Iconic
One of the iconic Alaska views- mountains and trees with fireweed in the foreground. I couldn’t manage to frame it with the Matanuska Glacier as a background (I might have fallen off a cliff. . .), so I settled on this view. Fireweed is just about everywhere in Alaska at this time of year.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Today I posted an iPhone image on Instagram and commented that I had fallen down the iPhone app rabbit hole and was wondering if I was ever going to return to regular photography. A very talented instagram friend replied, ” There is no “regular photography”, there is just photography and creativity, and there is nothing wrong with going down there and looking for wonderland.” Don’t you love that?
Today I had my photo club friends over to play with paint. We had a blast rolling out colors on the gelli plates and using stencils and all sorts of tools to create textures and backgrounds to photograph and use in our images. It was fun to do art with NO RULES, since rules are traditionally such a big part of photography- although artist/photographers everywhere are breaking them now (yay!).
The above photo (I know- it’s pretty psychedelic. . .) was quickly created after my friends left this afternoon and was edited totally on the iPhone. The texture used was actually the photo below, after it had been through a few apps (Roll World, Brush Stroke, Snapseed- maybe more)- then was combined with the flower in Image Blender and tweaked a little more in Mextures. I still love Photoshop for the control I can get- but with the iPhone or iPad I can be creative while watching TV or when I wake up in the night and can’t back to sleep!
This photo (angel hair lying across paint on a gelli plate) became the texture used in the flower photo:
The Details
I received a beautiful Spring bouquet for Mother’s Day from my beautiful daughter, Caitlin! It wasn’t until I imported the photos into the computer that I realized I never took a photo of the entire arrangement (tulips, hydrangea and daisies)- just the details! I do love my macro lens, but I will try to capture the whole bouquet before it’s too late!
I love the color combinations!
Of course I had to try a multiple exposure to give it a painterly look!
Thank you, Caitlin! ❤
With Intent
Intention has continued to be a hot topic of discussion with my photo group this week. I think shooting flowers with intention is perhaps not what we all had in mind, but, since I was taking photos of gerbera daisies, that was where I practiced. I did not make a list of words as was suggested, but I did have the words nostalgia and vintage in mind when I shot and edited this photo. Looking at it afterward, I realize I should/could have used a vintage container for the flowers- but I was thinking simple too, I guess. As usual, I did stray in my other flower photos (you’ll see another shot tomorrow)- so I’m not sure this is the best method for me.
Broken Intention
Yesterday’s Trader Joe’s bouquet didn’t make it home unscathed, alas.
My photo group has been discussing photography as art recently- a subject dear to my heart. Yesterday, we watched a video about photographing with intention, which involved making lists of words that come to mind when you look at your own work- and then keeping those same qualities in mind when shooting and editing. As soon as I heard the word, list, my right brain started protesting! However, I did attempt to approach my flower shoot with intention. I told myself that I wanted the photo to be soft and dreamy and evoke in the viewer nostalgia for a bygone era. BUT. . . I instead became captivated by this impudent little broken flower and created a bright and, I think, cheerful piece- perhaps (or perhaps not) bringing a smile to the face of the viewer.
Intention. Need to work on that . . .
And then. . .
Last year, the javelinas dug up all our straight from Holland tulip bulbs just as the leaves were poking up out of the ground. We heard that they don’t like irises and will leave them alone, so in the fall we planted a few iris bulbs. A while ago, we noticed the leaves growing- and finally a few buds appeared last week. We’ve been seeing profuse iris blooms all around town- just not in our garden.
I photographed an event at the college on Friday for an organization I belong too- and their irises were magnificent.
Yesterday (Earth Day), we still just had 2 buds.
And then, I woke up to an (almost) open flower this morning. I couldn’t wait for it to fully unfurl, so here it is, edited with a painterly effect from Topaz Impression.
Spring is finally here!
Tulips- Soft vs. Dramatic
I had a spare half hour and went back to some of my tulip photos from February. Being a Gemini, I sometimes seem to have a split personality when it comes to my edits.
Here are some soft and dreamy tulips:
And these, I think, are more dramatic:
I like each for different reasons. How about you?
Seen better days. . .
When I posted this to Instagram, I got to use the hashtag #lovelydeadcrap for the first time- woot!
