Christopher Johnson lives and works in the municipality of Cuautitlan in Mexico City, Mexico.
Christopher loves to read, sing, watch movies, play computer games, go for long walks, visit parks, go to museums, hang out with friends and in general enjoy life in a responsible and calm way. In general Christopher loves to live simply. He sometimes jokes that he lives like a monk (but with internet). He says that the Monks probably have computers too. Christopher was able to show the priest at the cathedral in Cuautitlan his art gallery at Imagekind on the priest’s computer.
Christopher loves doing almost anything that is art related. He learned to crochet from a book when he was 19 or 20. He also loved art classes in elementary school. In 2007 Christopher got his first digital camera, a 3 megapixel Vivitar. At that point he began to post his artwork to print on demand stores. Since then he has upgraded to a 10.1 megapixel Casio camera.
While Christopher loves photography, he also works in other mediums. Digital art is one of those. Christopher works with his existing photographs and various graphic software programs to create digital artworks and he also creates original digital work such as fractals and kaleidoscopes. He says that floral artwork; particularly floral photography is his passion.
Last fall Christopher began experimenting with both acrylic and oil paint. The supplies are expensive, so he doesn’t paint a lot, but the experimenting continues.
Instructional DVD’s and online tutorials provide some of Christopher’s art training, but mostly he tries new software, experiments and asks questions of other artists when he gets stuck on something. He has become a skilled user of Photoshop and Painter using these methods and continues to learn and grow as an artist in this way.
Drawing and painting with Photoshop and Painter using a graphic tablet has become another type of digital artwork that Christopher does. He enjoys creating digital portraits. Recently he has also begun to experiment with graphic design to create specific designs for holidays and weddings.
Christopher says he is planning to focus on developing graphic design skills and designs for this next year as a means to build a stronger customer base. Photography and digital fine art sell sporadically online and Christopher would like to build a more steady sales stream and income.
All of Christopher’s artwork is available as prints on Imagekind and Redbubble and on gift products on Zazzle. He also accepts special requests for custom digital artwork. Christopher offers his artwork on as broad a product range as possible on Zazzle to give his customers a good selection to choose from. This includes mugs, U.S. stamps, coasters, ornaments, necklaces, greeting cards, mobile phone cases, labels, t-shirts, stickers, magnets, posters, etc….
CHRISTOPHER’S ZAZZLE STORES:
Flower and Plant Art - LIVING NATURE
Travel Photography – CHRISTOPHER IN MEXICO
Kaleidoscope Art – KALEIDOSCOPE ART
Sepia "Antiqued" Art – ANTIQUED ART
Abstract and Fractal Art – ABSTRACT & FRACTAL ART
Holiday Greetings – HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Wedding – WEDDING ART
Outdoor Art – OUTDOOR ART
Animal Art – WILD ANIMAL ART
CHRISTOPHER IN MEXICO AT IMAGEKIND
CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON TRAVEL PHOTO ART ON REDBUBBLE
JOIN CHRISTOPHER ON FACEBOOK
FAN CHRISTOPHER ON FACEBOOK
FOLLOW CHRISTOPHER ON TWITTER
VISUAL ART GIFTS BLOG
VISUAL ART AND ARTISTS
All images Copyright to Christopher Johnson, All Rights Reserved
Edited by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
WELCOME TO GRAPHIC ARTIST AND PRINT DESIGNER ILENE STERNBACH ALDRIDGE
Ilene Sternbach Aldridge was born in NYC, but now lives in suburban New Jersey with her husband and daughter. After working as an art director and graphic designer for twenty years, Ilene became a stay at home mother when her daughter was born. She began doing freelance design work and was thrilled to find Zazzle, which allowed her to have the best of both worlds; doing creative work and being home and available for her family.
Ilene has a very busy schedule raising her daughter. Her other interests include hitting the gym at least three times a week, watching reality shows and reading. She also loves crafting of any kind.
Ilene says that a creative streak runs in her family. Artists, musicians and performers abound throughout the family. Ilene was always drawn to artistic activities and that has been her passion as long as she can remember.
Digital artwork, mostly vector based with an emphasis on typography is the primary focus of Ilene’s art creation. She tends to rely on graphic illustration of objects rather than photographs, and attributes that to her love of logo development.
Ilene is inspired by many things everyday. She can be driving down the street and a simple sign will inspire her to make a new business series. Her daughter also inspires her every day and has even ‘art directed’ some products in one of her shops.
Ilene’s art education started with her earning a degree in studio art. When she found she couldn’t get a job after college she chose to move towards commercial art and become a graphic designer. She went back to school at the top art schools in New York City and earned a certificate in computer design in addition to her graphic art studies. Professionally she then did a lot of web design, but as many others entered that field she returned to her true passion, print design. She continues to learn new graphic software and methods and keeps up with the latest in design trends.
These days Zazzle and other Print on Demand sites keep Ilene so busy that she hasn’t had time to explore other types of art. She is hoping that in the future when her shops are established she will have a little time to do that.
In addition to expanding her four existing Zazzle stores, Ilene is expanding her line of designs onto products on other Print on Demand sites. She has started developing a store on Miche and hopes to get to work on one or two other sites shortly.
In addition to selling her art on all of Zazzle’s products, Ilene also does quite a bit of freelance and custom design work for private clients. She does a lot of corporate identity project work in particular.
Up until last year Ilene was also doing hand calligraphy on invitations for weddings and other events. As many of those clients are becoming computer savvy, they are doing their own ‘calligraphy’. So now Ilene has more time to ZAZZLE!
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON BLOGSPOT
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON POSTEROUS
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON TUMBLR
CUSTOM BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON FACEBOOK
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON TWITTER
STAR STREAM BIZ ON TWITTER
All Images Copyright Ilene Sternbach Aldridge, All Rights Reserved
Edited and Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
Ilene has a very busy schedule raising her daughter. Her other interests include hitting the gym at least three times a week, watching reality shows and reading. She also loves crafting of any kind.
Ilene says that a creative streak runs in her family. Artists, musicians and performers abound throughout the family. Ilene was always drawn to artistic activities and that has been her passion as long as she can remember.
Digital artwork, mostly vector based with an emphasis on typography is the primary focus of Ilene’s art creation. She tends to rely on graphic illustration of objects rather than photographs, and attributes that to her love of logo development.
Ilene is inspired by many things everyday. She can be driving down the street and a simple sign will inspire her to make a new business series. Her daughter also inspires her every day and has even ‘art directed’ some products in one of her shops.
Ilene’s art education started with her earning a degree in studio art. When she found she couldn’t get a job after college she chose to move towards commercial art and become a graphic designer. She went back to school at the top art schools in New York City and earned a certificate in computer design in addition to her graphic art studies. Professionally she then did a lot of web design, but as many others entered that field she returned to her true passion, print design. She continues to learn new graphic software and methods and keeps up with the latest in design trends.
These days Zazzle and other Print on Demand sites keep Ilene so busy that she hasn’t had time to explore other types of art. She is hoping that in the future when her shops are established she will have a little time to do that.
In addition to expanding her four existing Zazzle stores, Ilene is expanding her line of designs onto products on other Print on Demand sites. She has started developing a store on Miche and hopes to get to work on one or two other sites shortly.
In addition to selling her art on all of Zazzle’s products, Ilene also does quite a bit of freelance and custom design work for private clients. She does a lot of corporate identity project work in particular.
Up until last year Ilene was also doing hand calligraphy on invitations for weddings and other events. As many of those clients are becoming computer savvy, they are doing their own ‘calligraphy’. So now Ilene has more time to ZAZZLE!
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON BLOGSPOT
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON POSTEROUS
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON TUMBLR
CUSTOM BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON FACEBOOK
STAR STREAM DESIGN ON TWITTER
STAR STREAM BIZ ON TWITTER
All Images Copyright Ilene Sternbach Aldridge, All Rights Reserved
Edited and Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
Monday, April 11, 2011
SAY HELLO TO COUNTRY GIRL, ARTIST AND ZAZZLER CATHERINE SUTHARD
Catherine Suthard, and her lady black lab MaKai, have lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of America close to the Olympic Rain Forest for the last 12 years and if Catherine has her way she will never go back to the city. Although born and raised in cities, Catherine is a country girl at heart. Her favorite childhood memories are of the summers she spent on her Uncle’s ranch, in eastern Washington, riding horses, going to rodeos and eating BBQ outdoors almost every night.
When not working on her art and design, Catherine can spend hours exploring the beaches, forest trails and streams near her home. She also enjoys wild life observation and around her home she can find eagles, deer, coyote, bobcat, rabbit, geese, swans, ducks and all manner of other wetland creatures.
Catherine has loved to draw ever since she was a very young child and she began painting in Junior High. She remembers drawing detailed pencil and charcoal reproductions of animals from the photographs in National Geographic magazines. In recent years Catherine discovered the internet, digital graphics programs and vector art. She started her digital drawing with a mouse and MicroGraphx Windows Draw6 over 10 years ago. Then she fell in love with a Wacom Tablet and began using other software products to create her art and design as well.
Layout and composition is where Catherine feels her strength lies. She creates beautiful derivative works from elements she has purchased or commissioned from artisans, who work in highly specialized 3D modeling software. Catherine uses her skills with digital painting, effects, layering, blending components and composition to create amazing finished pieces of digital art.
Inspiration comes to Catherine from a variety of sources and she describes her style as a potpourri. Some sources of inspiration are Catherine’s country roots including ranch life and her beloved horses; her Irish heritage; the beautiful nature that surrounds her where she lives and celebrating her Faith and the blessings in life.
Catherine is a member of "The Indie Exhibit", a wonderfully talented and supportive group of artists worldwide, who contribute their art to fill gift bags that are provided to celebrities and the press at the major Awards shows like The Golden Globes, The Kids Choice Awards and The Sundance Film Festival just to name a few. She is also a member of a Zazzle colleague group. The members of this group support and assist each other to learn progress and succeed as designers and as Zazzle shop keepers. Catherine doesn’t teach at all, but she says she does try to inspire others where she can and pass on what she knows if someone needs help.
These days Catherine is learning more about using Zazzle store keeper features to efficiently increase the availability of her art to her customers on Zazzle. She is also expanding her services to business clients, offering a full spectrum of design services. Recently Catherine also began publishing a monthly newsletter, which is available via email to subscribers. It features an interesting article, Zazzle specials and coupon access, links to new products in her stores, a few graphics freebies, a favorite recipe and links to her favorite websites. Occasionally it will also feature an interview with another Zazzle shop keeper.
Plans are in the works for Catherine to open a Wedding Shop later this year and she is working on designs for that. She is also considering creating a resource site for designers to access tips, tricks and tools to use in their creative work.
Catherine sells her art and designs on Zazzle. She offers her images on all of Zazzle’s products and they are all customizable. She does take custom orders. Recently she worked with Miss Rodeo Kansas 2011 to create special Coronation Dinner Invitations and business cards. Catherine currently has three stores on Zazzle. RANCH LADY has a central theme of County Western and Christian Country designs. THE GOLDEN SHAMROCK features St. Patrick’s Day designs as well as Celtic and traditionally Irish designs. KEDS KRAZY offers a huge selection of Keds shoes. Catherine was so excited about offering shoes that she did nothing but design shoes for about a month.
The next year holds lots of plans, work and challenges for Catherine. She will continue to learn and grow as a designer; she plans to become a full time Zazzle contributor and to grow her business client base. She also plans to work towards some personal goals including doing volunteer work and writing.
Visit Catherine's Blog Western Spirit Designs
Visit Catherine's Zazzle shops:
RANCH LADY
THE GOLDEN SHAMROCK
KEDS KRAZY
Join Catherine's Western Spirit Designs on Facebook
Follow Catherine ZRanchLady on Twitter
Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn
All Images Copyright Catherine Suthard, All Rights Reserved
Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
When not working on her art and design, Catherine can spend hours exploring the beaches, forest trails and streams near her home. She also enjoys wild life observation and around her home she can find eagles, deer, coyote, bobcat, rabbit, geese, swans, ducks and all manner of other wetland creatures.
Catherine has loved to draw ever since she was a very young child and she began painting in Junior High. She remembers drawing detailed pencil and charcoal reproductions of animals from the photographs in National Geographic magazines. In recent years Catherine discovered the internet, digital graphics programs and vector art. She started her digital drawing with a mouse and MicroGraphx Windows Draw6 over 10 years ago. Then she fell in love with a Wacom Tablet and began using other software products to create her art and design as well.
Layout and composition is where Catherine feels her strength lies. She creates beautiful derivative works from elements she has purchased or commissioned from artisans, who work in highly specialized 3D modeling software. Catherine uses her skills with digital painting, effects, layering, blending components and composition to create amazing finished pieces of digital art.
Inspiration comes to Catherine from a variety of sources and she describes her style as a potpourri. Some sources of inspiration are Catherine’s country roots including ranch life and her beloved horses; her Irish heritage; the beautiful nature that surrounds her where she lives and celebrating her Faith and the blessings in life.
Catherine is a member of "The Indie Exhibit", a wonderfully talented and supportive group of artists worldwide, who contribute their art to fill gift bags that are provided to celebrities and the press at the major Awards shows like The Golden Globes, The Kids Choice Awards and The Sundance Film Festival just to name a few. She is also a member of a Zazzle colleague group. The members of this group support and assist each other to learn progress and succeed as designers and as Zazzle shop keepers. Catherine doesn’t teach at all, but she says she does try to inspire others where she can and pass on what she knows if someone needs help.
These days Catherine is learning more about using Zazzle store keeper features to efficiently increase the availability of her art to her customers on Zazzle. She is also expanding her services to business clients, offering a full spectrum of design services. Recently Catherine also began publishing a monthly newsletter, which is available via email to subscribers. It features an interesting article, Zazzle specials and coupon access, links to new products in her stores, a few graphics freebies, a favorite recipe and links to her favorite websites. Occasionally it will also feature an interview with another Zazzle shop keeper.
Plans are in the works for Catherine to open a Wedding Shop later this year and she is working on designs for that. She is also considering creating a resource site for designers to access tips, tricks and tools to use in their creative work.
Catherine sells her art and designs on Zazzle. She offers her images on all of Zazzle’s products and they are all customizable. She does take custom orders. Recently she worked with Miss Rodeo Kansas 2011 to create special Coronation Dinner Invitations and business cards. Catherine currently has three stores on Zazzle. RANCH LADY has a central theme of County Western and Christian Country designs. THE GOLDEN SHAMROCK features St. Patrick’s Day designs as well as Celtic and traditionally Irish designs. KEDS KRAZY offers a huge selection of Keds shoes. Catherine was so excited about offering shoes that she did nothing but design shoes for about a month.
The next year holds lots of plans, work and challenges for Catherine. She will continue to learn and grow as a designer; she plans to become a full time Zazzle contributor and to grow her business client base. She also plans to work towards some personal goals including doing volunteer work and writing.
Visit Catherine's Blog Western Spirit Designs
Visit Catherine's Zazzle shops:
RANCH LADY
THE GOLDEN SHAMROCK
KEDS KRAZY
Join Catherine's Western Spirit Designs on Facebook
Follow Catherine ZRanchLady on Twitter
Connect with Catherine on LinkedIn
All Images Copyright Catherine Suthard, All Rights Reserved
Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
Monday, April 4, 2011
TODAY’S FEATURE – DIGITAL ARTIST BRIANA BLAIR
Zazzle shop keeper Briana Blair hails from Byron, Georgia. Briana is a writer and an artist. She has been creating art and crafts of one form or another since she was five years old.
Briana loves to crochet and she often creates her own patterns, which she shares for free online. Some of Briana’s other interests include animals and music, and she loves to research all sorts of things when they strike her as intriguing. When Briana is not making art or writing, she is listening to music, watching movies coming up with ideas for new art and blog content.
When asked how she came to be an artist, Briana told me that she feels that it is something that has always been in her. Her grandmother taught her to crochet when she was 5 and then got her into crafts as well. Briana did a lot of crafting, including making jewelry for years. At some point she started sketching and painting. Her move from traditional art to digital art came because of the cost of traditional materials. Briana says she never runs out of supplies and materials on the computer, and she finds it a fantastic outlet for her creative energy and inspiration.
Briana does all kinds of art, but hesitates to put a label on it as it is somewhat varied in subject and style. She says she does have a certain knack for the odd and funny though. Although Briana loves working in the digital medium, she also likes to work with gel pens and pencils, both color and graphite. She says she follows whatever inspiration and style hit her every day, but she does love and is known for her tribal style outline work. She used to do a lot of custom tattoo design with this style and she is very comfortable with it. Another technique that she is quite fond of is taking public domain black and white images, and turning them into full color art. Briana says it’s like having a coloring book for grown ups.
Inspiration for Briana’s art comes from all sorts of things. She says it comes in dreams or just the odd things that run through her head on a daily basis. By her own definition, ‘she is an oddball for sure’, and feels that this actually helps her art. Briana also uses her spiritual and social beliefs as inspiration for many of her designs.
Briana has never had any art education outside of regular art classes in school. Beyond what she learned there everything she knows she taught herself, or learned from other self-taught crafters. When Briana sees something she wants to do, she just goes ahead and tries to do it. She finds this fun and feels that when you are not learning by the ‘rules’ you can come up with better or different ways to do things. You can develop new techniques to achieve the same end result. This is a challenge and process that truly appeals to Briana.
Group art endeavors and Gallery showings are not part of Briana’s art activities for now. She does belong to a Zazzle Shop Keeper group. Briana shares her art knowledge with others when she can. She is currently writing a book, in which she shares a collection of tips, tricks and techniques that she uses along with some of her original crafting patterns. She expects to have it available for purchase this summer.
Although Briana has slowed down a little with her artwork because of other commitments, she has plans for some new work this year. She plans to do some more humor designs, because she loves them and so do the buyers. New Tribal style art and more Zentangle pieces are also in the works.
Beyond these current art and design plans Briana can’t say where her art will take her next. She is digging deep to come up with some really unique stuff. She has ideas for a collection of pocket critters and some new kaleidoscope mandalas, but she says she likes to just let it flow.
Briana’s art can be purchased on Zazzle and Wordan’s on a variety of products. She sells her handcrafted jewelry on Bonanzle and her writing and patterns are available on various sites.
This year Briana also plans to publish a new art book in her series of coffee table art books. She hopes it will be available before the end of the year.
BLAIR PEACOCK CREATIONS on Zazzle
MANDALA MAGICK on Zazzle
BLAIR PEACOCK CREATIONS on Wordans
BRIANA DRAGON on PayLoadz
BRIANA BLAIR on Lulu
BLUE DRAGON CREATIONS Blog
Follow Briana on Twitter
Join Briana on Facebook
All Images Copyright Briana Blair, All Rights Reserved.
Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved.
Briana loves to crochet and she often creates her own patterns, which she shares for free online. Some of Briana’s other interests include animals and music, and she loves to research all sorts of things when they strike her as intriguing. When Briana is not making art or writing, she is listening to music, watching movies coming up with ideas for new art and blog content.
When asked how she came to be an artist, Briana told me that she feels that it is something that has always been in her. Her grandmother taught her to crochet when she was 5 and then got her into crafts as well. Briana did a lot of crafting, including making jewelry for years. At some point she started sketching and painting. Her move from traditional art to digital art came because of the cost of traditional materials. Briana says she never runs out of supplies and materials on the computer, and she finds it a fantastic outlet for her creative energy and inspiration.
Briana does all kinds of art, but hesitates to put a label on it as it is somewhat varied in subject and style. She says she does have a certain knack for the odd and funny though. Although Briana loves working in the digital medium, she also likes to work with gel pens and pencils, both color and graphite. She says she follows whatever inspiration and style hit her every day, but she does love and is known for her tribal style outline work. She used to do a lot of custom tattoo design with this style and she is very comfortable with it. Another technique that she is quite fond of is taking public domain black and white images, and turning them into full color art. Briana says it’s like having a coloring book for grown ups.
Inspiration for Briana’s art comes from all sorts of things. She says it comes in dreams or just the odd things that run through her head on a daily basis. By her own definition, ‘she is an oddball for sure’, and feels that this actually helps her art. Briana also uses her spiritual and social beliefs as inspiration for many of her designs.
Briana has never had any art education outside of regular art classes in school. Beyond what she learned there everything she knows she taught herself, or learned from other self-taught crafters. When Briana sees something she wants to do, she just goes ahead and tries to do it. She finds this fun and feels that when you are not learning by the ‘rules’ you can come up with better or different ways to do things. You can develop new techniques to achieve the same end result. This is a challenge and process that truly appeals to Briana.
Group art endeavors and Gallery showings are not part of Briana’s art activities for now. She does belong to a Zazzle Shop Keeper group. Briana shares her art knowledge with others when she can. She is currently writing a book, in which she shares a collection of tips, tricks and techniques that she uses along with some of her original crafting patterns. She expects to have it available for purchase this summer.
Although Briana has slowed down a little with her artwork because of other commitments, she has plans for some new work this year. She plans to do some more humor designs, because she loves them and so do the buyers. New Tribal style art and more Zentangle pieces are also in the works.
Beyond these current art and design plans Briana can’t say where her art will take her next. She is digging deep to come up with some really unique stuff. She has ideas for a collection of pocket critters and some new kaleidoscope mandalas, but she says she likes to just let it flow.
Briana’s art can be purchased on Zazzle and Wordan’s on a variety of products. She sells her handcrafted jewelry on Bonanzle and her writing and patterns are available on various sites.
This year Briana also plans to publish a new art book in her series of coffee table art books. She hopes it will be available before the end of the year.
BLAIR PEACOCK CREATIONS on Zazzle
MANDALA MAGICK on Zazzle
BLAIR PEACOCK CREATIONS on Wordans
BRIANA DRAGON on PayLoadz
BRIANA BLAIR on Lulu
BLUE DRAGON CREATIONS Blog
Follow Briana on Twitter
Join Briana on Facebook
All Images Copyright Briana Blair, All Rights Reserved.
Written by Ruth J Jamieson, Copyright Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved.
Monday, March 28, 2011
WELCOME ZAZZLER AND NEW YORK PHOTOGRAPHER LIZA DEY
Photographer Liza Dey was born and raised in the East Village area of New York City. She is a self-employed freelance photographer and a former dancer. Her memories of the East Village neighborhood include anti-war demonstrations and hippies in the 60’s; the tough neighborhood and urban decay of the 70’s and 80’s; and the gentrification of the area starting in the late 90’s into a hip, trendy area. She says, “growing up in a neighborhood like that and having always lived in what would be called ‘cusp’ neighborhoods – always caught in transition from an old, rundown historical area to a new, trendy area with lots of galleries and cute shops – has shaped who she is and influenced what she is interested in shooting and her view of New York City, old and new; good, bad and in between; but always real”.
Liza enjoys reading and is very interested in history, especially the history of New York City. She likes to hike and explore, and Fire Island – a barrier island off of central Long Island – is one of her favorite places in the world for vacationing and for photography. She enjoys watching figure skating on television when it is on and likes to work around the house and do crafts.
Growing up, Liza was surrounded by artistic expression of all kinds and all her extra-curricular activities involved the arts. She dreamed of being a tight-rope walker in the circus or a ballerina and an author. After seeing A CHORUS LINE on Broadway the summer she turned 12 she became obsessed with dance and music. She studied jazz, ballet and tap and started a career in theater in her early twenties. Over the years injuries and burnout took their toll and she built a new career by taking her photography hobby to a profession.
A fan of figure skating from the 1970’s on, Liza began to attend live skating events with her mother in the late 1980’s when figure skating was entering a boom period. She took her camera with her to the first couple of events she attended. Having little experience with that kind of photography the results were less than stellar. Liza got a super zoom lens, worked on her techniques and soon started getting much better photographs. Early on Liza met the publisher of one of the top skating publications and got his card. She submitted her photographs to him and they were published. She then submitted photo’s to other skating publications, books and programs for publication and began selling prints to skating fans through classifieds in the skating magazines. This all coincided with Liza’s exit from working in theater and dance and she made the transition to working as a professional photographer.
For over a decade Liza worked primarily in the world of figure skating. She viewed herself as a theatrical photographer who happened to be shooting skating, rather than a sport photographer, as she views skating as an extension of dance. She shot at events, tours, shows, pro competitions and amateur competitions throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada and sold her work to skating publications, skating shows and books. She also sold prints of her work to collectors worldwide. Skating is not as popular now and the last event Liza attended was in 2006. Liza’s creative focus now is city scapes, landscapes, still lives, floral and wildlife photography.
Liza discusses her inspiration:
“I think I've really always been very visual; most of my earliest memories are images, mental snapshots of moments or places, and I think I just want to record and share those things that attract me; that I find beautiful, or that speak to me in some way. I've also always been fascinated by old photos. I'm really lucky that both sides of my family have, what I've come to realize is, an unusually large collection of old family photos, some going back to the 1800s. I've recently worked on restoring some of these digitally, and I love to crawl inside of them mentally, to live in them and that long ago world, to see the details of the moment and feel the reality of them. Even old photos of people or scenes not connected to me personally have always fascinated me.
My skating photography has definitely been influenced by the work of the many great theatrical photographers, whose work I saw when growing up attending Broadway shows. Most notably of these is Martha Swope, who was the preeminent Broadway photographer throughout the 70s and 80s. I love how she captured the excitement of Broadway during those golden years, and especially how she captured the color and lighting of musicals. I'm also a huge fan of almost any photo I've ever seen of the Alvin Ailey dance company. I find their work particularly dramatic and photogenic. My own dance background definitely influenced my work, as did the experience I had in school working with theatrical lighting. I definitely preferred theatrically lit skating events, and enjoyed highlighting the connection between dance and skating.
My scenic and landscape work has been influenced by my love of the Impressionist painters. I'd love to visit the Provence region of France someday to photograph where Van Gogh and the other Impressionists once painted. I really like to have a sense of texture to my photos that echoes the texture you might see in paintings. My New York City photos are definitely influenced by my love of New York history, as well as the wonderful, stark black and white photos of New York in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s; the work of photographers like Bernice Abbott and Lewis Hine, as well as by lots of the great paintings from this period. One of my earliest New York City photographic influences was the work of Jacob Riis and his famous book 'How the Other Half Lives'. I first read that book when I was about 13, and his images of the old, rundown, poor immigrant Lower East Side of the turn of the century are never far from my mind, whether I’m behind the lens or not.”
Liza tells us a little about how she works:
“I work mostly straight realistic photography, perhaps with a sort of impressionistic bent. I do like it when my images have a painterly quality to them (the frustrated painter in me, I guess!), and I'm really drawn to shadows, reflections, silhouettes and strong contrast, particularly in Black and Whites. Until recently I've still shot primarily with film, partly as some long-held photographic socio-political old-fashioned stance, I think. Now I continue to use my film backs for real zoom work, like wildlife, but I'm using a 10MP 3x zoom fixed lens digital much of the time for more wide-angle work, and I have to say, I love it! Not having to worry about ‘spending’ film has really freed me up to be way more creative and experimental. I'm currently saving and looking around for a really good digital camera with more megapixels and a greater zoom or detachable lenses.”
Liza started studying photography as a high school senior when she took a photography elective course. She started out using an SLR she rented from the school. Her enthusiasm prompted her parents to give her a camera of her own as a graduation present. It was a completely manual film back Yaschica with 55mm and a 28mm lenses. Liza uses that camera to this day as a back up, and until she started shooting primarily with a digital camera, she regularly used the 28mm lens and the Yaschica in much of her shooting.
In college Liza minored in Photography and majored in Theater. Beyond the photography techniques she learned in college, she is self-taught.
During her years of photographing figure skating Liza had several of her photographs included in two group shows at the Times Square Lobby Gallery in New York City. One of those shows had a focus on images of the performing arts which pleased Liza as she views figure skating as a performing art as an extension of dance.
Creatively Liza has been experimenting with some new techniques and styles recently. She is applying digital technology to her photographs to achieve some exciting results. This involves working in image editing software and experimenting with manipulating contrast, saturation and other variables to edit her photos. She says she is creating hyper reality. Some effect combinations create digital paintings that are intended to echo the look and feel of artists such as Hopper and Cezanne. Others create effects reminiscent of psychedelic rock concert posters of the 60’s and 70’s or give an image the look and feel of authentic vintage photos. In addition, Liza has been expanding her product offerings in her online shop on Zazzle. She has added a line of iPad cases and will also be adding iPhone cases to her CREATIVE CASES product category in the shop.
Over the next few months, in addition to adding more images and products to her Zazzle shop, Liza will be making fine art prints of her photography available on Fine Art America, Imagekind and Redbubble. As well, original prints will be made available through Etsy at some point. Liza would also love to have products featuring her photographs available in some of the many little gift and clothing stores on Fire Island in New York. Liza is also in the planning stages of a couple of exciting joint commercial projects, for which she will be doing the photography.
Liza markets her work under the names Liza Dey and Liza Dey Photography. She currently sells her work through her shop on Zazzle THE FLYING PIG GALLERY. Within that shop she has several product lines that include paper products, listed under The Flying Pig Press; Coney Island products, listed under Dreamland Gifts; and Apple iPad and iPhone cases, listed under Creative Cases. There are many other product categories to browse. Liza also has a Painet stock photo shop.
Liza Dey Photography Website
The Flying Pig Gallery on Zazzle
Liza Dey Photography on Painet
Liza Dey on Absolute Arts
Liza Dey on ArtWanted
Liza Dey on Artist Rising
The Flying Pig Christmas Shoppe on Squidoo
Dreamland Gifts on Squidoo
Join Liza Dey Photography on Facebook
Join The Flying Pig Gallery on Facebook
Follow Liza Dey Photo on Twitter
Liza Dey Photography on Myspace
The Flying Pig Gallery on Myspace
All images Copyright Liza Dey, All Rights Reserved
Written and edited by Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
Liza enjoys reading and is very interested in history, especially the history of New York City. She likes to hike and explore, and Fire Island – a barrier island off of central Long Island – is one of her favorite places in the world for vacationing and for photography. She enjoys watching figure skating on television when it is on and likes to work around the house and do crafts.
Growing up, Liza was surrounded by artistic expression of all kinds and all her extra-curricular activities involved the arts. She dreamed of being a tight-rope walker in the circus or a ballerina and an author. After seeing A CHORUS LINE on Broadway the summer she turned 12 she became obsessed with dance and music. She studied jazz, ballet and tap and started a career in theater in her early twenties. Over the years injuries and burnout took their toll and she built a new career by taking her photography hobby to a profession.
A fan of figure skating from the 1970’s on, Liza began to attend live skating events with her mother in the late 1980’s when figure skating was entering a boom period. She took her camera with her to the first couple of events she attended. Having little experience with that kind of photography the results were less than stellar. Liza got a super zoom lens, worked on her techniques and soon started getting much better photographs. Early on Liza met the publisher of one of the top skating publications and got his card. She submitted her photographs to him and they were published. She then submitted photo’s to other skating publications, books and programs for publication and began selling prints to skating fans through classifieds in the skating magazines. This all coincided with Liza’s exit from working in theater and dance and she made the transition to working as a professional photographer.
For over a decade Liza worked primarily in the world of figure skating. She viewed herself as a theatrical photographer who happened to be shooting skating, rather than a sport photographer, as she views skating as an extension of dance. She shot at events, tours, shows, pro competitions and amateur competitions throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada and sold her work to skating publications, skating shows and books. She also sold prints of her work to collectors worldwide. Skating is not as popular now and the last event Liza attended was in 2006. Liza’s creative focus now is city scapes, landscapes, still lives, floral and wildlife photography.
Liza discusses her inspiration:
“I think I've really always been very visual; most of my earliest memories are images, mental snapshots of moments or places, and I think I just want to record and share those things that attract me; that I find beautiful, or that speak to me in some way. I've also always been fascinated by old photos. I'm really lucky that both sides of my family have, what I've come to realize is, an unusually large collection of old family photos, some going back to the 1800s. I've recently worked on restoring some of these digitally, and I love to crawl inside of them mentally, to live in them and that long ago world, to see the details of the moment and feel the reality of them. Even old photos of people or scenes not connected to me personally have always fascinated me.
My skating photography has definitely been influenced by the work of the many great theatrical photographers, whose work I saw when growing up attending Broadway shows. Most notably of these is Martha Swope, who was the preeminent Broadway photographer throughout the 70s and 80s. I love how she captured the excitement of Broadway during those golden years, and especially how she captured the color and lighting of musicals. I'm also a huge fan of almost any photo I've ever seen of the Alvin Ailey dance company. I find their work particularly dramatic and photogenic. My own dance background definitely influenced my work, as did the experience I had in school working with theatrical lighting. I definitely preferred theatrically lit skating events, and enjoyed highlighting the connection between dance and skating.
My scenic and landscape work has been influenced by my love of the Impressionist painters. I'd love to visit the Provence region of France someday to photograph where Van Gogh and the other Impressionists once painted. I really like to have a sense of texture to my photos that echoes the texture you might see in paintings. My New York City photos are definitely influenced by my love of New York history, as well as the wonderful, stark black and white photos of New York in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s; the work of photographers like Bernice Abbott and Lewis Hine, as well as by lots of the great paintings from this period. One of my earliest New York City photographic influences was the work of Jacob Riis and his famous book 'How the Other Half Lives'. I first read that book when I was about 13, and his images of the old, rundown, poor immigrant Lower East Side of the turn of the century are never far from my mind, whether I’m behind the lens or not.”
Liza tells us a little about how she works:
“I work mostly straight realistic photography, perhaps with a sort of impressionistic bent. I do like it when my images have a painterly quality to them (the frustrated painter in me, I guess!), and I'm really drawn to shadows, reflections, silhouettes and strong contrast, particularly in Black and Whites. Until recently I've still shot primarily with film, partly as some long-held photographic socio-political old-fashioned stance, I think. Now I continue to use my film backs for real zoom work, like wildlife, but I'm using a 10MP 3x zoom fixed lens digital much of the time for more wide-angle work, and I have to say, I love it! Not having to worry about ‘spending’ film has really freed me up to be way more creative and experimental. I'm currently saving and looking around for a really good digital camera with more megapixels and a greater zoom or detachable lenses.”
Liza started studying photography as a high school senior when she took a photography elective course. She started out using an SLR she rented from the school. Her enthusiasm prompted her parents to give her a camera of her own as a graduation present. It was a completely manual film back Yaschica with 55mm and a 28mm lenses. Liza uses that camera to this day as a back up, and until she started shooting primarily with a digital camera, she regularly used the 28mm lens and the Yaschica in much of her shooting.
In college Liza minored in Photography and majored in Theater. Beyond the photography techniques she learned in college, she is self-taught.
During her years of photographing figure skating Liza had several of her photographs included in two group shows at the Times Square Lobby Gallery in New York City. One of those shows had a focus on images of the performing arts which pleased Liza as she views figure skating as a performing art as an extension of dance.
Creatively Liza has been experimenting with some new techniques and styles recently. She is applying digital technology to her photographs to achieve some exciting results. This involves working in image editing software and experimenting with manipulating contrast, saturation and other variables to edit her photos. She says she is creating hyper reality. Some effect combinations create digital paintings that are intended to echo the look and feel of artists such as Hopper and Cezanne. Others create effects reminiscent of psychedelic rock concert posters of the 60’s and 70’s or give an image the look and feel of authentic vintage photos. In addition, Liza has been expanding her product offerings in her online shop on Zazzle. She has added a line of iPad cases and will also be adding iPhone cases to her CREATIVE CASES product category in the shop.
Over the next few months, in addition to adding more images and products to her Zazzle shop, Liza will be making fine art prints of her photography available on Fine Art America, Imagekind and Redbubble. As well, original prints will be made available through Etsy at some point. Liza would also love to have products featuring her photographs available in some of the many little gift and clothing stores on Fire Island in New York. Liza is also in the planning stages of a couple of exciting joint commercial projects, for which she will be doing the photography.
Liza markets her work under the names Liza Dey and Liza Dey Photography. She currently sells her work through her shop on Zazzle THE FLYING PIG GALLERY. Within that shop she has several product lines that include paper products, listed under The Flying Pig Press; Coney Island products, listed under Dreamland Gifts; and Apple iPad and iPhone cases, listed under Creative Cases. There are many other product categories to browse. Liza also has a Painet stock photo shop.
Liza Dey Photography Website
The Flying Pig Gallery on Zazzle
Liza Dey Photography on Painet
Liza Dey on Absolute Arts
Liza Dey on ArtWanted
Liza Dey on Artist Rising
The Flying Pig Christmas Shoppe on Squidoo
Dreamland Gifts on Squidoo
Join Liza Dey Photography on Facebook
Join The Flying Pig Gallery on Facebook
Follow Liza Dey Photo on Twitter
Liza Dey Photography on Myspace
The Flying Pig Gallery on Myspace
All images Copyright Liza Dey, All Rights Reserved
Written and edited by Ruth J Jamieson, All Rights Reserved
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