Prairie Sunflowers

Prairie sunflowers! At our monthly photography club meeting last week, I learned that the Flagstaff area is blanketed with prairie sunflowers in August and September.  Bonito Park, north of Flagstaff, is a particularly photogenic spot as it sits between Sunset Crater and the San Francisco Peaks.  My husband and I headed up there on Saturday and found it lives up to its reputation.

Here is the meadow with Sunset Crater in the background.

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Looking the other direction, I photographed the sunflowers with the San Francisco peaks behind them.

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Melinda7 Comments

Say cheese!

20140822-DSC_3171_melinda_andersonPhotography seems to run in the family. My earliest memories involve being wakened by the glare of strobe lights as my father filmed every moment of  Christmas morning (perhaps that’s why I avoid having my photo taken to this day). In his retirement years, he took college classes in photography and captured some wonderful photos of my children when they were little. Today’s photo includes his Nikon on the left and my first good camera, an Argus rangefinder (right), as well as a toy camera (middle) which I picked up in an antique store when Joan was visiting.  In the front are two issues of Kodakery magazine from the 1920’s, which I bought in an antique store a few months ago.

Linking up with Friday Finds today.

Kim Klassen dot Com

 

 

 

Melinda6 Comments

Monsoon

If we were in any doubt that it is the monsoon season here in Arizona, the last 24 hours have made us believers. Holy Moly! Thunder, lightning, rain and flash floods- we’ve seen them all. We’re happy to be high and dry (so far. . .) on our little hill and are watching the action on TV.  When we were out yesterday, we spotted clouds hanging over Thumb Butte (not the usual view), so we went home and got my camera so I could get some shots before visibility was gone. Storms are predicted off and on all week- wish I could send some to California!

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Melinda2 Comments

Alas, the End

20140817-DSC_3036_melinda_anderson-EditToday is the end of our friend, Joan’s visit to our home in Prescott.  We are so sad to see her go- we had such a wonderful time with her! Yesterday, she got to experience a true “Retirement in Prescott” day.

We started the day with a trip to our fabulous hardware store, where we spent so much time browsing that we almost forgot why we were there (to buy picture hangers and a birdfeeder extender hook). Then we drove down to the square so Joan could take photos of the courthouse and some of the surrounding buildings.

She and Lonnie enjoyed walking the timeline of the history of Yavapai County.

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We did a complete circuit of the courthouse building, which is undergoing some construction, with a security guard acting as tour guide for part of the way. 20140818-DSC_3063_melinda_anderson

After lunch at home, we headed out to the movies so that Joan could experience the reclining seats.  We saw Into the Storm (thumbs down for acting and plot, thumbs up for special effects), and afterward walked out into our own extreme storm- driving rain, thunder, lightning, and flooding roadways.  Now Joan can say she has truly experienced summer in Arizona!

The sunset and flag photos each have textures added: ecru on both photos, and also waterfront 17 on the sunset (both by Kim Klassen).

Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.

Melinda6 Comments

Ready or not . . .

My friend, Joan, is staying with us, and we are having so much fun introducing her to Arizona. Saturday was spent touring Prescott- and shopping- and Sunday was the anticipated trip to Sedona and Jerome.  I packed my camera bag with three lenses and an extra battery and planned to try some detail shots of the area, as I had photographed the places we were visiting several times. I had picked up a free Sedona guide at the airport, so was planning to bring that as well as the Arizona Highways photography guide I had recently purchased.  I was READY!

As we drove into Sedona, I looked down at my feet and saw that yes indeed I had brought the guidebooks- but where was my camera? The answer became clear that I had left my camera bag on the kitchen counter. Oh. My. God.

So it became obvious that any pictures I might take would have to be shot with my iPhone.  I relaxed, because I already have photos of Sedona.  But when we pulled into our first stop, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, I noticed something that had been missing on our previous trips to Sedona- CLOUDS! Big billowy CLOUDS! And there was a moon- kind of taunting me up there. Darn.

So today’s post is all iPhone photos- including some Lensbaby shots, because at least I had that in my purse.

Here’s the view of Cathedral Rock from outside the chapel (notice the clouds. . .).

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The chapel is awe-inspiring. After sitting quietly for awhile, I put the Lensbaby on the iPhone and tried some creative photography inside.

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Afterward, I snapped another view of Cathedral Rock, before we went into town for lunch and some shopping.

Photo Aug 17- 11 13 23 AMDespite the camera fiasco, we had a wonderful time!

Melinda4 Comments

Arizona Raindrops

Arizona monsoon season!!! What a difference rain makes! Our brown hills have turned green, and, after this week’s huge storm, I went outside and actually found raindrops left on plants from the night before.  If you look closely, you’ll some tiny refracted images of flowers in some of the drops.

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Linking up with Friday Finds today.

Melinda9 Comments

Unstaged

One of the recent lessons in BeStill 52 was to create an unstaged (or at least a seemingly unstaged) still life.  I’ve been busy- or at least preoccupied- but finally made some time earlier this week to get it DONE.

Of course, the first step was to get caffeinated, and, as the coffee started coming out of the Keurig, I grabbed my camera and took a few unstaged shots.  Encouraged by how easy this was, I added a nectarine and a knife and finished the shoot in less than 10 minutes.  If I had known how fast I could get it finished, I would have done it sooner!

Inspired by my photo friend, Barbara, I edited each photo with a different preset and am calling it DONE!

messy_layoutPresets used (all by Kim Klassen):

Left- truegrit

Right- oldendays and lettherebelight (one of my all-time favorites)

Melinda1 Comment

I Heart Lensbaby

My iPhone Lensbaby came at last! I participated in the Kickstarter program and was able to get it before it goes on the market (and at a reduced price).

I absolutely love it! My iPhone is fun again- thanks to this tiny little lens. This is the first and only lens I’ve had for my phone, and it has taken some time for me to get used to it.  Although I loved it from the start, focusing it has been a challenge for me.  The first step in using this little guy is to attach it to the magnet ring (supplied) on the phone (with the Lensbaby app open )- then adjust the position of the lens to get the best focus with a centered “sweet spot.” Since I almost always prefer an off-center area of focus, I then switch to the “movable sweet spot” mode and compose my picture. I’m not sure why focusing was so difficult for me, but since I’ve relaxed about it a bit, I’ve been happier with my results.

Here are some of my favorite shots.

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The soft blur created by the lensbaby just seems to go with flowers!

Since this is app-happy Wednesday, I will mention the apps I used to edit these images.  I generally open in Snapseed first to crop and make any exposure adjustments. I often go into Pixlr Express afterward if I want to make an adjustment to just one area of the image.  I used to do this in Snapseed, but I find the history brush in Pixlr Express easier to use.  To do this, I make the adjustment I want to the ENTIRE image, and then use the history brush to erase it from the areas where I don’t want that particular adjustment.  It’s kind of counterintuitive, but I’m getting used to it.

Now I NEED to get a Lensbaby for my Nikon- I could start with a Composer Pro with a double glass optic. Are you reading this, Santa???

 

Melinda7 Comments

Country Drive

Today I’m posting some photos from our drive through Peeples Valley and Kirkland a couple weeks ago.  I love country roads and all the charms of barns and fences and horses- maybe it’s because I grew up in a small town in a rural area. horse_farm_layout

Textures (all from Kim Klassen): top- waterfront 7; bottom- nutmeg and unleashed

Linking up with Texture Tuesday
“Texture

Melinda6 Comments

Somewhere over the . .

Warning: there are more Arizona skies in this post!

Last night,we had just sat down to dinner, when my husband exclaimed- LOOOOOK!  This is not that unusual; we have beautiful clouds and sunsets (not to mention birds and snakes and lizards. . .), and we are always telling each other to LOOOOK!

As you have guessed, there was a beautiful rainbow out there (and it had not been raining).

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But what became immediately apparent was that it was a DOUBLE rainbow that stretched across the whole horizon! I grabbed my camera (and he grabbed his), and we ran outside. I don’t know if he captured the whole span, but I soon discovered that my 18-200 mm lens was not really wide enough- especially, because it started raining as soon as we got out there, and we had to stand on the porch and then in the open garage.  It got too wet too quickly to stand out there, so we went back to eating dinner. These photos do not begin to capture the beauty of the rainbow or the quality of the light- but here they are.

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I don’t know what is going on with the clouds in the middle two photos (the darker semi-circular shape at the top).  A camera thing, a flying saucer thing- who knows?

BTW, it being summer in Arizona, there was thunder and lightning going on too!

Melinda1 Comment

Hummmmmm!

This summer the Prescott hummingbirds have finally discovered us! In fact I’ve seen as many as five flitting around at a time, buzzing each other in a seeming fight for territory.  Our feeder is right outside the window by the kitchen sink, so I’m constantly watching them.  I took my camera outside a couple days ago and had fun taking photos as the little hummers flew around me. They got closer and closer to me,  trying to scare me off- but I held my ground!

Hummingbirds can be a challenge to keep in focus- but this out of focus one ended up being one of my favorites of the session.  BTW the bokeh is from the morning light shining on the plum tree in the background.

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I like this darker, textured version as well.

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Yes, I did take some shots that were actually IN focus!

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I love this one- he was staring me down! What a bully!

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Melinda10 Comments

Summer Fence

This flower lined fence caught my eye as we were heading out of town for a drive the other day. After spending a couple hours taking photos of rural scenes and the countryside, I was too tired to stop and take photos of the original fence I had seen as we started our outing.  We went back the other day, and I had a great time photographing all the flowers.  You’ll be seeing more of them in the near future; today it’s just one photo of this pink beauty, textured with Kim Klassen’s touchof for Texture Tuesday.

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Melinda15 Comments