I’m finding I feel a lot more like doing still life photography now that I have a space dedicated to it- even if it is in the cold garage! Here are some odds and ends I put together over the weekend.
All are textured with Kim Klassen’s reentry texture for Texture Tuesday.
A year ago last summer, when we were looking for houses to buy, my friend, Debbie, noticed a listing on the internet for the perfect house (which we did end up buying), but the Google map for the neighborhood was confusing- there were two consecutive streets with the same name. Which street was the one with the house for sale? From time to time, I noticed that Google glitch on the map- and last week decided to let them know their map was wrong.
I guess it’s not an uncommon thing for Google to make mistakes, because there is actually a form to fill out when you spot an error. I compared their map with the satellite image and discovered that several little streets off the thru street were labelled incorrectly. The error started when they misidentified a driveway as a street- and then got off for the next four streets ending up with an extra street, which they named the same as ours. I filled out the form, and they responded that they would look into it.
Less than a week later, they wrote me an email saying “You were right!”, and that they had corrected the problem. I checked the map and discovered that they had now correctly named the street before ours with its correct name- but had left that name on the street before that one and continued the incorrect sequence (including labeling the driveway as a street). Aaack!
So, on Saturday I walked the neighborhood taking photos of houses, streets, and signs to make sure I was accurate- and wrote them again. I haven’t heard anything back yet.
I took my husband’s new Canon Powershot SX50 with me on the walk. I’m trying to learn it, because its zoom has a fantastic reach (and it shoots RAW!), and I plan to use it for wildlife photography. I’ve already customized 3 buttons on it with my settings, so I won’t interfere with his AUTO settings. All of today’s photos were taken with this nifty camera. For me, the most difficult part is controlling the zoom- so I need to practice on some backyard birds.
Linking up with Friday Finds
Because my grandparents lived with us at the time of my grandmother’s death, I have inherited a collection of old books, recipe books, photos and other memorabilia valuable to me, if not to the rest of the world. Mimi was a wonderful cook, something she learned when she went to finishing school In Boston (she also learned etiquette, French, and Italian, among other things). This still life for Be Still 52 includes Mimi’s Fannie Farmer Cookbook and little notebook of her favorite recipes written out with her Parker pen in her signature turquoise ink. I didn’t grow up baking, so the recipe card is from one of my first recipes for Christmas treats- Seven Layer Cookies (no baking!).I’m enjoying working in my garage “studio”- even on a drizzly day with the garage door open!
Edited with Kim Klassen’s chill and one of the magic textures.
Here are some more views of one of the basic layouts I used in the second top-down photo from yesterday. But today they do not meet the square, top-down, and two sides requirement.
This was fun- and trickier than I thought! The BeStill52 challenge was to create a square, top-down composition where subjects were arranged on two sides of the square, leaving some negative space. Now, I am a big fan of negative space- but somehow these compositions were hard for me. I struggle with top-down photography anyway. I’m short, so getting the bird’s eye view involves standing on a chair or ladder. The second photo was easier for me, because I deliberately used small objects and shot it standing on the floor- yippee!
The photo below is of two old photo albums- my grandmother’s and my father’s. I didn’t see either of them until after my parents were gone, so wasn’t able to ask questions about them. I’m so curious about the open album on top- look how the photos are cut and arranged artistically! My father graduated from high school in Wolf Point, Montana about 1919 (!), and these photos appear to be of him and his high school friends. Was my father really a scrapbooker? I wonder if one of his girlfriends put the albums together for him. Anyway- it is VERY cute! My grandmother’s album features family photos from the 1920’s, often involving camping trips and excursions to the beach. The photo of the three children is my mother (left) with her brother and sister- taken around 1915.
And here is the photo of smaller objects- much easier to photograph!
Both photos are textured with Kim Klassen’s breakfree texture for Texture Tuesday.
After doing mostly abstracts for the last couple weeks, it’s time to catch up on BeStill52. The assignment from a couple weeks ago was butter and eggs. I decided to make Egg-in-a-Hole for breakfast (something my daughter does for her kids), which fit the bill!
I felt like I hit the jackpot at Trader Joe’s yesterday when I found they had hydrangeas! I’m always on the lookout for them and even ask for them, but I always hear “Oh we just had them” or “I think we should have some next week.” So despite being a bit under the weather, I headed out to my garage “studio” and played with my macro lens.
Textured with Kim Klassen’s kk_thewait for Texture Tuesday
As I’ve mentioned before, I truly love my Going Abstract class from Kim Manley-Ort. It is definitely getting me out of my photography rut- and WAY out of my comfort zone. One of last week’s readings was on reflections, including a section on window reflections. When we went to pick our son up at the airport Friday, I brought my camera along, hoping to find some cool reflections. I was immediately drawn to a window display of large copper portraits of Lady Gaga and Hercules right next to where were waiting for Matt. In my mind, I was picturing an elderly woman or a child reflected in or by Gaga, kind of an ironic statement. Hah! This never happened. And, as always when I do “street” photography, I felt incredibly awkward and sneaky and ridiculous!
I learned right away that position and correct light helps. The lighting wasn’t the best for closeup reflections- and focus is challenging. But it was a learning experience, which I might actually try again.
And here’s Matt!
I spent a bit of time going through my photos from our trip to Vail last month and found I had quite a few photos that I didn’t post. I’m sure that this month’s Vail doesn’t look like last month’s Vail; all these spots must be covered with snow. And I might as well mention that this week’s Prescott trees don’t look like the trees I photographed last week; our fall color has mostly GONE! So autumn is becoming just a beautiful memory, as is our trip to Vail.
So. . . THIS week’s Friday Find is LAST month’s photos!
I love my abstract photography class! I am finding that the kind of photography I love to do the most (besides grand-boy photography, of course)- macros and closeups with a shallow depth of field- fall into the abstract photography realm. I had no idea! This week I’ve been photographing some of my shells with the intention of exploring their essence- and also their un-seashellness!
The un-seashellness of seashells (more of a pure abstract): 
The essence of seashells:
Here are a few more photos from last weekend’s walk in the neighborhood:
And here is another attempt at ICM (intentional camera movement)- this time edited with Topaz Impression (one of the Cezanne presets) and textured with Kim Klassen’s chill texture.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
melinda anderson photography 