Sanctuary - An Image for my Book Series

"Sanctuary" developed very quickly. Shoot, composite, save. Some images just flow ;)

What is your sanctuary? What is the place where you feel like you can lose yourself, where you feel safe, and where you lose track of time? I chose a book for my image because stories, foreign countries, their geography, new characters and their biography make my mind travel and time fly. Especially during the most unstable or more difficult periods in my life I clung to books because they provided a constant, allowed me to pass time in foreign lands, and life stories different to mine. While I still refer to books as steady companions, photography more often than not substitutes reading. This is the main reason why I called this portfolio Dreamworlds - on a small scale, the images take you away into far away lands and unknown stories. I hope you like it and I hope you share a little bit about your sanctuaries!

In addition to the image I also have a VIDEO for you! Enjoy!

A Book Lover's Image

My latest image reflects a big love of mine - books!! Just the mere smell (yes, i know it sounds strange...) of a new book makes me happy. The quote I picked to accompany this piece is so true:"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies." The many characters, worlds, and lives you get to explore when reading a book.....isn't it amazing? What are my favorite genres? I have no idea. Everything I guess. Ok, I take that back. I don't read cheesy love novels (even though I had this LuAnn Rice phase in my life...) nor do I find books on how to assemble model planes all that interesting. You get the idea.

So, here is my photographic nod to all the book lovers out there. I intend to do a series of images involving books. For this image I picked a vintage version of an English poetry book and it will probably pop up again in future images - my trusty antique book ;) It even has a very cute dedication from 1956 on its first page. I have another image in the pipes, featuring this book, but it is not quite ready yet.

The Sorceress - Die Zauberin

My latest image..."The Sorceress"! I shot the "components" (so to speak) last autumn with a dear friend of mine but it took a while to complete. I had a specific idea in mind but it wasn't until some time ago that the final piece corresponded more with the message I had envisioned. Maybe it still doesn't...who knows ;)

As always, I don't want to write an essay about the message behind the image.  Everyone should find their own meaning and interpretation. I did, however, think along the lines of creating something out of nothing - may it be the life you want to live, thought patterns.........or, hahaha, a great dress on a photo shoot without having a dress ;)

It is in OUR power to make changes, create new thought patterns, change direction in our lives whenever we want. In the end, it is not up to somebody else or some invisible force, but everything is in our own hands and can be created, done, changed by ourselves. Therefor, "The Sorceress" is a strong individual that finds strength within themselves to create what they want and how they want.

This time I do not have a speed edit for this image but............a few behind-the-scenes shots from our autumn day in a field ;) I hope you enjoy!

my model, looking a bit lost; me and her trying to create "the dress"; shooting the props.

First Speed Edit Video!

I have always loved to check out speed edit videos on YouTube or Vimeo and therefore always wanted to create one myself. HERE IT IS!

Speed edits give you a look behind the scenes and show how many steps go into some images. For fellow photographers this is interesting for obvious reasons. Viewers of images often only see the end result and either like the piece or not. Few know how these images were created.

Now that I learned how to record my screen and use the editing software, there is nothing stopping me from making these videos more frequently. Also in this first one, I present a new piece. I hope you enjoy!

I use www.nchsoftware.com for recording and editing. The song is by Jess Penner and was provided by www.noisetrade.com.

Full size image here !