Hey Mike.. finally got back to ya...I'm enjoying it too and always learning. I get your point about the plug ins. Beleive me I have them all but only use them on occasion. I've been using ps for about 10 years so I'm over using them for a quick thrill. lol

Oingo Boingo! You're making sense. I so agree. Talent is talent, whether its our fav kind of music or not. Also, some of the music we might like we secretly know is really junk but its fun anyway. So there are different degrees of any of the arts. The important thing is that somone is making an artistic endeavor. Really, I do beleive that art is alive in everyone. It's the struggling to express yourself, whether its music, writing, painting, photography or even things like welding or landscaping. It's in everything that man can do. I think its also the desire to make others happy, to inspire them. I don't think any of us can claim that our talent is special to us. We all have something to give in different ways. We should look at masters like Leonardo da Vinci or Ansel Adams, but we shouldn't try to give what they gave. It was inside them. We have to find out what's inside us and get it out so to speak.. lol When we look at others works, it helps us to
narrow down our likes and dislikes.

You are an artist... no one can think of that scene of mother and child and not be. Even if she was already posed that way, you had to see it for what it was and recognize that it is beautiful. Everyone feels, but those who strive to be artists feel more intensly. Everyone is capable i think but that strong desire to create comes from inside and some people don't open their hearts to even know its there inside them. It's sad. Everyone in this forum takes and gives, we are all like in a special club. The club of people who know there is special beauty that screams to be shown. We want to show it because we are the ones who are aware of it.

Some day soon I hope to fix up my spare room as a studio so I too can struggle with portraits and models (mine will have to be friends). When I do, the one thing I'm gonna ask myself about my model is " What do I want to say about them?" Then, like you, I'll go about trying to say it so that others can hear.
I love that little saying of yours about luck happening when you are prepared for the situation. Isn't that why we call our finds Photo ops? We are opportunists, like theives are. But that's what keeps us thrilled with living and we are so lucky to know that there is something we are looking for and trying to get.

I'll end by saying ...Quit trying to get my Garden image!

here's proof! ---->
Quote Originally Posted by darkman
Hi Kit,
I'm still struggling to get your "garden" image. I would want to own it.
Mike
tysk tysk Mike...

Kit :P