Watch on YouTube
April 4, 2023

The Photoshop Wizard Who is Bringing Joy to Hundreds of Ill Children Worldwide w/ Karen Alsop

Today's Creator is Karen Alsop, Karen Alsop, an Australian photographer and digital artist who has gained worldwide recognition for her incredible work. Karen founded the "Christmas Wish" project, which creates magical scenes that fulfill the holiday wishes of hundreds of ill children worldwide. 

In this episode, Karen shares the inspiring story of how the Christmas Wish project started and how it has impacted her life and the lives of others. She also discusses her passion for storytelling through her art. And how she is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of digital art through Augmented Reality (AR).

This episode offers a fascinating look into the world of a talented photographer and artist who is using her skills to create hope, joy, and wonder in the lives of others.

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED

CONNECT WITH KAREN

🌐 Website: storyart.com
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/storyartaustralia
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/karen-alsop/
📺 YouTube: @StoryartAu

CONNECT WITH JESUS RAMIREZ

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesusramirez9
📸 Instagram: @jrfromptc
📺 YouTube: @PhotoshopTrainingChannel


LEAVE A REVIEW

⚪ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

🟡 Leave a review on Google Podcasts

🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify

Find us on your favorite podcasting service here:
https://www.todayscreatorpod.com/about/

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

✔ YouTube: @TodaysCreatorPod

✔ Instagram: @todayscreatorpod

✔ TikTok: @todayscreatorpod

Transcript

[00:00:00.000] - Karen Alsop
 The photographic art that I was creating actually had the ability to make a difference in someone's life. The mum reached out to me via email and she had been following the other work that I've been doing and she explained to me that her child, Taliyah, had a condition where she can't walk and she can't hold herself up, she's wheelchair-bound, she can't speak. And the mum, as a photographer, had taken beautiful portraits of her but all of those portraits, Taliyah was either in a chair or lying on her back. And Jacki wanted to know if I could create something that freed her from these limitations. And when she shared that with me, I was like, Yes, I think I can. I started working on creating this scene that would then have Talia flying through the air, held up by butterflies and we realized that it's something that for parents, it gives them this opportunity to see their kid not sick. They can look at this and not think of what they're going through, but they can think of that joy that that child has. It's as important for the parent as it is for the kids.
 
 [00:01:08.940] - Jesús Ramirez
 Today's creator is Karen Alsop, an Australian photographer and Photoshop artist who has gained international recognition for her unique approach to compositing and image manipulation. Karen is also a sought after educator. She is the founder of Story Art Education, an online learning platform that provides in-sought-after,depth training in Photography, Photoshop and Compositing Techniques. One of Karen's most noteworthy projects is Christmas Wish. Through this program, Karen and her team use their photography and Photoshop skills to create magical holiday portraits for hundreds of ill children worldwide who will unfortunately not be home for the holidays. For some of these families, this is their child's first professional photo. For others, it may be their last. In this episode, we'll dive deep into Karen's creative process, learn more about the inspiration behind Christmas Wish, and hear firsthand about her journey to becoming a world renowned Photoshop artist and photographer. Thank you so much for joining me, Karen. I'm really excited to have you. How are you doing?
 
 [00:02:01.620] - Karen Alsop
 Really good, Jesus. So good to be on your podcast. Thanks for having me.
 
 [00:02:06.150] - Jesús Ramirez
 For the people that may not know you, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Start from the beginning. Let us know where you're from, where did you grew up, and how did you get into the creative industry?
 
 [00:02:15.360] - Karen Alsop
 Sure. Well, some of you might be able to already tell that I am Australian from my accent. I am raised in Melbourne in Australia, and I grew up here. I grew up as someone that wanted to be a teacher, but I also got into photography really, really early. My grandfather was a big inspiration, and by the time I was about 14-15, I had my own cameras, he set me up with a dark room, and I was creating and developing in black and white. I was dodging and burning in the dark room.
 
 [00:02:50.100] - Jesús Ramirez
 Wait, I got to ask you something. You're actually dodging and burning. These are not the tools in Photoshop. These are actual, tangible things you were doing.
 
 [00:02:59.500] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, blocking light and revealing light and doing it in the dark room, which is a whole lot harder than doing it in Photoshop, I must say. But yeah, I loved that. And as I went into university, I decided that I wanted to take two paths simultaneously, and I studied education, I became a primary school teacher and secondary school teacher teaching music, and I started my business at the same time, which at that point was graphic design predominantly. And then that morphed into more photography, I realized I enjoyed the photography side more than dealing with graphic design clients and all the back and forth that comes with that. So yeah, I just continued to develop my craft. But all through that time, as I dropped the teaching eventually and went full time, I really was just doing what everyone else was doing. I was a portrait and wedding photographer, basically. Wow. I dabbled in a bit of Photoshop, and I had a few creative ideas along the way, but I never really took it very far. And I loved what I did, but I found that when we had kids, so I got married early on as well, and we waited for a while to have kids.
 
 [00:04:19.240] - Karen Alsop
 And when the kids came along in 2011 and 2013, weddings were just no longer working out, especially with my husband Stewart shooting with me. It was just so hard. So I decided to start delving into new ideas and seeing what can I do in my career that is family-friendly and that is something that I can enjoy and move forward with. From there, I started trying new things and I started using Photoshop a whole lot more and creating stories out of multiple images. That has led me to where I am now, which is this is all I do. I'm a digital photographic artist. All of my work, doesn't matter who I'm doing it for, it has to be out there. It has to be imaginative. It has to be something that you can't capture in one still image. I'm winning awards and I've been able to travel the world. It's incredible to be able to live this life.
 
 [00:05:25.210] - Jesús Ramirez
 We've met in, I believe, Sydney. You and I were both speaking at Adobe Make It several years ago. I forgot what year that was and I've known you online for maybe a couple of years prior to that, and I don't recall exactly how I became aware of your work, but I do remember seeing some of your compositing work. So by that time I met you in person, I already knew who you were. And your work always seems very magical. Oftentimes it includes children and them doing amazing things. One of the things that you do that I have helped you with a tiny, tiny little bit, like .001 % is with the Christmas Wish Project, the story, our project. I've been helping you for about maybe four years now, I believe, but I really don't know the history behind that. And it's a project that I'm always very excited to work with every year. You wouldn't believe how much time I spend on some of these projects. I spend more time on some of these projects than my paid work just because I just feel that I need to create something special for these kids. So can you please explain what it is and how you got started with it?
 
 [00:06:34.510] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, we appreciate your input so much. What you did for Grace last year and all of the other children is just incredible. So Christmas Wish actually began around 2016, and at that point in time, I had realized that the photographic art that I was creating actually had the ability to make a difference in someone's life. I'd previously done a couple of projects for some families directly. And the first family that I did something for, it was because of them that this all started. The mom reached out to me via email, and she had been following the other work that I've been doing, and she explained to me that her child, Talia, had a condition where she can't walk and she can't hold herself up, she's wheelchair-bound, she can't speak. And the mom, as a photographer, had taken beautiful portraits of her, but all of those portraits, Talia was either in a chair or lying on her back, and Jackie wanted to know if I could create something that freed her from these limitations. And when she shared that with me, I was like yes, yes, I think I can. And from there, I talked to the family, found out what does Talia like?
 
 [00:07:57.800] - Karen Alsop
 Even though she can't talk, she can smile and laugh. And the family was able to share with me the things that brought her joy, and a lot of that was animals and butterflies and her dog. And so I started working on creating this scene that would then have Talia flying through the air, held up by butterflies. And we put that together. And then, Talia came to the studio and I photographed lots of different photos of her, so that with her family holding her up in different positions and got the amazing smile and then was able to composite that together and put all those different pieces together to free her from everything that was holding her back. And that was the start. That was the start of the Heart Project. And then that led to Christmas Wish, later that year, which we decided, well, as a team, there's a few people involved that thought, well, we can go in and we can make a difference in more kids lives at once that are stuck in hospital during that Christmas season. And we went into Monash Children's Hospital in Melbourne and we photographed 30 children.
 
 [00:09:05.830] - Karen Alsop
 And I sat in a back room that afternoon, so we brought Santa in and we did it in front of a green screen, and I sat in a back room. I'd already created the backgrounds, but I was madly editing each and every one of them myself with the rest of the team kind of printing and processing and framing them. And then we delivered them out to those kids in the hospital that evening, so we were there till about 11 PM at night. It was a massive day, but it was the start of something. And you know from there, it was like...
 
 [00:09:37.040] - Jesús Ramirez
 What was their expression when you first showed them these pieces, that very first experience? What was that like?
 
 [00:09:43.160] - Karen Alsop
 Well, that was super exciting because they had no idea that these were going to be magical Christmas pieces. They really just thought they were posing in front of a green screen. So we got those responses on video. The first video, I think, got thousands and thousands and thousands of people watching it because they saw that response from the kids and how much it meant. And yeah, they're just like, What? And parents are crying, and it was... We realized that it's something that for parents, it gives them this opportunity to see their kid not sick. And a lot of them have said, like other kids, and then they can look at this and not think of what they're going through, but they can think of that joy that that child has. So it's as important for the parent as it is for the kids.
 
 [00:10:36.060] - Jesús Ramirez
 Fast forward to Christmas 2022, how big is this project? Because I understand that it's several hundreds, if not thousands of people, over different countries. So where are we at now with this project?
 
 [00:10:47.890] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah. Well, yeah, we've, over the years, been able to go to different places with our Santa, but we've also had teams that operate under the Christmas wish, and they go in as a team and they photograph, so we do have teams all around the world. I think we had about seven in 2022. Now we are growing it again because there was obviously a bit of a... Something happened in the last few years that stopped travel and going into hospitals. But we still actually operated through the years of COVID and the pandemic. We were still able to, in some way, photograph the kids. We had the extra masks on, we had the extra distancing, but we were able to use our skills, and the editors that are behind the scenes, there's about 100 of them working on it 24/7 for three weeks straight just churning out these images. You know, up to about 400 in a year. So they are able to take the mask off Santa, and as you did, we had another photo of Santa when the kids weren't in the room, so that you could comp him and put that, his face back on him.
 
 [00:11:58.760] - Karen Alsop
 Sounds weird, I know. Definitely. So we've been able to use these skills in a way that means that we could continue to give this gift. There's hundreds of people involved. There's lots of support from imaging companies and everything, but it's just continuing to grow. So we're just excited about the future and what that's going to bring.
 
 [00:12:21.060] - Jesús Ramirez
 I remember just this last one that I did for Grace. I spent close to 20 hours on that photo. I spent so much time. And my girlfriend comes into my office here and she said, Oh, my God. Are you still working? I said, Yeah. And it was about three in the morning and I've been working on the photo all day. And she said, Aren't you going to get some sleep? I said, Well, I have to turn this in and I don't have time no more, I have other commitments and this thing needs to be turned in. And then I said to her, Grace may not have another Christmas, I don't know, so I need to make sure that this one is good because how sad would it be that because I have to get up early tomorrow, have a meeting or whatever tomorrow, a client project or whatever tomorrow, I can't put an extra hour or two on this if she doesn't have another Christmas. I need to make sure that this gets done. So every year I spend a lot of time on these projects, and then having gone through a health situation myself made me even more attached to the project because I realized what it's like being in the hospital with people not being able to visit you.
 
 [00:13:32.990] - Jesús Ramirez
 So I suffered a stroke in 2021. At that time, I couldn't have any visitors. So the entire time I was in the hospital, I was by myself. So I remember that year, I think you reached out and you asked me if I was going to be okay to work on a project. And I was like, Absolutely, I'm still recovering. So my stroke happened in October, and I think you reached out in November, maybe late November, something along those lines, very soon after. And I said, No, I have to work on it, like I just have to. Because I was just in the hospital by myself for almost a week. I know what these kids are going through. There's no way that I'm not going to be involved in this. So I just want to say thank you for having me be a part of it. It's always a pleasure to work on it. And I just wish I had more hours in the day to do more.
 
 [00:14:15.990] - Karen Alsop
 I think we all do, I actually wish I could be just doing projects for people all the time and not have to make money and not have to live, and I know I hear the same thing from Santa as well. So he's been with us since the beginning and he volunteers all these times. He just wishes he could win the lottery so he could continue to do this full-time.
 
 [00:14:36.670] - Jesús Ramirez
 A hundred percent. So let's talk a little bit about that, what are some of the, what are the challenges, let's put it that way, the challenges of working with this project.
 
 [00:14:44.610] - Karen Alsop
 The challenges from my perspective are that I need to make sure that it's supported and it happens every year, and part of that is something that I make sure I do is that I capture the footage behind the scenes where I get people to capture it. I put together a video at the end, I put together media releases, and all of that is so time consuming. It really is. I actually wish I didn't have to do it, but I do it for two reasons. One is because sharing the project means that we're going to more support every year. But it also means that it shares the inspiration to other people. I think that's the biggest reason that I do things like this, too, is that it's not just to make myself feel good for doing something, but if I can encourage other people to use a gift that they have, a talent that they have, and to make a difference at some stage in each year, then that's pretty important to me, so that's the hard thing is all of that other stuff that goes with it.
 
 [00:15:43.200] - Jesús Ramirez
 For sure. And it's worth it because this last year, 2022, one of the composites that I work with with Carla, and also a composite I did in 2021 with... I'm sorry, Grace was this year. Carla was last year. That's right. I think I got that right. Both their composites made it to... I'm not exactly sure which newspaper, but newspapers in Australia. And I saw some photos of the actual newspapers, and the children must be ecstatic to see their photo in a newspaper. So all that extra work, not only that you create this amazing service, if you will, where they're going to receive a composite, they're going to treasure for the rest of their lives, but then they might see themselves in the newspaper. It must be such a great feeling for them.
 
 [00:16:31.280] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, they do. They love it. The parents are always so keen to be part of it and to share their joy in receiving the images. Yeah, it's awesome. Sometimes they're on the news. Sometimes the news crews come down and they love that as well.
 
 [00:16:45.520] - Jesús Ramirez
 That's amazing. Can we call this charity? Is this charity work that you do? Is that a good label for this?
 
 [00:16:51.670] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, I think it's a good label. I haven't set it up as an official charity status. It's just something that's a bit too complicated, but it's definitely a charity. It's fully volunteer-driven and no one gets paid to do it. No one pays money to get it.
 
 [00:17:10.570] - Jesús Ramirez
 What about the other part? Because I am assuming you have to make money somewhere in order for you to have the time to devote to these kids and their portraits. So where does Karen make her money? What is your primary source of income these days?
 
 [00:17:24.850] - Karen Alsop
 I've got quite a large different source of income coming from different streams. So I do commercial work, so I'll create composites for commercial clients. I do work for domestic clients. I don't really like calling them domestic clients, but anyway, I haven't come up with a better name.
 
 [00:17:46.800] - Jesús Ramirez
 But families... What does that mean, domestic clients?
 
 [00:17:49.070] - Jesús Ramirez
 It means you might normally do traditional portraits for families or pitch pit photos, whereas I do something that's really out there for them. I find out what are their interests and we bring something together that's completely telling their story. So I do a bit of that. And then I sell my art. So I've got exhibitions happening, and that's been growing substantially over the last few years. And it's been something that's become a much greater focus for me, I think, through COVID, opportunities actually arose. And then that's been something that I'm pushing. And then I teach as well. So I teach people with master classes and my story education site and then presenting and all those other things.
 
 [00:18:36.120] - Jesús Ramirez
 Two questions I want to ask and completely unrelated. But the first one is, let's talk a little bit about the teaching and then we go back into the... Did you call it fine art photography? Is that what you called it?
 
 [00:18:46.700] - Karen Alsop
 In the exhibition sense, it's the work that I sell as art. Yeah, so it's personal work that I create that I sell as art. 
 
 [00:18:55.120] - Jesús Ramirez
 Perfect, I want to talk about both things. Let's talk about the teaching first. I do a lot of teaching myself, and one of the things that I read about you is that you actually have a degree in education, if I'm not mistaken.
 
 [00:19:03.700] - Jesús Ramirez
 Yes, which really does come in handy.
 
 [00:19:05.310] - Jesús Ramirez
 I'm jealous, by the way.
 
 [00:19:09.600] - Karen Alsop
 I've always loved teaching. And primary and secondary teacher with a Bachelor of Education, and I taught in primary and secondary school for eight years, and I taught primarily music, but a bit of photography and drama and things as well. And that's certainly something that I've wanted to carry through and carry on. It's a joy that I get imparting to other people and sharing what I've figured out.
 
 [00:19:35.820] - Jesús Ramirez
 If I come to you as a student, what am I going to learn from Karen? What's your unique selling proposition when it comes to teaching?
 
 [00:19:44.810] - Karen Alsop
 I think the biggest focus for me over the last few years has been the master class that I teach, and that is something that is really project-driven for each of the people that come through it. And for me, it's important that they find their niche, that they find the thing that they enjoy doing. I can teach the specific technical skills that will help them, the better workflows, making sure that they're looking at light and shade and perspective and scale and all of those things, and I can help guide them on that and guide on even making money and printing and all of that, but they need to find what it is that they're passionate about and go down their own path as well.
 
 [00:20:26.040] - Jesús Ramirez
 A hundred percent. You said two things that I completely agree with. Number one is project-driven. I really think that that's the best way to learn, as you mentioned, you can teach everybody all the tools and shortcuts and all that. But at the end of the day, working with projects, I think is really what really develops your skills as anything, really, not just a photographer, but definitely working on projects. And the second part is passion. I really do think that people do need to find their passion. When people ask me, How do I learn Photoshop? My first question always is, Well, what do you want Photoshop for? Is it for editing your family photos? Is it for creating composites? What is the purpose of you using the tool? And then I can help you maybe find some projects that will get you started. That could also be translated into passionate. What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about, again, creating composites or portrait photography? What is your passion? Those are two things that I completely agree with. One of the questions that I was going to ask you earlier was about the work that you exhibit.
 
 [00:21:27.740] - Jesús Ramirez
 I didn't know much about that part of the work that you do. So can you tell me a little bit about how that works, what that's all about?
 
 [00:21:35.880] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think over the years I've created a lot of pieces that are highly sellable. And a lot of them actually...
 
 [00:21:43.880] - Jesús Ramirez
 You mean really good?
 
 [00:21:46.480] - Karen Alsop
 No, I mean that they connect with people. There's something that people will want to put on their wall. I've focused in a lot on anthropomorphic work, so making animals human-like, and I love doing that. It is so much fun. And so a lot of my work that I sell is very much animal-focused, not all of it, but a lot of it. And so developing pieces that are sellable is a joy for me because I'm looking at it from two perspectives. I'm looking at it from what do I want to create and have fun with, but what are the people going to see? So during lockdown, we had a lot of lockdowns in Pelpit. And we had a particular stage where we were allowed out for a bit. And it was in between a couple of lockdowns. So my family and I went up to Puffing Billy, which is not far up the road. And we were walking through and there was a building being built, twenty million dollar visitor center, and so as we were walking around it, I thought, what if I proposed something to them that I create a series that is highly focused around Australian animals and Puffing Billy?
 
 [00:23:05.410] - Karen Alsop
 And that can be something that I can exhibit and that they can also merchandise. So they can put on coasters and T-shirts and everything. And so I then went back home. I created two pieces. By then, we'd been locked down again. So I was really regulated to what I had in my stock collection. And I've got about 40,000 images that I have in Adobe Lightroom that I keep for things. So I was working, I created these two pieces and I proposed this exhibition and licensing to them, and I heard back a couple of weeks later from them, they said, yes, we'd love to go ahead. So that actually has spearheaded a whole lot of things. Puffing Billies is a steam train that is a big tourist attraction. They have hundreds of thousands of visitors every year coming. So tourists now, again, from overseas. And so I created a series of eight pieces of these Australian animals doing things like taking photos or sitting on the train. Basic compared to some of my other ones in terms of what was on it, but something that was really highly sellable. And I also had the opportunity to exhibit my other pieces that contain animals.
 
 [00:24:21.800] - Karen Alsop
 I've got a series called Animal Pans, which I had put as many animal sayings in the piece that I can, and people have to try and find them.
 
 [00:24:31.960] - Jesús Ramirez
 Can you give me an example of an animal saying?
 
 [00:24:35.070] - Karen Alsop
 Like elephant in the room, and that's one of the meters. Or leopard can't change its spots. Or don't count your chickens before they hatch.
 
 [00:24:43.300] - Jesús Ramirez
 That sounds really fun.
 
 [00:24:45.730] - Karen Alsop
 So I've done four of those so far. One focused on dogs, one on pigs, one on cows and bulls, and one on animals. And so those are up. And also a homeless wildlife series. So this series, I actually photograph rescue animals, and I put them into human like situations. So people connect to them like they're a child that's homeless. And so they're in this situation where the warm bats in a bin, like a homeless wombat with a newspaper over the top of him, and they really connect with people on a deep level. So those are all up, and they went up as a two-month exhibition in this beautiful visitor center, and now it's permanent. So they've loved it so much that I'm now working on a massive piece that's going to be showcased, and I need to get it done in the next month, but it's coming together. So 50 Australian sayings in one piece.
 
 [00:25:44.140] - Jesús Ramirez
 Wow, that's amazing. Can't wait to see it. That sounds incredible. One of the phrases that you mentioned a few times during your answer was highly sellable. What does that mean to you?
 
 [00:25:55.310] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah. Look, sometimes you can do work that means something to yourself, but when someone put it on the wall.
 
 [00:26:02.910] - Karen Alsop
 What I've found with the work that I'm doing, it tends to really connect with a really broad range of people. I've had people come from different places around the world, and then they come back to me and they buy a big canvas of, say, one of the animal puns, and they take it home in a role and they put up in their wall. They're loving it because they can interact with it. They're loving it because they can have a conversation about it, and they're loving it just to be able to look at it as well. The animal, the Aussie animal adventures one, I mean, that's highly sellable just because it's so tourist friendly. Kangaroos, Wombats, Koalas. So when I'm working on things, I do need to approach it from that perspective that is this something that other people would want to put on their wall?
 
 [00:26:54.710] - Jesús Ramirez
 I guess the follow up question to that would be, how does one come up with highly sellable ideas? What's your process like?
 
 [00:27:02.990] - Karen Alsop
 I think it's just a natural investigation and just watching what's happened with previous works. And then assessing it and going, that worked well. Maybe that one didn't work quite so well. See, the difference between creating work, putting it up on an online gallery and hoping it sells, or having it in that form, to having it in a place where I can literally sit there and watch the crowd come through. I can see what they're loving. I can see them pointing at it and talking about it and interacting. That's actually been a huge benefit to me because you're actually seeing that response from people in a physical way.
 
 [00:27:46.940] - Jesús Ramirez
 The way that you explain that is exactly the same way that I would explain to people how a YouTube video works. When you post up a YouTube video, you may feel and think that it's the best thing ever made, but then it doesn't perform well. Why didn't it perform well? Well, you can watch the analytics and learn from how people react to the video and how it perform. From there, you can come up with a newer version or something completely different, but based on that information. So it sounds like that's what you do with the art, that you take the information of one piece and apply to the next one, and then you do that so many times, and eventually it's highly sellable.
 
 [00:28:27.040] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah. And it's like this one that I'm working on now, I totally anticipate that it will be highly sellable because it's got two things. It's centered around Puffing Billy, which is where it's going to be showcased so the scene is set. It's got the animals in it as always. It's got Australian sayings and it's going to have the translations. So knowing it's a tourist market and that they already love the puns, it's like bringing it all together. Yeah.
 
 [00:28:55.270] - Jesús Ramirez
 Sure. And your website is called Story Art, correct?
 
 [00:28:59.770] - Jesús Ramirez
 Yes, that's right.
 
 [00:29:00.650] - Karen Alsop
 To me, that's a wonderful name that perfectly describes who you are as an artist because even with the example you just gave me about the highly sellable piece, it has a story behind it. It's already placed in a scene and it has a target audience. So I think in my humble opinion, one of the reasons for your success is that at least the stuff that I've seen always has a story behind it. Was that a conscious decision? I'm assuming it is based on the website name. But early on, early in the beginning, back to when you made that transition from being a wedding photographer to, say, a compositing artist, or maybe back then when you were a wedding photographer, you were also thinking about the story the photo was going to tell. I guess the question is, have you always thought about the story behind the photo?
 
 [00:29:46.180] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, I think I have. Even when I was a wedding photographer, we were making what we called wedding video stories. That was a big part of what we were doing really early on when not many people were doing it. That mix of video and photos put together with music to tell that story of the day. As I started going into this and looking at what I wanted to create, I was always coming up with stories. Or in the early days, also a lot of the time, using classic stories and bringing that to life through the Photoshop compositing, so photographing elements and bringing something to life, whether that be Geppetto's workshop with my dad as Geppetto and my son as Pinocchio, or my daughter flying on a plane with a dog. They've been just always story-driven. Yeah.
 
 [00:30:38.400] - Jesús Ramirez
 I definitely think that's the best way to create, the best way to sell, the best way to pretty much do anything as human beings, we're story animals. I wish I were a better storyteller. I wish I was as good as you. I think that any successful creator creates stories with whatever they create, whether it's music, whether it's photos, it doesn't matter. Story is always the most important thing. I want to change the conversation to something new. I understand that you are now evolving your skill set and you're now learning about AR. Can you tell me a little bit about that? First of all, what is AR? How does that work? How did you get into it? What are you doing with it?
 
 [00:31:14.770] - Karen Alsop
 I'm loving it. Augmented Reality and integrating that with my work. There's a few reasons I got into it. I've always wanted to explore it a little bit more. I've always wanted to make my work more highly interactive. If people come and see the work, they can interact with... I picture fun little characters that they might talk to, different things. And there was always a barrier to that. There was always, well, it's going to be really costly to create something like that. But towards the end of last year, I came across Hoveley, so a company that I've now since been working with really closely on this work that I'm creating. And from the start, from the outset, using Hoveley as the software that I put all the elements into to create this Augmented Reality experience, which I'll explain a little bit more, it was really quite easy to do. It made sense from a photographer's point of view and from someone that's done a bit of video. There's the option to use green screen, which, of course, we do a lot of, and use green screen and have Holograms. So what I did at the end of last year or so, I thought I've always wanted to bring Santa to the families that he can't get to because he can't be everywhere for Christmas wish.
 
 [00:32:33.790] - Karen Alsop
 So I filmed Santa in the studio against the green screen, and I got him to talk to the kids and have a little reindeer there and everything, and we created a whole Augmented Reality space where it didn't matter where the child was in the world, which hospital they're in, they could point a device and they could see Santa in their room. And Santa is literally there talking to them. That was the early start of it, and that has opened the doors for all these other ways that we can use Augmented Reality. So a lot of what I'm doing now, you see it, there's a picture behind me actually, which I've created in the Augmented Space where you hold a device over the image and things come out at you. So I'm working on photographing elements in three-dimensional space so that they can turn and they can be part of it. So something that's in my artwork then comes out of my artwork. In this one, it's books and movement and animation and working with After Effects to animate elements of my pieces, and then that becomes part of the experience, which can then be integrated into exhibitions.
 
 [00:33:49.420] - Karen Alsop
 But it can also be books. I'm working on a book project as well where every page has an Augmented Reality experience. And soon there'll be glasses, Apple glasses, Google glasses that people will just be walking around and I envision them just walking around and they'll see my artwork and all of a sudden poof, it comes to life.
 
 [00:34:09.810] - Jesús Ramirez
 That's incredible. So talk to me a little bit about how do you create this type of work? You mentioned Adobe After Effects. Are there other applications that you use? For somebody listening and they might want to dabble in this, what applications does they need to look into?
 
 [00:34:24.160] - Karen Alsop
 There are so many applications out there, I've been dabbling in some of the 3D applications in Adobe. A lot of those will help you to create 3D elements and to also put, I guess, clothes on them, really. I put different textures on them and things. I have been working in Photoshop. They are phasing out the 3D in Photoshop, sadly.
 
 [00:34:48.060] - Jesús Ramirez
 Yes, unfortunately.
 
 [00:34:49.110] - Karen Alsop
 But I've been using Photoshop at this point to make my 2D elements puff up and make them 3D. There are applications you can use, even on a phone, but you can use a camera as well and the computer, to photograph something on all angles up on the top and the round, and then it creates that in 3D space. Now, of course, you can use that to print something in 3D, but you can also use it in the augmented space where it can appear in three dimensional form. So I've been going through all the different things and working out the best ways to do it and the most streamlined ways, and I'm still definitely on a learning journey, but really, really loving it because it just brings new life to every artwork that I've ever done.
 
 [00:35:39.420] - Jesús Ramirez
 It's incredible. So you're a mom, you own a business, run a charity, have your training business and are doing pieces for sale. Where do you find the time to do it all?
 
 [00:35:53.920] - Karen Alsop
 I don't know, I mean, even partnered with another lady, Robin Campbell, we run the Australian Photographic Prize, which certainly takes up most of our year. I just got to slot it in. I've got to have a good Google calendar. I must say, though, it's kind of funny. A lot of people that I meet and I share what I do, they're like, Oh, you have the best job. That's amazing. It must be so much fun. And then there are my kids who are nine and eleven who are just complaining that, Mum, you're just always doing work. Why do we have to go to Puffing Billy again? Why are you just sitting on the computer doing this? And I keep saying to them, One day they'll appreciate it one day.
 
 [00:36:32.040] - Jesús Ramirez
 I've never met your children, but if I ever do, I'll tell them, Kids, let me tell you what the opposite is. You never leave the house like me. I was in the house all the time. So I would have loved to go now, once in a while. I often tell people, I love my job. I could describe myself as a content creator, and there's different areas that that falls into. And for me, the most difficult part is finding the time to do everything as I want to do everything. And at some point I realized that if I say yes to everything, then I'm saying no to a lot of things. So now I have to be careful with what I say yes to because I don't want to say no to something I might want to do. For example, this podcast, this is something I've been wanting to do for years. The first time I opened up a Google Doc and started plotting it out, I looked at the date. It was January, I think, January or February of 2013, so 10 years. And I had a list of guests back in those days. A lot of those guests are not even online anymore.
 
 [00:37:29.540] - Jesús Ramirez
 And some of those guests I could still probably invite. And funny enough, some of those guests are now my friends that I didn't know at the time. But the point is that I was always so busy. At the time, I had a full-time job. I was starting the YouTube channel. I was doing side work. I was doing all kinds of things, much like I am now. But now I'm much more organized. I have a couple of team members that help me out with different things. Isaiah with the video editing, Pauline with copywriting, social media and things like that. So, one of the ways that I manage to do more is by having people take care of certain things. Do you have a team desk with you full time or are you doing it all on your own?
 
 [00:38:09.300] - Karen Alsop
 So I have people that I subcontract to do certain things. A few of those are so very important. So my bookkeeper, she is essential to the whole thing. I just don't even want to know about the bookkeeping and the accountant. So that's all handled. I have a cleaner as well, and that actually frees me to not have to worry about so much cleaning. And my studio here is next to my house. It's basically, it's disconnected. It's like commercial studio, but it's next to my house. And I really separate myself from the house during the day. And I work normal business hours, I suppose, the nine to five thing, and I'm over here. I've thought about, would I hire someone to have them working with me? And I just don't like that idea. I really like my flexibility and my freedom to just go and do whatever I want to do at any particular given time.
 
 [00:39:08.650] - Jesús Ramirez
 I completely understand. Well, Karen, I want to be respectful with your time. I do like to end the show with a series of lightning-round questions. These questions could have a very short answer. You can skip or you can start a whole new conversation. We could talk about it for as long as you want. There's really no right or wrong way of doing it. Does that sound like a good plan?
 
 [00:39:32.530] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, this is the scary bit. 
 
 [00:39:34.080] - Jesús Ramirez
 Wait, I guess that's my first question. Why is that scary?
 
 [00:39:36.080] - Karen Alsop
 Different to all the stuff that I'm thinking about and passionate about right now. I know I've heard some of the questions. I have to think back. 
 
 [00:39:46.740] - Jesús Ramirez
 Well, maybe there are different questions. We'll see. My first question is, why is it important to you to make a difference as a photographer? 
 
 [00:39:55.660] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, okay, that's a good question. I like that one. It's important to me to make a difference because what else is there? Just in life in general, we're in this world for a very short time and we can be working all in our own little bubble in our own little space. But if I can inspire other people to make a difference, then I feel I've made a difference. For me, the reason is because it's one of the most important things.
 
 [00:40:25.960] - Jesús Ramirez
 Great answer, a hundred percent. What would you like to be remembered for?
 
 [00:40:32.410] - Karen Alsop
 For making a difference in other creative's lives. So specifically, exactly what I just said. If I'm remembered for, well, that that person remembers that I inspired them to go out and do something that they then were able to make a difference in, then that is the most amazing thing. 
 
 [00:40:52.140] - Jesús Ramirez
 What is the most difficult part about being Karen Alsop?
 
 [00:40:56.120] - Karen Alsop
 The juggle. I think it's the juggle always. And probably, as I said, I've got kids who are young, and it's that, oh, I feel like they actually underappreciate the good life that they have and the fact that I am around a lot.
 
 [00:41:12.150] - Karen Alsop
 I am sure.
 
 [00:41:13.220] - Karen Alsop
 But they still, if I have to go away and travel, especially during Christmas wish time. It's hard. It's hard being a mum and making sure that your kids... that's the tough part.
 
 [00:41:27.060] - Jesús Ramirez
 Are your kids showing any interest in the creative arts, whether it's photography, drawing, music, anything like that? 
 
 [00:41:33.600] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah, well, my daughter's really into performing and singing and acting. Both of them are quite creative, but I think they're both kind of avoiding what I do deliberately in a way because I'm doing it. So it'll be interesting to see what comes of that later on. Yeah.
 
 [00:41:53.440] - Jesús Ramirez
 Side story. At Adobe Max, this last one, what year was that? 2022, the latest one. I attended a session with a video editor, and her job was to edit movie trailers. Her father is John Knoll who created Photoshop. So she decided not to do photography or anything to do with Photoshop. She instead did video editing. So I imagine it's something like that with your children.
 
 [00:42:24.350] - Karen Alsop
 My son actually started a YouTube channel. So he's not following your footsteps, but yeah, his YouTube channel is... Yeah, he's got all the good gear.
 
 [00:42:34.290] - Jesús Ramirez
 What does he show on his YouTube channel? What videos does he make?
 
 [00:42:37.160] - Karen Alsop
 He's mixed it up a bit. It sort of started as the Minecraft Roblox thing, but then he's done some interviews. My brother's actually a film director, and he did an interview with him. And yeah, he just.. films. He's got the Nikon gear, he's got the good computer, he's got the editing desk and the stream deck and all of that. So he's got it set.
 
 [00:42:58.650] - Jesús Ramirez
 Like you said, these kids have it good.
 
 [00:43:00.650] - Jesús Ramirez
 What is your favorite city in the world besides the one you live in and why? Well, yes.
 
 [00:43:11.400] - Karen Alsop
 I feel like I really enjoyed traveling before COVID hit. I was enjoying getting out and visiting all the different places. And yeah, I love London. But I have been enjoying home so much lately that I haven't got that desire to travel. But I must say one of my favorite places was New Zealand. And I don't think I've actually been to the place that I would enjoy the most yet. So I'd like to get to Queenstown and I haven't been there yet. So we'll see.
 
 [00:43:44.920] - Jesús Ramirez
 Interesting because Colin Smith from Photoshop Cafe, who is from New Zealand, he said his favorite place was Australia. You are an Australian. You're saying that your favorite place is New Zealand. And from at least Colin's opinion, there seems to be some passion between which place is better. But it's interesting to say that you guys each other gave compliments to your rivals, if you will. 
 
 [00:44:08.980] - Karen Alsop
 Yeah. Although I did notice that both you and Colin said Sydney rather than Melbourne. 
 
 [00:44:14.240] - Jesús Ramirez
 Oh, well, okay. That's a good point. That's a good point. That is a very good point. I don't know if he's been to Melbourne. He didn't specify. When was the last time you felt proud of yourself?
 
 [00:44:43.120] - Karen Alsop
 I knew you were going to ask this question. I do have a particular instance that I kind of always come back to. When I was growing up, as I said, my grandfather got me into photography, and one of the very first magazines that I started with, I think when it just started out, was called Better Photography, an Australian magazine that was created by Peter Eastwood, who's a magnificent landscape photographer. And so this magazine, I collected, I think I purchased most of them growing up, and as I got into my 20s. Down the track, later on, once I started this whole journey of photographic art and entering competitions, I ended up winning a spot on a particular thing called the Kansan Weekend Away. Peter Eastway was one of the lead Hanson Infinity ambassadors at the time, and I had the opportunity to meet him there. And that was incredible. But from that, too, I got a front cover on the Better Photography magazine. Wow. My piece of my daughter and her dog in a plane got to be front cup on this magazine. I've been told by Peter that it's not very often that these covers go out to other people. So that was huge for me, to then be on the cover of this particular magazine, which I've since had another cover and various articles and things in. Sorry. Yeah, that was the thing.
 
 [00:46:16.110] - Jesús Ramirez
 Does it ever get, I don't want to use the word old, but do you ever get used to it? Like, oh, there I am in the front of a cover of a magazine again, or my work. 
 
 [00:46:24.590] - Karen Alsop
 Oh, I guess you have to get a little bit used to stuff that you see happening. It doesn't have the same excitement as the first time. Yeah.
 
 [00:46:32.420] - Jesús Ramirez
 Sure, a hundred percent. The next question is, is there a book that you gifted people often? And if so, what book is that?
 
 [00:46:40.160] - Karen Alsop
 I don't know. There is a particular book that I give to people quite often, but there is one that I just bought that I highly recommend that I probably would want to give to people.
 
 [00:46:52.970] - Jesús Ramirez
 Yes. 
 
 [00:46:54.600] - Karen Alsop
 Now, I don't know if you've heard of Rone. He's an incredible artist, an installation artist as well as a graffiti artist. He's Australian-based.
 
 [00:47:02.890] - Jesús Ramirez
 How do you spell his name?
 
[00:47:04.350] - Karen Alsop
 R O N E, Rone.
 
[00:47:06.300] - Jesús Ramirez
 Okay, Rone.
 
 [00:47:08.690] - Karen Alsop
 And I just went to his exhibition at Flanders Street Station. He's basically taken over the top part of this iconic station that's been closed for 30 something years. And he has put installations in each of the rooms, taking people back in time. There's an amazing library of books. He's actually had them constructed. But then his graffiti artwork of his news is integrated into it. So the book about that and how he has been able to make that happen. It's not just for me, that inspiration is, yes, it's incredible work, but someone goes to a particular person, like the Mayor of Melbourne and the different people that they need to talk to, to request something that is so hard to get, that has so much red tape and is able to see that through, and he calls it his white whale, but to see that actually happen is very inspirational.
 
 [00:48:09.770] - Jesús Ramirez
 That's amazing. I got to check it out. I actually just bought, and I don't even remember what they are anymore, but I bought three books on Kindle yesterday and I bought two audiobooks because I'm always trying to learn and consume as much as I can. I wish I had more hours in the day just to learn as much as possible. I like to buy books on all kinds of things, whether it's psychology, language, art, design. I consume a lot of books and content. I feel that as a kid, I didn't read anything, so I'm trying to make up for it now that I'm in my 40s. The last question I have for you is, do you have a favorite quote that motivates you? And if so, what quote is that and why does it motivate you? 
 
 [00:48:55.270] - Karen Alsop
 Well I have a quote that is my quote that I put on all my T-shirts and everything. It's my catchphrase and it's Imagine the impossible.
 
 [00:49:05.460] - Jesús Ramirez
 I love it.
 
 [00:49:05.880] - Karen Alsop
 That's what I kind of what I live by.
 
 [00:49:07.290] - Jesús Ramirez
 I love it. You're the second guest who quotes themselves. Mark Heaps was the first. You're the second. I like your quote better. Don't tell Mark Heaps I said that. It's a fantastic quote, and you said you put it on shirts. Are those shirts for sale or are those just your shirts for your own private?
 
 [00:49:24.060] - Karen Alsop
 Well, so I got into the whole creating my own merchandise through COVID as well. I bought the dye sublimation and their cricket and everything. So I haven't sold those yet, but I do have... I'm going to have to lift up my foot. I have a shoe.
 
 [00:49:40.100] - Jesús Ramirez
 Oh, wow.
 
 [00:49:40.830] - Karen Alsop
 They're by art on me.
 
 [00:49:42.680] - Jesús Ramirez
 That's amazing.
 
 [00:49:44.940] - Karen Alsop
 And they are available in my gallery shop thing online.
 
 [00:49:49.930] - Jesús Ramirez
 Where can people find you online? Where's your shop? Where's your website? What links should people check out if they want to learn more about you and all the amazing work that you do?
 
 [00:49:58.500] - Karen Alsop
 Well, the best place to go is just storyart.com because that has links to absolutely everything from it. So from there you can find the Education site, and the Gallery site, and the Behance site and, everything that you need to know, so storyart.com. And then look me up on Facebook and Instagram as well.
 
 [00:50:17.230] - Jesús Ramirez
 Make sure you follow Karen everywhere you can. Her links will be on the show notes. There's going to be a link to it. I'm sure somewhere down below in the description, whether on YouTube or wherever you're watching or listening to this, look down below, you'll be able to click over to Karen's website and all her other social media links. Karen, my friend, thank you so much for joining me today on today's creator.
 
 [00:50:39.090] - Karen Alsop
 Thank you so much for having me, Jesus, it was amazing. I love to chat with you.