Alternative Landscapes

Editing photos for creative expression, relaxation, and just plain fun is an essential part of my photography life.  I don’t paint or do crafts- so I create with the camera and the computer. I respect and enjoy traditional photography, but I sometimes like to tiptoe a bit onto the photography wild side.

Yesterday I revisited some of last summer’s photos from Alaska. At the time, I was fascinated with the stark shapes of the rocks and peaks jutting out of the sea, but I was disappointed in many of the resulting shots when edited traditionally. But I had so much fun creating the “alternative landscapes” below.

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Red Cliff Echoes

arc20141020-dsc_5986_melinda_anderson-edit-editI woke up way too early this morning and got up to have a play with some images from our Utah trip back in 2014. Last weekend I had been re-editing some Moab shots for class and to possibly use in an upcoming show- so these red cliffs have been in my subconscious waiting to be turned into some photo art just for fun. I have been playing recently with some phone apps (Fragment and Tiny Planets), which take chunks of your photos and re-arrange them, and wanted to see if I could do something similar in Photoshop in a more controlled way. Fun!

Wiggling the Camera

I have spent perhaps 4 days editing the photo I’m using for the final in my photo group. It is sharp, sharp, sharp- but, other than that, the project was pretty much a disaster.  The editing time was basically spent trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. More cloning than anyone should have to do in their entire life! I am hoping the result is adequate. No, I’m not yet posting it.

To recover, I spent an hour in the land of blur, producing some ICM images- abstract or impressionist landscapes, I’ve discovered they are called- achieved by long exposures and camera wiggling.

Here are two edits of my across the street view. I think the black and white looks like an ocean view.

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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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San Francisco Architecture- Then and Now

THEN:

The beautiful and ornate Southern Pacific Building (completed in 1916) was right across from our hotel at the corner of Market and Embarcadero. This was taken through the window in Carol’s room.

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NOW:

This reflections in this skyscraper seemed to create a column of Japanese Kanji running down the side of the building- fascinating!

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