{Texture Tuesday} Guest Hosted eDition

photo by Barb from Keeping Up With the Time......mouse over to see the before

Hello fellow texture lovers!

It's Barb Brookbank here from Keeping up with the times. Today I am the guest host for Texture Tuesday! An honour beyond my wildest dreams - thank you Kim! You are the sweetest person ever!

This Week's TT Challenge details:

This week's TT theme is free & easy...anything goes...the only requirement is your image must contain at least one layer of any of Kim's textures.

The textured photo that you see today was my submission for the guest post. I picked some delicate grasses that were growing along our dock and after I put them in an old 'Watkins' jar I knew I had the makings for a great TT image.

First I adjusted the exposure and cropped the photo. I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and adjusted the greens to -40 and the yellows to -42. I added one layer of Kim's 'Sunkissed' on soft light at 100% opacity. The quote is by Victor Hugo and the font is DJB Gimme Space by Darcy Baldwin.

Before we start linking up, let's talk next week's Texture Tuesday theme!!

Tuesday, August 7th's TT Guidelines:

As always, the first Tuesday of each month is Not Necessarily Texture Tuesday. What does this mean? So glad you asked! :) This is a chance to link up your fav photo of the month. It can be textured, untextured, edited, unedited.... or even an instagram or phone photo. Fun stuff!

I can't wait to see what all you ultra-talented artists come up with! It will be an extra special week for me and I will be visiting as many of you as I possibly can. I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has visited my blog and left a loving and encouraging comment. This is the best community ever!

Love and hugs from Barb Brookbank - wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, scrapper, artist, and the person behind Keeping up with the Times.

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Big thanks to Barb for hosting this week's TT. Her photo is absolutely breath-taking.... truly....adore.

Please.... leave Barb some love in the comments...and pop on over to her site to say hello..... There's nothing sweeter than a little love and encouragement along the way. Don't you think? :)

happy sigh.....xo, Kim

{Guest Post} Back in Time by Tracey Clark

 Oh my goodness... I'm so excited.....the super talented...always inspiring....  Tracey Clark is here to share with us today! Woo hoo.... Be sure to check out the surprise below her beautiful words and images.

Take it away, Tracey.....

My love affair with photography began in black & white. Before the digital age, you had to make a decision what kind of photograph you wanted to create. For me, it was always black & white. Roll after roll, shooting with a monochromatic palette, I began to actually see the world around me translated through the absence of color. It helped to hone my photographic eye. I became a stalker of light, of shadow, highlights, shade, shape, curve, space, composition and expression. When you remove the color from the image, each of these things becomes even more important. 

Since then, I’ve come to embrace the digital age and have learned to love (and depend on) seeing the shot in color first. After the fact, with the click of my mouse, I can change it on a whim. It’s changed how I see the world. I still see all of the things I saw before only now I have the luxury of choosing how to proceed. Color or black & white? And I usually make my choice on a shot to shot basis. Now, every shot can ask for something unique. Each one tells me what it would like to be. I listen and follow along.

Even still, I am 100% certain that laying my photographic foundation in black & white made me the photographer I am today. I’m not so sure I’d be able to see all of the elements I see, all of the things that make up a strong image, if it weren’t for the monochromatic practice. Would I still know the way the light shapes things and bring them to life, the importance of gesture and expression, the way every part of the frame is a narrative? I’m not sure. I just don’t know if color makes you work hard enough to not only see those things, but also to put them to good use in your images. I guess at this point there’s no real way to tell but I can say that with Picture Black & White, I am eager to shoot with black & white in mind again. I am looking forward to the challenge of going back to basics, of revisiting my beginnings, and reminding myself of where and how my passion was sparked.

Why is it that black & white images from the past stir our souls? Is it just a coincidence that all of the black & white images I cherish feel timeless, classic, and true? I doubt it. Black & white isn’t just where I began in photography; it’s where many of us began experiencing photography, whether by shooting or just by looking at early images. Black & white photography is a part of our history, part of who we are. And no matter how much amazing and awesome technology there is to help us capture life in living color, traveling back in time to where it all began will never get old. 

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Thank you Tracey... I adore your B&W imagery.

Fabulous News

Tracey is offering 3 lucky winners a spot in her upcoming class, Picture Black & White. 

To enter, leave a comment below sharing your thoughts/ideas/experience with Black & White Photography. Be sure to enter your email address in the info box.

The lucky winners will be announced tomorrow evening (May 2nd).

Update on May 2 by Kim Klassen

Thanks so much for your wonderful comments.The winners have been choosen... 

Congrats to Deanna Swauger, Jo Nelson & Donna Hopkins. 

It's not too late to sign up for the class.... pop over to the registration page to check it out.