On the Corner

On Saturday, I went with my camera club on an architectural photo shoot in Flagstaff, where we had a map and buildings marked on the map to photograph. I had so much fun tagging along with two expert photographers with fancy cameras, as we roamed the streets, eventually ignoring the map and photographing mostly street scenes.  The photographs I took of buildings were pretty uninspired and boring and not very good, but I had a great time with street photography.

This shot of a street musician and his doggie is my favorite.

20150613-MMA_7385_melinda_anderson-EditI processed it with one of the HDR filters in on1’s Perfect Effects and then layered it with the original photo is Photoshop, where I masked out the HDR edit from some of the areas.

 

Melinda2 Comments

Debbie’s Find

My Friday Find is borrowed from my friend, Debbie, who graciously allowed me to photograph it this week. You may see it again, because I have some other ideas before I return it. And my goodness, there’s that straw hat again!

This is a Lensbaby shot with added textures. I like the look that some of my textures give my walls- wish they really looked like that!

20150611-MMA_7085_melinda_anderson-EditAnd here is the same photo (in the original proportions- I “stretched the canvas” of the top one in Photoshop) with a black and white preset I adapted from one I had gotten from somewhere.  I wanted a light-ish black and white conversion, which I sometimes do by adjusting tones etc.  This time I decided to save it as a preset, hoping it will work on other photos as well.

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Kim Klassen dot com

Melinda5 Comments

A Chair and a Straw Hat

Hats on Chairs- catching up on still life challenges for The Studio Online!

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you have seen this chair many times- and if you’ve been following it for a LOOOOONG while, you seen the hat. Oh well- you’ve seen them, because they’re great props for still life photography! And, no doubt, you will see them again!

20150605-MMA_6903_melinda_anderson 20150605-MMA_6910_melinda_anderson 20150605-MMA_6922_melinda_andersonThese were all taken with the Lensbaby Edge 80.

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Playing with Dandelions

I think dreamy macros of flowers, weeds, or leaves are my favorite photos to take. There is something so relaxing about seeing objects so closeup, so different from the way you would ordinarily see them- and then moving the camera or changing the aperture or area of focus just a slight bit to get an entirely different view.  It’s like a mindfulness meditation. And then there’s the editing- so much fun! I used different Lightroom presets as starting points in editing the dandelion macros below- I’m not sure which I like best.

Newsprint, from Clickin Moms Paparazzi Collection:20150606-MMA_6952_melinda_anderson

Documentary, from Clickin Moms Paparazzi Collection:20150606-MMA_6955_melinda_anderson-2

Same photo as above, kk_toucha from Kim Klassen:20150606-MMA_6955_melinda_anderson

kk_light and airy from Kim Klassen:20150606-MMA_6963_melinda_anderson

kk_litely from Kim Klassen20150606-MMA_6967_melinda_andersonAll photos taken with Lensbaby Sweet35 with both macro converters

Melinda8 Comments

Human Touch

One of the assignments in The Studio was to create a still life with an added human element. My photo ended up being predominantly human rather than still life, so the human touch in a still life is something I’m keeping on my (mental) to-do list.

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Melinda3 Comments

Santa Fe- Seeing the Sacred

The final assignment in my lensbaby class is a photo essay using mostly lensbaby images, and it can be either narrative or thematic.  One can’t walk around downtown Santa Fe without noticing churches and sacred images everywhere, so I chose to focus on this theme for my photo essay.

Seeing the Sacred

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Edge 80
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Nikon 18-200mm
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Lensbaby Sweet 35
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 Lensbaby Sweet 35

 

Santa Fe
Lensbaby Sweet 35
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Nikon 18-200mm
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Nikon 18-200mm
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Lensbaby Sweet 35
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Lensbaby Sweet 35
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Lensbaby Sweet 35
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Lensbaby Sweet 35

Notes:
The first image- I’m not sure what building this was!
The next two are the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, and the third is a statue of Kateri Tekakawitha (1656-1680), the first Indian of North America to be promoted a saint. The simple cross was hanging over our bed.
The rest of the photos are from San Miguel Mission, the oldest church in the U.S., built between 1600 and 1620.

Melinda1 Comment

Exploring Santa Fe

Last Sunday we celebrated my birthday in Santa Fe. We walked around the downtown taking in as many of the sights as we could in one day and sampling northern New Mexico cuisine.  Here are a some random detail shots gathered taken on our walk around the city; all were taken with my lensbaby.

3santafe1santafe2SantaFe

Melinda3 Comments

Persistence at Garden of the Gods

After leaving the plains of Kansas, we drove to Colorado, spending the night at Limon. We decided to get up early-ish (early for us, late for landscape photographers) the next morning to drive to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs before heading to Santa Fe.  We woke up to overcast skies and got to the park around 9:00 or 9:30.  Garden of the Gods is a public park with paved walkways among gorgeous red rock formations. It was relatively uncrowded, probably because it appeared that it would rain at any moment. We were both eager to see the iconic view of Pike’s Peak through the red rocks, but of course, you couldn’t see the mountains because of the clouds. I love the combination of gray clouds and red rocks, but I was really hoping to see Pike’s Peak!

20150530-MMA_6288_melinda_andersonAfter walking through the park for awhile and monitoring the skies in case we had to make a dash to the car, we finally decided a drive around the park might give us a glimpse of the mountains. We drove around, but all we saw were clouds and red rocks- and more clouds. But as we got out of the car to look at the Balancing Rock, we noticed that the skies were beginning to clear a bit.

20150530-MMA_6303_melinda_andersonWe ate a quick snack at the Visitors Center, and then drove back into the park to see what we could see- and VOILA!

20150530-MMA_6343_melinda_anderson-EditThe above shot is of the same rocks and walkway (from a different angle) as the first one a couple hours earlier.

Persistence pays off!

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Kansas Minimalism

We are home now, after a LOOOOONG drive through Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico and a day off to celebrate my birthday in Santa Fe.  There are a lot of photos to go through- especially from Santa Fe, where I tried to take enough photos with my Lensbaby to satisfy the photo essay requirement for the last week of the class (even though I’m not a full participant and won’t be evaluated).

So today, I again celebrate the flat horizons and vast expanses of Kansas with these minimalist shots, both taken with the Edge 80 optic.

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Melinda2 Comments

Kansas Wheat

The drive across Kansas gave me an opportunity for an up close and personal view of a wheat field. My husband must have Kansas in his blood- I think the color version is his favorite photo from the trip.

20150529-MMA_6194_melinda_anderson 20150529-MMA_6195_melinda_andersonBoth were taken with the Lensbaby Edge 80.

Melinda4 Comments

Rural

Driving across western Kansas yesterday, I snapped photos from the car as we went along, and a few are decent.  But Lonnie spotted this farm along the way and pulled off onto a country road so I could take my time and the photos would have a good chance of being in focus.  I love the barn and silo! I know I could never have been able to hack it as a country girl, but I love rural scenes.

20150529-MMA_6135_melinda_anderson-EditLensbaby Edge 80

Melinda4 Comments

Country roads, take me home

20150527-MMA_5934_melinda_anderson-Edit-EditYesterday, my father-in-law, like earlier generations in his family, was laid to rest at the old cemetery at the end of this dirt road, overlooking the tiny Kansas farm community where he grew up.

Family members and friends gathered to say a last good-bye to Corky, who always called this peaceful corner of the world HOME.

Melinda4 Comments

The Old Neighborhood

My husband grew up in one of the oldest neighborhoods of Manhattan, Kansas. We took some time yesterday to drive around and look at some of the old houses. When I noticed this brick sidewalk bordered with flowers, I jumped out of the car and waded through puddles to snap a few photos.

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Melinda5 Comments