Brandi calls herself a “craftepreneur,” a mix between crafter, artist, photographer and businesswoman. She owns and manages a gallery inside The Piazza at 2nd and Hancock Streets, she teaches classes on digital organization and basic photo editing, she does custom scrapbooks, refinishes and repurposes household furniture and housewares and in her free time still enjoys taking pictures and being crafty! She loves her family, travel, roller skating, board games and cheese. She’s found that with growth and exploration come setbacks and mistakes, but has also found that that’s what life is all about, and that living in the moment, learning from every experience is what makes life so wonderful. And it brought her to Philly, which she loves.

But yes, she misses the ocean.

Picnik: When did you hear about Picnik, and when was that?

Brandi: I heard about Picnik in the late fall of 2008, through Smug Mug. As a photographer, Smug Mug has not only been an amazing tool for storing and showcasing my pictures – It helped me find YOU.

How has Picnik changed your life?

Picnik changed my life by allowing me to “layer” several creative aspects of myself into my art/photography. The reason Picnik changed my life more than any Photoshop or desktop software ever could is that Picnik is web based, real time and easily accessible. With the Picnik/SmugMug combination, I can be working on projects at home or at the gallery without having to lug my computer around from place to place. Most importantly it leaves me very little delay when getting back to customers. I wouldn’t ever want to say “I’ll have to get back to you – that’s on my computer at home”. I am a right here, right now kind of person… As all service-driven businesses should aim to be! I do wish I could pay for some additional storage in my history tab – I have well over 999 pieces of art that I have created on Picnik and as I keep creating – I upload them to client galleries online, however It is awesome to have them at my fingertips in Picnik. Is that in the future? Is there a desktop version in the works?

Rocky or The Philadelphia Story?

Rocky. hands down. And, P.S. it’s the only statue that has people posing with it at 3 and 4 in the AM!

You describe yourself as an artist. Did photography lead you to art, or has art led you to photography?

The term artist, to me, represents someone who can take something (paint, chords, educational material, dance moves, sandwich ingredients) and turn it in to something that is meaningful for someone else. Something that becomes open to interpretation. Something that makes a difference by enriching our own lives and the lives of others.

What do you use to shoot with?

I shoot with a Nikon D90 DSLR and a Canon G9 for everyday use. There are a couple of things that most any/all of my friends know about me: I always have a camera and I LOVE cheese, olives and peanut butter. Not together, silly!

Your illustrations evidence the fun that’s to be had experimenting in Picnik and layering effects, text, shapes, etc. How long do you usually spend on a piece?

Picnik has limitless possibilities with regards to creation of artwork – I normally spend between 10 and 30 minutes on a piece of work – And then a couple of days making new versions and revisions based on clients suggestions. 

Mannequin or Witness?

Mannequin.

What did you like most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like most about it now?

The first thing I liked about Picnik was the catch phrases that you Picnikers use when the program is loading. Clever – It tuned me in and made me want more! Laying Blanket, Watering Grass. Genius. The thing I like most about it now….the ability to lock layers, add effects and not make changes – Having custom artwork that CANNOT be duplicated is priceless to my business and a value to my clients unlike any other. You wouldn’t want to show up at a cocktail party wearing the same dress as your sister in law, right? Well, I wouldn’t want to go to someone’s home and see the same piece of art on the wall :) {minor explanation required – I do offer poster & archival prints of my non- custom work. Work that I create on my own.}

If anything on Picnik could be named after you, what would it be?

If I could have something named after me on Picnik – It would Posterize. I would call it Brandify. This is a term that my clients tend to use when sending me a picture to make art out of…they just say “Hey, can you Brandify this”. It feels good.

Where’s the best place to get a cheesesteak in Philly?

The best cheesesteak for me, can be found on South Street at Jim’s Steaks.  Order it Wit. Take your cholesterol meds later!

We here at Picnik HQ have actually been following his Flickr stream for months, where his photographs of gleaming 18-wheelers, incredibly dirty faces, and wide, “Tatterland” vistas certainly stood out in our Flickr Picnikers group. A lot of his photos are of big trucks with Vibrance effects, but sometimes a little baby in Black & White and Vignette. You get the tough guys looking rugged and mean with HDR-ish over top, but also the tough guys hamming it up with Gooify and Orton-ish. Each picture stands out and it’s obvious that “Trucker Dude” enjoyed taking every one of them. Plus, they actually are really good photographs: well-composed, well-set up, well-lit, well-edited, and each has a personality, tells a story, and actually is worth a thousand words. So we couldn’t wait to get in touch and make him our 14th Featured Picniker!

Picnik: When did you hear about Picnik, and when was that?
Trevor: I honestly can’t remember. Someone had recommended it to me over on Flickr, I believe, bout a year and half ago. Been kind of an addict ever since.

How has Picnik changed your life?
Picnik has opened many new doors for me that were previously unavailable. There were lots of things I wanted to do with a photograph and could not before I found Picnik. Now that I have a better grasp of the terrain it’s still like a grade school show and tell. From day to day I find something new I can do with it I had not ever considered trying before. Even to this day I’m still finding new ways to manipulate shots I had not considered before. A new toy I can afford and stimulate my imagination as it were.

How did you get interested in photography?
It was an on line friend of mine that drew me into photography. A professional based out of Portland OR. as I understand it. Originally I had started shooting pictures around my place of work with the intention of showing a few driver and blogger buddies of mine a different perspective of the trucking industry. When he (Sean) took notice of a few of my better photos he began giving me pointers and tips. From there it had kind of become a personal challenge, to see what I could do with his tips and my then itty bitty Kodak Easy Share digital. Later he had invited me into a photo competition he was hosting, and the entire experience just kind of sucked me in. Soon after the competition I’d upgraded to a high quality camera, and set out, bent on learning how to use the new camera, and ways to manipulate (like Picnik) my photos into resembling more what it was I saw in my head while setting up a shot.

What do you use to shoot with?
Currently I am using a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, fitted with a 18-55mm lens.

You (hilariously) call your children “Heathen Progeny”. Explain.
I was trying to think of a story to put that into better context, and for the life of me I can’t seem to settle on any single one (Though there was that little toilet plunger incident yesterday morning that now seems somewhat and disturbingly lodged in the forefront of my mind). I guess the best way to say it is; Gosh, they sure are an awful lot like their dad when he was their age.

South-eastern Idaho is not a place many associate with cramped, claustrophobic views. How does living in such an incredibly wide-open space help or hinder your photography?
That’s an interesting question. In the last five years the population here has quite nearly doubled. Idaho Falls is still a far cry from anything that one might consider a thriving metropolis, but it is nothing like I remember growing up. Lots of development, lots of expansion. It’s still a small town that depends largely on agriculture and the government nuclear reactor/test facility out on the Arco desert to survive, but I honestly have started feeling a little crowded the past few years. As far as a hindrance, I can’t really think of much off the top of my head. I do enjoy looking at photographs of big city skylines, so called urban jungles, and other images of that nature, but as much as I like them, there is no way for me to duplicate them. I suppose there fascination to me revolves largely around them being such a foreign landscape. They simply don’t exist here. We’ve got kids zipping around on bullet bikes and souped up Subaru’s, but as far as sky scrapers the closet thing that compares is our water tower. As for help. My favorite photograph subject is of course big rigs. And honestly nothing says “Wide open truckin” like the back drops I can find around here. A few minutes driving up to Swan Valley, or out onto Antelope Flats, and I have nothing but a perfect back drop of rolling farm fields, woodlands, or snow capped mountains to add to the entire experience.

What did you like most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
What I liked about it first. Options. I remember the first time I tried it I immediately noticed and clicked on Orton-ish. My response had been something like “Holy crap, that is cool.” I’d be lying if is said my eyes did not glow a bit when I looked up to see just what it would cost for a premium membership. What I like most about it now is, well, Options. I’ve been using Picnik for a good long while now, and it never seems like there is that feeling of being backed into the proverbial “I’ve milked this one for all it’s worth” corner. Even now there are several options available that I have not yet tried.

Your photos vary mostly between portraits and trucks. What’s easier to photograph: hardened truckers or speeding 10-ton big-rigs?
The big rigs are quite possibly the single most photographer friendly subjects I have ever shot at. Typically they are pretty easy to please, and they don’t normally complain. If I’m trying to do something like a long exposure and I say “Okay, hold still”, they will usually do it. If they are out on the road eating asphalt, it’s still not to hard to get them to cooperate. We both know where the highway is, and we are both pretty convinced that the rig is going to follow that line. It’s especially easy when they have been left in my care (and I guess that’s just one of the perks to my job). On any given work day a number of rigs will simply be dropped off and left for me to run through the bays. This presents me with an opportunity to park them wherever I see fit once we have cleaned them up. If a few pictures happen in the aftermath, well…Who’s going to mind. And I think for the most part the drivers are pretty easy to get along with as well.

This background in fine art has definitely informed her photography, as she considers herself more of a photographic artist than a photographer since her real passion finds its expression in tuning her images with artistic effects, which is readily evident perusing her Flickr photostream. Collage, Cinemascope, Cross Process, and a fair amount of Reala 400 (a preset Curves effect in the Advanced section of Create), each one of her photographs is exquisitely turned out, whether brides, expectant mothers, children, or chihuahuas in shades. And all this using Picnik, and for her business as well! We were all so impressed we just had to pick her for our lucky 13th Featured Picniker.

Picnik: When did you hear about Picnik, and when was that?
KrisD: Last year through Flickr and my friend Charla of CharlaBlue Photography or maybe I told her about it; I can’t remember.

How has Picnik changed your life? 
I love the diversity of actions!  The software is so easy to use and you get beautiful, dramatic, professional results!

How did you get interested in photography?
I guess I’ve always liked taking photos; recently someone I knew from high school said they remember me always carrying a camera around. In 2000 my husband and I traveled to Europe, and the landscapes were so inspirational; we would try to out-shoot the other.  It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I considered it as a career. I have to thank my sister Karlee and best friend Charla for motivating me; they both showed me you just have to go for it! 

What do you use to shoot with?
Canon DSLR’s- I have 3. My 1st DSLR was the Canon 40D. I shot my 1st wedding last year. Within the first 3 minutes my 40D malfunctioned; luckily I’d rented a back-up! The next day I bought 2 more DSLR’s for back-ups — Canon 10D & Canon D60.  I love all of them! My next DSLR will be the Canon 5D Mark II!  

You do weddings, kids, portraits, puppies and more. What’s your favorite subject?
I love them all. I shoot so many subjects because it keeps my interest. If I were to choose my favorite — I would say pregnancy sessions! I think pregnant woman are beautiful and I love capturing them at this special moment in their life.

What did you like most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now? 
I loved the variety of actions. Picnik works so well integrating many other online formats. I use Picasa, Flickr, Facebook and everything is available through Picnik!

What’s easier: babies or animals? 
Babies and animals — hhmm… It really depends on the moment; both can be challenging, but then there are the good days when it all just seems to work and you get a portfolio of great shots!

If anything on Picnik could be named after you, what would it be?
Reala 400!!! It’s bold, vibrant and dimensional; kind of like me.

California’s got a lot of varied locations to photograph in: cities, beaches, mountains, deserts, small towns, ranches, farms, movie lots… If you had to choose one, which would you pick?
I’d choose right where I am now. I get to shoot a city on the beach with mountains in the background; I have it all here!

With a regular procedure to his photos of importing his Raw files into iPhoto, using Canon Digital Professional to adjust white balance where needed and convert to jpegs, then uploading the jpegs into Picnik, editing, and saving directly from Picnik into Flickr, his Flickr stream, and activity in the Flickr Picnikers group, is constantly updated with pictures of his family, landscapes, flowers and plants, toys, animals, and the occasional bottle of whiskey. And yet he feels that he is only beginning to learn about photography, composition and exposure, and that portraits, landscapes, macro, B&W and abstracts, he wants to learn all of them. So of course, such a talented Picniker and enthusiastic learner is an ideal choice for our twelfth Featured Picniker!

He first heard about Picnik last summer, while using Flickr, clicked on the Edit Photo button, and was surprised to see, “Cueing bird songs… Stealing picnik basket…” An experience he wouldn’t forget. Having always had fun with photography, he started taking digital pictures when his son was born, and found Flickr as a place to store them. But on Flickr, he saw all the other people who use it and what splendid pictures they’ve taken, and, sighing over everyone’s pretty landscapes, cool abstracts and interesting portraits, he thought he’d like to take photos like that as well. And Picnik has changed the way he takes photos, as he now always keeps potential image processing in mind as he shoots.

Using a Canon EOS Kiss X2 (called a Digital Rebel XSi/450D in North America), he says that he’s trying to learn a lot about photo presentation. Color isn’t necessarily anything he’s trying to stick to, and that he’d also like to try black and white photography (which is very difficult!), but that Picnik is indispensable for providing the process for creating a mood and atmosphere in his photos, and not just with color. With color though, most recently he’s enjoyed the unexpected colors he gets playing around with Tint.

Hideki often uses a combination of Film Grain with light Noise, and then exposure and brightness adjustment. A feature that did those things all at once he’d like named for himself. He loves Picnik’s user interface, and the ability to save to Flickr, which he finds extremely helpful. He started out using Picnik with Orton-ish as his favorite effect, but lately has preferred Tint and Cross Process.

Hideki tells colleagues at work what an amusing site Picnik is. He gave a Premium account to his wife as a present, and recently even his 8-year-old son has become interested in it, watching as Hideki uses Picnik, telling him things like “A darker color would be cooler!” or “Let’s do dots!” and then grabbing the mouse from him using Picnik himself. That he can do that, Hideki credits Picnik’s user-friendly interface, which has a lot of charm for children. Hating crowds, he finds that even living in a place with ordinary scenery, with nothing like the Grande Canyon or the Mongolian grasslands, he can, in an easygoing way, take beautiful photos of the urban and natural settings where he is, and that big cities like Tokyo and Osaka are only a small part of Japan.

Picnik: How did you hear about Picnik, and when was that?
Picnikをいつ、どのように知りましたか？

Hideki: 去年の夏、Flickrで。何気なしに “EDIT PHOTO”のリンクをクリックしたら、
　Cueing bird songs…
　Stealing picnik basket…
とても驚きました :) 最初にPicnikを目にした時のことは忘れられませんね。

How has Picnik changed your life?
どのように、Picnikはあなたの生活を変えましたか？

写真を撮るのももちろん楽しいですが、撮った写真を編集/加工していろんなイメージを作っていくのもとても楽しいです。Picnikを知ってから、撮った写真を編集/加工する楽しみを覚えました。最近ではどんなイメージに加工するのかを思い浮かべながら写真を撮るようになりました。

How did you get interested in photography?
写真撮影にどのように興味をもちましたか？

息子が生まれた頃からデジタルカメラで家族写真を撮り始めました。
それらの写真を保存しておく場所としてFlickrを使い始めたのですが、そこで色々な人達が撮った素晴らしい写真をみていて、自分もこんな写真を撮ってみたい、と思うようになりました。ため息が出るほど奇麗な風景写真、クールな抽象写真や味わい深いポートレート。。。

Color is one of the strongest elements in your photos. Is color the reason you pull out your camera or is it accidental?
4.色は、あなたの写真で最も強い要素のうちの1つです。色があなたをカメラへ引き寄せる理由ですか？　それともそれは偶然ですか？

写真表現について、いろいろと勉強して試しているところです。特別に「色」にこだわっている訳ではなく、白黒写真 にも挑戦してみたいと考えています(白黒写真はとても難しいですね!)。
色に限らず、形や空気感など、常に自分が心地よく感じるものを作ろうと努力しています。そして、それを作っていく過程の心地よさを提供してくれているPicnikは今の自分には欠かせない ツールです。
色に関して言えば、最近はTintエフェクトなどを試していて偶然気に入った色が出来上がることが多いですね :)

What do you use to shoot with?
使っているカメラは？

去年11月から Canon EOS Kiss X2 (Digital Rebel XSi/450D) を使い始めました。それまでは、Fujifilm FinePix4900Zを使っていました。

If any feature on Picnik were to be renamed after you, which would it be?
Picnikの一機能にあなたの名前を付けるとしたら、どれにしますか？

とても楽しい質問！
うーん・・・楽しすぎて答えられません！！

写真の明るい部分の階調が壊れそうな時に、それを目立たなくする為に私がいつも使っている方法なのですが、Film Grainを使って軽くノイズをのせた後、Exposureで明るさを調整しています。
もし、この二つを同時にやってくれる機能があれば、その機能がいいですね。

What did you like most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like most about it now?
何が気に入ってPicnikを使い始めましたか？また、最近では何が気に入っていますか？

ユーザインタフェースがとても気に入っています。それは今でも変わりません。
編集の終わった写真の保存先に直接Flickrを指定できるのも非常に助かります。
Picnikでは自分のやりたい作業以外の事に煩わされることがないので、
写真を公開するのがとてもスピーディです。
最初はOrton-ishエフェクトがお気に入りでしたが、最近はTintとCross Processがとても気に入っています。

How many people have you got started using Picnik?
あなたは何人にPicnikを使わせ始めましたか？

My wife! 彼女にPicnikのプレミアムアカウントをプレゼントしました。
あとは、写真を通じて友達になった人にいつもPicnikを使っていると教えたりしています。
オフィスでも同僚にとても面白いサイトがある、とPicnikを勧めていますよ。
8才になる息子が最近Picnikに興味を持ち始めていて、私がPicnikを使って写真の編集をしていると「もっと色が濃いほうがかっこいい」とか「ドットにしよう!」とかアドバイスしてくれます。アドバイスだけではなく、 自分にやらせろ、とマウスを横取りしたりします。楽しい遊びだと思っているのでしょう。
子供にも使えるユーザフレンドリーなインタフェース はPicnikの大きな魅力です。
多分、Photoshopではこうはいかない。もっとたくさんの人にPicnikを知ってもらいたいですね。(PicnikのTV CMはないの？)

Most people associate Japan with huge metropolises, tall buildings, traffic jams, and bustling crowds, and yet your photos are almost all of nature, quiet and peaceful. What’s the best part of being a photographer in the Japanese countryside?
大部分の人々は日本というと巨大な都市、高いビルディング、交通渋滞や忙しい人々を連想しますが、あなたの写真はほとんどが静かで平和な自然の写真です。日本の田園地方で写真を撮ることの良い部分は何ですか？

私は人ごみが嫌いです。東京や大阪といった大都市はあくまで日本のほんの一部分です。
日本のほとんどは私の住んでいるような田園地方です。私の住んでいる所には、グランドキャニオンやモンゴルの草原のような壮大な風景はありませんが、ごくごく平凡な自然は身近にたくさんあります。
私はあまり遠くまで出かけないので、私のカメラにはこれらの身近な自然しか写りません(^^;
のんびりした雰囲気の中で、適度な距離感で自然と接しながら写真を撮るのが
私にはとても心地よいことだと感じています。
でも、都会的なものや壮大な自然の写真にも大いに興味はありますけどね。

Now using photography to make up for those 30 years without horses in her life, CJ got a new camera for her birthday last year and scoured the internet for a photo editor to use when she found Picnik. And it’s because of Picnik that she’s now started a photography business. Writing in to us only this October to ask how we choose our Featured Picnikers, our Feedbackers introduced her to Flickr, where the success of the striking and dramatic Picniked pictures of her animals inspired her to sell her photos professionally. In just that short amount of time, CJ has already been published in two magazines, will soon be a featured artist at a local Wine and Art festival and sells prints through several local stores. Such an impressive and uplifting story surely needs to be told for our eleventh Featured Picniker!

Picnik: How did you hear about Picnik, and when was that?
CJ: Back in July ‘08 my father bought me a Cannon Rebel XTI  for my birthday. I actually left it in the box for 2 months because I knew it would change my life. I knew I would become absorbed by it. Finally in October, I opened the box, and as expected… I became obsessed. I desperately needed a great photo editor and searched online for weeks looking for just the right one. The day I came across Picnik was the day my professional photo career was born.

How has Picnik changed your life?
Dramatically!  My photos have never been this good. Picnik allowed me to create shots that far exceeded what my average photo looked like. (For instance this before & after)
 
It’s because of Picnik that a buzz started online about my shots that pushed me into selling my work…. something I would have NEVER considered before Picnik.   People started calling me an “Artist.” I’m still not used to that. I’m just a girl that has always loved taking pictures, and now I spend hours on Picnik obsessing over every little detail before releasing the shots.  

Since October ‘08 I’ve been published in Horseman Magazine, I am about to be a featured “artist” in Reins Magazine, won several photo contests on Flickr, am going to be a Featured Artist at Wine and Art show, and sold several of my framed pieces in local tack stores.  

I honestly am astonished by people’s reaction to my work (fun). It still is such a huge compliment to think that someone likes my work enough to hang it in their house.

How many people have you got started using Picnik? 
I can’t shut up about it!!  I tag every single picture on my Flickr page with the Picnik tag.  I actually get into fights with “photoshop” folks about Picnik.  I just tell them… go to picnik.com… you will see. 

How did you get interested in photography? 
My Dad.  He found his niche in our family by taking pictures. Every holiday, every trip, every time I turned around my dad had the camera up to his face creating memories for everyone.  I love him so much for that. He really helped start my interest in photography and modeling. Modeling faded, but photography has been everlasting.

What do you use to shoot with?
Cannon Rebel XTI

If any feature on Picnik were to be renamed after you, which would it be? 
Ha ha ha… what a crazy question!! God! To be as brilliant as Michael Orton. Now there’s an artist! 

What did you like most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?  
Well… this is a little hard to admit… but I like things simple. Dumb it down as much as possible I say! lol.  Photography should be fun. A lot of the photo editors out there just confused me. Picnik was so user friendly it was a natural fit for me. Point… click… brilliant!

And I also very much love that I can erase and redo. You can’t make a mistake. Ahhhh… if only Picnik ruled the world.

What’s the secret to photographing animals?
Well.. just like people, different animals bring different challenges and personalities.  Taking pictures of dogs is a lot different than taking pictures of horses. 

With dogs I find they love eye contact, which makes it hard when you have a camera up to your face.  So I generally have a chew toy or stick in my hand and the camera in the other.  Also… Dogs love it when you get on there level. Get on the ground, get dirty… it’s fun. 

But with horses, it’s a whole other game.  Horses are flight animals.  They spook at anything… seriously… ANYTHING.  My horse Tango is afraid of plastic bags. So you have to take every sound, smell,  and action into consideration when photographing horses, especially if they are not in a fence area. Horses are very challenging mentally, but once you get in their heads and think like them, you can figure out their next move, or manipulate them into the shot you want. If you want an excited action shot, bring along that plastic bag. ;) If you want them calm and serene find a green pasture  with lots of quiet and their herd around them, and you will be sucked into their peaceful world. That emotion will translate into your pictures if your lucky.

The biggest tip I can give of photographing animals is get to know them. Talk to the owners. Find out what the animal likes and dislikes. Just imagine the horse or dog as a person that can’t talk. You have to pay attention to what they are saying without the words.

What’s the best Picnik effect for life on a ranch?
As you can tell by my pictures I do a lot of silhouettes with dust and bright sun. Horses, dust, sun, and God… you just can’t beat that combination. The effects that best support that are “Soften” “Boost” and “Ortonish.” I also adore that Picnik has an advanced feature with Exposure & Contrast section where you can bring out the “local contrast” and play with shadows and highlights. Local contrast is key to take the bright sun spots out of my pictures, which happens when you shoot in those conditions.

My process on Picnik starts with cropping, goes to exposure and saturation, then into the effects page where I use soften to take down the background, boost to pop the color up by 5 to 10 percent, and then when I think I have it just about right, I always go to “Ortonish” because it never fails to give me a different perspective. If I like Ortonish I keep it. If not… time to sign it in “text” and post it on flick or on my website www.runninghorsepictures.org.

She tells us that she’s looking forward to taking a photography elective next semester, which means that she’s this good a photographer without ever taking a class. Indeed, her Flickr stream dates only as far back as September, yet still manages to reveal a wonderful eye for composition and color, and her use of Picnik has left the Picnik offices in consensus that she’s way deep for her age.

Picnik: When did you first hear about Picnik and when was that?

Stacy: I first learned about Picnik about a year ago. My sister introduced it to me and from then on I was hooked.

How has Picnik changed your life?
Picnik has helped me so much with photography!  It has given me so much more freedom and ideas when it comes to editing. Now If Iʼm uninspired or lack creativity, I just use a whole bunch of random tools and see what I come up with. 



Heroes or Lost?
Heroes! I love the intensity of each show and how you can never predict what will happen next. 



What inspires you to pull out your camera?
Anything that I find interesting or different, but I also like to shoot when I need to clear my head. I find photography is like my form of meditation, and whenever I feel overwhelmed I just take out my camera.

What do you use to shoot with?
A Nikon D60.


What did you like the most about Picnik when  you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
At first I loved how by adding just one effect, you could change the whole look of a picture. When I first started using Picnik, I used Lomo-ish, Orton-ish, Holga-ish, and Cross-processing pretty much nonstop. Once I started exploring the other effects, I began trying everything out, and I was able to broaden my Picnik spectrum. Now, I would have to say the different variations of the Adjustable Threshold tool is my favorite.



How’d you get interested in photography?
I have always been interested in drawing and painting, but when I started getting busy with school work and such, I just didnʼt have enough time to do it. I began using a point and shoot camera to let my creative juices flow, and after that photography became a regular thing in my life.



You have a lot of carefully posed self-portraits. How do you set them up?
As far as equipment goes, I pretty much have none. Unless you count my very amazing zebra stool that I use as a tripod. :) When taking self-portraits I tend to take lots and lots of photos, most of which I deem lacking in some way… When it comes to the overall look Iʼm trying to achieve, it all comes down to the editing.



Your flickr stream goes from foliage and plant photos to portraits. What ties them together?
I find I have two different mind sets for photography. When Iʼm feeling overwhelmed, I like to put my emotion into photographs (thatʼs where the self portraits come in). When Iʼm just out and about I like to take pictures of whatever captures my attention. I am still trying to figure out my style of photography.



If any feature of Picnik could be named after you, which would it be?
I love all the tools for different things, but my classic favorite would have to be the Orton-ish effect. It gives photos such a beautiful soft glow!

You go to high school, you’re on the swim team, you have lots of friends and, according to Facebook, lead a normal busy life, so where do you find the time to take these contemplative, quiet shots?
Time is definitely an issue for me. Lately I have had to resort to taking pictures at night. Itʼs so peaceful then when I finally have the time to let myself think. Although this has cost many hours of lost sleep, I wouldnʼt have it any other way.

Currently working in the hospitality industry, Robert describes himself as “Caffeinated Shooter,” and his Twitter feed is full of reports of shooting assignments, espresso drinks, and trying to get some sleep.

Picnik: When did you first hear about Picnik and when was that?

Robert: I tried Picnik for the first time four months ago. A few of my Flickr contacts from Portugal were posting great pictures edited with Picnik. I liked what I saw and just started messing around with several tools. And soon I was kind of hooked.

How has Picnik changed your life?

Well, it made photography more fun. Absolutely. It’s not meant to turn a bad picture into something good, but it certainly helps to give an interesting twist to just an “average” picture – if used wisely.

You use a lot of reds and splashes of orange colours against an otherwise muted palatte. Is this an intentional design choice or just what happens to draw your eye?

One of the tools I like best is the fake x-processing thing. It happens to work very well with warm colors, so I guess that’s why.

Heroes or Lost?
Heroes. Because of Hayden Panettiere :)

What do you use to shoot with?

I prefer point-and-shoot cameras. I have a Leica D-Lux 3 and I just bought the amazing Panasonic LX-3. I really love the carelessness of P&S cams. And it’s fun to use the limits to do something creative. For the more serious stuff I own a Leica Digilux 2. Already old skool digital. But I guess I will mainly be shooting with the LX-3 from now on.

What did you like the most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
In the beginning I used the lomo and cross-processing combination a lot. A bit over the top sometimes. I still use it in a more subtle way, also for my “serious” photography. People really seem to like these filmlike effects.
And I think the cinemascope thing (with a subtle cross-processing touch) is very nice for pictures from compacts or mobile phones. So with my new LX-3 (and a LG phone with nice cam on the way) I guess the cinema tool will be my main favourite.

What gets you to pull out your camera?

People. Colors. Patterns. Motion. Emotions. Citylife. And beautiful girls of course. :)

How’d you get started in photography? 

As a kid I was already very visually orientated. Always reading comics instead of normal books. And I loved to play with my dad’s camera. So I started taking pictures quite young, with a cheap Practika camera, like most people did in those days of film. Never stopped taking pictures since.

A lot of your photos find their vibrancy in the multi-ethnic communities that Dutch cities have become. What’s it like living in a city with as international an outlook as The Hague?
I love it – with all the problems that come with it, no doubt about that. But I’ve always seen myself as a world citizen. I still remember how excited I was when almost 40 years ago the first Turkish girl entered my classroom. Everything about her was so new and mysterious. I still have that curiosity for other cultures.
Photography wise especially the young muslim girls in Holland are very interesting. They dress very colorful. With my pictures I just try to show people the beauty of living within an multi-ethnic city.

Three years ago she got her digital SLR for Christmas when her parents noticed her constant use of the family point-and-shoot, and a year ago she started uploading photos to Flickr. With a photostream of an unusual level of polish, Chase’s photos are all exquisitely colored (or black and white), carefully posed, and all have some sort of poetic, meaningful title or caption attached to them.

Picnik: When did you first hear about Picnik and when was that?
Chase: I first heard about it through my amazing friend, Adrien (who is also a photographer) a little over a year ago while I was still living in Texas. We always bounced ideas off each other and told the other one about anything new we ever found to help better our pictures.

How has Picnik changed your life?
I am fortunate enough to have at least an older version of photoshop, and that’s really nice for certain things, but I never thought it was really for me. I kept searching for programs that were as good as photoshop but more simplified and fun. Picnik was exactly that. I love it and it’s the first thing I pull up when I upload my new pictures on the computer to edit them. I don’t know what I’d do without it now.

You use a lot of cool colours in your pictures – blues, lavenders, dusky pinks – which isn’t a palette usually associated with Texas. Is this intentional?
Yes, it’s very intentional. I’ve never been a really warm colors type of person. Although I love Texas, I’m a not a huge fan of hot weather. Cold weather and/or rainy weather really inspire me and make me think. I always try to portray some emotion in all my photos, and my way of doing that a lot is coloring them with colder color tones. I’m so drawn to simple stunning photos with lots of blues, light greens, or even black and white.

Heroes or Lost?
Neither. The Office all the way!

What do you use to shoot with?
I shoot with an Olympus Evolt-500. I have the standard 14-45mm lens, a zoom lens, and my favorite (and one I use pretty much all the time): 35mm macro lens. It’s the camera my parents bought me for Christmas about three years ago. It was a great camera to get started with, because i’m completely self taught and learned pretty much everything on my own experimentation. My Dad and brother both have talent in the field of photography and were of great help when I did have questions. I hope to someday own a Canon.

What did you like the most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
When I first started using Picnik, my favorite was cross-process and vignette. The more I used the program and experimented with things, I now hands down love the Polaroid, velvia, and early color fade effect. They’re awesome and i use them on everything!

What gets you to pull out your camera?
Ah, cloudy days with the sun just behind the clouds to where there’s no harsh lighting on your subjects. It also seems those darker days but with still just the right amount of natural lighting really brings out the brilliant colors in your photo. That cloudier weather also inspires me and helps me to come up with great ideas for photos which makes me want to get out my camera and shoot all day.

If any feature of Picnik were to be renamed after you, which would it be?
Definitely the Polaroid [Curves preset] effect. I always use it and it completely explains my style.

What’s one new feature you wish Picnik could have?
Possibly an effect that could help you layer two photos, like when using textures and things. That would be really cool.

How’d you get interested in photography and writing? 
I have always loved writing. It’s just come naturally for me for as long as I can remember. I write when I need to express my feelings about things or vent my emotion, especially in the form of poetry. Also my Dad had a film camera that he used to shoot with a lot while I was growing up. But it wasn’t until my older brother, Austin, decided to buy himself a nice DSLR that it became my envy and I had to have one myself. I’ve always found myself wanting to be just like him, and photography wasn’t any different. I fell in love more in more with every photo I took and photography, just like writing, became my outlet for expressing myself.

You do a lot of self-portraits. Does having a twin (and having a mirror image of yourself in front of you all the time) influence this?
Yes, I believe very much that’s true. Having her there all the time is so convenient for days when it seems like there’s nothing to take pictures of. I’ve been so blessed to have a twin that’s so supportive and so willing to pose for me. With all my practice with taking portraits of her, I have grown very fond of artistic portaits. And since my brother bought me my remote for my camera, it’s been so fun experimenting with self-portraits too.

Arriving in Portland a few years ago to get her Master’s degree in Public Administration, Carie has focused her career on the nonprofit and public sector world, working with volunteers and interns in agencies primarily devoted to victims of crime and domestic violence. Keenly interested in leadership, advocacy, public policy design and civic engagement issues, Carie also volunteers herself at a local nonprofit agency where she offers her experience in program development to help begin a leadership academy for Latino youth.

Unless someday she decides to chuck it all in for a job working at Lonely Planet.

Picnik: How did you first hear about Picnik, and when was that?
Carie: I first heard about picnik when it was introduced on the Flickr blog. I rarely read the blog, but just happened to be surfing around the site and came across it. I immediately started using it, and pretty soon got addicted to it and had to get the premium package.

How has Picnik changed your life?
I made the big switch from PC to Mac last year, and also gave up some of my desktop publishing and photo-editing programs in the process since they were all PC-based. So I was really searching for great, simple software to use – software that I could use to make fast edits. I tried all different types of free programs online, but I really found picnik to be the best. It’s simple, easy to use, and I love that I can make simple edits within Flickr, or upload a whole set inside picnik. Unless I’m working on a graphic design project for work/volunteering projects, I don’t like to wade through all of those menus just to edit a photo. Too many photo editing softwares jam pack a lot of stuff in there that you will likely never use for simple editing. Picnik offers all the tools I need for simple editing, with a slick, easy-to-use interface.

What did you like the most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
At first, I really loved that I could edit within flickr. And the Orton and Boost tools are the ones I used the most. That made everything so easy. I like color and that glowy effect! Now that I have premium, it’s been really fun to explore other tools, like adding text and the new collage feature. In general, it’s just a really easy tool to use to give your photos that extra boost. And, I have to give a shout-out to the Picnikers group and Brenda…the homework and projects, and the general community established there, are really great and push you to explore new things. That Picnik provides that forum is awesome.
 

What do you use to shoot with?
I use a Canon Powershot G9.

Heroes or Lost?
Neither. So You Think You Can Dance all the way. Don’t even try to get me away from the TV when it is on.

What gets you to pull out your camera?
LOL. It doesn’t take much. I take it everywhere. I love taking photos of my friends, much to their annoyance, but don’t have the guts yet to take a lot of candids on the street. I’d like to do more of that. But right now, I think that interesting lines and angles mostly catch my eye. Really colorful settings. Strange patterns. Urban decay is a favorite subject. Anything rusty, decaying, falling apart is a favorite. Anything off-kilter. Old buildings and interesting architecture….um, anything, really.

You use a lot of colour in your pictures. What’s your favourite?
I didn’t really think about that until you pointed it out! Probably bright colors like orange, yellow and red. It rains 9 months out of the year in Oregon, you have to search out color for cheer.

What’s one new feature you wish Picnik could have?
At the top of my wish list was collage. I’m so excited it’s now available! Next on my wish list would be that more of the tools, such as Orton, cross-process, Boost would have selective tools…so that you could apply them to specific areas. I’d also love to see “perspective” tools in the Text features. 

How’d you get interested in photography and art?
I’ve always been interested in art, and studied painting and drawing on the weekends at an exclusive arts school when I was a kid. I also have been doing some graphic design for many years. But it wasn’t really until a few years ago that I picked up photography. Traveling to Oaxaca really inspired me to pick up the camera….I was overwhelmed by the amazing scenery and color explosion you see there…I had to document it!

You’ve been around a fair number of sunny, tropical places (Oaxaca, etc), and you live in Portland. What photographs better?
Oh my gosh. Hard decision. In Mexico, the cities are so vibrant and colorful. You can’t help but want to capture it. Oaxaca, specifically, is a thriving modern arts center, but also has the highest population of indigenous persons in Mexico. So, there’s a really diverse atmosphere there between old and new, poor and rich…and seeing those elements cross, you really feel touched and inspired and want to have something to remember that moment. But Portland is also a really fun place to photograph because it’s so quirky. “Keep Portland Weird” is our unofficial motto….it’s such a creative place to live, you’re never at a loss for unusual things or people to photograph. Art is everywhere.

Picnik: How has Picnik changed your life? 
Paul: Sadly, I am now an addict and it’s all your fault you awful people. You should be ashamed of yourselves, creating fun software and ensnaring poor dupes like myself. I’m OK for now, but at the end of August, it’s back to work so I‘m going to have to turn over the camera to the Mrs and go cold turkey. I hope you’re happy with yourselves!

How many people have you got started using Picnik?
Absolutely millions. Where do I claim my ten percent?

What did you like the most about Picnik when you first started using it, and what do you like the most about it now?
First of all, it’s ease of use. Like a lot of people have mentioned, you can upload a shot and process it in a very short time, without the hassle that programs like Photoshop put you through. What I enjoy now though, is just experimenting. I’ve come up with a lot of images that I would never have managed to do without Picnik.

What do you use to shoot with? 
I have a Canon G9, which I got last year and is absolutely fantastic. Before that, I had a little Nikon Coolpix 3500, which my five year old son has recently attached himself to and uses to snap everything that moves.

Heroes or Lost?
House. I’m a Hugh Lawrie fan.

What gets you to pull out your camera?
Recently, the drop of a hat! Actually, whenever I’ve got free time, it helps to get me out of the house and then I try to slow down and look around until I see something that would make a good image. I’m always looking for simple shots where the composition and color draw the attention. A lot of my photos over the summer have been macros involving insects or animals, but that is mainly to satisfy my son, whose interest in wildlife is in direct proportion to the number of legs, eyes or feelers it has! I prefer calm images, so taking photos in crowded places is hard for me, though on the other hand I love festivals, and in Japan, there are many!

If any feature of Picnik were to be renamed after you, which would it be?
At first, I used the desaturation tool and Orton quite a bit, but as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been experimenting a lot, so lets throw modesty to the wind and rename the whole thing PicaPaul

You’ve got a fair number of festival and urban photographs, and also a lot of pastoral type pictures in the country. Which do you prefer to photograph?
Well, I’m not sure I have a preference, but I tend to take more photographs when I have the time to relax and search out good shots. This is usually when I am on holiday and is probably why a lot of my photos are pastoral or of festivals.

What’s one new feature you wish Picnik could have?
That’s hard to choose, but one feature that comes to mind would be a lot more choice of frames and the ability to position them within the picture as well.

What’s the best Picnik effect for a Brummie expat in Japan?
Hmmm. That’s a toss up between the Orton effect and focal soften. I have used both of these a lot when editing my photos.