This is the third image I’ve submitted for the online exhibition. It is an in-camera multiple exposure of the Newport Beach pier layered in Photoshop with some gelli prints and is called “Smithereens”. You can decide for yourself what the image means to you, and, as for the title, I just like the word!
As you may remember, I am part of an wonderful group called Find Your Voice, run by the amazing Valda Bailey and Doug Chinnery. I have learned so much from them and from the photographer/artists who are a part of the group! We create work in the expressionist style, using multiple exposure, intentional camera movement and other techniques to express our vision. It is the time of year when we submit 3 pieces to Valda and Doug who will pick ONE to show in the online exhibition, like we did last year. This year, the exhibition is titled “Fragments” and we are encouraged to use elements of collage in our work, which may be other photographs, painting, cyanotype, or other techniques. Many of the members are also artists in other mediums (not me!), so, as you can imagine, I have to fight off “Imposter Syndrome” at every turn!
The image above is a collage (or composite) of an in-camera multiple exposure layered with parts of several gelli plate printed images. My inspiration was the recent massive heat wave- hence the title, “Heat Dome”. It is one of the three images I am submitting, so may or may not be in the online show.Another image I’m submitting is “That Morning”, which has appeared here on the blog. I will post the other entry later, once I figure out a title!
This image did not start out to have anything to do with global warming, but it has certainly been on my mind this last year. I began with an intentional camera movement photo, and as I started building layers, this somewhat apocalyptic image just evolved.
I am finally getting around to posting the third in my Merging Realities series! Although I’ve been taking and editing photos, I’ve been super busy and just couldn’t get my act together to post any of them. But summer vacation is here, and my retirement life is going to slow down a bit- so expect more posts soon-ish!
Another image from the mall.
Part of a series created from scenes at a mall this week.
I’m a bit obsessed by the moonshadows created by Monday’s eclipse. This is a composite of two moonshadowed iris leaf images. The painterliness of the image was not created by filters, but by the magic of blending the moonshadows and leaves together.
I’ve been having fun combining some of my little moonshadow images (especially the ones on leaves) into abstracts. These are the first three in a little project I’m calling “In the Path of Totality”.
We just spent a wonderful week in the Palm Springs area with our daughter’s family- hanging out, swimming and relaxing with our grandboys. One morning, we drove with our son-in-law to a botanical garden and had a lovely time looking at the variety of desert plants. I had fun photographing the curves of the agave leaves, which just seemed to call out for some intentional camera movement. Afterward we had lunch at the amazing Manhattan in the Desert- always a favorite!
By playing with colors and realigning layers, I created this ice abstract using one of my frozen flower photos.
So much fun!
And here is the last imaginarius image for now. It was suggested that these would be good backgrounds/textures to combine with other images. I love the minimalism of these images on their own, but have worked a few into other images. Stay tuned!
Just another intentional camera movement image taken through my glass apple last weekend. . .
I watched a video tutorial on intentional camera movement the other day, and, inspired by a photo friend who did a whole series of ICM images in her bedroom while ill, I created a series while watching the video. I used a glass apple from my teaching days and focused into the glass, swirling my camera around, picking up other colors. I am calling my series Imaginarius, because of the imaginary landscapes and abstracts created by this process. I will post more in the next week or so.
When visiting the Phoenix Art Museum in November, I was captivated by the view into a special gallery below us. It brought me back to the envy I felt when visiting the home of my parents’ friends when I was a little girl. Their two daughters shared a huge bedroom with a giant roofless dollhouse on the floor, laid out like a 3 dimensional floor plan. You could move the dolls (larger than typical dollhouse dolls- more like Ginny or small Madame Alexander dolls) throughout the house, guiding them through doorways and onto beds and chairs. The girls’ dad had made the doll house, and oh, how I wanted one like it! But where would I have put it? That question never came to my mind. So alas- my Ginny and Madame Alexander dolls never had a house, except in my imagination.
Below is a view of the gallery in color and in landscape orientation. In both views, I was drawn to the geometry of the setup- and I attempted to emphasize that in my editing process. I brought both images to my Monday photo group for critique and stated my preference for the black and white. I was guided by several friends to remove some “color blocks” I had added for emphasis, and that has made all the difference in the color version. I so appreciate the positive and helpful critiques from my photo friends- especially Gail this time!
Scottsdale’s annual Canal Convergence event along the downtown waterfront provided so many opportunities for interesting street photography mixed with light and art- and of course, water. What are you looking at here? I’ll leave it up to your imagination!
