Niche

I’m looking back at old photos today, not just because I’ve hardly been out of the house to take new ones, but because I’m looking for a set of photos that I could say are in my photography niche (an assignment for my AAUW photography group). I have several “niches”, I guess, but in the last few years, my favorite place to take photos is at the beach. I like to take photos of beach people, beach birds, and the water itself. This photo is part of my intentional camera movement/slow shutter series of gulls in Alaska. I love the look of the white gull over dark water- and it required almost no editing.

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Setting Sun

Some of my favorite images (and memories) come from last summer’s vacation in Alaska when we celebrated our fiftieth anniversary. I have a multitude of photos still to be processed, and I love dipping into the collection and finding new images to create. This one is two photos taken within minutes of each other and layered in Photoshop.

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Iris Impressions

Our photo group “final” was last week, one of the two topics being “Impressionism”. Since our irises are in bloom, I chose to create an impressionist image. I used intentional camera movement layered with a standard shot and some brushwork and a texture to give it a painterly quality. I’m delighted to have a camera, warm weather, and flowers in bloom as an excuse to sit in the backyard for hours at a time.

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Night Wings

Night Wings

I just finished reading the deep, dark, soulful Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy for our book group. There is beautiful, evocative writing, an intriguing plot, some romance and tragedy- all within the framework of the last migration of arctic terns in a time when climate change has wreaked havoc on the animal kingdom. I didn’t set out to create this image in response to what I read, but the subconscious is an amazing thing. And I highly recommend the book!

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Mirrored Flight

Mirrored Flight

This was taken during our stay at Between Beaches on the MacDonald Spit on Kachemak Bay in Alaska. We had beaches in front of and behind our cabin- Kachemak Bay in front, Kasitsna Bay behind. Watching the gulls fly low over the dark waters of Kasitsna Bay in the mornings and evenings gave me a perfect opportunity to practice intentional camera movement techniques to create impressionistic images.

I was happy to hear at my camera club’s online meeting last night that this image won second place in this month’s Open Subject competition. It’s always nice to hear when other people like your art.

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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.

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October Color

Last week, Lonnie read a feature in our local paper about the beautiful fall color to be found at in Watson Woods, the riparian preserve by Watson Lake, only a mile or two from our house.  We drive by it every day, so we decided to go over there and see what we could see.

The photo below shows one of the first scenes to catch my eye- what photographer can resist reflections?

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Here’s another version of the same scene- with intentional camera movement for an impressionistic view.

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We walked until the mid afternoon heat started to catch up with me (why was I wearing long sleeves and a vest?), and then we stopped to soak in the atmosphere before walking back to the car.

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Moving Trees

I shot this photo in Eagle River, Alaska while out for a walk with the family. Yes, the blur was on purpose; I knew intentional camera movement was one of the upcoming topics for my photo club. I want to do more of this- the results are somewhat unpredictable, but fun!

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