Last week’s meet-up with my photo group yielded some shots that go along with the shadow theme for this month’s meeting of my photo club. We were walking behind Whiskey Row and came upon this wonderful fire escape on the back of one of the buildings. Looks at the crazy pattern of steps, landings, and shadows!
I’m ridiculously excited about this! When my photoblogging friends were here on Wednesday, Terri started talking about her Mason jars and how you can date them by looking at the way Ball is written on the glass- fascinating! After lunch, we strolled through a few antique stores, and I bought my first old Ball Mason jar (and yes, I bought a Blue Ridge saucer as well)! I can tell by the loop at the end of the word Ball (called a triple L) that this jar was from 1896-1910.
I’m sure you will be seeing this jar again in more photos. I took it out on the porch to photograph, but today’s light isn’t the best (so far it’s cloudy and gray). I brought my white backdrop and tablecloth out to lighten things up and added a sprig of heath- but I couldn’t do anything about the lack of morning light. Another day. . .
Something tells me this won’t be the last Mason jar I buy!
Linking up with Friday Finds today.
Editing Notes:
I am so behind in my 2B (Beyond Beyond) lessons! A few weeks ago, I discovered that the lessons had started up again (evidently quite awhile ago). My notifications weren’t coming to me for some reason (probably in my spam folder). It wasn’t until this week that I started looking at what I’ve missed, and now it’s almost over. 😦 Thankfully, the lessons will stay up, and I will have a lot of fun catching up- will probably do some marathon sessions. I actually used what I gleaned from Lesson 50 to edit this still life. Kim provided us with a set of workflow presets she uses to edit her photos= awesome! I already had many presets I’ve created or downloaded- they simplify my life so much when I want to edit quickly. For example, I had created some for different types of vignettes, for clarity, for midtone brightening, adding warmth, etc. But I had never thought to organize them into a folder- and put them in the order I would use them. They are all just randomly in a favorites folder along with other favorites I use all the time. Big head smack! I am so inspired to get in there and organize my presets! So today, I used Kim’s workflow- and it worked great! After taking the image through her presets, I popped it into Photoshop, added the anna texture, and I was done!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet Barbara of Barbara Hurst Photography, Barb of Keeping Up With the Times, and Terri of Focusing on Life for a photo shoot right here in town. It was a bit surreal (dislike that overused word, but I can’t think of a better one right now) to meet these photobloggers in person in MY house. I’ve learned all my photography skills online and have a bunch of online contacts, but this is the first time I’ve met any in person. What fun we had sharing tips and comparing notes as we wandered around downtown Prescott.! They are all so knowledgeable and much more savvy in the whole photoblogging world than I am- I learned a lot.
Here’s a shot of the courthouse, edited with textures from Florabella and Kim Klassen.
I would like to live in the turret on this house (Florabella textures)!
Let’s do this again, ladies!!!
After thirty years of teaching, I can’t look at this photo without thinking of a class of first graders all raising their hands for a turn!
Textures by Kim Klassen and Florabella.
I knew that today’s post would have at least one photo from my field trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. “For the love of . . . ” is the topic for this week’s Texture Tuesday, and, when I looked through my images, Sheryl Crow’s Soak Up the Sun started going through my head. Think of it as the soundtrack for these two photos!
These cacti must have been at least 15 feet tall. I used a small aperture, intending to get a starburst effect- but this is what happened. And I think I like it better this way!
This bird was perched at the top of one of the cacti. And how about the sun in this photo? Did I add it in post-processing? No- it’s actually flare from the sun on my right. Usually I clone those out. . .
Both photos have layers of an altered version of Kim’s ruemarion texture as well as kkcanvasback. The bottom one also has some magic textures in there.
I convert at least half my photos to black and white- I just can’t help myself. I love the emphasis on shape and form, as well as the drama and simplicity of the monochrome. Not that I don’t love color- just not all the time.
Both of these are macros (yes, I tried macro at the botanical garden with no tripod. . .). The first, I call Prickly.
And this one, I call Cactus Noir.
Tomorrow a color photo- I promise!
I love photography. I love my iPhone (I’m on my third!). Why haven’t I gotten more into iPhoneography? I guess the answer is that if I have my big camera with me, that’s what I’m going to use. However, iPhoneography has become a BIG DEAL, and I want to at least dip my toes in that water, so to speak.
I signed up for a little online iPhoneography class and learned about some new apps and got some good tips. I thought I had a lot of apps already, but I have recently learned that there’s a whole world of creative apps I hadn’t discovered yet. I love apps!
Some online photo friends have inspired me to get back on instagram and participate in a 30 day challenge using the Waterlogue app (a cool app that turns your photos into paintings). It’s fun and challenging- and gives me another excuse to play with photos on my phone.
Here’s a selection of some of my instagram photos from this week. The first was edited in Mextures, one of my absolute favorite creative apps, and the others were edited in Waterlogue. In most cases, each photo first went through one of my go-to photo apps, Snapseed and/or Pic-Tap-Go, before the creative apps. FUN!!!
Top row: last night’s downtown sunset, Granite Mountain
Bottom row: Chihuly exhibit, flower still life
My AAUW photo group took a field trip yesterday to the Chihuly Exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. WOW! So many of the cacti were in bloom- and blooming cacti is something I had never seen. It was photography heaven!
I concentrated on the plants- with the glass exhibit taking a backseat, as I had photographed most of it before. I haven’t had time yet to go through the hundreds of photos- I’m sure you will be seeing more here over the next week.
That’s Chihuly bokeh in the photo above!
Snow!!! After our teaser snowstorm in December, we waited and waited for more. Now that I am wearing capris and a sunhat, the weather surprised us yesterday afternoon with more snow.
My husband and I are still such Prescott newbies that we got in the car and drove around to see what snow was like in each part of town. Nothing seemed to be sticking, but big flakes were coming down fast almost everywhere we went.
Downtown Whiskey Row:
We drove past my friend, Debbie’s house, because she lives in the pines at a slightly higher elevation and usually gets more snow than we do. Sure enough, the snow was sticking to the tree branches and the ground in some places.
We’re still missing our sweet grandsons a lot! We’re so grateful for the wonderful visit we had and are already planning our next trip to Yellowstone to visit them. We’ve received two phone calls from 3 year old Henry (one unknown to his mother!), which lets us know he’s still thinking of us.
I edited another photo of Sedona’s Bell Rock for this week’s Texture Tuesday. This one was taken from partway up (which is about as far as I got), and is edited with two layers of Kim’s canvasback (color burn blend mode) and a couple “magic” textures. Happy April (no foolin’ )!
My sweet little guys have flown back home, and I’m going through photos and remembering the special moments of this visit. One day, the boys (on their own) made forts in the living room with their blankets and the afghans and throws they found on the couches. This was especially appealing to Henry, whose favorite game is hiding under a blanket and calling, “Come find me!”
The boys love bathtime in our big tub, and last night they were rolling around afterward on our bed. I thought I’d take a bunch of photos, but Caitlin and I mostly were in stitches over their antics. Here is one brotherly shot that I love.
We took the boys (along with their parents) on a picnic and hike at a city park which has trails overlooking the town. Henry and Miles lead the way and were triumphant reaching the point where we would start back down to the parking lot.
Here they are leading the way; that’s Granite Mountain in the background. I added a Jessica Drossin texture to this one to add some color and depth.
And here is my favorite photo of the day- the boys at the top of the trail.
melinda anderson photography 