~ Please Note ~

Unless otherwise noted, all photographic images in this blog are the sole property of Kim L Branson and therefore may not be copied or used in any way without expressed permission by the owner. Thank you.

Welcome to CLIQUE!

I can trace my love of photography back three generations, to the early 1900s and my paternal great-grandfather, Henry Mattson. I have a really cool photo that he took of the old family homestead in Minnesota, sometime before 1910. According to family history, Grampa Mattson frequently took photos of his world - the people and places that he loved.

It warms my heart to know that this love of photography didn't skip any generations as it passed down to me! I am blessed to have such a legacy and I hope to pass it on to my own children and grandchildren some day.

I experience a physical and spiritual thrill whenever the Lord shows Himself in His marvelous creation around us and in the people I meet. My dream vacation would be to spend a year or two just traveling around the US, stopping at little out of the way places and photographing the interesting characters and the beauty of nature to be found along the way - those things that draw me closer to GOD and help point others to Him, too.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Texture Tuesday ~ The Gratitude eDition Returns

There are many things I am grateful for this holiday season and one of them is my dear friend and Sister-in-Christ, Jess Jennings. Jess and I first met several years ago when we attnded the same church. We were both avid scrapbookers and our friendship grew from the twice-a-month crops held at the church. Quite often, Jess and I and the hostess of the crops (a mutual dear friend) would remain till the wee hours of the morning - not working on our layouts, but in deep discussion about life, families, the Lord...

Time passed and Jess and I kind of drifted apart for a few years - not due to anything negative, but our lives just took different paths for a season.  Just within the past year, Jess and I have reconnected and what a blessing! Though we no long attend the same church, nor do we gather at scrapbooking crops, we are still connected through our relationship with Jesus Christ -- and our love of photography! While I wasn't looking, Jess has really developed her skills and creative talents as a portrait photographer and she is in high demand.

This past Saturday, she invited me to come up to a church camp where she had scheduled several families to get their Christmas portraits done.  I have been to this location several times over the last 20 years or so and it's always a lovely place to visit. However, I'd not been there in winter and happily agreed to swing by to visit with my friend, as well as try to get some nice winter landscapes :) The following seven photos were taken that day and the first one shows Jess doing her thing - shooting a lovely family out on the lake at the Birchwood Camp in Chugiak Alaska. **Note - it was the parents' idea to be photographed without coats!



Straight out of Camera


Formula:

* Cropped photo to 8 x 10
* Added layer adjustment
* Duplicated photo and set to SOFT LIGHT
* Added Kim Klassen's MusicLovin - OVERLAY 35%
* Added Kim Klassen's SeriousMagic - LINEAR DODGE 65%
* Added clipping mask I made
* Added text - Hello Sark & Century Gothic fonts








Be sure to visit Texture Tuesday at  Kim Klassen Cafe to see the lovely and creative images submitted for this week's challenge!

~ klb

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Texture Tuesday ~ the "And Then Some" eDition

It's been awhile since I've participated in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday *or* posted here in the blog. Life sometimes gets in the way of doing the things we long to do...  The challenge this week was to use at least one layer of Kim's "And Then Some" texture on our photo. I chose the image of a daisy field because winter has finally hit our area and after two days of snow and cold, I felt the need to work on a cheery photo!

Oct 30, 2011 @ 8:57 am
SooC

Formula
* Cropped original photo to 8 x 10, 300dpi
* Did hue/sat and birght/contrast adjustment layers
* Added Kim's "And Then Some" texture - Multiply @ 75%
* Added Kim's two layers of Kim's "Back In" texture - Soft Light @ 75%; Multiply @ 75%
* Added clipping mask using grunge brushes by Meth (brusheezy.com
* Added text using PetraScript and Arial fonts.

TFL and be sure to check out all the creative entries at Kim Klassen Cafe :)

~ klb