A lover of blur shoots a saguaro!
The above is a triptych of three saguaro detail images. I found that using intentional camera movement on the very prickly saguaro transformed it into something soft and dreamy- and quite different from the actual cactus. A white balance shift helped with this effect as well.
Dog + beach- perfect combination!
Spotted at Newport Beach
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, friends- and to all the wonderful women in my life!
The above image of irises is an in-camera multiple exposure with intentional camera movement.
Standing in my driveway and looking down at the street below, this is what you would see- if you turned your head very fast or perhaps had just indulged in a martini. I recently got a new variable neutral density filter that fits my zoom lens so that I can use a slow shutter speed in bright sunlight- and thus create impressionistic images by moving my camera around. Great fun!
It’s almost Spring here in Prescott- finally. Our irises are going to bloom today or tomorrow, so I took some photos of the buds and leaves over the weekend. This one was taken using intentional camera movement- you can almost see it begin to unfurl.
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.
A foggy morning at Newport Beach shot with intentional camera movement
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.
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.
This is the solstice, the still point
of the sun, its cusp and midnight,
the year’s threshold
and unlocking, where the past
lets go of and becomes the future;
the place of caught breath, the door
of a vanished house left ajar.
~ Margaret Atwood
Today’s image is yet another in my series of gulls captured with intentional camera movement. This gull was photographed “mid-swoop” as it flew over Katsitsna Bay in the early evening. The unpredictability of the result is a big part of the fun of doing this type of photography.
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!
Just a bit of blue sky was starting to show through the rain clouds on Kachemak Bay- a promise of the beautiful day to come.
Beach memories from our trip to Newport Beach a couple months ago. . .
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.
melinda anderson photography 