Here are a couple more sights we saw as we walked down Mount Vernon Street.
Spirit of Halloween
Yesterday we took our annual Halloween stroll along Mt. Vernon Street, where the Halloween spirit is very evident. In this neighborhood of older homes, most houses are decorated for Halloween, and some have gone all out! It’s the most popular street in town for trick-or-treating.
White and whiter
I confess to having a photography love affair with my white pumpkins.
I like the orange ones, but there is just something about the white ones that I can’t resist!
Family History Cabinet
I’m on a mission to finish up my genealogy research and organize it in some meaningful way to pass on to future generations. There are so many aspects to this whole project that it seems overwhelming at times, and I get paralyzed with indecision over what to tackle next. I’ve researched the ancestors just about as far as I can go at this point, have a file cabinet, binders, and boxes filled with research, and have had my DNA done (twice), but I still have boxes and boxes of photos left to deal with.
I recently reorganized our front hallway dental cabinet so that the drawers are organized to make sense again. I use this chest to store and display family memorabilia from my husband and my childhoods and (mostly) from our parents’ and grandparents’ lives. I got the idea of putting this together from a newspaper article given to me by my friend, Kathryn, who spotted it and gave it to me, knowing my interest in genealogy and that I owned a similar cabinet. I’m sure I’ve mentioned more than once here that it belonged to my father who bought it used when he opened his dental practice in the late twenties. It was painted white when we acquired it, but we had it stripped to its natural mahogany. I think I should stop calling it a dental cabinet now- it’s our Family History Cabinet!
Here is a drawer with some items from my grandmother and great-grandmother. Both photos are of my grandmother, Marion Bean Badenoch, known to her grandchildren as Mimi.
My latest genealogy/photography project is to scan and restore some of my old family photos. I have hundreds, not counting those from my childhood and my children’s childhoods- so obviously, I am going to have to be very selective. I believe that the photo of Mimi in the oval frame was taken when she was sixteen (that’s what my mother told me, I think), but I’ve also considered that it could be her wedding portrait- it’s a pretty fancy dress! She went to finishing school in Boston, so it could have been taken around that time.
Here is the photo as scanned:
And here is the restored one:
Contrast alone makes a huge difference, and I attempted to eliminate most of the scratches and marks as well. I haven’t made a final decision about tone. The tutorials I’ve watched showed converting all the images to a plain black and white, but I think I prefer some brown in the tones to give a bit of a vintage look to them. Another decision to make!
I think my next photo restoration project will be the cute childhood image of Mimi sitting in the chair.
Not to be redundant. . .
These are ALMOST the end of the white pumpkin photos, but, since Halloween is over a week away, there just might be more!
Happy Hump Day!
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling. . .
If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that I treasure little family trinkets from bygone eras and that I have quite a few- being an only child has its rewards! When I started my first Project 365 almost 5 years ago (!), my daughter suggested I photograph the contents of my father’s dental cabinet which houses much of my family’s memorabilia. Over the years, many of the items have been featured, but today I am featuring some trinkets from another family.
My friend, Claudia (who is a fantastic card-maker), has always encouraged me on my photographic journey. When she learned I wanted a dish of old marbles to photograph (and to display), she gave me some that are from HER family treasures! I have puzzled how to photograph them in an interesting way. I did some shots last month that never made the blog, because they just weren’t appealing. Last weekend, I tried again.
I got out my trusty macro lens and attempted to set up a simple still life. I discovered that the garage floor isn’t level, as the marbles kept rolling around and off the folding table I use for still life. I finally set them on my old washboard, which gave a contrasting texture to the smooth roundness of the marbles- and kept them from falling onto the floor.
As I was clicking away, the wind was blowing some of the leaves I had gathered for another still life onto the garage floor- which gave me an idea!
Tucking the marble under one of the leaves on the floor kept it from rolling around. I was lying on my stomach for this shot- a pretty sight indeed!
Expect to see more marble shots sometime in the future. . .
Blowing in the Wind
Today’s photo was shot with my lensbaby and includes a couple leaves, part of a bunch I gathered while walking down our hill, and some old books of my mother’s (yes, I love to photograph old books!). Way in the back is a little clock- a gift from my god-daughter for hosting her wedding shower (8 years ago?!?). The wind was blowing into my garage studio, causing the pages and leaves to shiver and shift while I took the photo, making focusing with the lensbaby a fun challenge. Fall is slow to arrive this year, but it is on its way.
Sunny Bouquet
Nothing like a sunny bouquet to brighten up a not-so-sunny day!
Game of Pumpkins
This is what happens when I have been binge-watching Game of Thrones- and am avoiding the things I have to do by playing in Perfect Effects.
Winter Halloween is coming. . . bwaaahaaahaah!
A Change-up
I’m changing things up a bit today. The pumpkins have been put aside temporarily, because I shot some seashell macros the other day and am beginning to wonder when I’m ever going to get them posted.
Next week- more pumpkins! Stay tuned!
White Pumpkin Takeover
Autumn Stillness
An autumn still life- still loving those white pumpkins!
Tuesday Monet
It’s Topaz Impression time again. I used a Monet filter (plus textures added in Photoshop) on these two images. The second one is a copy of the first, re-edited in Lightroom in black and white with some split toning.
Ranuncu-LOVE
I had a photo already to post today, but then I came upon these ranunculus photos in Lightroom that hadn’t yet made my blog- one edited and one not. I had fun editing the second one to kinda-sorta match the first- so here they are!
Editing notes: I really need to start consistently labeling my layers in Photoshop. I could tell I added a filter to a layer in the first photo- and then some texture (which comes in with a label automatically). I assumed I used Topaz Impression- but which filter??? No idea. For the second one I used Cezanne II, one of my favorites. And another thing- is there a way to mark favorites in Impression? Anyone, anyone?
Heartland- DONE!
It started a year ago on a road trip to Kansas to visit Lonnie’s father. I became obsessed with the seemingly endless flat horizons of Kansas, broken only by the occasional barn or silo. There is a beauty in this stark landscape with the wheat fields, the barb wire fences, and the oddly industrial look of modern farms. I took photo after photo with my iPhone (usually through the window as we drove along), and I had fun editing them right there in the car. May’s road trip was melancholy, however, as we drove across the plains knowing that Lonnie’s dad had just died. This time I took photos with my Nikon often with the lensbaby attached- mostly from the car at 70mph. I was still obsessed with the landscape, but I also wondered each time I clicked the shutter when we would be driving these roads again.
In my AAUW photography group, we are asked to commit to a long term project of some sort. After our trip a year ago, I decided to create a Heartland series for the assignment.
When I traveled to Yellowstone last month, I took these photos with me on a little external drive to work on; I was planning to make a photo book to take to my photography group. I worked on it during a couple evenings after the kids were in bed, but I could never get the book to save- it would always say it was still uploading! I didn’t have the time or energy for a frustrating computer project, so I decided to abandon it until I came home. Once home, I sat down to work on the project again, only to discover that, no matter what I did, Lightroom would not recognize the photos. I know all about moving photos from within Lightroom and have never had an issue with it until NOW. I could see the photos on my drive and could open them from Photoshop, but they were invisible to Lightroom. There were several attempts over period of days- but then I abandoned the project once more. I sat down one last time to try again yesterday- and there they were! Right there in the Lightroom catalog- not grayed out- not missing, just THERE! I may or may not print them. I’m a bit sick of them right now- so much for the obsession!
So I decided that they will at least appear on the blog as a slideshow before they disappear again. Many of these photos have already appeared on this blog- but here they are again- all together!
Editing notes: to bring some cohesiveness to the project I re-edited all the images and added textures (usually scratchy ones).
melinda anderson photography 