Not my usual Beach Lady photography- but it was a photo that just asked to be taken.
Sunset Silhouette
Checking the Boxes
I won’t say where this is, because someone lives here. But… I will say that this old house checks a lot of my photography boxes: it’s old, it has seen better days, it has peeling paint, it’s surrounded by trees, and there’s a bicycle parked outside. My husband spotted it and drove me there- how could I resist?
Weathered and Distressed
Whatever, wherever, and however the road trip, I always have my camera or iPhone ready to take photos out the window as we drive along. This old barn and damaged windmill caught my eye as we drove on Kansas backroads last month.
Uprising
I had some fun with intentional camera movement with still life the other day…
Untethered Reality
or Distorted Memory or Free Spirit or When Ravens Dream or …… ? Coming up with a title is so much fun….
Downtown Squares
A couple months ago I went on a photo walk with 3 other members of my Monday photo group. We walked around Cortez Street and the alleyway taking photos of whatever caught our fancy. I remembered what fun it was the other day and created a little grid of some of the details.
Solitary Sentinel
Another impression of the fields of Manchester, with the iconic water tower overlooking what was once a bustling farm community.
Colors of Kansas
We visited the tiny family cemetery when we were in Kansas a few weeks ago. After taking time to look at the graves of so many members of Lonnie’s family- ones I knew and those whose names I knew only from genealogy research- I stood and looked down at the fields and trees of Manchester, the tiny community where Lonnie’s grandparents lived, trying to sear it all into my brain, as this was probably our last visit. I love the varying hues and tones of the fields and composed a quick ICM image to remember these last moments.
San Clemente Gold
I never get tired of ocean views at sunset!
Analog
What a week it’s been- and it’s still going on! I managed to sign up for THREE photo related online classes/summits that are all happening within the space of a week: Drew Steinbrecher’s Digital Art Summit (one new class on using 3 iPad creative apps- especially Procreate- a new class every day for a week), Kim Klassen’s class, Digital Meets Analog, and Hazel Meredith’s Creative Photography Conference (all weekend).
It was also the week of our photo club’s free raffle of our dear friend, Jerry’s photo equipment. Jerry passed away unexpectedly at the end of the year, and his family generously donated everything the family did not want to our club to give away to members. Every member got 25 tickets to use for drawings for 69 individual items or groups of items that had belonged to Jerry. I didn’t think I wanted anything- but then I saw this wonderful monopod- and I won it! I’m thrilled to have it, because I’ve wanted one- and especially because it was Jerry’s.
Today was the second day of Kim Klassen’s Digital Meets Analog. Back when I was learning photography, I fell in love with Kim’s textured still life and flower images online, took an online Photoshop class from her, and bought her textures. Everything I know about Photoshop started with that first class. After we moved here and I joined my photo club and then my weekly photo group, my photo interests became more varied. It has been years since I took a class from Kim, but this one sparked my interest- how to shoot and edit digitally to create a more film-like, tactile look. I’m talking diffusion, less contrast, paper-like textures, added grain and beautiful vintage frames! As a lover of everything vintage, I feel very much in my comfort zone using these processes.
The old photo above is from 2016 and is my first editing attempt- and I forgot to add a texture!
No Kings
A little abstract created for No Kings Day.
Saguaro Portrait
We are just back from a sad trip to Kansas for Lonnie’s stepsister, Sue’s Celebration of Life. It was a quick but very meaningful trip, especially for Lonnie who has lost both stepsisters and his stepmother, Laura over the last couple years.
On the way to the airport, we stopped at the outlet mall for a snack, and I ended up having a quick photo session with a beautiful saguaro outside. I have many photos from Kansas that I will share later on- but my external hard drive (loaded with ALL my photos and ALL my genealogy documents and photos) is on its last legs and is headed to our computer guys for a data transfer to a new drive. Yes I have a backup system in place, but I won’t relax until all my files are safely back where they belong.
Original Landlord
I think the poster says it all.
Spotted at Two Guns.
Two Guns
Depending on your point of view, you could call this site along Route 66 historic or an eyesore, but photographers call Two Guns a great photo opportunity. This just one of many remnants of a tourist stop during the heyday of Route 66, and the graffiti only adds to its appeal to photographers. Like many areas in Arizona it has a bloody past- you can read about it HERE. Lonnie and I spent a couple hours exploring the area with my photo group and never ran out of things to point out or photograph!
Wigwam Motel Abstacts
The simple graphics on the Wigwam Motel teepees inspired me to create some abstracts from the photos I took- many different versions. Here are two!
melinda anderson photography 