Featuring Creatives - Interview No. 2

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Against My Vows

The End Is Nigh

Turn Back Time

A Dance With The Devil 

Self Portrait 

The Sky of The Sky of a Tree Called Life

First, tell me as much as you can about yourself in a haiku.

The coldest winter 
thawed my heart, and I found love
in pictures of life

How did you get your start with what you do?

Amani- I started by just wanting to experiment with photo-manipulation and seeing what I can create on photoshop. I only started “officially” after I attended Brooke Shaden’s workshop a year ago. That’s when I realized that photography is the medium I’ve been looking for all this time to express how I feel.

How have you seen yourself grow as an artist?

Amani- I see inspiration everywhere now. At the beginning I separated photography from my everyday life, and it wasn’t something I was constantly doing. Now, it’s all I think about. I see textures everywhere, and whenever I come across an interesting object, my first thought is “how can I use that in a picture?”. When it comes to the technical stuff, I think I managed to develop my skills on photoshop with trying out different styles and just experimenting in general.

What's one art-related memory that sticks out in your mind?

Amani- I’d have to say that it was Brooke’s workshop. I remember going not knowing exactly what the workshop would be like - it was the first photography workshop I ever attended and I was scared. I was intimidated because everyone was older than me, and everyone had better gear. I went with my old Canon 550D and an old 50mm lens. It wasn’t until the second day of the workshop that I started being more confident - Brooke saw my work and told me it should be in a gallery. That’s something I’d never forget.

What are a few things on your "Bucket List?"

Amani- Oh my, I have so many.

• Travel, as much as I can.
• To have one of my images on a book cover.
• Get a masters degree in Fine Arts and teach art and photography at a university, and also teach workshops.
• To grow, as a person and as a photographer, to be kinder - to others and to myself, to love with all my heart.

What have you been currently up to?

Amani- I’m almost halfway through my 52 Week Project, and that’s always keeping me busy. But I’m also trying to get into galleries, both national and international. Nothing is set yet, but I’m determined to make it happen!

What fuels your artistic soul?

Amani- Everyday experiences and emotions- from love to loss, from betrayal to joy. I find inspiration in knowing that feelings are universal, it’s something we all have in common, no matter where we are in the world.

Who are three artists you're either inspired by or look up to?

Amani- I hate to sound repetitive but I have to say Brooke Shaden, of course. I also admire Lara Jade’s work - I prefer her older conceptual work but I still find her fashion photography inspiring. And Rob Woodcox - not only is his photography absolutely amazing, he seems like such a great person, I’d love to attend one of his workshops someday.

What would a 'perfect' day for you be like?

Amani- A perfect day would be: waking up before sunrise to do a shoot (either by the beach or in a forest), then watching the sunrise with a warm cup of coffee. After that, I’d spend a few hours immersed in a novel, then I’d grab lunch with a close friend and spend some time with my family. The rest of the day, I’d spend editing.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

Amani- I just want to say thank you. To you, Kory, for giving me the opportunity to share all of this with you and your readers, and to everyone who’s been following my work and supporting me this past year. It means the world to me.

Last week's theme for my 52 Week Project was fairytales, and I decided to base the picture on the movie, Thumbelina - growing up, it was one of my favorite movies.

Behind the Scenes: The Piano Remained There

I wasn't 100% sure if this photograph was ever going to come to life. I was losing light so dramatically during this shoot. After modeling for Joshua and Jenna's demos for the workshop and then posing for some of the other workshop attendees,  I explored the property and ended up traveling way to the other side from everyone. Walking being the main lodge/museum, I came across these rabbits roaming around, so curious me followed. Yes, Alice in Wonderland totally came to mind in hindsight. If it weren't for following the rabbits, I would have never stumbled upon this amazing piano hidden away in the back of the yard. I seriously wanted to take it home with me. 

Immediantly, I knew this would be where I would set up for my first shoot at the workshop. I ran back to the car with all my equipment and props and brainstormed some concepts. I just tried sitting first, and there wasn't much of a story there. Luckily for me, there was a nearby barn which had a table and chair inside. I dragged them over on the rocky landscape and climbed on top. I was going to try to make myself fly. 

From camera set up - changing my outfit - finding/carrying over the table and chair - the light beyond the mountains was going quick. Since I was alone for this one, every few shots I ran back to the camera and re-ajusted for the light and to look at my poses. 

Once I was happy with a few of the things I saw in my camera, I removed the table and chair from the scene and panned the camera over to expand for the final image. I was going as quickly as I could. I still had to make time to shoot a concept over on the other side of the property at the airplane, so there was still much more to do. 

I did rush through the expansion, by I was extra sure to overlap enough through each shot to make sure I had covered as much as the area in camera as possible. As I was panning, the rabbits returned back and ended up making it into the final shot, which I'm really happy about, since if it weren't for them, this photograph would most likely would have been ever taken. 

Featuring Creatives - Interview No. 1

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Digging

Tornado

Bunny Peeks In

Birds Can't Fly 

First Peek In The Bag

http://www.framednetwork.com Bonus content here : http://bit.ly/1d4pLSt Out of Houston, Texas, Bonnie and Gabe enjoy communicating and collaborate through photography, videography, creative & inspirational writing, creative printing and collaboration. They love learning, shooting, being inspired, teaching, experimenting, and helping others find inspiration. www.TwoCreativeBirds.com http://www.framednetwork.com

Welcome To Happy

First, tell me as much as you can about yourself in a haiku.

Attention span of
A moth who can’t decide where
To direct my time

How did you get your start with what you do?

Bonnie- I come from a long line of dark room dwellers. My dad, my grandfather, my…okay, it’s a relatively short line of darkroom dwellers. So I spent most of my high school days darkroom dancing and smelling like foul chemicals. The problem was my attention span really kept me from keeping my prints in the chemicals long enough so the proof of my greatness has all turned brown and corroded.

I held on to film swearing I’d never leave it behind. But the moment I touched a digital camera my darkroom equipment went to the attic and it’s only been recently that I’ve started missing it a little. What I lacked in attention span for chemicals settling, I make up for in the focus I can put into an image in Photoshop. I think Netflix in the background was the real ticket.

How have you seen yourself grow as an artist?

Bonnie- I’ve become obsessed with getting my images to look exactly the way I want them to. I’ve never had an ounce of OCD in my blood but I’ve always wished I did so I could keep myself from throwing my dirty clothes on the floor. But something OCD-ish comes out in me when I’m working on an image I care about and I can spend three days tweaking a blade of grass until it looks exactly the way I want it to. With film, I thought everything was good enough and it kept me from ever creating anything decent. (Except for the time in ’96 when I got to be Willie Nelson’s photographer at a festival. Even crappily developed, those were awesome shots.) (They’re brown now.) So I think having the patience to get the results I want is how I’ve grown the most.

What's one art-related memory that sticks out in your mind?

Bonnie- I love and hate this question. I love it because there are so many incredible art related memories that come to my mind and now you’ll never know it but it’ll likely take me an hour to answer it after I think about them all. I hate it because I have no idea how to pick just one that sticks out. But I think I’ll go with the time that all of the finest artists the world has ever known came to spend time in Houston for an exhibition we were all apart of. It was like artist camp at my house with some of the greatest collaborating minds staying up all night talking Photoshop. (No literally, I’ve been answering this question for over an hour while I stop to think about the stories I’m not telling.) While they were here we were filming a pilot episode for a show my husband and I want to start called Creator’s Blok. Everyone had a theme they had to work with and we filmed everyone creating their images as we all worked together. One day, when our lives aren’t weighted down in the quicksand of everything that has major deadlines, we will finally be able to put it all together as the first episode.

What are a few things on your "Bucket List?"

• Creator’s Blok is a big one.
• Going to Australia to camp out on Gee Greenslade’s front door until she opens it and teaches me how to edit like she does is up at the top.
• Moving to Ashland, Oregon and convincing our families to join us.
• Opening a storage unit that is half storage space/half artist studios
• But the most important one on my list is to finish the 20 image series I’ve been working on, Bunny Danger Awesome Slash Trouble. Finishing it will happen. But the bucket list aspect is having people fall in love with it and having some amazing movie company (hopefully Moonbot Studios) realize it is the story they’ve been dreaming of making a movie about their whole lives. I’m pretty sure this will happen too.

What have you been currently up to?

Bonnie- I’m constantly working on my Bunny Danger Awesome Slash Trouble project. But we’re also furiously working on getting our house up for sale, running our photography studio and trying to figure out how we’re going to start over in Oregon. We’re hoping to be there by January to start living in paradise where we won’t spend 2 hours a day stuck in traffic.

What fuels your artistic soul?

Bonnie- Collaboration. Hands down. There’s nothing I love more than working with other people to create something incredible and being able to sit back and reflect on the memories together. I love shoots where we’ve had to reach out the people we know, whether it was for a Delorian or 200 donkeys, we always end up having meaningful adventures.

I’m fortunate too that my husband is my business partner. We get to collaborate with each other on every shoot we do. I think having each other has shown us photography doesn’t have to be such a lonely journey and it’s made our ultimate goal to be helping other photographers collaborate with each other.

Who are three artists you're either inspired by or look up to?

Bonnie- Three? Good grief. As if I can narrow it down to three. To spread the love for where my inspiration comes from fairly, I’ll give you my favorite graffiti artist, favorite painter and then one photographer. I can’t call her my favorite photographer because I have a list entirely too long of favorite photographers. But she’s at the tippity top.

Graffiti Artist: Deuce Seven -I think he’s the first artist I ever truly started following and feeling connected to his work.

Painter: Kevin Peterson - He’s probably the greatest painter I’ve ever seen in my life. He also happens to be a great person and a friend of mine. But he’s the first artist I’ve ever known who spent all of his time putting his passion into his painting and truly earning a living from what he created. His work speaks for itself.

Photographer: Maggie Taylor - I probably love her because she doesn’t even consider herself a photographer. The woman tells wild stories with her images and it fuels my soul. We keep her book next to the bedside table so my son and I can look at her pictures and make up stories based on what we see.

What would a 'perfect' day for you be like?

Bonnie- A perfect day would be spent with my husband Gabe and my son Jones creating art together….and preferably having someone on the other end wanting to pay us for it. (I used to think my art isn’t about the money, but I’ve recently discovered that when we have to spend all of our time trying to figure out where the money is going to come from we don’t have enough time to create art. The vicious cycle.) We work together on projects all the time. My four year old is constantly spotting locations he wants to shoot in and giving me Photoshop tips. So, for the most part, almost every day is perfect for me.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

Bonnie- Forgive me if my answers are just entirely too romantic. We’re watching The Princess Bride while I answer them, so you can imagine how much love, passion and desire to kill giant rats might be on my mind.

Speaking of Love. I think you and your art are the Jam, Kory Zuccarelli. Thank you so much for the honor of being interviewed by you! (In Princess Bride fashion, please read that statement in a British accent with an orchestra playing behind you.)