a Photo a Day | March 18 – 24

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

Aaaaalright! I am back and gonna be on a roll! With over a week of blog posts to catch up on buckle down and get ready for a whole slew of photographic blog posts! First up, the long delayed “a Photo a Day” post.

Friday I will be posting last week’s images 🙂

Monday: a Sunshine Moment Studio Wedding Album | Liz + Phil

Tuesday: “Hurting Hands” is a piece I was commissioned to do for the Passion Art Walk, please check out the full blog post (and a larger image) HERE

Wednesday: I was given several bouquets of flowers for my Studio Grand Opening party and they are too much fun to photograph 🙂

Thursday: Sunshine Wedding Album | Kathy + Ryan (full blog post coming soon)

Friday: Citizen Way at Fort Wayne, IN (full blog post coming soon)

Saturday: Citizen Way at Liberty Township, OH (full blog post coming soon)

Sunday: VIP Passion Art Walk Formal Reception (full blog post coming soon)

Starts and Grief

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

This was written yesterday but I only got in WIFI now 🙂

Normally, starts are hard. Lately, they are impossible.

With the loss of my grandma it’s like the creative side of my brain walked out of my head, leaving only a suicide note behind. You might be thinking, “well, that’s not very convincing since you’re writing this perfectly normal blog right now.” Well, this was the only idea I had – sometimes when I can’t write or do anything else I write about the inability to write. I think I’m hoping that by “admitting my problem” I will come out on the other side a whole person again 😉

Bottom line, I’ve learned that no two grieving experiences are alike. However, I have noticed that one thing is the same: I become someone completely different with each loss. This is never a permanent or complete transformation, it’s more like someone else takes over my emotional and mental capacities for a time.

In my first grieving experience I melted into a sort of numb, nothingness. It felt like sleepwalking but with a vague awareness and the ability to access my mental capacities. This form of grieving had everyone fooled – on the outside I appeared to not only be back to normal but to be conquering the world while on the inside I was hollow,

Another grieving experience had me suddenly overridden by worry. Because of this I had a sudden appreciation for worriers. How do they manage to successfully get through the day? I am dumbfounded because in that season worry crippled me.

This time I lost half my brain. I feel as if any words I write are disjointed and confusing and any pictures I take or edit are clinging to what I know for lack of inspiration to go bigger. Every day I wake up hopeful, “today is the day I get my brain back,” only to find less of it there than the day before.

Finally I called my mom – she is a wealth of encouragement and wisdom and did not fail me in this predicament. She simply recommended I cut myself some slack and take a day off. On this day off I’m supposed to do two things: take a mental break and go get inspired. My job is to keep my computer off for a whole day and spend my time leisurely reading, wandering around outdoors, or doing anything else unrelated to my work. To get inspired she suggested taking a trip to the museum. I love that advice and am acting on it today.

Last night I got a call from my father-in-law asking me if I wanted to hitch a ride to see the guys play in Indiana and Ohio. I puzzled over the pros and cons of the scenario and ultimately resolved that, not only would this trip allow me to see Josh play, but it would give me my much needed break. So, this blog is me signing off for the weekend. Wish me luck in my hunt for the rest of my brain 😉

Movie Review | Oz the Great and Powerful

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

I got to see Oz after a decadent meal at The Lucky Monk with Mom and Dad. Quick plug, for those of you who live in the area and haven’t been it is well worth a visit, or two, or five 😉 Anyway, afterwards we all headed over to the theater to take in the seemingly Oz the Great and Powerful. Not a total let down, but it definitely was not what I hoped it would be.

SUMMARY

Oz the Great and Powerful is the bridge between the story of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. Wicked is the story of how The Wicked Witch of the West came to be. Though Oz the Great and Powerful disregards the Wicked story as it paints a different back story for The Wicked Witch of the West it offers a new perspective on how The Wizard of Oz came to be. And finally, in the classic The Wizard of Oz we are given the story of how true balance is restored in the land of Oz by the heroics of a young woman and her band of unlikely friends.

The story of Oz the Great and Powerful starts in Kansas with Oscar Diggs (James Franco) wooing a young maiden. He is a traveling magician for the Baum Bros Circus. Just as in The Wizard of Oz we are taken through the beginning of the story with black and white film in a square format and are thoroughly introduced to key characters and moments immediately. In the short time we are in Kansas with Oscar we are introduced to his major character flaws of womanizing, dishonesty, and selfishness; his blatant abuse and under-appreciation of his assistant Frank; and a key exchange with a crippled girl.

Right after Oscar’s magical performance he is sucked into the heart of a tornado by air balloon. Soon enough the film slowly transitions from black and white to very colorful and from a square format to the traditional wide-screen of today. He immediately meets Theodora (Mila Kunis) and hears of a prophecy foretelling a wizard would fall out of the sky to save the land of Oz. Remaining true to his deceitful character Oscar claims to be this foretold wizard upon hearing he would inherit a throne and a room full of gold. The remainder of the story unfolds from here.

REVIEW

Oz the Great and Powerful is one of those movies that doesn’t really know what it is. Overall, it generally felt like it was thrown together with cheesy humor attempting to be the glue. Everything about this movie screamed of underdone to me: the acting was poor, the plot shallow, a character arc was mostly nonexistent, the cinematography was generic, and the dialogue juvenile.

I hate to criticize acting because it’s almost impossible to tell if poor acting is a result of the actor or if it is because of the directing or screenwriting. Regardless, the performances put on by all the leads, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams, felt more like poor debuts of Hollywood wanna-bes. In this case I think it was a combination of choosing the wrong actors to fill these cheesy comedic roles and poor screenwriting. The only actress who pulls it off convincingly is Michelle Williams, everyone else felt very forced and awkward.

Other than the plot described above the story doesn’t go much farther. All throughout the movie the plot casually and uneventfully walks through Oz collecting characters. There are mild encounters with the other main character shortly after but the only major event in the movie happens at the very end and that even feels lack luster.

Based on the introduction of the self-seeking and lying Oscar I assumed I was in for some character development. Instead, I am left with an itty bitty character arc – in the end, Oscar saves the day but I felt no real victory for his character because it was all without humility and honesty.

Though the film work was impressive, especially in the tornado scene, I found there to be little artistry in it. Unlike my recent experience with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters the use of cinematography in Oz the Great and Powerful stuck to all the basics.

And my final disappointment was with the dialogue – it all fell into cheesy, chatty talk that was of no interest, nor real importance. Because of this none of the characters held any real substance nor could they pull at my heartstrings. However, the exception to this statement is a little China doll. Her character is the only one with a strong personality and her back story combined with her cute wit make her undoubtedly endearing.

CONCLUSION

When I watched the trailer for Oz the Great and Powerful I knew the movie could go one of two ways: one, the whole movie would be as exciting and solid as the trailer or, two, the trailer gave away all the best parts of the movie. My opinion is that this movie did the latter, much to my dismay.

Theater-worthy movies to me are movies oozing with big action and overwhelming cinematography; Oz the Great and Powerful possessed neither. Props to the trailer creator though because they had me fooled enough to get me into the theater. It’s an entertaining movie, but I recommend waiting for it to come out on video before putting in the time to watch it.

a Photo a Day | March 11 – 17

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

First off, I have to admit I only busted my camera out one day this week. I haven’t missed a day since I started my “a Photo a Day” commitment back in December but all of a sudden I was struck by grief for my grandma and simply didn’t care to do anything unless it absolutely needed to be done. I didn’t even take pictures at my Studio Grand Opening Party! Silly me.

One night, however, there was a beautiful sunset, inspiring enough to force me to pull over and record it on camera so today I share with you the sunset from March 12, 2013. What a beauty.

5 Tricks to Productive Self-Employment

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Kaia Calhoun

Over the past couple of years I have learned so much. Period. One of those categories of learning is how to create working habits that inspire my creative and productive juices. Today I will share those tricks with YOU! 😉

Set office hours. This is as much for you as it is for your clients. This is about setting boundaries for you and your clients. This is for you because workaholics need the accountability and permission to stop working and those with a lazy tendency need the push to start working and to keep at it. My boundaries consist of regular work hours M-F 9am – 5pm (this is mainly for phone, email, and meeting purposes), I take a Sabbath on Sundays, and I have date night with the hubs on Monday nights. As far as I’m concerned any other evenings and Saturdays are fair game for photo shoots. It’s ok, in fact it’s important to give yourself a break to have dinner with your family, or take a Sunday Sabbath, or have a date night with your spouse. I have found that my clients like to know I have a life outside of my work and that they can count on me within my office hours because I’ve set those boundaries.
Commit to realistic goals. Give yourself a daily TO DO list that will fill your work day but will also be completed by the end of it. For some of us this means giving ourselves more to do – this way you won’t find yourself surfing the web aimlessly, sitting on Facebook, or going back for more snacks repeatedly. For others of us, like myself, this means giving ourselves less – this way you won’t be working into the wee hours of the night or kicking yourself at the end of the day for not finishing everything you set out to do. At the end of your day you will feel accomplished.
Take breaks. During your work day it is best to take anywhere between 2 – 5 breaks. All of these breaks should involve getting up and walking around a little bit. Personally, I have found I maximize my productivity if I take my first break for about an hour around 1pm to eat, read, walk the dogs, or do something else fun and then to take a succession of smallish breaks ever couple of hours after that until I’m finished for the day. Taking breaks gives your mind a moment to wander freely and potentially problem solve in the process, besides a good leg stretch is a wonderful idea and will ease your increasing restlessness.
Accomplish something small. Ending the day with a sense of accomplishment is ridiculously important. If all else fails during my work day I have found that by walking the dogs, doing the dishes, or cleaning helps me to at least feel productive.
Take time just to be. By taking time to simply sit in the quiet and let your mind wander you will allow your mind to free itself from the web of responsibility and stumble into strokes of brilliance. Haven’t you ever noticed that the best ideas come to you when you are in the shower or driving?