My little AAUW photo group is meeting this week, and the topic is reflections. Each month we send 4-6 photos to the leader, and then they are displayed on a large screen in a room at the library. Later they are on the website for AAUW Prescott. I got a few photos together for the topic, but also decided to do some still life photography emphasizing reflections.
Here’s one with my baby cup! I tried to shine it up, but ended up having to rely on the dining room table for the reflection.
Another early morning shot in Albuquerque
Yesterday was the last day of the semester for my photo group. I can remember how nervous I was the first day, weeks, even year in this group of advanced photographers, but now I am just one of the group and the people are my friends. Our final this time was a slideshow of our favorite images, and I now felt confident to share more of the photos that are in my own style and also some of my experiments in multiple exposure etc. I have proven myself with sharp images and photoshop skills, so anything goes now (hah!)! It was nice to get positive feedback! I’ve uploaded my video here- but have no idea if it will play (it’s a pretty large file). It may take awhile to load. So apologies in advance.
taken at the lavender farm in Albuquerque
An abstract view of the cinder cone at Sunset Crater.
We visited Sunset Crater National Monument on the way to Wupatki. The volcano erupted over 1,000 years ago, but the whole San Francisco Peaks area is considered active though you can see no sign of that as you walk along the paths.
In the photo below you can see a “squeeze up” in a fissure in the ground. Lava pushed up through the crack and dried as a fin-shaped rock. I love how trees have grown all over the volcano’s cinder cone. Life goes on even after all the destruction wrought by the volcano.
On our visit to Flagstaff last week, we spent some time at the Arboretum. It was very enjoyable (even with the busload of second graders catching tadpoles at the pond), and we especially liked the view of the San Francisco Peaks from across the meadow. A frame is set up for picture taking, and of course we couldn’t resist taking photos of each other with the peaks behind.
When I got home, I had some photoshop fun with this photo:
I’ve discovered that having an orthopedist a couple hours away in Flagstaff seems inconvenient, but it has turned out to be a great opportunity for exploring the area with my camera. Wupatki National Monument is only about a half hour from Flagstaff and is an easy way to see pueblos without having to hike miles in the desert. This one is the Wupatki Pueblo itself, but we were also able to drive to several others within the area. It was a great way to spend part of an afternoon!
Far in the distance you can see a bit of the Painted Desert!
Our friends Kathryn and Scott came for the weekend! It was their first trip to Prescott, so we took them to Jerome and Sedona on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous- this is the view from Jerome of Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks.
Last week’s pink moon as it rose above the trees.
When we were staying at the lavender farm, I rose with the sun and managed to get a shot of a hot air balloon as it sailed over the barn. The reward of being an early riser!
This is an abstract created using my iPhone to take a photo of a reflection on a scratchy table of an overhead light in an Albuquerque coffee shop. I took the photo, because the reflection amid the scratches looked like the sun to me. The blue shape on the lower right is the edge of my plate, the orange triangle is my napkin. The lighter blue on the left is more reflection. Other than adjusting the colors (using an iPhone app), the only thing I did in Photoshop was change the texture of the napkin so it would look less like a paper towel lying on my image, 🙂
The lavender farm
One of the assignments that we’ve been given in our photo class is to create an image with “tension.” An example that our instructor has used constantly over the years is that when we have an element in the photo that leads us OUT of the photo. it creates tension. And this is not a good thing. Another example would be when two elements meet in the photo in a perhaps uncomfortable way (think of “merges”, where a tree seems to grow out of the top of someone’s head). He has himself created a series of photos that deliberately have tension (called “In Tension”, which is a play on words), which include several different kinds of tension that somehow works. I must confess to being confused by the concept.
Tension was on my mind in Albuquerque, so I deliberately set out to create some photos which have tension, but yet somehow “work” for me. This was probably the easiest to do- all those branches perhaps leading out of and into the photo.
We watched this beautiful peacock strut around, and, when his girlfriend called, he spread his feathers and was a beautiful sight to behold!
melinda anderson photography 