Still Life with Roses
My roses are fading a bit, but they still make a lovely subject for still life photography. The pitcher is a bargain find from Michael’s- my Friday Find for this week!
Still and more still
I have a few more images to share from my still life marathon in the bathroom studio. Each photo is edited with Kim Klassen’s textures, different ones on each photo.
Wabi-Sabi
I learned a new term last week on Kim Klassen’s blog- wabi-sabi. As I understand it, wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic embracing the imperfect, the incomplete- the natural, the simple and unaffected- the moment just as it is. The perfectly imperfect. The now. A philosophy for art, living, relationships- I could go on. I love it!
I used that new (to me) term in completing Day 52 of Beyond Beyond. This lesson gave us a new template for Lightroom and Photoshop and challenged us to print a photo- and use that photo in another photo. A picture in a picture- which reminds me of the opening of each episode of Modern Family, a show I’ve only discovered in the last few months. Kim’s example was a picture in a picture in a picture, so I did this too. I’d like to use this technique again with people- perhaps my favorite models, Miles and Henry.
I chose a Mason jar to photograph, this time with flowers, because of its wabi-sabi-ness! It is imperfect, utilitarian, and simple, and I love it.
You might have noticed that my blog has a new look. It’s been well over a year since I’ve made any changes, so it seems like time for an update. I went back to my original layout with a new header, and made some corrections on my “about” page (it still said it was 2013 and that I live in the San Francisco Bay Area- oooops!). The slideshow is gone, and I have my sidebar back. There are other little changes I want to make as well- after I figure out how to do them. So what do you think?
Wildflower Impressions
from the wildflower garden at the Desert Botanical Garden
Desert in Bloom
My AAUW photo group took a field trip yesterday to the Chihuly Exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. WOW! So many of the cacti were in bloom- and blooming cacti is something I had never seen. It was photography heaven!
I concentrated on the plants- with the glass exhibit taking a backseat, as I had photographed most of it before. I haven’t had time yet to go through the hundreds of photos- I’m sure you will be seeing more here over the next week.
That’s Chihuly bokeh in the photo above!
From Above
Alas- this may be the last appearance of these beautiful tulips from Aryn and Jason’s wedding reception. I shot this photo looking down at the bouquet, in keeping with this week’s Texture Tuesday theme, from above.
Textured with Kim Klassen’s “simple” texture.
Intentional Tulips
Playing a bit with intentional camera movement (ICM) and some texture . . .
Tulip Macros
Gorgeous red and white tulips decorated the tables at the party given by our friends, Debbie and Dale to celebrate their daughter, Aryn’s marriage to Jason. The young couple currently live in Holland, so tulips were definitely the perfect choice. I had fun being the photographer for the event and managed to have a lot of fun while taking photos. Debbie gave me one of the arrangements to take home, so of course they will be making several appearances on the blog!
Yup- more of those same flowers!
It’s Texture Tuesday, so here’s a collection of photos I took last week of my baby’s breath bouquet (which is still going strong). I used Kim Klassen’s anna texture to edit each image.
I am so attracted to out of focus and ICM (intentional camera movement) images; I’ve done quite a bit, but haven’t put many on the blog. So- just for fun- I took this deliberately out of focus shot of the same bouquet, applied one of the artistic filters in Photoshop, and added a grunged up version of Kim’s dollard texture.
White on black
Still
I took this photo for Texture Tuesday and then realized there is a THEME- still. I’m not sure this photo represents still, but it is a still life.
Textured with sybil by Kim Klassen.
LIGHT!
When I first started this whole photography thing, I literally couldn’t see the light. I think it took me almost a year before I was able to really see how light differs from moment to moment, from place to place. And now I am obsessed with it.
While we were in California, I took advantage of the beautiful light (and Spring flowers) when taking photos. The theme for this week’s Texture Tuesday is light, and I think this photo demonstrates how light (in this case, backlighting) can enhance a photograph.
Textured with bent edges and florence, by Kim Klassen.
Something like Spring
It is Spring- or something like that- in California! We are returning from a whirlwind business trip where we managed to see most of our friends that we didn’t see the last time we were there. We talked, we laughed, we ate, we drank- it was great!
There were blossoms and flowers, and even a bit of rain. I didn’t do a lot of photography, but here are a couple shots from when we stopped at a shopping area to load up on “necessities” we haven’t found in Prescott (think Aveda and Art of Shaving. . .).
Yes, that’s Nordstrom in the above photo- no, we didn’t shop there.
We’re on our way home now. Funny- I refer to both the Bay Area and Prescott as home- as in, “We are going back home to visit our friends,” and “We’ll be driving home tomorrow.” I guess it’s a good thing to feel that way about two places!
The end (I think)
This is most likely the end of my tulip photos (unless I find another candidate for editing!). Time for new flowers!
melinda anderson photography 