Up the Hill

Our house sits on a hill on a half-acre wedge-ish shaped lot with the most of the backyard on a steep slope, covered with rocks to keep the hill intact.  There is a rickety stairway going up the hill on one side to an unlandscaped area that is mostly, um, weeds.  We had the weeds cut down this summer, and this week I finally ventured all the way to the top of our property! Before, I had been concerned about what might be living in those weeds and didn’t really want to walk through them, chicken that I am.

At the top, I could stand at the edge of our uphill neighbor’s property and enjoy the view over our house to the hills and also see our neighbor’s fields at the top of the hill. Pretty!

20140917-DSC_4127_melinda_anderson 20140917-DSC_4132_melinda_anderson-EditBTW, I did play with the color in the bottom photo; the fields are actually pretty green.  Artistic license!

I’m linking up with Friday Finds today.

Melinda10 Comments

Ajar

I belong to an amazing photo group in town which is full of accomplished photographers, many of whom are professionals or at least display and sell their work.  To say the least, I am a bit intimidated by the level of expertise of the group.  It took six months before I ever brought a photo to be critiqued, and it was not particularly well received.  Since then, I’ve brought two more, and I’ve learned from the experience.  I also learn a lot from listening to the critiques of all the other photos and from the speakers that are brought in each month.

Probably the most exciting thing for me as a member of this group was being able to participate an exhibit at a local cafe/nightspot. Two of the photos I submitted were selected and have been on display for over a month.  It has been a lot of fun seeing my photos framed and hanging on the wall- with price tags.  Only one photo out of the whole group of 40 some photos displayed has sold so far, which I’m told is about average.  By the way, the two photos I have displayed are Golden Feather (the owl feather I photographed in Yellowstone)and Dusty Jeans (the legs and boots photo from the Gardiner Rodeo). The display ends this weekend.

This summer, one of the photo assignments was “unique door ajar”.  When I was out and about I took a few door photos for the challenge, none of which seemed to me to be THE photo.  I ended up being unable to attend that particular meeting, so never had to make the decision of what to submit (I probably would have gone back out for more shooting. . .). Lately,  I have been spending some time going through and organizing and culling photos in my Lightroom catalog and came across some of the photos I took for this assignment. So today’s post is featuring some “unique doors ajar.”

Bedroom door ajar. . .

20140709-DSC_0752_melinda_anderson 20140709-DSC_0762_melinda_andersonDoors ajar in Prescott. . .

20140709-DSC_0797_melinda_anderson-Edit 20140722-DSC_1882_melinda_anderson

And from a drive out in the rural areas nearby. . .

20140627-DSC_0544_melinda_anderson-Edit-2

20140627-DSC_0596_melinda_anderson

 

Melinda2 Comments

Lavender ICM

I’m fascinated by intentional camera movement (ICM) and the often abstract images resulting. It is harder than it looks, and I have yet to find the right combination of subject, settings, and movement to produce what I am trying to create.  There is always an element of surprise, which makes it fun.

Here are two shots of lavender from my front yard, created by using slow shutter speeds and moving the camera.

lavendericm

Melinda2 Comments

Still summer

Knowing the time for flowers is limited as the days grow shorter and autumn approaches, I picked a bloom from the bed out front and took a few photos.

20140913-DSC_4052_melinda_anderson-Edit 20140913-DSC_4051_melinda_anderson-Edit

Both of these images have a layer of Kim Klassen’s chill texture.  The bottom one had the paint daubs filter applied (twice!) before adding the texture.

Melinda3 Comments

Once a teacher. . .

Yesterday I photographed No. 2 pencils.  I’ve photographed pencils before, but I had this image in my head that wouldn’t go away: bright yellow pencils with my orangey wall as backdrop. I even made an early morning (well, 8:00- early for this retired person. . .) trip to the grocery store to buy brand new pencils.

20140910-DSC_3956_melinda_anderson-EditI think I’ve already written of my lifelong love affair with office supplies, something I inherited from my grandma, Mimi, who would drive my mother crazy in her later years by asking to be driven to the stationery store (this was way before Office Max was born) because she needed a new pen. We would stand around and watch as she carefully tried out each pen before deciding on the right one.  She wrote with fountain pens, sometimes the cartridge kind, but usually a beautiful Parker fountain pen with turquoise ink.

When I was a little girl, I loved the beginning of the school year and the passing out of brand new school supplies.  We even got modeling clay to keep in out desks; I distinctly remember the smell! When I started teaching, I loved the boxes of new supplies I would unpack each year and pass out to my students.

So today, I am thinking about school supplies.  And brand new sharp pencils.

Pencils: dark side

pencil_triptych

Pencils: bright sidepencil_diptych

After I took these photos, I saw that a new assignment had been posted in BeStill 52- a still life portrait.  This could be a self-portrait, I suppose.

 

Melinda4 Comments

Playing with my phone

I’ve learned two important lessons about photography in the last four years (and I’m not talking f-stops here. . .):

1. Light is everything.

2. Beauty is everywhere.

I know I used to know about the second one when I was a child; I’m sure all children do.  I noticed everything and took note.  Then I grew up and got busy.  Now that I am retired I notice again.  And take note.  And appreciate!

The other day I was walking through my bedroom and noticed the vertical blinds-probably the least appreciated item in our home.  I don’t like vertical blinds and plan to replace them someday.  But that day, I noticed. And took note. And appreciated.

 

Photo Sep 06- 11 02 25 AMPhoto Sep 06- 8 40 25 AMI love the play of light and shadow.  Yes, there is beauty everywhere!

I then played with some of the images.  I started by making a collage of two of them in Pic Stitch.Photo Sep 06- 8 55 21 AMThen I brought the collage into Pixlr Express and had fun adding effects with the Effects panel.

Photo Sep 06- 9 01 17 AMPhoto Sep 06- 9 05 05 AM

Great fun!

The next day was the day of the beginning of the Mother of all Monsoons- torrential rains and flooding fed by Hurricane Norbert pushing inland.  I stayed inside (when I wasn’t running outside to make sure the hill wasn’t sliding away. . .) and set up a still life for Be Still 52 (the one I posted yesterday).  I was proud of myself for remembering to take some iPhone shots as I was getting things ready. This one had a basic edit in Snapseed, with some adjustments in tone.  Then I added a texture in Mextures.

Photo Sep 07- 10 11 18 AM

I couldn’t resist taking a photo with my Lensbaby Mobile.  Edited in Snapseed. Love that blur!

Photo Sep 07- 10 27 17 AMLinking up with App- Happy Wednesday today!

 

 

 

Melinda8 Comments

Books and a Cup

It was a stormy monsoon of a day- a good day to practice my still-life skills.  I’d been feeling the urge to photograph old books again, so went to the bookshelves and pulled down four of my mother’s books (which I treasure) and my childhood thesaurus (the torn and tattered one).  I added my cup of coffee to the scene and went to work.  Afterward, I edited them with a matte curve in most and adjustments in white balance and/or split-toning to get the tones I was trying to create in the image.

books_and_cup_diptych books_and_cup1I took two of the images (the first and fourth) into Photoshop and added textures- Kim Klassen’s yesteryear and sweettart.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.

Melinda11 Comments

Milk and Cookies

milk_and_cookiesThis week’s BeStill 52 assignment was to to create a milk and cookies still life.  Having been blessed (cursed?) with a sweet tooth, I was delighted to take on the challenge!  We were also encouraged, following Kim’s example,  to critique our own images- and this simple photo was the one that seemed to work out best.  There were various other incarnations that had additional elements, including lavender in a Mason jar, a napkin, and a two tiered Blue Ridge serving plate.  As usual in my world, simple turned out best.  I kept subtracting elements until I ended up with the composition above. I edited with One Willow presets from the Palette collection (my Friday Find for this week- they are fabulous!).  The first version has the Divine preset applied and then two layers of Kim’s sybil texture in Photoshop.  The second version was created by starting with the finished first version (complete with texture)and adding a black and white preset from One Willow (I think it was Story). And now I’m off to finish eating that cookie!

Melinda8 Comments

On our walk

After a break in routine of several weeks, we went out on the trail again at Willow Lake and were so happy to see the water in the lake was so much higher after the monsoon rains.  There were wildflowers, birds, dragonflies, and butterflies- even little fish in the shallows- and the weeds and grasses have grown high. Other photographers are posting signs of fall approaching, but it still seems like summer here in Arizona.

20140901-DSC_3772_melinda_anderson-Edit 20140901-DSC_3815_melinda_anderson-Edit

Melinda2 Comments

Still Life in the Morning

The other morning, I was reading the paper and drinking coffee, when I noticed that the coffee cup and newspaper made a pleasing composition.  I started to pick up my iPhone, but then thought- Hmmm, if I pull the plant over a bit and get some strawberries it will look even better.  I quickly made an arrangement, snapped ONE photo, edited it in Snapseed, uploaded it to instagram, and then continued to drink my coffee and read the newspaper (and ate the strawberries . . .). If only I could have still life composition ideas come to me that easily all the time!

I was about halfway through my coffee, when I thought of getting out my Nikon and taking the photo again.  After all, one of the BeStill 52 prompts was cuppa.  I got out more strawberries and tried to duplicate my iPhone photo- trickier than it sounds, considering focal length, depth of field etc.

So here are some Sunday morning stills, quickly taken.  All have two layers of Kim’s grunge texture added.

 

20140831-DSC_3736_melinda_anderson-Edit20140831-DSC_3754_melinda_anderson-Edit20140831-DSC_3748_melinda_anderson-Edit

And here is the original iPhone photo.

Photo Aug 31, 9 08 00 AMLinking up today with Texture Tuesday.

Melinda7 Comments

Winery in Arizona???

Having moved from just outside the California wine country, we were surprised to discover that there are indeed some wineries in Arizona. On Saturday we visited the Granite Creek Vineyards in Chino Valley with friends and were delighted find a bit of the California wine country ambiance only 15 minutes or so from home!

Lonnie and I both felt a bit of a rural Sonoma County vibe as we walked onto the grounds and wandered over to the tasting room- a very small, rustic building with just enough room to stand and hold a wine glass.  There was a band playing outside (sixties and seventies rock, I think), and people were sitting around eating and sipping wine under the trees.  Best of all, photographically speaking, there was a small barn and some outbuildings, wine barrels, and some old farm machinery lying around.  And oh yes- there was a vineyard.  We felt right at home!

I will most likely post more images as the week goes on, but here are a couple detail shots.

Old window

20140830-DSC_3725_melinda_anderson

Barn door

20140830-DSC_3686_melinda_anderson

Melinda1 Comment