This week’s BeStill 52 assignment was to to create a milk and cookies still life. Having been blessed (cursed?) with a sweet tooth, I was delighted to take on the challenge! We were also encouraged, following Kim’s example, to critique our own images- and this simple photo was the one that seemed to work out best. There were various other incarnations that had additional elements, including lavender in a Mason jar, a napkin, and a two tiered Blue Ridge serving plate. As usual in my world, simple turned out best. I kept subtracting elements until I ended up with the composition above. I edited with One Willow presets from the Palette collection (my Friday Find for this week- they are fabulous!). The first version has the Divine preset applied and then two layers of Kim’s sybil texture in Photoshop. The second version was created by starting with the finished first version (complete with texture)and adding a black and white preset from One Willow (I think it was Story). And now I’m off to finish eating that cookie!
On our walk
After a break in routine of several weeks, we went out on the trail again at Willow Lake and were so happy to see the water in the lake was so much higher after the monsoon rains. There were wildflowers, birds, dragonflies, and butterflies- even little fish in the shallows- and the weeds and grasses have grown high. Other photographers are posting signs of fall approaching, but it still seems like summer here in Arizona.
Still Life in the Morning
The other morning, I was reading the paper and drinking coffee, when I noticed that the coffee cup and newspaper made a pleasing composition. I started to pick up my iPhone, but then thought- Hmmm, if I pull the plant over a bit and get some strawberries it will look even better. I quickly made an arrangement, snapped ONE photo, edited it in Snapseed, uploaded it to instagram, and then continued to drink my coffee and read the newspaper (and ate the strawberries . . .). If only I could have still life composition ideas come to me that easily all the time!
I was about halfway through my coffee, when I thought of getting out my Nikon and taking the photo again. After all, one of the BeStill 52 prompts was cuppa. I got out more strawberries and tried to duplicate my iPhone photo- trickier than it sounds, considering focal length, depth of field etc.
So here are some Sunday morning stills, quickly taken. All have two layers of Kim’s grunge texture added.
And here is the original iPhone photo.
Linking up today with Texture Tuesday.
Lost- and FOUND!
This week I was going through my antique dental cabinet and discovered some seashells that I hadn’t seen since the move to Arizona. I had always kept my father’s shells from his tour in the Pacific in World War II in the cabinet, but didn’t realize that MY small collection had been put in there too. I KNEW they would turn up somewhere! I have photographed the little green one before, but felt compelled to shoot it again, because, well, I was just so happy to see it again! So the shells are this week’s Friday Find.
And, of course, here is a black and white version.
Golden Hour- EXTREME edition
We have lived in Arizona for a year now, and I am still obsessed with the changing skies. On Monday night, we looked out the window to see this (captured with my iPhone):
I grabbed my Nikon and ran outside. Unfortunately my macro lens (85mm) was on the camera, but, knowing how quickly light can change, I didn’t take the time to change it to my zoom to be able to capture a wide angle view. By the time, I got outside, the rainbow had faded and everything was bathed in an almost eerie golden light.
The clouds in every direction were shades of pink and gold, which darkened during the 5-10 minutes I took these photos.
All the photos have only minor exposure and clarity adjustments. The last one has Kim Klassen’s everyday texture added.
Sunflower Monochromes
My grocery store sunflowers are starting to droop and turn brown on the edges, alas. I took a bunch of macro shots- and then turned two of my favorites to high contrast, split-toned black and whites, which I then textured with Kim Klassen’s golden.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Alas, the End
Today is the end of our friend, Joan’s visit to our home in Prescott. We are so sad to see her go- we had such a wonderful time with her! Yesterday, she got to experience a true “Retirement in Prescott” day.
We started the day with a trip to our fabulous hardware store, where we spent so much time browsing that we almost forgot why we were there (to buy picture hangers and a birdfeeder extender hook). Then we drove down to the square so Joan could take photos of the courthouse and some of the surrounding buildings.
She and Lonnie enjoyed walking the timeline of the history of Yavapai County.
We did a complete circuit of the courthouse building, which is undergoing some construction, with a security guard acting as tour guide for part of the way. 
After lunch at home, we headed out to the movies so that Joan could experience the reclining seats. We saw Into the Storm (thumbs down for acting and plot, thumbs up for special effects), and afterward walked out into our own extreme storm- driving rain, thunder, lightning, and flooding roadways. Now Joan can say she has truly experienced summer in Arizona!
The sunset and flag photos each have textures added: ecru on both photos, and also waterfront 17 on the sunset (both by Kim Klassen).
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Country Drive
Today I’m posting some photos from our drive through Peeples Valley and Kirkland a couple weeks ago. I love country roads and all the charms of barns and fences and horses- maybe it’s because I grew up in a small town in a rural area. 
Textures (all from Kim Klassen): top- waterfront 7; bottom- nutmeg and unleashed
Linking up with Texture Tuesday
Summer Fence
This flower lined fence caught my eye as we were heading out of town for a drive the other day. After spending a couple hours taking photos of rural scenes and the countryside, I was too tired to stop and take photos of the original fence I had seen as we started our outing. We went back the other day, and I had a great time photographing all the flowers. You’ll be seeing more of them in the near future; today it’s just one photo of this pink beauty, textured with Kim Klassen’s touchof for Texture Tuesday.
Catching the light
I photographed my huge Russian sage (although not a native plant, it seems to pop up everywhere), on two different days over the weekend- and what a difference a day makes.
Here is Saturday’s photo.
And here is Sunday’s! I have to give my husband credit for this one. He looked out the window while we were watching TV (still binge-watching Damages!), and exclaimed over the light in the clouds. While he paused the TV, I ran out and captured this one before the light changed.
Both photos are textured with Kim Klassen’s textures- golden and waterfront11 on the first, 1301 on the second.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Hi there!
We’ve had the most cooperative swallowtail in the yard the last few days! It allowed Carol and me to get however close we wanted while it sipped nectar from our butterfly bushes. Carol, true to form, looked up this particular swallowtail online and determined it to be the Two Tailed Swallowtail, Arizona’s state butterfly.
I took dozens of photos of the butterfly, but am partial to this almost out of the frame shot of it checking me out as it drank.
Textured with Kim Klassen’s 2203 for Texture Tuesday.
Barbed
I posted this photo, taken at the salvage yard we visited in Yarnell a couple weeks ago, on Flickr last week for Fence Friday. Happy Fence Friday on Wednesday!
White Roses
Textured with Kim Klassen’s touchof
Shells and more shells
I am lucky enough to have a couple bags of shells my father brought back from the South Pacific after World War II- from the island of Eniwetok, to be exact. Alhtough I’ve used some of them in other photos, I got them out again yesterday to shoot with my macro lens.
I wanted the shells to be on a wood background, but I don’t like how the grain of my dining table looks in photos- and, truthfully, I didn’t want to lie on the floor. I haven’t bought any kind of tray for still life (still plan to) or wood to use as a background, but I came up with something that for me was a brilliant solution, if I do say so myself! I took the little drawer out from the dental cabinet where my treasures are housed, turned it over, and scattered the shells on top. The wood you see in the photos below is birds-eye maple, which is used for the inside of the drawers in the otherwise mahogany cabinet. I used side lighting from the sliding glass door- and a wide aperture with my macro lens to create shallow depth of field (BeStill 52 lessons).
All the images are textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s simple or simple1 textures.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.
Grunged Up
I’m not sure if it’s because of the thunder and lightning or the tarantula (!) we found on the front porch- but I’m in the mood for a grunged up photo! As I walked by my sunflowers yesterday, I noticed the window light created some beautiful backlighting. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots before the light changed. In Photoshop I added some textures and voila!- a grunged up sunflower!
melinda anderson photography 