Thank You!
Well, we've reached the end of our project. Thanks to all of you for your support and kind words. We had so much fun doing this blog and we've loved sharing it with you. Also, a huge shout out and thank you to our friend Sandi who interviewed us about our experience doing this year long project. She worked really hard putting it together--Sandi: we are so appreciative!
Our last theme was to do each other's portraits, so here is our final photo post. Then read on for the fun interview! Thanks again everyone! -Cort and Dina
And just for fun!
Double
Exposure – EXPOSED!
Two Friends
- Two Pictures - One year
I
am blessed to call both of these magnificent artists my friends! It makes me a little blue
to see this project end but I thank you for the close up look at your extraordinary talent. I wish you happiness on your new
beginnings!! There is no hidden
agenda to be found when I pick my favorite pics from Dina – your visual
poetry
was Merry
and Bright and Cort there is
no Getting
Away from Change.
I am honored they asked
me to put this together for them-Sandi
Cort:
The blog started when Dina suggested
that I do another year-long photo-a-day project. I said SHE should a photo
project. I would only do one if she does. But then I thought a collaborative
project would be a nice change of pace for me, but that a photo every day was
overly ambitious, so I suggested a weekly photo, and that we take turns
suggesting themes.
Dina:
I told Cort that I missed seeing his photos since
his 365 project ended. He suggested I do my own project and then he came up
with the brilliant idea of us both doing the 52. I know that my reaction was
pure excitement. I loved the idea of cultivating my creativity and seeing how
each of us would interpret the same theme each week.
Which weekly topic was your
favorite?
Dina:
My favorite topic is so hard to pick. It would
probably be That
was Then, This is Now. I really loved how they both turned out.
Cort:
22. I let my friend Rachel suggest three themes,
and I would pick my favorite. I had NO idea when I picked 22 what I would do,
but I had so much fun with the execution.
Which was your least
favorite?
Cort:
Thanksgiving. I prefer the more conceptual
themes, and I didn't do anything on that holiday that was particularly
photo-worthy. My photo is average at best.
Dina:
My least favorite was probably Detail . I
picked the theme but in hindsight, I wish I would have taken a different photo.
What topic was the most
challenging? Did you ever have photo block? ... like writers block
where the topic was a challenge to the very end.
Dina:
I think Squared
was the most challenging. I didn’t want to just take a picture of a
square. I was having a difficult time
coming up with something. I kept singing
“Baby you’re so square” and that inspired me to take a square picture of the
record. I thought it would be cool, but
I was never sure if it worked, probably because the name of the song was hard
to see.
Half the time I would just float through the week,
hoping that something would jump out at me. I'd think over different ideas or
just hope that something magical would happen.
Often, I had several ideas and just had to see how
life, the weather, time, nature would cooperate. But sometimes I was taking the
photo at the eleventh hour! Crowded , Zig Zag
, Roughing-It and
Fun were last minute photos. And I even chose
Fun! Out of all of these tricky ones, I loved the finished product of zig-zag
the most.
Cort:
Most challenging (and photo block): That
was Then, This is Now.
I struggled with showing the past AND the present in the same photo. I thought
about going in severe different directions until I settled on showing MY past
and present, but the problem is that most of my "past" is in Omaha,
and my "present" is in Kansas City.
Was there a topic you wish you would have done?
Cort:
I wish we did more emotion-based
themes. I really liked doing Loneliness
Dina:
The night sky…stars. That takes a lot of patience,
and knowledge (and warm weather)…it would have been fun to push myself
creatively that way!
Logistics - Do you have any stats on how many people visited your blog?
Dina:
It looks like during the whole project, there were
over 5000 page views. Several of those were our own views, but still, a fun
number!
Cort:
I believe we averaged around 40
views a week, with peaks as high as the 90s.
When it was your turn to pick the weekly theme, did you
already have an idea in your mind of what you wanted to do?
Cort:
When presented the topic, I would
just let it percolate for awhile. I rarely decided right away what I wanted to
shoot. Sometimes I didn't know until I saw something and realized in that
moment it would be perfect for the theme.
Dina:
If something didn't pop into my head right away,
I'd just let the theme percolate in my mind. If nothing was coming to me, I'd
look up the definition to see if that would help. Until I made a decision on direction
for the week, it was ALWAYS at the back of my mind. The theme 22 was one of those where
I counted things all week trying to decide what to photograph. I love that this
project brought photography to the front and center of everyday life.
When it was your turn to pick the weekly theme, did you
already have an idea in your mind of what you wanted to do?
Dina:
Almost always. Sometimes I had several ideas and
just waited to see what would pan out. Often, I would end up going another
total direction. When I picked Sunshine , I
knew I was going to photograph either flowers, or sunlight. At the end of the
week, I was looking through all of my photos and they all just seemed blah. It
hit me then to photograph the moon and I love how it turned out. Sometimes it's
hard for me to think outside the box, so that was fun to do that and all at the
last minute too.
Cort:
A couple times I would have in mind
the kind of photo I wanted to take, and I would pick a theme that would allow
for my concept. More often, I wanted to surprise myself, so I would try NOT to
pre-conceptualize the photos by reverse engineering the theme.
What surprised you about the process/adventure you took together over the last 52 weeks?
Cort:
Boundaries can improve your
photography! When I shot a photo every day for a year, I found myself
struggling to find New
things to shoot, especially towards the end of the project. With THIS project,
I shot so many photos that would not have occurred to me without the limitation
that the photo must fit a particular theme.
Dina:
First, we did all of this just over the phone and
through email. It was fun to be in cahoots in the beginning when we were
dreaming this up. I think I was surprised how important it became in my life,
which I really appreciate because it helped me to really, really look at the
world around me. I also really enjoyed the chance to grow creatively and to
continue to learn my way around my camera. And I was glad to be doing this with
not only a great photographer, but my friend as well.
Do you know how much I enjoyed this every week? Why not continue?
Dina:
It's going to be hard not doing the blog.
Cort:
I'm so glad to hear we had an
appreciative and admiring audience! And as much as I loved this project, all
good things must come to an end. As an artist, you're always looking for a new
paradigm to recharge your creative juices. I have no idea what my next creative
venture will be, but I hope it's as challenging and rewarding as this one!
Describe your co-artist’s
photography style throughout the blog?
Cort:
Cort:
It's always hard for me to describe
a style by putting it into words. Also, our theme selections were so diverse,
that I think it forced us out of a certain style, which for me was kind of the
point. But I can tell from Dina's photos that family and connections are very
important to her.
Dina:
I love Cort's photography, so it was fun to see his
creative mind at work. I think Cort's style is clean and to the point but also
layered at the same time. You see this beautiful and moving image and if you
keep looking, he's taken the photo in such a way that you see something you
missed the first time. I love that his style is clutter free, yet very
multidimensional. He really has an eye for what works and it was so much fun to
see how he would interpret each week's theme. I appreciated the technical aspect
and hard work that went into Cort's Streaks
photo.
Which week of your co-artist/photographer’s
work blew you away?
Dina:
There are so many favorites of his photos, it's
hard to choose; however, I will say that I loved the emotion and feeling that
came through on his That
was Then, This is Now - that one made my heart happy.
Another week that I really enjoyed was his Double photo. I love how he managed to get the moon in the
picture.
Cort's Loneliness photo of the tree was so beautiful, so haunting and
so going to be hanging on my wall some day (Hint, Hint Cort!)
Cort:
My favorite photo of Dina's by far
is Double
I love how the dark clouds frame the cyclists, and they're almost in a halo of
light. I also think that week was one of my stronger photos, so the two of us
really hit it out the park that week!
On your perfect day of
photography bliss - anything is possible (location, equipment, time travel..).
What do you do?
Cort:
Trekking in New Zealand with my
Canon 70D, a couple lenses, and my tripod. That's my dream destination, and I
WILL get there someday.
Dina:
I love my camera and lenses but wouldn't mind a
really serious wide angle for the day and for fun, I'd throw in a lens baby as
well.
In the morning, I would like to be in New York
photographing all iconic things that scream New York.
In the afternoon, I'd love to travel back in time
and photograph my Mom and Dad as young adults. It would be fun to be there
taking the photos that exist today of them as young-ins.
In the evening, I'd like to be in my niece's backyard taking photos of them as the sun set, during the golden hour!
How did photography become
such a large part of your exceptionally talented lives?
Dina:
My dad passed his love of photography onto me. He
is such a talented photographer and I'm so glad that we have such great
photographic memories of our childhood because of him. He also never hesitated
to buy me Cameras ,
even if all I did was take photos of my stuffed animals. So his support and my
love of capturing life for a moment in time have helped fan the flames of my
obsession …errr…I mean, hobby!
Cort:
I fell in love with photography when
I took a black & white film photography class in college. I bought my first
digital SLR Camera in
2008, and went nuts after that.
What have you learned from
this journey?
Cort:
From this journey, I've learned that
it really helps my motivation to get out there and use my camera if I have an
assignment, a deadline, and an audience with an expectation that they'll see a
great photo every week!
Dina:
This journey has taught me that it's good to think
outside the box, to really put some thought into what I am photographing, that
light can make or break a photo and to always carry my camera with me!
Was there a week (or weeks)
that just didn't come out like you planned, but may have come out better than
expected?
Dina:
A tie: The theme Change …I
could not figure out what I wanted to do. I finally decided to just take a
photo of change (coins) and thought, eh, this will be super boring. But I ended
up really loving how the photo turned out and can totally see it hanging in a
home office.
The second was Memories. I
knew that I would be getting together with my extended Turco family and I
envisioned a fun photo of all of us in front of my Nana and Nanu's house. We
took several of those and while they were fun, they just didn't jump out at me.
I couldn't get over how much grabbing the door handle brought everything back
instantly. I snapped a photo of it just on a whim, but when I contemplated what
photo I took that week that would work for Memories, that one was THE one. I'm
so glad I took the photo.
Cort:
Silent Night
did not turn out how I had planned. I wanted there to be snow on the ground,
and the blogger application screwed up the colors, and I couldn't fix it. A
huge disappointment.
The biggest pleasant surprise: Snow.
It's not what I set out to shoot that day. I thought I would get a great wide
shot of the icy creek by my house, but the simple, abstract forms of these
twigs really spoke to me.
Was there a week where
everything went according to plan and turned out exactly like you envisioned
it?
Cort:
The one week when everything went
according to plan, and I got the shot I envisioned, was Streaks.
I had a detailed plan, which took forever to implement, and after some
trial-and-error, I got exactly what I pictured in my head.
Dina:
Yes, the week of Brave . I
chose the theme on Sunday and several ideas were in my head about photographing
brave people I know. Then, that Monday, the Boston Marathon Bombing happened
and so many people were impacted by this horrible tragedy. They lost their
lives, their limbs, sense of peace. They, and the heroes of the day showed such
bravery, I wanted to photograph a flag at half mast, which would be a small way
to pay homage to all those involved. I immediately thought of the very large
flag that flies in front of a mirrored office building in Old
Mill business area. And I knew that I wanted to see blue skies and clouds
reflected in the building. I stopped by in the morning before work and shot
some photos, but the sun was on the wrong side of the building. I went back
after work and the sun was shining, a crazy wind was blowing that made the flag
fly and pushed white clouds across the sky. I couldn't believe that it was the
perfect scene…exactly as I had hoped to photograph it.
What’s next?
Dina:
I
loved the discipline and challenge of a photo project, so I’d love to dream up
another one.
I
also want to keep my personal blog a little more updated.
I
want to photograph as much beauty as I can!
Cort:
Photoshop
World! On Monday I leave for Atlanta for a photography/Photoshop conference. I
get to learn a lot about photography and how to improve it through
post-processing in Photoshop, which is an indispensable tool for me and many
other photographers.
If you're talking about my next big project, I
really want to go on another photography travel workshop. I went to North
Carolina about 4 years ago for a workshop on waterfalls and fall color, and I
learned a TON about nature photography, and came back with some of my most
favorite photos that I've ever done.
