This was taken last summer on our drive to Homer- somewhere near the Kenai River, I believe. Nothing but GREEN!
Alaska Green
Sunnylands
The focus of our short stay in Palm Springs was of course our reunion with the Rapunzels. We enjoyed some great meals and spent a lot of time catching up on each other’s lives. Our one outing was to Sunnylands, which had been highly recommended by my cousin, Charlaine who was just there. Sunnylands was the estate (built in 1966) of Walter Annenberg, the late publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist. We hadn’t bought tickets for the tour (which included the house), but took our time walking around the beautiful grounds. I was especially captivated by the palo verde trees (state tree of Arizona!), the trunks of which you can see in the below photos.
Saw this. . .
One of my favorite things about photography is how much I NOTICE now! And it’s contagious- even my husband notices more. As much as I enjoy creating a still life, the most exciting part of photography for me is when I happen to catch a glimpse of beauty in the every day. Then the challenge is to somehow capture what I saw. The other day, it was this reflection of a tiny bowl on the black surface of my dad’s dental cabinet. The Edge 80 was on the camera, so that’s what I used.
I edited the photo in Lightroom, and then I took it into onOne’s Perfect Effects 8 for a couple finishing touches. I realized recently that I have never really MASTERED this great program (and now there’s a newer version!), so I’ve been playing with it more lately. I’ve even used it to add textures (you can import them from your hard drive or use the ones within the program). For this image, I adjusted the color, added a bit of glow to emphasize the reflection, and then added a vignette.
melinda anderson photography 