About The Artist.... Simone Hester

Simone Hester was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised on the far south side of the city. She found an interest in art at an early age. At the recommendation of her teachers, she began private art lessons at a small art studio in the suburbs of Chicago. She was tutored, mentored and exposed to a variety of art mediums from calligraphy, etching, Chinese watercolors, acryllics, and oil painting. There she developed a love for drawing and painting. She broadened her art education by taking a variety of elective art classes in high school and college. Upon college graduation, her first professional position allowed her to work in graphic designs and further her knowledge of computers. Once given a digital camera, she combined her love of computers, painting, and photographs to develop her very own technique in creative digital photography. The computer has become her paintbrush and allows her to stretch the natural boundaries that a typical photograph is held to. She recently left the traditional workforce to work on her art full time and contribute to her website (http://www.simonehester.com/) and write her blog on photography, art, and everything else she finds creative.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My Apologies....

I will blog again soon, I promise.  It has been quite a busy holiday season filled with projects and I apologize for not writing any recent blogs, especially keeping up my 30 Photos Project going.  I have decided to suspend that project until sometime in the following year.  Will have new photos and subject matter soon!

Thanks again, Simone

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Photo 20 of 30: Bokeh

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Today's photo was an interesting one and one that I actually had to create with one of my photographs.  Bokeh is the effect where you see tiny orbs of light, similar to a twinkle effect.  You can see this effect created naturally during sunsets, sunrises or the twinkle of city lights in the night.  It is also a easy effect to create in Photoshop.  I chose to create a new digital piece of artwork in combination with a beautiful bouquet of roses that I captured.  So here is the finished product!

"Cyber Rose"

Friday, December 2, 2011

Photo 19 of 30: Something Orange

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There are two things that automatically come to mind when I think of the color orange.  The first is my Alma Mater, the University of Illinois, the school's colors are orange and blue.  The second being flowers.  Nature produces beautiful orange bouquets in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Orange is such a wonderful color; bright, happy and it gives the right amount of pop when you see it in a sea of greenery.  So below are two examples of these beauties, one is a Asiatic Lily and the other is a Hibiscus.


"Asiatic Lily"


"Orange Hibiscus"