
Another ICM from our walk among the aspens!

Another ICM from our walk among the aspens!

We’ve just returned from a visit with our daughter’s family in Alaska. My camera got a workout taking dozens of senior photos of our oldest grandson, and lots of ICM photos of places we’ve visited many times, trying to capture them in a different way. The photos here taken on a short hike to a spot we had never visited before- Barbara Falls in Eagle River. I took the photo above as we walked along and the more traditional photo below of the falls themselves. Quite a contrast to Arizona!


Just having a little Photoshop fun- layering and blending photos

Remembering our visit to Kansas this summer. . .

This piece was so much fun to create- it came together quickly out of two photos layered in Photoshop and a fair bit of brushwork. My photo club’s theme this month is Prescott/Prescott Valley, and after re-editing a photo shot a few years ago, I discovered that the lake where it was shot was just outside Prescott, so it didn’t adhere to the rules. On the last day to submit a photo, I woke up with the idea and inclination to throw caution to the wind and create an abstract- so here is Whiskey Row Kaleidoscope, a whimsical view of our iconic street of bars, restaurants, shops, and art. My friend Debbie came up with the title- thank you, Debbie!
And. . . to my surprise, it won third place at the photo club!!!

We have just returned from a trip to Alaska to visit our daughter’s beautiful family. Like on our first trip eight years ago, it rained most of the time. My husband and I love the views of the Turnagain Arm along the Seward highway, so did not let the rains stop us from driving on the beautiful stretch of highway between Anchorage and Girdwood. We stopped at Beluga Point and Bird Point as usual, but the rain started getting more intense and it became more and more difficult to get good photos and keep my camera dry. I ended up using the Slow Shutter app on my iPhone to capture a series of ICM images through the car window as we drove along. The raindrops on the window added interesting patterns, and I ended up being very happy with the resulting impressionistic images. This one is one of the least abstract and is one of my favorites.

…I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord…
Alleyways are always wonderful sources of images for photographers! This one is a composite of two shots taken in a Petaluma alley- and then it became something else. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was going through my head as the final image came to light.

This is the third image I’ve submitted for the online exhibition. It is an in-camera multiple exposure of the Newport Beach pier layered in Photoshop with some gelli prints and is called “Smithereens”. You can decide for yourself what the image means to you, and, as for the title, I just like the word!

This started out as an in-camera multiple exposure- and then I went from there! Having fun in photoshop is one of my favorite things!

I am finally getting around to posting the third in my Merging Realities series! Although I’ve been taking and editing photos, I’ve been super busy and just couldn’t get my act together to post any of them. But summer vacation is here, and my retirement life is going to slow down a bit- so expect more posts soon-ish!

I’m a bit obsessed by the moonshadows created by Monday’s eclipse. This is a composite of two moonshadowed iris leaf images. The painterliness of the image was not created by filters, but by the magic of blending the moonshadows and leaves together.

Winter trees + a bit of imagination . . .

I watched a video tutorial on intentional camera movement the other day, and, inspired by a photo friend who did a whole series of ICM images in her bedroom while ill, I created a series while watching the video. I used a glass apple from my teaching days and focused into the glass, swirling my camera around, picking up other colors. I am calling my series Imaginarius, because of the imaginary landscapes and abstracts created by this process. I will post more in the next week or so.

This image started out as a raven in a snowstorm, but evolved into something else as I played with layers and colors. Maybe a raven in a color storm? A pastel raven? This illustrates that, in my world, the photo is just the beginning.

I spotted this little scene at Bodega on our trip to California last month. I’ve added it to a little bird series I’m creating for my small group as part of Find Your Voice. I am always drawn to scenes that include birds, so why not include them in my expressionist images?
The series itself is called Bird by Bird– after the wonderful book on writing by Anne Lamott. I think much of her advice applies to photographers, as well as writers!