Toy House
I love to take photographs when it is snowy! The world is covered in a white blanket which eliminates details and simplifies the shapes, creating a toy village effect, at least in my mind. I am a fan of simple compositions in art and photography, and I think I got this shot of the house across the street down to about as simple as I could make it!
White World
It was a white world out there yesterday morning! I knew it was supposed to snow during the night (and then maybe rain later), so when I woke up at 5:00, I didn’t try to go back to sleep. I ventured outside before the sun came up- trying to take photos in the DARK (not too successfully)- and kept going out until it was light enough to shoot without a tripod. The photo below is an iPhone shot- just as good as my Nikon photos, I think. I added a few touches in Photoshop.
Sunset Chiaroscuro
The play of light and shadow reminded me of the term, chiaroscuro, that I learned in art classes in college. It’s not Renaissance art- just another shot from my driveway- but pretty light all the same. I added an oil paint filter at low opacity to complete the look.
Sunrise Snow
A view of the snowy hill and houses across the main road from us- bathed in the early morning sunlight- fingers crossed that we have more snow this weekend!
Sunset and Smoke
A little impression of our sunset view last night- smoke and pink sky. Multiple exposure layered with a view of the moon from the other direction and an added texture. The fire continues to grow as I write this. We are far enough away to feel safe, but it is scary how fast it is growing.
From the driveway. . .
A sad view indeed . . .
The Goodwin fire has been burning since Saturday, I think- and is over 4400 acres, forcing the evacuation of the town of Mayer and other small communities southwest of Prescott. And no, it is not contained or controlled. If you look closely at the photo, you can see one of the planes that were flying over the fire this afternoon. With this area’s still vivid memories of the 2013 fire that took the lives of 19 hot shots, fire is taken very seriously here. Although we are in the monsoon season, no rain is in the forecast.
A monochrome view:
Wabi Sabi Weed
It is pretty much guaranteed that, when I can’t find anything to photograph, a subject will appear during a walk in the neighborhood!
Morning Blue Hour
I’ve always loved blue and have recently become a big fan of the hour before the sun comes up, when the sky and clouds are streaked with shades of blue.
Here are some driveway and across the street shots from yesterday.
If you look closely, you’ll see a layer of fog between the far and near hills- I’m guessing over Watson Lake.
New Dawn, New Day
As I walked out of our bedroom this morning, I could see a bright orange glow on the living room wall. I ran (yes, ran) to the window to see a gorgeous sunrise peeking out under a dark, cloudy sky. I knew it would only last a minute or two, so I ran around the house- where is my camera (on the kitchen counter!)?, grabbed it (with MACRO lens attached, no time to switch), fumbled with the lock on the font door, and raced to the driveway in my nightgown and slippers to get about 10 shots, before the orange glow faded. No photoshopping- just a little brightening of the snow. This is what it looked like:
Fog and Snow
On the day after Christmas we woke to a thick blanket of fog obscuring our view of the houses and snowy hills. The fog lingered until nine or ten, when the blue sky and sun broke through.
A White Christmas Dream Come True
We were dreaming of white Arizona Christmas as we checked the weather apps each day. As the weekend approached, the forecasts kept showing a snowflake for most of Christmas Eve day- and they were right. It rained in the late morning, quickly turning to sleet and then snow- heavy snow that lasted all afternoon. We ended up with about six or seven inches at our house, and it is still here. Beautiful!
I posted this photo on Facebook- and then noticed the fire hydrant in the foreground, which I have since removed (fire hydrants and garbage cans are what cloning brushes are for!). After I took this shot, I walked toward the tree- and fell against the curb, cracking my lens hood and banging my arm and knee. Happy to report that the only damage seems to have been to the lens hood (which is a replacement for the one I cracked in Montana. . .)- the camera and photographer are just fine!
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.
