Here’s a view of flowers blooming on the balcony of our hotel room at Lake Gregory, where we stopped on the way to Arizona last week. This photo is textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s kk_1301, one at soft light blend mode and one at color burn.
Check out some more photos using textures by Kim Klassen by visiting her site at kimklassencafe.com
Mama Bunny is a regular visitor to my friend, Debbie’s backyard in Prescott, Arizona. Baby avoided my lens, but I managed to zoom in for this shot of Mama.
We took a drive yesterday and checked out some model home sites in Enchanted Canyon (in Prescott). It is a beautiful area, and one of the attractions is petroglyphs on Indian Rock. There are several other areas around Prescott that also have petroglyphs; I hope to check them out someday.
I haven’t posted this week, because we’ve been busy visiting our friends in Prescott, Arizona- and looking for a house to buy. I’ve barely taken time for photography, much less gotten my laptop out. It has been a wonderful visit, and although we haven’t yet bought a house, we’ve fallen in love with Prescott again.
The day before we left for Arizona was the day of the horrible tragic deaths of the firefighters in the Yarnell fire (just outside of Prescott). The town is in mourning and coming together to help the families of those who were evacuated and/or lost homes as well as the families of the fire crew who lost their lives.
Fire was on our minds as we drove Hwy. 40 from California into Arizona. Just past Kingman we saw another wildfire- the Dean Peak fire.
Since we’ve been here, we’ve seen a wildfire- and experienced lightning, thunder, a hailstorm and flash flooding! We’ve seen lots of lizards and one javelina- think I’ll go sit outside now and hope a herd of javelinas come through the yard before dark!
This little guy still won’t let me get close. He has no problem buzzing around my head- basically telling me to BACK OFF from his feeder. But he won’t come near the feeder itself unless I’m 8-10 feet away. He is basically king of the yard this summer.
We were challenged in this lesson to go outside and shoot some photos with blurry backgrounds. This type of photo is what got me to purchase a DSLR in the first place. I had tried and tried to do this with my little Canon Powershot- but to no avail. After I had my DSLR a couple months, I bought a 35mm 1.8 lens, and then EVERYTHING had a blurry background! It is still my favorite way to shoot.
Here are a couple shots from my backyard yesterday afternoon. The lavender photo has Kim Klassen’s sybil texture added.
for Texture Tuesday
edited with 1 layer kk_1301 and 2 layers kk_sybil
Kim Klassen started a new link-up a while ago called Friday Finds. I hadn’t planned to participate, but I found fresh lavender last night at Trader Joe’s- does it count if you find it on Thursday?
I used a matte edit- not my usual style, but I think I like it here.
I had my third photo session with my friend, Tra today- this time at her magnificent home. OMG- there was a photo op in every corner of this amazing house. Tra’s home reflects her love of art, beauty, and spirit. I tried to not put on my paparazzi hat and photograph EVERYTHING, but I did manage get some photos of a few special items and her beautiful orchids (which I will use in future posts). I love every inch of her home!
This was my favorite shot of the day- Tra looking out the front door at her gorgeous tree shaded front garden. Don’t even get me started on how much I love her front door!
And I love the message on the plaque beside her door- BIDDEN OR NOT BIDDEN, GOD IS PRESENT.
No idea what kind of berries these are- but they are part of my bouquet of roses. Last minute macro and Texture Tuesday edit:
Editing notes: Desaturated and split-toned in LR; 2 layers of kk_anne added; desaturated a bit more with a black and white layer.
Excuses, excuses:
Our house is on the market (gasp!). Potentially, we could be homeless by August (a good thing. . .). Then . . . time to rent for a bit and find a new house to buy in Arizona. We are looking at it as a Big Adventure! But in the meantime, my photography and blog may be neglected occasionally. But, I’ll try my best- and I’ll be back with photographs of red rock and cacti!
Here’s another photo of the gerbera daisies, taken at the same time as Saturday’s shot- and with a different edit (desaturated, split toned with purple shadows).
For the last few weeks, I’ve spotted this little hummingbird at the feeder- and in the trees watching the feeder. Yesterday he buzzed me a few times after I refilled the feeder, but, when I took my camera outside yesterday, he patiently watched me from a tree until I went inside. The only time he ventured near the feeder was to chase another hummingbird out of the yard (at least that was my interpretation of what was happening). But as soon as I went inside, back to the feeder he would go.
I took these shots after dinner last night- through the screen door. I was way too far away- and had to use ISO’s ranging from 900-1250 to get usable shots. I think I should have gone higher, because all were underexposed- and lack clarity. These are cropped- I hope to get a lot closer next time.
We were challenged to edit a photo three different ways- experimenting with the tone curve, split toning, presets, whatever. I had just bought some gerbera daisies last night, so the choice of the subject was easy.
The first photo is my basic clean edit shot with a little cloning/healing in Lightroom 5 (love the updated tool!). You can see my walls are yellow.
The second is desaturated quite a bit- I really like the tones in this.
The third I took into Topaz Simplify- to give it a bit of a painted look.
And the last I edited with Kim’s kk_anne and kk_1301 textures.
I did several other versions as well, but these are probably my favorites.
My children went in together on a birthday gift this year- one to always remind me of Benicia, since we are getting ready to relocate.
Isn’t it beautiful? Benicia is known for its glass studios, so this gorgeous red vase will always remind me of my 26 (and counting) years in this wonderful little town (and of my two grown up children collaborating on a gift!) as we prepare for our next big adventure.
melinda anderson photography 