Takin’ it to the Street

This one’s from the archives- the same San Francisco trip where my last blog photo was taken- but I still may use it for my assignment if I don’t take anything else appropriate. This was a street musician down at Fisherman’s Wharf- and the crowd of oblivious, unappreciative passersby. Just a basic edit and black and white conversion- would love to crop it a little on the right. . .

Glacial

One of the highlights of our trip to Alaska was seeing glaciers. Many glaciers. And a few up close!

This was our third visit to Portage Lake since the kids moved to Alaska- but the first time we have taken the boat ride across the lake to see the glacier! While Caitlin and Lonnie were buying tickets, the boys and I walked down to the water’s edge, and I was able to take this shot featuring one of the large chunks of ice floating in the lake.

Don’t Look Back

When we were walking along the beach at Laguna, we came upon what I think was an engagement shoot. The young woman remained on the beach as the photographer headed past our group for the next set up. I took the opportunity to take a few shots thinking I could use them for some sort of image. I ended up lengthening her dress and moving her arms (she was cold and had her arms loosely folded across her chest) to make a more pleasing image. I’m not sure what she was looking back at, but I am thinking this has potential as the cover of a romantic mystery! 😉

And speaking of romance . . .today is our 47th anniversary! Happy Anniversary to us!

Bookish

I have been a collector of old school books most of my adult life- nothing valuable. When I was home raising kids and wasn’t teaching at that point, I bought old primers and readers at garage sales. Later, when I went back to teaching, I collected old readers that were being discarded and replaced by newer series. So I still have quite a few.  I still love them and decided to photograph a stack today. After shooting several different arrangements, I stacked them the way that we teachers told kids NEVER to stack books! Maybe I am becoming a rule breaker in my old age!

Vintage Wigwam

Here’s another shot of the Wigwam Motel at night- this time with a black and white edit for a vintage look. It’s also missing the “car trails”- streaks from tail lights from passing cars- that were visible in yesterday’s image (and I kept in because I like them).

As you can probably tell, I found the Wigwam Motel totally captivating. I only wish that I had crossed the street and wandered around the grounds. It would probably not have been a good idea to do this at nighttime though. I think I need a return trip!

Back to the blur. . .

The last few months, I’ve found myself missing blur and soft focus.  As a result, my Lensbaby Velvet 56 has been on my camera for the last week, and I’m going to put the Edge 80 (my fave!) on there next. Manual focus is always a challenge, but I find taking soft and dreamy photos is my comfort zone. I love the blur!

 

Postcard

When we were staying in Moab, we never really understood what the tepee set up was for and never took the time to find out. Turned into a monochrome, it reminds me of a vintage photo postcard (never mind the fence and the wagon and the lawn. . .).

Moab Mono

I know, I know-  it almost seems like a crime to take a photo of the beautiful colors of Moab and turn them to black and white. However, I have been playing with something we’ve been talking about in my photo class- using gradient maps to create black and whites- so here we go!