For a bit of a change of pace. . .

I seldom photograph birds, especially since my friend, Carol, has set the bar so high with her amazing, professional quality bird photography (oh, THAT’S what a bird photograph should look like!)- but I went along with my camera club on an outing to the  Arizona Raptor Experience. It was fantastic! We were there by 7:00 a.m. and had beautiful light for most of the morning. And the birds were magnificent!

I’m not posting any action shots- although I did get 3 acceptably sharp shots out of dozens I took.  It was operator error- my camera and lens did pretty well.  I did get some pretty raptor portraits.

Today it’s a Harris’s Hawk (which I always thought was a Harris Hawk). Tomorrow will probably be a Swainson’s Hawk. See you then!

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Once upon a time . . .

My husband and I drove over to Chino Valley for lunch yesterday and then took a little drive  to see what we could see. Out near the winery we came upon this cute little structure which we’ve seen before- and of course I had to snap a few photos. To me, it looks like something out of a child’s storybook. There was a bit of artistic license taken in the editing to make it look more like an illustration- but, even as a straightforward image, there is a fantasy element, don’t you think?

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Blast from the Past (well, August)

This is overlooking part of the town of Eagle River, outside Anchorage, Alaska, where our daughter’s family lives. In the distance you can see a bit of the Knik Arm- and an overcast sky, and in the foreground is fireweed, which was everywhere during our visit. We are returning to Alaska to spend Thanksgiving- and I’m sure it will look quite different!

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Morning Blues

The other morning I woke up early and looked out the window to see blue stripes of clouds in the pre-dawn sky. I threw on some gym pants and slippers, grabbed my camera, and headed out to the driveway to shoot some pictures before the sun came up. I ended up crossing the street to get this view of the peaks and hills in the distance. I took multiple exposures as well as intentional camera movement shots and had a great time- until I realized that the sun had come up and I was across the street in my nightclothes, with a wild bedhead- and was waving my camera around like a madwoman. This is how I am earning my reputation as the neighborhood crazy person!

Below is what looks like a multiple exposure- and I guess it is- but it was shot by moving the camera around during a long exposure (intentional camera movement).

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Into the City

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I took my multiple exposure obsession and ran with it for my “Old Master” assignment for my photo class. Instead of using my Van Gogh field of yellow flowers (which is very much in my comfort zone), I was inspired by Edward Steichen’s multiple exposure cityscapes of New York City to create a composite of three of my San Francisco images to create this one. This was a fun assignment- not only creating my own image, but seeing what the others chose. I think all of us really stepped out of our respective boxes!

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Balboa Abstract

It’s no secret that I love abstracts and photos that may not be exact replicas of the scene I am photographing. I started manipulating photos the first year I got my camera (and not always in a good way . . .), and right now I am obsessed with multiple exposures.  Here is one I took of Balboa Pier- all done in camera with minor editing in Lightroom.

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The “in camera” techniques are frustrating for this Photoshop lover- but there is something about the unpredictability of the result that makes it fun!

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October Color

Last week, Lonnie read a feature in our local paper about the beautiful fall color to be found at in Watson Woods, the riparian preserve by Watson Lake, only a mile or two from our house.  We drive by it every day, so we decided to go over there and see what we could see.

The photo below shows one of the first scenes to catch my eye- what photographer can resist reflections?

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Here’s another version of the same scene- with intentional camera movement for an impressionistic view.

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We walked until the mid afternoon heat started to catch up with me (why was I wearing long sleeves and a vest?), and then we stopped to soak in the atmosphere before walking back to the car.

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Bay Bridge(s)

I’ve been a little obsessed with multiple exposures lately- both in camera and in Photoshop.  Here’s a double view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at night, with some distortions and reflections adding to the unreality of the image. The double exposure was created in Photoshop, rather than in camera.

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Keys . . . and Twigs

The theme for my AAUW photo group today is Locks and Keys. I selected several past images of padlocks to bring, but then I decided that, since I wanted to play with my Lensbaby Edge 80, I would take a couple photos of keys to bring as well.

After taking a few shots of keys spread out in different configurations, a small branch I have on my shelf of props caught my eye. I ended up hanging keys on twigs, and came up with these two images:

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When I was all finished shooting, I combined two other images in camera, which I then converted to a split toned black and white in Lightroom. What looks like an added texture is actually the garage floor!

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