints I have been working on for the shop. The pattern of the birds in the background is actually made up of two separate original prints that I will be selling when I launch. What do you think? Would you like to see more of this kind of thing?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what is left of the weekend...

Animation/art/photo by: me, Kinga Subject

Insta-prints on a Monday...

These colourful cuties are my newest insta-prints and I snapped them on my way to my parents' place this morning. They live near the new museum in our town which has the coolest colourful facade and I have been meaning to stop there for some time now to make some insta-print magic. So today I finally did!

I'm quite pleased with them! So bright and cheery...which, for a busy Monday, is never a bad thing!

I hope you're having a good day!

Photos by me

Wreck this journal...

A little while ago I was buying cold medication at the pharmacy down the road and came across this "journal" in the book section and of course I couldn't resist...I had to buy it. The title completely pulled me in with its demand for destruction: WRECK THIS JOURNAL. Wreck it? Are you serious? I found myself looking over my shoulders. Is someone watching me? Is this a joke? Will I get arrested if I do what it tells me? Am I on candid camera? Clearly my cold was far more severe than I realized at the time and I was perhaps a bit feverish...Wreck it?

So naturally, I picked it up and started to flip through the pages and strangely I found myself wanting to do everything they were telling me to do. I was getting all kinds of happy from instructions such as:

Draw lines while in motion, on the bus, on a train, while walking.
Tie a string to the spine of this book. Swing wildly. Let it hit the walls.
Use this as a test page for pens, paints, markers or art supplies.
Hang the journal in a public place. Invite people to draw here.
This page is dedicated to internal monologue (it would appear I have plenty of that)
Collect fruit stickers here (stickers you find on bought fruit)...

Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea...and the photos above are a good indication of what it looked like new...Someday, when I have thoroughly wrecked the heck out of this "journal" I will share with you the remains...if it survives the fire.

Photos by me, Kinga Subject


ps... don't worry, I won't actually burn it...not entirely anyway...and there is also a page that tells me to bring the journal into the shower with me and I also won't do that...no I won't do that! 


pps...to see what other people have done to this book to wreck it visit this Amazon page

The High Line...

My amazing friend Elisia is a passionate architect and she was very insistent that we visit The High Line while in New York. It is a project that is very important to her and she spoke about it with such fire that we just couldn't resist....(she probably would have gone without the rest of us anyway...but I'm glad we accompanied her)! This place is AMAZING!

It is a public park "built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side". The original tracks were rescued from demolition by an organization called Friends of the High Line who continue to advocate for the "transformation and preservation" of this raised railway system. There is still a section of the High Line at the West Side Rail Yards that has not yet been secured for this transformation to take place but the organization is working closely with the City of New York to make sure it gets turned into public park space as well for all to enjoy.

There are so many unique features to this "park" that you get completely enchanted by it as you walk from beginning to end. There are gardens along the way and covered areas where trains used to travel through buildings. There are benches to sit and take in the views, green lawns to sit and have a picnic, ice cream vendors for cooling off, washrooms and even elevators making The High Line completely wheelchair accessible. My photos don't do this park justice so if you're interested to learn more head over to The High Line website and check out this short video telling the long history of this amazing space...And of course if you visit New York in the future, head on down to the Meat Packing District and take a leisurely stroll along The High Line to West Chelsea...if not for me, do it for Elisia...she would want you to...trust me!

Happy Thursday to you!

Photos by me.

Drawing with light...

I'm in a cheery mood today so I thought I'd share these fun experiments from Times Square. I've done these kind of photos in the past and shared them here but I still wonder sometimes if I should be sharing these at all because they're kind of odd and I'm not sure how they fit. I like abstraction a fair bit and this kind of thing definitely appeals to me but it may not be your cup of tea so if it isn't...too bad! I'm joking...if it isn't your thing, maybe the happy colours at least brightened your day!

People sometimes ask how to do this so here's the short answer: I slow down my shutter speed to one or two seconds (sometimes more) and also close down the aperture...then after realeasing the shutter I move the camera around (in some of these cases I was waving the camera like a crazy person...people stared at me...it was awkward). You can also achieve this by putting your camera on a tripod and moving the light-source around...for example taking photos with sparklers in a dark field.

Anyway, that last photo above...I call it "The Golden Arches"...can you guess why?  

Photos by me

You are so loved...

I recently purchased this gorgeous print from The Wheatfield on Etsy and we gave it to our niece for her second birthday because she is definitely "so loved". Isn't this just the prettiest thing! If you haven't seen the rest of the collection by Katie Daisy I urge you to check it out...her bright and colourful works of inspirational quotes will bring joy into your life...I promise! My other favourites are Live Simply, Love, and Slow Down....

Actually, that's a lie! They're all my favourites!...Happy Monday to you and I hope you feel "so loved"!

Photo by me, print by Katie Daisy

Insta-prints on a Sunday...

Hello! I hope your Sunday is going well so far. I told you all recently about my new (very large) Instax 210 and that I am irrevocably addicted to it...well, my obsession grows with every photo I take. I'm beginning to wonder if I need professional help. 

On that note, what I'm about to tell you is really hard to admit but I lugged it with me all the way to NYC and didn't snap one photo there. NOT ONE INSTA-PRINT...even after my husband teased me about the Instax needing its own seat on the flight...even after I left behind my high heels so I could have room for it...even after my friend offered to carry it for me (because I was carrying another camera and lens). I just felt too guilty even considering saddling her with the largest camera she'd ever seen...so I left it at the hotel each time we went out. Basically I failed, and if I let myself think about it for too long I start to spiral into that dark place where I want to devour a box of oreo cookies while listening to Everybody Hurts... 

To make up for my epic fail, I have started working on a set of greeting cards using some of my insta-prints. I will share them when they're ready at which point you may judge whether or not anything  could ever make up for the disappointments mentioned above...

Photos by me, Kinga Subject

Central Park...

Last Sunday we had a relaxing late afternoon picnic in the park...Central Park that is! There were probably thousands of people doing the exact same thing; enjoying the sunshine and keeping cool in the shade of the magnificent trees...Incredible!

How is your weekend? Relaxing I hope...

Photos by me, Kinga Subject