In and Out

The title of this post refers to the subject of today’s photos- and also to the process of intake and outake with regards to my photo files. I’ve been going through the process of culling and editing the photos I took at Eliphante the other day.  Since I have very full hard drives, I am trying to become more disciplined about the culling and deleting process.  Not easy- I tend to want to keep everything!

And the subject of today’s photos? Doors! Entry into the artistic structures is always through individually designed doors- and often through tunnels lit by skylights or windows.

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Gargoyles!

One of the first things our little group photographed on our trip to Flagstaff was the Greek Orthodox Church.  I was particularly entranced with the gargoyles, which adorned the roof line.

I found this one amusing, because it looked like he was munching on leaves.

20150613-MMA_7181_melinda_anderson-EditI edited this one to give it a dark and foreboding look- could it be because I just saw Jurassic World?

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On the Corner

On Saturday, I went with my camera club on an architectural photo shoot in Flagstaff, where we had a map and buildings marked on the map to photograph. I had so much fun tagging along with two expert photographers with fancy cameras, as we roamed the streets, eventually ignoring the map and photographing mostly street scenes.  The photographs I took of buildings were pretty uninspired and boring and not very good, but I had a great time with street photography.

This shot of a street musician and his doggie is my favorite.

20150613-MMA_7385_melinda_anderson-EditI processed it with one of the HDR filters in on1’s Perfect Effects and then layered it with the original photo is Photoshop, where I masked out the HDR edit from some of the areas.

 

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SHORT walk

Yesterday’s late afternoon walk at Willow Lake turned out to be a very short one due to the HUGE quantity of gnats, no-seeums- whatever they were. We are accustomed to being annoyed by a swarm or two of these creatures on part of the trail, but on this day, at this time, it was ridiculous.  Someone on the trail said they always seem to come out more around 4:00- back to morning walks!

We were happy to see wildflowers and blossoms on the part of the trail that we did- so here are a few (all taken with the Lensbaby and Sweet35).

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Constellation Trail

We have miles and miles of trails yet to discover here in Prescott. Saturday, we took a short walk on the Constellation Trail, which winds by the Granite Dells just outside of town. Because my husband is still in recovery mode, we stopped after a half hour, but really enjoyed the trails and scenery.

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Adventures in Autofocus

My college roommate and photo buddy, Carol, came for the weekend, and, as always, we had great fun taking photos and sharing photography know-how.  Although we started photography at the same time, Carol and I have gone in somewhat different directions in photography; she has a pro quality camera and lenses and all the gear to go with them and has been on numerous photography trips with professional photographers to exotic places, which she photographs beautifully.  I have a great “enthusiast” quality camera and tend to gravitate more to still-life, flower, macro, and LENSBABY photos. Coincidentally, when we came together last weekend, we both had questions about autofocus modes- me, because I had been setting up my new camera, and she, because she had just returned from a bird photography trip to Texas, where she felt her birds-in-flight photos weren’t as good as she would have liked (they are FABULOUS!).

On Sunday we went on an excursion to Lynx Lake to experiment with different autofocus settings while photographing birds.  Although I didn’t manage to capture particularly good photographs of birds in flight, I was very pleased with my new camera’s focusing capabilities. I learned a few things, and, most importantly, had fun outdoors!

Double crested cormorant:

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Grebe:

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Which way shall we go?

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Beach Blur!

20150311-DSC_0292_melinda_andersonWe’re not in Arizona anymore! We are . . .  o n  v a c a t i o n !

And these photos are from my brand new Nikon D7100! My camera ended up having to be sent to Nikon after all; the shutter was replaced, but there were still problems.  So, I now have a second camera, which will, of course, become my first camera. It is the newer version of my old camera- basically the same, but with a better sensor and a few other tweaks. It’s on sale right now, because the even newer version comes out next week.

I had so much fun today using my new toy with the Lensbaby Sweet 35.  Of course, many of my lensbaby photos didn’t turn out, but my ratio is getting better. These shots were both taken at Pacific Beach in San Diego.

I love Arizona, but it is sooooo nice to be taking photos at the ocean!

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Saved by Black and White

I’m missing my camera! I admire those iPhone artists that ONLY take photos with their phone cameras and create masterpieces.  I enjoy taking photos with my phone- and have a lot of fun editing them- but I miss the shallow depth of field and beloved blur that I can get with my DSLR (especially with my Lensbaby optics).  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my camera is fixed before we head to San Diego.

These photos were taken on a walk last week. When I got home I noticed most of the photos had a greenish cast. The photos I took in square format were fine- as were those I took with the VSCO camera app.  And, no matter what, I could not remove the color cast in apps on the phone or in Lightroom.  It took a few days for the lightbulb to come on- I had inadvertently clicked on one of the color settings in the iPhone camera app (but not when it was set to square format), so all those photos were green. Oh. I rescued them by converting them to black and white.

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Driving Around

We took a short drive in the country on Valentine’s Day.  What a day-  beautiful weather, horses, mountains, blossoms on the trees!  Unfortunately, we spent a good portion of our time looking for a gas station, so that we could add air to a tire that was low. The one gas station in the little town where we were did not have air, so we ended up driving 30 miles back home.  But I did manage to take a few Lensbaby photos along the way.

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Predator

Almost as soon as we started our walk at Willow Lake on Saturday, we noticed this hawk (perhaps a Cooper’s Hawk) at the top of a far tree. Fortunately, my husband had his Canon Powershot sx50 along- as well as some binoculars- so we shared the camera and were able to get some decent closeup shots. I know that the photo that is not all the way zoomed in is mine, but it is very possible that Lonnie took the second shot.  Next time, I will take a photo to mark when we switch from one shooter to the other.  Eventually, the hawk spotted some prey and swooped off into the grasses, and we continued on our way.

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I can’t close without mentioning how appreciative I am of all the positive comments and support I received for Friday’s post about my father- here on the blog and on Facebook, as well as e-mails and texts.  Thank you all so much.

 

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Snow Drops

We had an unexpected snowstorm yesterday morning! We woke up to snow falling and snow on the ground.  It continued to snow until 9:00 or so, while we were at my husband’s eye appointment, but by the time we got home the sun was out and the melt had begun.  I raced outside with my Lensbaby Edge 80 with macro converters and managed to capture sunshine on the melting snow on trees and plants before it was all gone.

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I’m also posting another snow shot from a week or so ago, before the New Year’s snow melted away.  This is one of our more quaint downtown establishments- I’ve never been inside, but it looks cute. It was shot with my iPhone and edited with Snapseed (an HDR treatment) and Mextures.

Photo Jan 13- 2 16 35 PMLinking up with Barb’s app-happy Wednesday at Keeping With the Times.

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Snapshots of Snow

Maybe when we have lived here a while and have experienced a winter with many days of heavy snow, I will lose my excitement about snow.  But for now, I just can’t get over looking out the window and seeing WHITE!

We still have snow on the ground- and it’s very COLD, but over the next few days it will disappear. All the photos below were taken December 31- with the Lensbaby, except for the hawk one and the view of houses from our driveway, which were taken with my husband’s Canon Powershot.

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We enjoyed seeing this classic taxi (above)picking up someone who didn’t want to drive in the snow.

Below is a view out the window while I waited in the car for my husband, who had run into the grocery store.20141231-DSC_9646_melinda_anderson-2

 

It was snowing hard as I watched this young man scraping the ice off his windows as I watched through the window of my warm car. 20141231-DSC_9667_melinda_anderson

 

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