Karen Slagle, Photographic Artist: Horse Ardor

by Aggie Villanueva

see also Karen’s tutorial: Replacing Your Background Using Layer Mask

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Karen Slagle’s ancestry is a possible explanation for the gritty, frontier ardor rooted within her western photo art. Slagle is a native Texan whose family settled there in 1823 before it was a Republic, as part of the first 300 Anglo settlers.

Ms. Slagle’s GGG Grandfather was killed by Indians and his son spent his life as an Indian fighter, not knowing, of course, that his granddaughter would one day marry a man that “carried native blood in his veins.”

Slagle’s mother’s grandparents homesteaded in King County, Texas, known for having the 6666 ranch along with other large ranches such as the Pitchfork.  Her grandfather, with native blood, and Grandmother’s brothers were all employed as cowboys on the 6666 ranch.

Ms. Slagle’s mother was born in 1916, and her grandfather served as the King County Clerk until her grandmother could no longer take all the rattlesnakes, at which point they moved from town to town in Texas selling produce.

Karen Slagle was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1947 but grew up and went to school in Perryton, Texas, graduating from high school in 1966.  “I spent 3 years in college and did not graduate, an action of my own choosing, of which I am still regretful. My Major was geology, which I still love.”

Slagle is married with two sons. She retired from government service in 2003 after 25 years of service. She has a passion for horses, Arabians in particular, and photography. “When horses and Photoshop collide anything is likely to come out of my digital darkroom. I love dabbling and making art from my photos.”

Slagle has had articles and photos published in Cowboy Magazine, plus a cover photo with my latest article in Cowboy Magazine Fall 2007.  Active at BetterPhoto.com she regularly gets recognition with dozens of Second Place awards and hundreds of Editor’s Picks.

VAJ: Can you tell us a little about how your artwork began, and how you work?

I have always loved photography, I guess because my family always had a camera in their hands and were quite adamant about taking pictures.  I was always frustrated with the results because they just didn’t look like I thought they should, something was always missing, or so it seemed to me.

After I purchased a digital camera six years ago a whole new world opened up to me as far as instant gratification.  When my husband twisted my arm and bought Adobe Photoshop for me I fell in love with the manipulation process and things have not been the same since.  I work in the IBM environment and have a new 22-inch flat screen monitor, which is wonderful.  A piece of equipment that is vital to my work is a Wacom tablet and pen.  I cannot imagine trying to work on photos without it.  A mouse just won’t work.

I joined Better Photo in 2004 as a place to show my photos and receive feedback and constructive criticism.  Boy, did I have a lot to learn.  There are so many fantastic photographers on BP doing such creative things with their photos.  I just could not learn enough and I still have so far to go.  It must have taken a year to win anything and then I received a second place finish.

VAJ: Why horses?

Karen: Oh dear, this should be easy to answer but it seems as though only horse lovers would understand.  They are majestic animals so full of beauty and grace and the way they smell is like perfume to me.  Their actions, the way they move and play with each other, the large eyes and the trust they give us when treated with kindness all speak volumes.

I can wrap my arms around their beautiful neck and cry in their mane, spilling all my heartaches as they listen and give comfort to me.  My secrets are safe with them.  Also, horses are God’s favorite animals as he will send Jesus on a white horse to come back to earth.

VAJ: In what ways do you think your location has influenced your artwork?

Karen: I live south of Amarillo, Texas and anyone that has been through this area or lives here all know it is dry, flat, has a huge sky and the grass is yellow and brown.  I crave bright colors and this is reflected in my art.  It takes a lot of imagination to create art here and I do run dry at times.

VAJ: I can’t view your photographic art without my jaw dropping and whispering “Wow.”  What would you say is the element that causes this reaction? Don’t be shy.

Karen: I’m not sure how to answer this as I don’t see things through other people’s eyes.  If I were to guess I would say, impact, bright colors and uniqueness.  I feel that the subject being horses enter into it as many people love horse art.

VAJ: What starts your creative juices flowing?

Karen: Storms.  Big, loud, threatening, dark skies full of lightning and thunder.  I love the smell of rain and the clean air and beautiful colors after a storm. My husband runs for cover and I’m running around going “look at that, wow”.  I don’t want to be out in them but I sure do like watching them.  Storms such as these give me the largest adrenalin rush and I can’t get enough.

VAJ: Do you have a favorite time of day to photograph/why?

Karen: Early light and late light.  The light is warm and dramatic and produces the prettiest colors and shadows. I’m partial to late evening, probably because I’m not an early riser plus that is the time of day storms come rolling in from the New Mexico mountains in the summer.

VAJ: If you can choose one aspect of DDR (Digital Dark Room) process that is vital to your work, what would that be? And why?

Karen: Layers, because I can cover up backgrounds I don’t want in the photo.

VAJ: About how many layers and different images do you use for one piece of artwork?

Karen: The least amount of layers I use is two and I think the most is 15 or so.  Normally I will use 2 or 3 images.

VAJ: One of my favorites of your work is Watching, a white horse placed on a black background. Most of us reading this know how hard that is to do without the masked edges revealing that they are indeed a cutout. What is the secret to your pristine process of extraction?

Karen: I too love that image.  It’s my husband’s Arabian mare ChaCha and she was standing so perfectly looking east where some storms were boiling up off the cap rock.  To keep from getting that cutout look I zoom in on the photo at 300%.  Using my Wacom tablet and pen I use the blur tool at around 25% and a soft edge brush at 5 pixels and went around the edge of the horse slightly blurring the edges to make them less sharp.

VAJ: Where do you feel your work is heading right now?

Karen: Improving I hope.  Sometimes I feel that my work is so different no one will like it but I have this desire and drive to keep doing it the way I like.  I reckon that as long as I please myself that is what’s important, and if others like it, it’s a bonus.  I like the uncommon and it seems to me that most people like the common and don’t bother looking at something different.  When I do get the “wow” reaction, it pleases me immensely and gives me further encouragement to keep doing what I like.

VAJ: You’ve told us what gets your creative juices flowing. What keeps you working at your art?

Karen: The desire to keep improving and sometimes to try something new.  Also the beauty of horses is such an inspiration to me I have to keep doing horse art.

VAJ: What advice do you have for those drawn to this type of digital art?

Karen: You’d better have a lot of hours at your disposal.  It takes many hours sitting at a computer, sometimes sitting almost on top of the monitor to get close enough and working on 1 to 3 pixels at a time.  Take frequent breaks as the eyes get mighty tired and blurry.  And keep trying different things such as blending modes and gradients, combining until you get just the look you are after.

There are times I have to get up and try again another day after thinking about how I want the image to look.  It does keep me up at nights thinking and sometimes it finds its way into my dreams.  I don’t always get what I think I want, but something quite different and unique will show itself to me and I know it when I get it.

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