fine art photography « Heartstory: Canberra baby & child photography by Katie Kolenberg

Archive for the ‘fine art photography’ Category

Shine | Canberra portrait photographer

July 17, 2010

In August I will be making a little trip to Cooma to select 40 finalists in the Polo Red 2010 Photographic Prize. This a fantastic new prize open to residents of the ACT and the Cooma-Monaro, Snowy River, Bombala, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley Shires. Ready to hang entries in any photography genre will be accepted during the week of Monday 2 until Friday 6 August 11am – 5.30pm, at the Polo Red Gallery in Cooma. You can enter up to three images and there is a $1250 grand prize up to grabs! Full details can be found on the Polo Red website.

Heartstory

To be a star,
you must shine your own light,
follow your own path,
and don’t worry about the darkness,
for that is when the stars shine brightest.

Tags: award winning canberra portrait photographer, heartstory contemporary portrait photography, photographic prize, photography competition, Polo Red 2010 Photographic Prize, Polo Red Gallery Cooma
Posted in family photography, fine art photography, news | 5 Comments »

Multiple awards at the 2010 Australian Professional Photography Awards!

June 8, 2010

I arrived home last night after nearly five days in Melbourne, most of which was spent at the Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) judging. The judging took place inside the Digital Life expo, a three day event for photographers, designers and those associated with the industry at the Melbourne Convention Centre. As many of you will know, I only joined the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography) in January, and so this was my first time entering and attending the APPAs, and wow, what an experience!

My itinerary also included a heck of a lot of socialising and an insane amount of laughter. I met many new people, and got to spend time with many lovely friends as well. (Oh, and I shopped too, of course! A trip to Melbourne is never complete without shopping!)

And quite apart from the social aspect, I saw some absolutely amazing work, a lot of which was by those I am fortunate enough to call friends. Many of my fellow ‘emerging’ photographers entering for the first time picked up more than one award for their prints, and it was all just so exciting to watch and be a part of. Congratulations to all of you gorgeous, clever people, including those who didn’t make it over that frustrating ‘79′ – you are all winners in my eyes!

Those of you who follow my facebook page may have have noticed a few excited status updates from the judging, but for those who don’t, I’m so thrilled and happy to share with you that I was awarded three silver awards for the three prints I entered! The first two were in the Illustrative category, and third was in Portrait (the same image I got a silver for at the state awards earlier in the year). There is a new category in the APPAs called Family, which is all about the every day work of photographers who specialise in photographing babies, children and families – it was fascinating to watch the judging of that category and I will definitely be entering it next year.

Katie Kolenberg {ACT AIPP Epson 2010 Emerging Photographer of the Year}

So for anyone reading this who:

has never been a part of the AIPP APPAs or state print awards
is just getting into photography and looking for inspiration
wants to see some amazing work that you would never ordinarily get the chance to see
wants to learn and network with other photographers
is about to make the leap into professional photography…

Let me urge you to go along to next year’s APPAs (which I believe will be in Sydney) and watch the judging. Treat yourself to three days of total immersion in the professional industry. It’s fascinating, inspiring, educational and a whole heap of fun. I am already looking forward to 2011!!!

Tags: AIPP, AIPP ACT Epson Emerging Photographer of the Year, APPAs, Australian Professional Photography Awards, canberra baby photographer, canberra child photographer, canberra family photographer, Canberra illustrative photographer, canberra portrait photographer, Melbourne APPAs 2010
Posted in fine art photography, news, portrait photography | 10 Comments »

Sublime | Canberra photographer

May 1, 2010

I’ve always been a nature lover, despite the fact that I spend a good part of my life these days sitting at a computer. There is nothing quite like the feeling of standing before a beautiful natural landscape. It reminds me of how insignificant I really am, and I mean that in a good way! It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the tiny details of our lives and trapped in destructive thought processes that rule the every day; we all do it. But I know if I can just take a moment to step out of myself and just ‘be’ with the sublime energy of the natural world that everything else melts away, and I’m filled with peace and inspiration. Now, if I could just find a way to bottle that feeling!

We recently took a much needed little family break to Jervis Bay, my favourite place on the NSW South Coast. It was a beautiful four days and I didn’t want to come home at the end of it. I took lots of photos, and here is a little taste. I promise there will be more to come soon.

I have never fished, but I imagine it’s a pretty amazing feeling, especially the way this guy was doing it, completely surrounded by the raw power of the sea.

Heartstory {landscape photography}

Tags: ACT AIPP Epson Emerging Photographer of the Year, canberra landscape photographer, canberra portrait photographer, jervis bay photography, landscape photography, sublime nature
Posted in fine art photography, landscape photography, my life | 1 Comment »

Silver! | Canberra portrait photographer

March 30, 2010

On Sunday and Monday I did something I’ve never done before: I attended the judging for the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography) state print awards in Sydney (combined ACT/NSW). For the first time, I entered four prints and I am so happy and excited to tell you that I received three silver awards! Such an amazing buzz and a wonderful, inspirational learning experience; to have my work judged by some of ACT and NSW’s top photographers (people I admire and respect so much), and to be present to see so much extaordinary work by so many talented artists.

Here are my award winning images:

Katie Kolenberg {Canberra illustrative photographer}

Katie Kolenberg {Canberra portrait photographer}

Tags: AIPP awards, AIPP print awards, Australian Institute of Professional Photography awards, award winning photographer, Canberra illustrative photographer, canberra photographer, canberra portrait photographer, silver award
Posted in baby photography, fine art photography, my life, news, portrait photography | 21 Comments »

Beauty | Canberra photographer

February 25, 2010

It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.

I doubt there are many people who wouldn’t remember that quote, even if they’re not sure exactly where they heard it. I came across it again recently, and I can still remember how it made me feel when I heard it for the first time.

When our hearts are open, beauty is easy to see…

Purple

Yet when we’re hurting and we want to hide, we hardly notice it. It’s still there, though… and if we can just still our minds for a minute and open our eyes, we’ll see it, and everything else will melt away.

24.02.2010

Tags: canberra baby photographer, canberra child photographer, canberra fine art photographer, canberra photographer, canberra portrait photographer
Posted in fine art photography, iphoneography | 1 Comment »

January in photos: day 21

January 21, 2010

Today was all about friendship.

The beautiful colours in the bouquet that my colleagues gave me at my work farewell today perfectly represent friendship to me; warmth, connection, joy, passion, laughter and conversation.

I am so grateful for all the wonderful friendships in my life, both old and new.

21.01.2010

Posted in fine art photography, my life, personal projects | 1 Comment »

Beautiful bokeh | Canberra photographer

October 25, 2009

My photographer buddies all know how much I love my 100mm macro lens. I mean, I really love it. The bokeh it is capable of producing is full of the most amazing patterns and texture. For the non-photographers, bokeh is the ‘blurry’ part of a photograph–in a photo where one part is in focus but everything behind or in front is out of focus. Macro lenses, telephoto lenses and high quality lenses with wide apertures generally produce the best bokeh.

Here is proof…

[all taken at the Botanic Gardens in September]

Painted bokeh

The last one is my favourite. What’s yours?

I am going to be making prints of some of my macro work available for sale in 2010. Drop me a line if you’re interested.

Oh, and before I forget AGAIN, katphoto has a facebook page! I’ve had it for ages, and have neglected to mention it on here. So if you’re on facebook, you can find the page here.

Posted in fine art photography, personal projects | 8 Comments »

A beautiful misty morning | Canberra photographer

September 3, 2009

I am very excited to tell you that I’m a finalist in the Centro Smile Photo Competition, and I could really do with your vote! By placing a vote, you also go in the running to win a $5000 shopping spree. Go to www.smilephotos.com.au and select ACT Tuggeranong Hyperdome (which is the centre I entered at), and then my photo is #1 (Little Aussie). If you’re in Canberra, you can vote in person by going into the Hyperdome where the finalists are displayed in an exhibition. I would appreciate it so, so much!

This is the photo (you might remember it from my January Photo a Day project!):

Spring has sprung, but it’ll be a month or two yet before it warms up in the Nation’s Capital. I took these shots a couple of weeks back on a beautiful, misty, dewy Canberra morning. And let’s not forget freezing cold too! It was my hubby who pointed out the sun rays peeking through the mist and shining right onto a dew laden spider web on a pile of tree cuttings in our backyard. I ran to the bedroom and threw some clothes on (it was early and I was still in my PJs), grabbed my camera and 100mm, and was pretty much outside in five seconds flat. I shot and shot and shot until my fingers were completely numb. It was fantastic!

I was so happy to capture such a magical moment: it’s not often you get direct sunlight shining straight onto a dewy web while also surrounded by mist!

I hope you enjoy looking at these as much I as I enjoyed taking and processing them.

If you click on the smaller ones, you can go through to flickr and see a bigger version with much more detail.

Tags: canberra nature photographer, canberra photographer, canberra portrait photographer, centro smile photo competition finalist, dew and mist photos, misty morning in canberra, spider web photos
Posted in fine art photography, news, personal projects | 7 Comments »

A recent project | Canberra photographer

August 14, 2009

I’m been terrible with keeping my blog up to date lately.

There has been a lot going on this year and I find it hard to keep up with the many, many demands on my time in the way I would like to. I’m very, very close to finally graduating from my graphic design degree. I started it in 2001, and have been studying part time (with many breaks in between to get married, travel and become a mum) ever since. It’s a very intense course; nothing at all like a normal university degree. Also, it’s four years, rather than the usual three. Anyway, I’m doing my final two units at the moment, and will be done at the end of October.

I’ve been meaning to post some of my design work for ages, but I haven’t gotten around to it. Today I thought I would share some photography I did for a recent project. It’s a bit different to what you normally see on my blog, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. The project was an annual report for a botanic garden. I wanted to do something different, so I chose black and white photography. Stripping away colour is a beautiful way of highlighting form, texture and pattern. It makes each plant appear so much more more interesting and delicate. I also removed each ‘object’ from it’s natural environment and photographed on a white background (using natural light only) to further enhance the intricacy of each detail (and also so I had some really creative options for page layout!). I wanted my images to be slightly reminiscent of traditional botanical drawings, but with an atmospheric, contemporary edge.