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thefaeriereview · 4 years

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Inside the Mind: A. L. Renna

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Welcome to Inside the Mind where we here at The Faerie Review interview authors and creators.

Our guest today is A. L. Renna, the author behind Traveling the World With Mom.

Dani: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview Amanda I absolutely adored Traveling the World with Mom. What inspired you to write this book?

Amanda: Thank you! This book has been bouncing around in my head for a long time. I’ve always been an avid traveler and now, as a mom, I am desperate to share that passion with my kids. Books are one way I do that, so I shared the idea with an artist friend of mine and—as fate would have it—she already had illustrations in her closet that perfectly aligned with my vision. It was like kismet.

Dani: That’s wonderful! The illustrations are beautiful and unique, was it hard to find the right illustrator?

Amanda: Leah and I have been friends for more than twenty years. We actually went to high school together and her talent is incredible. Working together, and seeing her work come to life, just made the process that much more enjoyable.

Dani: Sounds like the perfect match. Have you visited any of the places in the book?

Amanda: Other than New York, I have not actually been to any of the places in the book, but most of them are on my list of places to see—especially the Great Barrier Reef. I love to snorkel!

Dani: I think that’s a great travel bucket list to have, they all sound so interesting. Now we’d like to talk about you as a writer. What’s your favorite time of day to write?

Amanda: I write whenever the mood strikes. Morning tends to be a more productive time for me, mainly because my kids are asleep; but I try to put pen to paper anytime I’m feeling inspired. I don’t like writing when it feels forced so I’ll go days, sometimes even weeks, without writing and I’m OK with that. I fill that time with other life experiences that keep me feeling energized and whole.

Dani: Writing sounds like a really enjoyable creative outlet for you. Do you like to plan out your stories?

Amanda: I much prefer the brain dump method—too much planning makes me sound academic and fake. It may work for some, it’s just not my personal preference. I try to get it all out on paper first, and then I’ll go back and consider how I can make it flow in a way that really engages the reader without being flowery or overdone. Conversational writing is what I prefer but I’ll be the first to admit, I struggle with it more often than not. I’m definitely an overthinker.

Dani: I think your writing flowed perfectly in this book. Can you see the story unfolding visually as you write?

Amanda: Yes! I’m a very visual person. Even when I’m doing a brain dump my mind is usually working overtime, putting all the pieces together in a movie reel of sorts. I’d say I have a visual concept in mind long before the words come together.

Dani: I bet that’s a really fun movie to watch! Let’s finish up with some fun questions and get inside your mind. What’s your favorite dinosaur?

Amanda: Hands down a T-Rex. Such tiny arms and he still manages to rule the roost, what’s not to love?

Dani: They’re definitely ferocious even with the small arms. Would you rather be friends with a mermaid and live in the sea or a centaur and live in the woods?

Amanda: Oooh, that’s a tough one. I love the woods, but the ocean is my happy place. The only catch is my fear of sharks. Would I have some supernatural immunity that keeps me from becoming shark bait? If not, then I’ll have to go with a centaur.

Dani: Why not? Mermaids are magic and it would be nice to be able to explore the ocean at will. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Amanda: It changes by the minute but right now I’d say DARK CHOCOLATE, MEXICAN CHILE & ROASTED ALMONDS by Batch. I also love melting cookie dough over the top of my ice cream.

Dani: That sounds delicious! If you could spend a week anywhere, where would you go?

Amanda: Fiji. I have always wanted to spend a week in one of those over-the-water huts.

Dani: I bet that would be really relaxing too. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Amanda: I’m a daytime person, lol. I’m usually up by 7 and asleep by 10 so the middle of the day is my jam.

Dani: I’m so used to second shift I’m not much of a morning person I have to admit. What’s your favorite breakfast?

Amanda: Fruit crepes with scrambled eggs and a heavy side of bacon, and tea…lots of tea.

Dani: Fresh fruit crepes would be wonderful right now! Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

Amanda: As the Founder & CEO of Travelnitch I believe that by making travel accessible to all families, we have the power to change how our kids view the world and everyone in it. It’s a tool that can foster empathy, build confidence, and support a more tolerant global perspective that benefits us all. This book is one way we are working to make that possible.

Learn more and connect with us at https://travelnitch.pub.

Dani: That’s a great goal. How can readers discover more about you and your work?

Amanda: Follow me on Medium, check out my website, and follow my Amazon author page. I'm also on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. You can buy my book here.

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#Blogger #interview

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michaeljtraylor · 5 years

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Bonnie & Clyde Go Down in Style

Because we, as humans, have a fascination with famous people on the wrong side of the law, Bonnie and Clyde have become a tale as old as time. They’ve also become glorified figures to a degree and remain a staple of pop culture nearly 100 years after their deaths. Now, we have a compelling new look at the end of their familiar tale from the perspective of the men responsible for bringing them down in The Highwaymen. And rest assured, it’s one heck of an enjoyable ride.

The Highwaymen centers on legendary lawman Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and his longtime sidekick Manny Gault (Woody Harrelson). Both men have been retired for some time, as the Texas Rangers were disbanded by the governor. However, when Bonny and Clyde’s killing spree gets far too out of hand with no end in sight, they’re commissioned as special investigators and hit the road and take down the nefarious duo once and for all. This leads to a tense and deadly game of cat and mouse across state lines as Hamer and Gault try to finally end the killing for good.

The tale of Bonnie and Clyde has been told many a time over the years, perhaps most notably in the 1967 Arthur Penn-directed movie. While they are at this movie’s center, it is not their story. The criminals loom large as a presence, though, they’re used more like the shark in Jaws. Seen very sparsely and used to convey the imminent danger lurking in the background. The focus is on the manhunt and that provides us with an entirely fresh perspective on this well-known story.

Related: Highwaymen Trailer: Costner & Harrelson Go After Bonnie & Clyde

John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Founder), a man who has brought his fair share of true stories to the big screen in the past, is in the director’s chair for this tale that has been largely a mystery to the masses, despite being a key part of the larger tale. Hancock has a way of conveying these real-life stories for the widest possible audience. It’s no different here. He manages to weave a healthy amount of humor into a very serious situation with major stakes. The balance is handled well. Too much humor and something like this could come off as tasteless. Not enough and it’s too grim.

Overall, The Highwaymen feels like an old-school popcorn flick in the truest sense. In the days of a bygone era long before CGI and superheroes dominated the movie landscape. A movie that would pass as a blockbuster, even as recently as the late 90s, that puts a couple of bonafide movie stars at its center and tells a compelling story not related to an already existing piece of intellectual property. Don’t get me wrong, I love my comic book movies and franchise fare, but this is the kind of movie that runs the risk of disappearing in the modern landscape. Say what you will about Netflix, but they are putting the money up to keep these things going.

The cast, top to bottom, is stellar and stacked. Kathy Bates, Kim Dickens, John Carroll Lynch, Thomas Mann and William Sadler all play key supporting roles superbly well, but this is a showcase for Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson. We’ve come to expect Harrelson to deliver anytime he shows up on screen and here, that’s certainly the case. He’s a two-sided coin as the comedic relief and the story’s moral center. Kevin Costner, meanwhile, is a force to be reckoned with as a man determined to do what he sees as right by any means necessary. It’s an excellent reminder of how great Costner can be when given the right material. He’s quite possibly one of the most underrated leading men ever and he proves why here with one of his best performances in a long time.

There are those who may want something like this to come with more grit, perhaps in the style of Michael Mann or David Fincher. That’s decidedly not the approach the filmmakers decided to take here. That’s not good or bad, but expectations need to be set. It also may run the risk of dragging its feet a little toward the end for certain viewers, though not so much that it’s worth avoiding. Setting that aside, this is a truly compelling tale told in a crowd-pleasing manner that doesn’t glorify these vicious criminals, yet manages to still showcase their humanity. The Highwaymen is another big win for Netflix Original Films who have truly found their footing when it comes to making great movies.

Topics: The Highwaymen, SXSW, Netflix, Streaming

Writer of various things on the internet (mostly about movies) since 2013. Major lover of popcorn flicks. Avid appreciator of James Bond, Marvel and Star Wars. Has a tremendously fat cat named Buster and still buys CDs. I’ve got my reasons.

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garkodigitalmedia · 5 years

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Bonnie & Clyde Go Down in Style

Related: Highwaymen Trailer: Costner & Harrelson Go After Bonnie & Clyde

Topics: The Highwaymen, SXSW, Netflix, Streaming

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from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8312273 https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/03/11/bonnie-clyde-go-down-in-style/

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nicholerestrada · 5 years

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Bonnie & Clyde Go Down in Style

Related: Highwaymen Trailer: Costner & Harrelson Go After Bonnie & Clyde

Topics: The Highwaymen, SXSW, Netflix, Streaming

Source link

Source: https://hashtaghighways.com/2019/03/11/bonnie-clyde-go-down-in-style/

from Garko Media https://garkomedia1.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/bonnie-clyde-go-down-in-style/

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pauldeckerus · 5 years

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Guest Blog: Photographer Nicole S. Young (a.k.a. “Nicolesy”)

A little more than six years ago I wrote my first guest blog post here on Scott’s website, and it’s incredible to see both how much has changed, and also how much has stayed the same. Since my last post here I got married, moved five times, adopted two dogs, traveled to eight new countries, checked off a few items on my bucket list, and I’ve also grown my photography education business into a full-time job. While my life looks a little different than it did in 2012, my excitement and passion to grow as a photographer is the same.

One of the things I love best about my job as a photographer is that I get to call all of the shots. I have gone in a solo direction with my work and get to photograph what I want and make books and tutorials that are of my own creation. It’s fulfilling, but it also takes a lot of self-determination and a good work ethic, and I’m constantly forced to stay at my own very high level of expectations. Here I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned during my time as a photographer.

This is a selection of some of the images I created while in high school. I quickly fell in love with photography but worried I would fall out of love with it if I made it my full-time job.

Forge Your Own Path When I was in high school, I can remember wanting to be a sports photographer. I had just taken my first class in photography and joined the yearbook committee as a staff photographer. I found my “thing” and knew that photography was something I wanted to do long term. Then, when I joined the military, I chose a path other than photography. I was worried if photography was my full-time job that I would fall out of love with it.

I began my career in photography by creating and licensing photos for stock photography, just like this image of a utility lineman working on a power line.

Now, a few decades later, I realize that I had nothing to worry about. Because of the Internet and digital photography, I was able to find a way to make photography my career. A path that began as with stock photography has evolved into a career in photography education. I wasn’t following someone else’s path or anything out of a book. I discovered the way on my own.

Each year in Canby, Oregon, the dahlia fields bloom, and with it come the bees, which are very photogenic. I have a lot of fun chasing and photographing both the bees and the flowers.

Whether or not you make photography a business, you’ll likely still go down a certain path with your work. Maybe you enjoy landscapes, architecture, portraits, or flowers. Whatever it is, make sure it’s something you enjoy, and don’t be afraid to experiment with new types of photography that may be vastly different than your current photographic interests.

I’m lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful parts of the country. And I’ve fallen in love with landscape photography because of it.

Should you stick to one genre? Maybe. It depends on your goals and what you want to achieve as a photographer. This is a very personal decision and is entirely up to you. Personally, I enjoy photographing almost everything. Many people know me for my food photography, but I also do a lot of landscape, nature, and travel, as well as macro and water-drop photography. I’ve even done some underwater photography as well. And thankfully, with the job I chose, having a diverse set of photographic interests can be beneficial. With a wide genre of photographs in my portfolio I am able to write books and create video training that appeals to a larger audience. And I also love the challenge of learning something new, and sometimes that involves going down a creative path that is completely different from the photography I’ve made in the past.

Sometimes I like to challenge myself to create something that is outside of what I normally would photograph, such as this black-and-white street image in Venice, Italy.

You will probably hear a lot of strong opinions on whether or not you should stick to one niche, along with many other topics relating to photography and business. Maybe they come from an anonymous voice in an online comment, or from a trusted photographer friend. I know I’ve heard my fair share of opinions from photographers who think they know what is best for me and my business. But in the end only you know what’s best for you and your photography. Listen to your gut and don’t let someone else steer you in the wrong direction.

Find The Best Social Network For YOU With social media so prevalent in our digital lives it’s sometimes difficult to keep up. Staying fully engaged on social media can be a full-time job, and very few are able to have a team of people working this job for us. Personally, I’m pretty awful at keeping up with it, so now I’m doing my best to determine which of the current platforms to spend more of my time and energy on.

I also have my own social network, so to speak. One of the best forms of communication I have is my newsletter. While social media is good for sharing photos and other information, so much of it gets swept away only moments after it is posted. With email, however, my messages are going directly into the inboxes of my subscribers. It’s understood that each message I send is about me and my work, which is why people signed up in the first place. And while I offer a lot of free downloads and tutorials to my subscribers, I don’t hesitate to ask for a purchase. In fact, I make nearly all of my income from what I offer my members through the newsletter. It’s my most personal—and profitable—form of communication. It also allows someone to get directly in touch with me, just by replying to one of my emails! That gives me the chance to chat one-on-one with someone, and their message doesn’t end up getting buried by the endless flood of social media streams.

Challenge Yourself Many of the photographic skills I have are from trying to learn and master something new. In fact, I quite enjoy the challenge of seeing whether or not I could really learn how to photograph something on my own, only using books and the Internet as my guide. And I’ve discovered some very enjoyable genres of photography that I will continue to pursue into the foreseeable future.

I taught myself food photography and eventually went on to write two books and one video course. This image of blueberry French toast was created in my KelbyOne course — Food Photography: A Recipe for Savory Success.

Food photography is one example. In my early stock photography days, I decided to give it a try, even though I knew nothing about how to properly photograph food. My initial images were awful, but as time progressed and I learned more about lighting and food styling, my images improved. Eventually I would write two books on food photography—Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots—as well as a video course on the KelbyOne website.

I thought it would be fun to see if I could create some legitimate water drop photos, and I was right! This is now one of my favorite types of photography.

Another good example is with waterdrop photography. In fact, I came across this just by random interest. There is a device I was purchasing—the Pluto Trigger—to use for photographing lightning, and while researching it I saw that they also sell a water drop valve as an accessory. The valve was not too expensive, and I thought it might be fun to try my hand at photographing water drops. After getting the valve and doing some research online, I was able to create some beautiful photos on my first try! It’s now become one of my favorite things to photograph.

Practice, Practice, Practice Whether or not your goal is to become the best photographer you can be, we tend to enjoy something more when we’re good at it. The best way to become good at something is to practice as much as possible. Not only will you help create muscle memory with your camera, you will solidify your technical knowledge about your gear, settings, and even your surroundings and subject matter. And this also applies to processing your photos and using software. I’ve been an avid Photoshop user for a very long time, but even those skills can get rusty! I make sure to create my own personal projects on the side to keep my “Photoshop muscles” fit.

I love experimenting and playing around in Photoshop, which is how I created these double-exposure images.

Even I have had my moments where my camera sat around collecting dust for a little too long, and I remember feeling rusty when I finally picked it up again. If you enjoy photographing landscapes but live somewhere that is lacking in natural beauty, maybe you can experiment with a different type of photography that is not dependent on the environment. Or maybe you could sign up for a 365 challenge, where you create a new photograph each day for an entire year. I attempted this one (and didn’t make it all the way), but it did encourage me to create a handful of good photos that otherwise would not have been created.

There are a lot of other opportunities to encourage you to pick up the camera. If you’re on Flickr, you may find groups that motivate you to get out and use your camera. I even have my own “Nicolesy” group where I run monthly photo challenges (click here to check it out on Flickr). Or maybe you’ve joined a local photo club, a photowalk, or an online forum. Find something that works for you and inspires you to get out and create something.

One of the most thrilling experiences I’ve had was cage diving and photographing great white sharks. It’s an opportunity I may not have had if I were not excited about photography.

Whatever route you end up following, if photography is important to you, the best thing you can do for yourself is to create. While photography is my main focus, I am a fan of creating so many other things and have quite a few hobbies. I love to knit, I’m a big pottery enthusiast, and I also enjoy the process of working on my website and creating books and video training for my business. When I’m creating, I’m happy.

You can see more of Nicole’s work and tutorials on her website, YouTube channel, and Flickr profile, and keep up with her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The post Guest Blog: Photographer Nicole S. Young (a.k.a. “Nicolesy”) appeared first on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider.

from Photography News https://scottkelby.com/guest-blog-photographer-nicole-s-young-a-k-a-nicolesy/

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