I love my abstract photography class! I am finding that the kind of photography I love to do the most (besides grand-boy photography, of course)- macros and closeups with a shallow depth of field- fall into the abstract photography realm. I had no idea! This week I’ve been photographing some of my shells with the intention of exploring their essence- and also their un-seashellness!
The un-seashellness of seashells (more of a pure abstract): 
The essence of seashells:
Here are a few more photos from last weekend’s walk in the neighborhood:
And here is another attempt at ICM (intentional camera movement)- this time edited with Topaz Impression (one of the Cezanne presets) and textured with Kim Klassen’s chill texture.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Our weather has turned chilly, the leaves have mostly all turned gold and are starting to be blown off the trees, so I decided to take a short walk in the neighborhood to capture leaves on the trees while they were still attached. I did take a few tree photos, but, inspired by my abstract photography class, I also found myself attracted to the shapes and patterns around me.
Berries in the sidewalk cracks:
Leaves in the rocks:
I’ll post trees tomorrow!
I never really thought about it much- not being a bird person- but I have spent most of my life living in or near the California Flyway. During childhood, I was fascinated by the formations of migrating geese and other birds flying overhead. When we lived in the Bay Area, I rediscovered the flyway, when we would drive over to the delta area under skies thick with birds heading south for the winter. I was surprised last year, to see huge flocks of water fowl at the lakes in Prescott in late fall- so I guess we’re on the route for migrating birds as well.
Last week I spotted the three pelicans above on two separate visits to Willow Lake- and was thrilled. I was used to seeing brown pelicans on the California coast- even a couple times in Benicia- but had never seen white ones except on Lewis Lake at Yellowstone. After reading the paper yesterday, I discovered that there is a story here. It seems that a migrating pelican became entangled in fishing line in Tucson a few weeks ago and was rehabilitated by a rescue group. Unfortunately, his friends had moved on to warmer climes by the time he was ready to fly, so the group sought out other flocks for the pelican to join. It turned out that a pair of pelicans had just been spotted at Willow Lake, so the recovering pelican was driven up here and released. Evidently, the Tucson pelican is one of the three in this photo- and the group has now moved on. In the shot below (in which one bird is out of the frame), I think the injured one might be the one on the right.
And in other bird news . . .
This was edited in the new Impression software by Topaz- I think this is one of the Van Gogh presets. I downloaded a free 30 day trial of the software- it is so much fun!!! I’m not sure if I’ll buy it- it is pretty expensive! But I’m really enjoying playing with it.
When I uploaded and did a few quick edits on some of my photos from yesterday’s walk at Willow Lake, I found that I had cropped a few into a wide-ish ratio. I was also thinking a bit outside the box due to the influence of my abstract photography class. I’m not sure what is going on here, but it looks like a theme, so. . .I’m going with it for today.
From top to bottom: fall leaves, weeds, liesegang bands on the boulders, and an ICM shot of trees
textured with Kim Klassen’s chill and friday2014 for Testure Tuesday
I’ve been having fun playing with my photography this week, because I’m taking Kim Manley-Ort’s abstract photography class. We’ve been given the task of looking at the work of a list of abstract photographers this week and thinking about who inspires us. Today’s photos don’t really fulfill that assignment, as I’m still absorbing what I’ve looked at and thinking about what I’ve already been doing. I know I love black and white and minimalist photography (abstract or not), fluid and out of focus images (Lensbaby, ICM), and light and shadow play. I love taking detail shots, which may or may not be abstracts. Basically, I really like to play with my camera! And, yes, with the editing too!
Here are two sets of abstract shots, which I ended up placing in grids after some color play. No, this was not the assignment!
Tire tread marks:
Glass patio table:
And then, here’s another attempt at intentional camera movement:
My friend, Verle, and I had a lovely walk at Willow Lake this week. We spent most of our time walking by the water, watching the birds and water fowl.
I always enjoy the reflections in the water itself.
But, I have to say that the highlight of our day was spotting two bald eagles at the top of this bare tree. As we climbed the boulders, trying to get close enough to get good photos, I noticed to my dismay that I had AGAIN lost my prescription sunglasses. However, they were quickly spotted by friendly hikers, so all is well!
Because I am such a fan of black and white photography, I just had to edit some of my Utah photos in black and white.
Somewhere south of Moab (cannot remember the name of this arch):
And here is Monument Valley:
Today I’m posting the pear still life photos I did for the latest BeStill 52 lesson. They were especially fun to do, because, with the help of my husband, I have been setting up a little mini “studio”(also known as a craft table) in our garage for still life and macro photography. With the garage door open, I have beautiful natural light (unlike in the rest of our house). When it gets too cold or when it is lizard, snake, and bunny season, the garage door will be down and I will use artificial light. Right now I have a pole lamp; we’ll see how that works out. I do have a speed light too and reflectors of course. I was inspired by Carol Hart’s post (on openhart.com) about using her greenhouse and her video of working in her home studio.
So here they are (the top one was textured with Kim Klassen’s painterly texture for Texture Tuesday):
On our recent trip through southeastern Utah, my husband and I were overwhelmed by the beauty of the rock formations. We visited Arches National Park during the middle of the day, not an ideal time for photography, but I managed to get some interesting shots.
The occasional pop of autumn foliage made an interesting contrast with the rocks.
The arches themselves are HUGE- hard to see the size in this photo.
We were only able to photograph Delicate Arch from a distance, but some people hiked all the way over to it.
I think the rocks on the left were called the Three Gossips.
See the shadow of the hiker on the rock? I never saw anyone up there, so have no idea if it was from a rock or an actual person!
And more orange rocks!
There is one street in our town that has Halloween decorations that are over the top! And needless to say, that is where most of the trick or treating takes place. I finally made it over there with my camera this morning- here are some of the spoooookiest sights I saw:
Have a fun Halloween!Linking up with Friday Finds.
This morning I went to Michael’s to buy some gray and some brown paper to use as backgrounds for still life photos and to Albertson’s to buy some pears to photograph. When I got home, there was a new BeStill 52 lesson up- featuring PEARS! We have a choice of photographing a bowl and some (or just one) pear or having an editing play with her pear photo. I have full intentions of photographing my pears, but had fun playing with her photo as well.
So- this is KIM’s photo- edited two ways. The first is with a warm black and white preset I made a long time ago which has become one of my favorites. I added a couple layers of Kim’s chill texture (a new favorite) in Photoshop.
I added some yellow tones to the highlights and purple to the shadows and increased contrast a bit in this image. In Photoshop I added Kim’s painterly texture.
Well, that was fun! Next I will do my OWN pear photos- stay tuned!
I’ve been on a roll with my still life lessons- this is for Lesson 21. We were challenged to create a still life using four things: bread, twine, linen, and scissors. I added some leaves and a pumpkin, because it is almost Halloween. I used my new tea towels from my daughter- and the other items were purchased for the assignment- some cool bonsai shears, some twine (no longer an essential household item- at least for us), and a loaf of sourdough bread (my husband was so happy). I also used my new white beadboard for the backdrop- thank you, Barb Brookbank for the idea!
melinda anderson photography 