The daffodils are all gone, but here are a few images I took before they faded. All photos were shot using my Lensbaby with the Sweet 35 optic and macro converters.
Just for a day. . .
The daffodils bloomed, but just for a day. I don’t remember this being the case when I’ve bought them before, but at least I took photos. This one was shot with my Lensbaby with the Sweet 35 and was textured with kk_simple for Texture Tuesday.
Driving Around
We took a short drive in the country on Valentine’s Day. What a day- beautiful weather, horses, mountains, blossoms on the trees! Unfortunately, we spent a good portion of our time looking for a gas station, so that we could add air to a tire that was low. The one gas station in the little town where we were did not have air, so we ended up driving 30 miles back home. But I did manage to take a few Lensbaby photos along the way.
The Chair
It was almost a week ago when I got a text from my friend, Debbie with a picture of a cute, cute chair and the question “Do you want it?” She had found it in a shop that re-paints and finishes furniture and other items, giving them a new shabby chic look. Debbie knew I was looking for a cheap, vintage looking chair for my still life photography- and I fell in love with it immediately. Although my husband was just out of the hospital, he drove me down to the little shop, and I made my purchase. I was originally planning to put it on the front porch, but I’m enjoying having it in my living room. I’m thinking now it will winter indoors and summer on the porch.
The Chair
You might have noticed my new chair earlier in the week as a backdrop for daisies and roses. Today I’ve gotten on the Valentine bandwagon and have added hearts to my chair still life.
Linking up with Friday Finds.
Editorializing
Our latest challenge in The Studio was to create a photo that is editorial-ish. I was pretty stumped until I went to bed last night and somehow came up with using the daffodils I had purchased yesterday at Trader Joe’s in this still life. I had been thinking of using one of my little Adirondack chairs in a composition, so it all came together in about 10 minutes. Adding the text took longer- way longer- as I always have to try out every font before I’m satisfied (or tired of it . . .).
I took the photo below a day or two ago, and it kind of fits into the “editorial-ish” theme as well. In fact, the newspaper is opened to the editorial section! Here I was painting hearts to add to a still life you will be seeing tomorrow!
Wild Wednesday
Running wild with my Lensbaby + Sweet 35:
Tuesday Flowers
I must admit that flowers are still my favorite photography subject. I wish I had a green thumb and could grow them as well!
The roses below were textured with Kim Klassen’s kk_anna texture.
And here almost the same shot converted to black and white (no texture applied).
This is a closer view of the flowers edited using Kim’s kk_likeadream preset in Lightroom.
All photos were taken using the Lensbaby.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Looking Down at Daisies
Our assignment this week in The Studio was photographing flowers- from above. The weather was so beautiful this weekend that I took my photos out on the back patio- perfect for this assignment.
Our Hometown Hero
Chicken Soup for the Dark and Messy Soul
Today is a sunny, warm-ish day here in Arizona- and I can see a butterfly out the window. A BUTTERFLY- in WINTER! I’m thinking life is on the upswing.
Last night, I was part of Open Studio- a live connect on the computer with the Kim Klassen group. It was fun- and one of the things that came up was how still life trends are changing, and the hottest trend seems to be dark and messy, especially food photography. I noticed that a few years ago, when I started reading the Smitten Kitchen blog. I loved the crumpled napkins by the plates. Real life. But, since I don’t really do food photography, I haven’t embraced this style.
Our family’s real life has had some dark and messy in the last few weeks. My husband, Lonnie had a heart attack a couple weeks ago. He had his third stent put in two days ago, and has a good prognosis with some lifestyle changes to be made. There’s nothing like real life medical drama to make you appreciate the ordinary moments we often take for granted. There have been two tense trips to the ER since the initial hospitalization, the latest being LAST NIGHT (he’s fine); we are so looking forward to putting this all behind us.
So what do you do for your husband when he is recovering from a heart attack? You make chicken soup! As I said, I’m not a food photographer- and I’m hardly a cook. But since today was going to be a still life photography day for me (flower photography), I switched gears and snapped a few photos as I prepared the soup. This is real life here- no cute props or special lighting here. Just my kitchen and my un-gourmet cooking. The soup is still simmering as I write this, so I’m not including the finished product.
I poached the chicken first to use in other meals this weekend (a tip I learned from my daughter), chopped veggies, and now it’s cooking. No recipe-just threw in whatever.
I edited the photos kind of dark- and they are definitely messy- no presets used.
We’re both tired from last night’s ER visit, but, as I said- it’s a new day and there is a butterfly outside. Life is good.
Linking up with Friday Finds.
Still Love These Scissors!
I remember when I started in with BeStill-52 last year, everyone seemed to be using these cool scissors in all their photos.
I was resolved to avoid buying props for my still life photos, figuring photography was a hobby I could barely afford anyway- why spend more on props? But I LOVED them- and, after searching our nurseries, craft stores and hardware stores, I googled “scissors” and finally discovered they are used for bonsai. They come in all price ranges- and, of course I got the cheapest I could find. I bought a set of two, this one being the photoworthy ones. I actually keep the other pair in the kitchen and use them all the time when I cut flowers (which I usually do on a weekly basis).
The Studio has a Facebook group, and I noticed the other day that one of the new members asked about the cool scissors someone had in their photo. I guess I wasn’t the last photographer to be clued in!
More Berries
Here are a couple more berry photos from my still life session with fruit for The Studio.
It’s the Berries!
Another photo for The Studio (for the fruit prompt):
Textured with sybil for Texture Tuesday.
Textiles
Because I’m enrolled in both BeStill-52 and The Studio (as I think all of the still life students are!), it’s been a challenge to keep up with both. But I’ve spent the last few days working in my garage studio, and have had fun catching up on some of the assignments. Today’s photos are for The Studio- the prompt was textiles. I used the presets darklight and darkmood for these photos- and that was about all I needed to do. Happy Monday!
Rainy Day Play
Today is one of those days I remember from my teaching days: drizzly rain, gray skies, fog, and periods when the rain stops, but it is still misty out. Do you send the kids out to recess? Will it start pouring as soon as you do? How many more games of seven-up can we play? How many more inside recesses before we all go crazy?
I don’t remember days like this last winter; I thought all our Arizona rain came during monsoon season.
My husband is still recuperating at home, and, since it is a rainy day, it seemed like a good day to play in my garage studio and try to catch up on some still life assignments.
Here are some photos I shot- edited with a variety of presets from Kim Klassen. The topic was spoons, and I added loose tea from these cute little cans (bought at our local spice shop). There was some side lighting, since the garage door was open- but very little, since it is such a gray and dismal day.
Both spoons belonged to my grandmother, Mimi. The bottom one is engraved with a B, which I assume is for Badenoch, the family name (her maiden name also begins with B).
I’m belatedly linking up with Friday Finds, since these little cans of tea were such a find.
melinda anderson photography 