Category Archives: Photographic Mandalas

Portfolio Reviews

Sep
28
2011
by Corinna Stoeffl | 0 Comments

This past weekend, I participated in the Portfolio Review Bootcamp offered by Center in Santa Fe. It was a very valuable experience in preparation of two events I signed up for. I am now in the process of implementing suggestions and hope to create a powerful portfolio of my photographic mandalas.

For those, who don’t know what a Portfolio Review is, here is a short explanation. The photographer brings an edited collection of 17 – 20 images to the event where (s)he will meet with a selection of curators, gallery owners or publishers for 20 min. to talk about the images and / or ask questions. Most review organizers ask to prioritize the reviewers and then create a schedule. It is my guess that participants will get a mix of selected and assigned reviewers.

I am in the process of reading through the bios of all the reviewers of my first event and have a look at what they are involved in. I want to find those that might be interested in my images so I can put them at the top of my list. I don’t mind having a mixture of assigned and selected reviewers. In the bootcamp I learned that some I did not choose would have been great to get feedback from. It is tough to make a choice just based on what you read and not knowing the personality.

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Branching out

Feb
14
2011
by Corinna Stoeffl | 0 Comments

I am beginning to add other ‘subjects’ to my cloud / sky / mountain ridges collection of photographic mandalas. For the past week, I have been working with trees. I found that my current knowledge transfers only partially to trees. It seems that they have their own, unique “needs”. Not only as a subject in general, but also as individual species. Shooting an aspen mandala is quite different from a juniper or pinyon. Also the energy of these images is quite different from the others. I am excited about learning more to create beautiful tree mandalas and am looking forward to Spring. I imagine that the first touches of Spring green will give those photographic mandalas a different touch. Fall colors might be interesting too, especially later in the season when there are only some colorful leaves left.

Here is a sample of my new images. Enjoy! … and as always, I would love to hear your impressions.

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… and the journey continues

Jan
15
2011
by Corinna Stoeffl | 0 Comments

A few days ago, we had an incredible sunset. The undersides of the clouds lit orange-red and their recessed part a beautiful, rich grey. Inspiration asked again: How would this look as a mandala?

Because of my intense analysis of the photographic mandalas and the single image I often take before, I am now beginning to be able to ‘create’ the central aspect through choice of center and composition.

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While sorting and editing, I tend to mark those images that I like best. Interestingly, within the photographic mandalas, there are only 2 images that have stayed. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that, at this time of the year, I am not able to find flowers or colorful aspen leaves or with sentimentality. I am keenly aware how emotionally close I am to many, if not all. For this reason, I am currently taking an online class with William Neill to get his feedback. He is a photographer I highly respect and trust. My hope is to get enough distance to make solid judgements in regards to the quality of a mandala, which is becoming very necessary with havin over 50 in my collection now.

When I see images like the above and remember the excitement and pure joy I felt while taking them, I muse: Who is really taking these pictures? Is it me or am I just the one “pressingthe button”. It reminds me of how I felt when I was drawing mandalas and was aware that “I” had stepped aside and allowed something to flow through me.

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