Potting Bench?

Monday night I was inspired by a prompt in Kim Klassen’s Studio to create a still life potting bench . . . of sorts. . . inside. . . in my entry way.  I long ago let go of the idea that all still life photographers just come upon these beautiful vignettes in their houses- well, some do- but most often they are created or styled for the camera.  Since I was avoiding making dinner, I quickly gathered some pots and garden-y props to create a still life. I enjoyed it so much that I kept it up and took even more the next day.

Here is my first photo. If you’ve been to my house, you might recognize the antique dental cabinet.  I had to remove some of the liqueur glasses and little dishes in the cabinets, but missed a few (thank goodness for Photoshop!).  I also added some texture to rough it up a bit.

20150504-MMA_4640_melinda_anderson-EditAnd here are a few other shots from the next morning.  I took more time with these, using a tripod so I could slow my shutter to add more light (it has been dismal and rainy here). I used my lensbaby for the first one and edited them all with one of Kim’s presets for a dark and earthy look.

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Melinda5 Comments

Unique Vessel

When my friend, Debbie, texted me a photo of the old boots she had just bought, I knew I had to photograph them before they became part of one of her art pieces.  I had so much fun playing around with them for some still life and macro shots.  As I mentioned last week, one of our challenges for BeStill 52 was to use a unique vessel in a still life; I think the boots were up to the challenge!

20150504-MMA_4523_melinda_anderson 20150504-MMA_4547_melinda_anderson 20150504-MMA_4631_melinda_andersonThe first and third photos were edited using Kim Klassen’s darklight preset; the middle is almost straight out of camera.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.

Melinda11 Comments

The Merry Month of May!

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It’s May! When I was teaching, May was a big CRUNCH month: testing, Open House, Authors’ Party, Mother’s Day presents to make, field trip, parent helper gifts, student gifts, end of the year party, report cards, room pack-up, etc. etc.  It makes me tired just to think of it! Now, May is SPRING, for sure, and summer isn’t far behind. And in Arizona, I know monsoon season is only 6 weeks or so away!

Our latest lesson for BeStill 52 asked us to find an unique vessel for flowers or whatever to use in our stills- so I thought of this new teapot I bought this week to replace the cracked one, which didn’t make the cut when we moved.  Turquoise is becoming one of the colors I love to use in our Arizona house, although my husband thinks it doesn’t match our multicolored walls.  So far, I’ve acquired Mason jars, a bowl, a lantern, and now this teapot in shades of turquiose.  I just really love the color and am so glad that it’s popular again!

Teapot1 Teapot2In my life, a teapot isn’t an unusual vessel for flowers, but I do have an idea for another take on this challenge. Stay tuned!

Linking up with Kim’s Friday Finds today.

Melinda7 Comments

Tumbling

One of the new experiences we’ve had since we’ve moved to Arizona is tumbleweeds in our yard.  Last week we discovered a new one, and before my husband could capture it for yard waste, I picked it up with gloved hands to take into my garage studio for some macro and still life shots.

tumble_duoThe first photo above was edited with Kim Klassen’s kk_moody-ish preset; the second just converted to a high contrast black and white.

The photos below (showing how sharp and prickly these guys are!) were taken with the Lensbaby Sweet 35 with macro converters.  All have Kim’s kk_organic preset applied.

tumble_trio

Melinda2 Comments

Tea for Me

I was in the mood for still life yesterday, but wasn’t inspired by the current prompt (music). Ideas were swirling around in my head, but just swirling, not yet in focus. I decided to look to my Flickr Daily Challenge group (which is becoming a monthly challenge for me these days. . .) for ideas, and found that one of the topics is Tea Time- a perfect still life topic.  I have many tea cups inherited from my grandmother which I am aways intending to photograph, and I had a single rose- so the still life easily came together.

Here are two of the images- I’ll probably post a couple more later in the week. The top photo was edited with one of Kim Klassen’s Lightroom presets (kk_today), and the second was without a preset.

20150427-MMA_4398_melinda_anderson 20150427-MMA_4422_melinda_anderson-EditThe teacup is Royal Chelsea (made in England), the sugar and creamer say Venice on the bottom, and the little dish with the teabag and rose on it is Limoges.

Linking up today with Texture Tuesday.

Melinda11 Comments

Elusive Butterfly

20150421-MMA_3408_melinda_anderson-EditWhen we visited Butterfly Wonderfland, we were immediately captivated by the big beautiful blue butterflies that flew all around us, seeming to never land- except for on the sidewalk! We would come upon one here and there lying motionless on the walkway, seeming to soak up the warmth before speeding away.  The sidewalk didn’t appeal to me as a very natural background, but I did finally snap a few photos of them this way.  As I took the 800 plus photos of the thousands of butterflies among the flowers and leaves, I was so frustrated because of not being able to find any blue ones on the leaves and flowers.  I tried to capture them in flight, and all I was able to get were little blue blurs in my photos.

20150421-MMA_3380_melinda_andersonAmong the butterflies I photographed was this beauty above with its richly patterned wings.  I mostly saw them feeding on fruit set out in dishes on the ground. It took almost an hour before I realized that these were the blue butterflies I had been looking for; their wings are blue on top and brown below! Named Blue Morpho, their contrasting wing colors make them seem to appear and disappear as they fly, confusing predators (and photographers!).

20150421-MMA_4111_melinda_andersonLinking up with Friday Finds today.

Melinda7 Comments

D A R K

20150421-MMA_3981_melinda_anderson-EditI had fun changing things up, editing this butterfly in a black and white grunge style.  It actually was a whitish, monochromatic butterfly (don’t ask me what kind!) to begin with, and I just took it from there!

Melinda5 Comments

Where Ideas Come From

20150420-MMA_3344_melinda_anderson-EditThe above image is the latest of my still life photos for The Studio- a continuation of the One Thing theme.  This time, my one thing is not the subject of my composition, but the background – my walls.   I thought it might be interesting to explain the evolution of the idea and execution of this image.  I’ve read that photographers find their inspiration everywhere- from nature, from music, from paintings, from the color palette in an advertisement- ANYWHERE.

In this case, my idea came from a movie.  We went to see The Woman in Gold with our friends, Debbie and Dale the other night. The movie was a fascinating true story of a woman (played by Helen Mirren) who sued the Austrian government to have them return her family’s paintings (by Gustav Klimt!) which had been stolen by the Nazis and were now “owned” by the Austrian government. No, this photo was not inspired by the Klimt paintings.

In one scene, as I remember, there was, in the background, a painting or photograph of a still life composed of a dry arrangement (wheat?) in front of a two-tone wall. I somehow noted it and then dreamed about trying to recreate that image, using my colorful Arizona walls. That was the beginning of the photograph above.  I took quite a few shots of these dried weeds and flowers in front of my bright walls, gradually moving away from the traditional still life I was envisioning to a textured black and white closeup image which is my favorite. All the photos were taken with my Lensbaby, which I’ve been practicing with every single day for the last 3 weeks.

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Melinda5 Comments

SHORT walk

Yesterday’s late afternoon walk at Willow Lake turned out to be a very short one due to the HUGE quantity of gnats, no-seeums- whatever they were. We are accustomed to being annoyed by a swarm or two of these creatures on part of the trail, but on this day, at this time, it was ridiculous.  Someone on the trail said they always seem to come out more around 4:00- back to morning walks!

We were happy to see wildflowers and blossoms on the part of the trail that we did- so here are a few (all taken with the Lensbaby and Sweet35).

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Melinda2 Comments