Mareyam | The Bias of Benevolence

September 11, 2017Tanya Musgrave1 Comment

She had to make the decision which of her 7 children to take with her. "Do you know what's going to happen to me?" No one knows how to respond.

Gashin and Masoud | Peshmerga Freedom Fighters

April 18, 2017Tanya Musgrave1 Comment

"Peshmerga" means "the one who confronts death." The main core of the opinion is to speak against the oppressive and to fight for the rights of humanity, no matter who it is.

Tamim | The other refugee crisis

February 23, 2017Tanya Musgrave1 Comment

Day 2, I ducked out and took my writing out on the porch. Day 3, I ducked out on the porch, and cried.

Photo manipulation | A touch of Wonderland (Before & After)

November 1, 2015Foto manipsTanya Musgrave4 Comments

After the Star Wars photo manip, I was contacted by a fellow in Hong Kong who wanted to surprise his wife with a bit of Wonderland. He gave me some photos of him and his bride, and graciously gave me artistic freedom to create this:

[ A L I C E I N W O N D E R L A N D ]

And for those who are curious....

For the Photoshop Nerds...

Thanks to input from my last venture, I explored the possibilities of using Refine Edge, and the pen tool for selections. Refine edge:mind blown. Still, and this goes for the pen tool as well, there were some fine-tuning times I still opted to use my trusty brush tool. Lol, sorry ethersphere.

Again, I'm by no means a PS expert, so if you have any more advanced tips for me, I'm always up for [kind and constructive] criticism.

There was much trial and error, with many evolving ideas. Instead of boring you with everything that didn't work, for the most part in the video, you'll only see the bits that made it into the final artwork.

I wish I could report with gusto that my editing time was cut in half (heck I'd settle for a third). I DID indeed save a ton of time with selection—loved it. But since the concept evolved, I ended up at about the same PSing time of about 12 hours.

Enjoy the process! (Be it known that my computer crashed and lost one of the screen-recording clips near the end, so you'll see the foreground elements and some grass details magically appear; alas, you still get the gist.)

A wedding with a touch of Wonder for a new friend in Hong Kong. For a little more on the subject and Before & After shots, visit: http://www.tanyamusgrave.com/blog/aliceinwonderland James was kind enough to let me use his beats for this-show him some love! Music: "Wonderland" (James Meyers Remix) - StadiumX ft.

Credits:

Original photos were self portraits taken by the groom, Chapman Wu.

Music - James was kind enough to let me use his beats for this—show him some love!

"Wonderland" (James Meyers Remix) - StadiumX ft. Angelika Vee

[Musician links and download below]
www.facebook.com/jamesmeyersmusic
www.twitter.com/m00nb34rz
www.soundcloud.com/jamesmeyersmusic

Original "Wonderland" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aNvf2RO0qw

1 Million Views! | Going viral...or at least bacterial...

August 30, 2015-TK-6 Comments

[One week ago] — It had been a long day of set-photography in the middle of the desert. We were tired, we were grody, the sweat was toxic, making the car fantastically rancid. I'd been away from my phone all day, and my friend brought up the vid.

"Yeah it's crazy, you got like, 17k views on it."

"...what? Um nooo, it's at maybe like, 7k...and my friends' wedding videos get that much."

"Ummm....maybe. You might want to check again."

"Whaaaaaaaat..."

And so started the crazy. The social media by-products started happening...hundreds of random strangers were friending me, still more random requests were peppering my inbox...along with totally rad requests like permission to be featured on PetaPixel and SLRLounge (<< that one tells more of the story behind it and how it started). It made other unofficial appearances on DIYPhotography and ResourceMag. Still, I feel honored to have been part of it for a bit.

I'm extremely grateful for my family and friends—addressing the inevitable trolls, bringing me flowers, or posting it on reddit, etc. Noooo I'm not famous (who wants that pressure anyway?), but as much as you guys have been excited with me and defended me, I most definitely wanted to let you know how much it means to me, and to thank you :)

To the rest, I'm still learning a ton about Photoshop, but I'm glad you found enjoyment in my process so far. Thanks for your happiness :)

To what's next—a new one is on the horizon but is waitlisted at the moment; I have to catch up on editing from the summer (see, life still keeps going, lol), and do my research for it. But rumor has it, it'll be in a fantastical Wonderland.

My parting bit of wisdom on the subject: Be kind. I can't stress this enough—people tend to forget that those names on FB actually represent people. Comments, of course I saw them and yeah I took them personally at first, but seriously dudes. The next time you're about to comment negatively on a viral video, remember that they're probably like me...sitting in my pajamas eating breakfast and reading the awful. Be nice.

You can be the sweetest peach in the world,

but there will always be someone who hates peaches.

Coincidentally, I had peaches and cream to celebrate, lol.

And lastly:

CELEBRATE WITH ME!! :-D Success is not to be hoarded, but shared, and there's a way that something as simple as a Star Wars picture can have a lasting impact on someone.

A friend recently got back from the Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania where they met Peter, whose wife passed away. He now lives 15 hours away from his 4 daughters to be able to work and support them, and my friends are trying to raise money for the girls to go to school.

[BE EXCELLENT HERE]

Be excellent, and God bless :)

-T