Happy 3rd of July!
Bystanders at Prescott’s Hose Cart races yesterday:
I love living in this small town1
July Sky
My friend, Carol, is visiting! After an afternoon at Barnstar Brewery and a delicious barbecue dinner, we all sat outside talking, laughing, and watching birds until after dark. As we got up to go inside, we were surprised to look up and see clouds which had not been visible earlier. Carol and I got our cameras to photograph the moon peeking out through the cloud cover and were surprised to see the colors that appeared in our images. Smoke from the fire? I don’t know.
In this shot, you can see a star in the lower part of the photo.
The 19
Four years ago today the nineteen Granite Mountain Hot Shots (mostly from Prescott) lost their lives fighting the Yarnell fire. I remember that day well, because we were on our way to Prescott to buy a house- and all during that time the town was in shock and mourning. As this date approaches every year, tributes appear all over town. And in Yarnell, there are constant reminders. When we were there a few weeks ago, I spotted this door with nineteen purple ribbons.
Good news- the Goodwin Fire outside Prescott is about half contained, and today Highway 69 opened. We will be driving to Phoenix today to pick up my friend, Carol as she returns from another Moose Peterson trip (hummingbirds in the Tucson area), and will be so glad to take a direct route to the valley.
Sunset and Smoke
A little impression of our sunset view last night- smoke and pink sky. Multiple exposure layered with a view of the moon from the other direction and an added texture. The fire continues to grow as I write this. We are far enough away to feel safe, but it is scary how fast it is growing.
From the driveway. . .
A sad view indeed . . .
The Goodwin fire has been burning since Saturday, I think- and is over 4400 acres, forcing the evacuation of the town of Mayer and other small communities southwest of Prescott. And no, it is not contained or controlled. If you look closely at the photo, you can see one of the planes that were flying over the fire this afternoon. With this area’s still vivid memories of the 2013 fire that took the lives of 19 hot shots, fire is taken very seriously here. Although we are in the monsoon season, no rain is in the forecast.
A monochrome view:
Down the Rabbit Hole
Today I posted an iPhone image on Instagram and commented that I had fallen down the iPhone app rabbit hole and was wondering if I was ever going to return to regular photography. A very talented instagram friend replied, ” There is no “regular photography”, there is just photography and creativity, and there is nothing wrong with going down there and looking for wonderland.” Don’t you love that?
Today I had my photo club friends over to play with paint. We had a blast rolling out colors on the gelli plates and using stencils and all sorts of tools to create textures and backgrounds to photograph and use in our images. It was fun to do art with NO RULES, since rules are traditionally such a big part of photography- although artist/photographers everywhere are breaking them now (yay!).
The above photo (I know- it’s pretty psychedelic. . .) was quickly created after my friends left this afternoon and was edited totally on the iPhone. The texture used was actually the photo below, after it had been through a few apps (Roll World, Brush Stroke, Snapseed- maybe more)- then was combined with the flower in Image Blender and tweaked a little more in Mextures. I still love Photoshop for the control I can get- but with the iPhone or iPad I can be creative while watching TV or when I wake up in the night and can’t back to sleep!
This photo (angel hair lying across paint on a gelli plate) became the texture used in the flower photo:
Back to First Grade
After a pretty intense “school year” (a big job in AAUW, my photo class and club, preparing for my photo show, and the genealogy drama), I have been pretty exhausted and burned out creatively. So I decided to sign up for a little online class this summer that would be a radical departure from what I’ve been doing. It’s called “It’s Elementary,” and the teacher is Tricia Dewey, a very talented digital and mixed media artist.
The subject of the class is creating your own backgrounds and textures to use in photography and digital art- sounds right up my alley, right? You use paint, a gelli plate, a brayer, and stencils and mark making tools to make prints on paper which you combine in Photoshop or in your iPad- endless possibilities. But unfortunately, I brought my stressed out, left brain attitude to the class and found it pretty overwhelming at first. I watched the videos several times, bought the materials- and that was it.
I finally forced myself to start by announcing at my photo club Tuesday that I was hosting a group next week at my house to create textures and backgrounds- and I now have 4 very talented and skilled photographers coming to learn how to do these techniques. I knew I love to teach and coach others- so now I am committed (or should be committed?).
I have had a very busy week, but did manage to play a little in the paint, which brought me back to my happy first grade teacher self. Oh, how I wish I had all the stamping and printing materials I used to have in my classroom! It is fun!
I am finding it a challenge to incorporate the new textures and backgrounds into my images, because I normally tend to use textures in a more subtle way- but the idea is to step out of my comfort zone. I’m hoping that my creative friends who come over next week will inspire me to do things in new ways. I will report back!
Some of the textures I’ve created:
The middle one was created on the iPad- no paint involved. The other two started with paint- and then were modified on the iPad.
Skull Valley Shooting
A few more photos from our road trip with Joan and Rudy- this time we were shooting the Skull Valley gas station.
Unexpected Beauty
When we were in Yarnell with our friends, Joan and Rudy, Joan spotted a sign pointing to the Shrine of St. Joseph of the Mountains. We followed signs and came upon a beautiful, quiet path up and over a rocky hill which took you through the fourteen stations of the cross, with concrete statues created in 1939 set into the hillside. It was a deeply spiritual and moving experience to go around corners and come upon these beautiful works of art.
Some impressions:
Late Afternoon Abstracts
These blinds have become favorite subjects of abstract photos over the years. I don’t like them as blinds, but there is something about the light and shadows that captures my attention and makes me grab my camera.
Choo Choo
Tracks and Train Station in Skull Valley
Uke Time
Since retiring, I’ve been exploring photography and continuing my lifelong passion for family history. My friend Joan has gone an entirely different (and unexpected) direction; she has learned to play the ukulele! She plays in several groups, volunteers as a ukulele teacher for the blind- and who knows what else? I played the baritone ukulele in high school in my wannabe a folk musician days, and she is much, much better than I ever was. Bravo, Joan!
Windmill Country
Rudy and I worked on multiple exposures, which he had never tried with his new Canon 5D Mark IV (the camera I was coveting because of its fabulous features for multiples). This is one I captured with my Nikon- but I had to fiddle some in Photoshop to get one of the windmills positioned right (you can do this in camera with his Canon. . .). It really doesn’t matter HOW you get the image, but there is something so fun about getting it right in camera.
I think his name was John. . .
When we visited Yarnell with Joan and Rudy last week, Rudy spent some time talking to and photographing this delightful gentleman outside a local eatery. I snapped a quick shot and went inside, because I was hungry. Rudy ended up with a wonderful portrait, and I got this candid shot.
melinda anderson photography 