Dragon Fly

Dragon Fly

Photograph by Tom Willa

This photo captures my reflections about how long it is taking for summer to arrive in the Northwest. This visitor stopped in the other night to get out of the cold. The wings are a wonderful transparent blue landing on Ms. Bella Beesley toy was too much to resist.

Characteristics of Portraits

Artist Sculpting

8x10

Photo by ToMi Creations Photography

Tom Willa

I find the characteristics of portraits a topic which entails passion, technique and commitment. Whether it is capturing the intensity of the individual, a reflection of the charisma or the sparkle in the eye I love the beauty of the moment. As a photographer, I seek to share the emotion of my internal thoughts when creating photographs. Less it better.

Here's a new blog by Cyrielle:
http://cyriellewilla.blogspot.com/2010/02/over-analysis.html . You can see what a completed glass sculpted magnifier looks like and how cool a multi-dimensional creation it is.

Four Valentine's Special

ToMi Creation Promotional Materials

8x10 by Tom Willa

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away. We will be open on that Sunday, the 14th, in case you decide to take your sweetheart out to someplace fancy, and want to include a photo . How fun that this romantic day falls on a weekend. There are endless possibilities.

Please let me know if you know anyone who is planning on popping the engagement question, needs an engagement announcement photo, or if a photography session would help make this Valentine's Day memory something extraordinary.

What about surprise weddings? If you are someone who plans on getting married on Valentine's Day, and you are in need of a photographer, let me know and we can work something out.

Happy early Valentine's Day to you all.

Industrial Photo

Sculpting Magnifying Glass

Glass by Hugh Willa

Photograph

ToMi Creations Photography

The other day I took some pictures of Hugh working at sculpting. I was playing around with black and white photos. I was inspired to add some sepia in photoshop. I enjoyed the addition of some warm tones and it reminded me a little more of photos of factories from the 1920s and 1930s. This is not a real complicated process but, I felt the result was worth sharing.

Have a great week, best regards.

Self Portrait January 2010

Focused

Photograph and Digital Interpretation

by ToMi Creations Photography

What we have here is a studio shot that has been used to create a digital image. I finished up a head shot session which was part of a project for the Keller Williams Office in Renton. I was using

a strobe flash and camera mounted Speedlight SB-600, I was pretty happy with the effect. The strobe has one shot left when it is turned off. I decided to grab a self portrait shot. I am looking for an image to do some marketing which inspired the composition and me to do some manipulation.

The composition is about working behind the lens, arm tucked in for solid foundation other arm floating but ready to adjust setting or give direction to subjects. Professional photography takes knowledge, skills and desire to create inspired images which capture the beauty of the moment.

The Digital Interpretation comes from the very important aspect of understanding your subject. Here's the why: sometimes I want to create a traditional image, other times I think you should celebrate the possibilities of digital imaging. Here's the how: I did some magic wand, some threshold, little bit of cutout and some tweaking thus creating the Digital Interpretation.

Business Attire

Self Portrait

By Tom Willa

Well, I promised myself to be more diligent about blogging so here is my first post of October.

I was working with a client and we discussed business attire, after the his photo session, I decided to try wearing a tie. So I put on my old friend Winnie. Here is what I came up with. Working on both sides of the lens is tough but, I always try to create photos that captures the joy of the moment. I have a new professional image once again.

ToMi Creations Sign

Renton River Days is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will be there under the ToMi Creations Canopy.

Pink Light

Pink Light
8x10 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum Color fix
by Tom Willa
$65 , $75 framed

April 27th the day after Arts Unlimited art show, it was a very comfortable location at the Taste of the Landing in Renton. We had space in a vacant commercial building with plenty of space. Everyone was most pleasant, the number of people was okay, the reality of showing at a combination event was no sales for us. Our 10x10 space was expanded to 15x10 which makes everyone a lot more comfortable. The hard part about a day like that is getting motivated to paint,again. This made me realize why I paint is to capture the beauty, presenting others with my view of loveliness. So that hurdle seem to vanish quickly and quietly this afternoon. The last couple of days I have been thinking about this painting while getting the framing done. So today I was very enthused about it. I actually did this sitting down on a very small board as an easel. I used a new set of faber-Castell 24 soft pastel Sticks basic colors which I picked up at Daniel Smith while getting framing supplies. I enjoyed painting the blossom on flat surface first because all the pigment stayed on the surface which allowed me to use some nu-pastels to blend them in. I worked the background keeping with the style of my tulip series which turned out pretty good. Finally I need to set up vertically on my easel to make some texture strokes, touch up and additional blending. I may add a few more paintings to the series because I enjoyed doing this paintin a lot and we went for a nice walk and saw some more really beautiful blossoms.

Onset Sphere

Onset Sphere

6x9 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum Colorfix

11x14 matted $55

By Tom Willa

Here is another gem of glass being made. Hugh has a wonderful new creative sculpture series, Culture Cells, that he has designed and currently is in the process of producing. (See image below.) It involves a lot of optics, spheres and cold work to make one. We visited the gallery while he was making a sphere component for one. I snapped the photo because I could sense the glass starting to transform into a sphere. In my painting, it was my goal to capture that moment where the bubble starts to takes on the characteristics and form achieved by Hugh's efforts.

Culture Cells

By Hugh Willa

Glass Blowing

On The Pipe

6x9 Soft Pastel on ArtSpectrum Colorfix

By Tom Willa

$55 matted for 11x14 frame

Here's today painting. I wanted to paint in March and post it. Miki started working on a Series about glass blowing her first painting is posted. She has captured the furnace's heat with her painting. Glass blowing is difficult and intense subject to capture in a painting. She is definitely my source of inspiration. My design layout was to capture the molten glass which is the beginning of the bubble. Additionally in the background is a paddle with some freshly made cane cooling on the floor. My next painting should be a winter floral with a vase blown by Hugh. To see glass blown by Hugh visit French Curves their etsy page.

Studio Portraits

Lisa Smile

by Tom Willa

8x10

Lisa Serious

by TomWilla

8x10

Studio photography is fun when both the model and the photographer are committed to achieving a photo that captures a range of emotions. I think many people would appreciate studio images of themselves or their families as time passes. The controlled lighting of the studio creates the opportunity for a formal arrangement which captures beauty and personal aura.