There were some newcomers to the waterfront- at least new since the last time we visited!
I had seen (and photographed) pelicans flying over the Benicia Bridge before, but never actually saw any down at the water. On this visit, we saw them on the Martinez side and the Benicia side of the bridge. Fun!
Last week, I accompanied my husband on a spur-of-the-moment (for me anyway) road trip to the Bay Area. We took two days to drive each way- and were only there two days- but we managed to pack a LOT in! We stayed in a hotel in Benicia for the first two nights, and then drove over to Petaluma for the second day, staying with friends for some R&R after Lonnie’s meeting. We somehow managed to pack in get-togethers with most of our good friends during this short time with only a few days notice- amazing!
Here’s the morning fog rolling in over the Carquinez Bridge- a sight I have photographed many times over the years. So great to see it again- I do miss the waterfront!
Happy Fence Friday!
I couldn’t decided which I liked best- so I’m posting them both.
Both of these were taken at my visit to Eliphante, right before walking across the creek!
When we were walking at the lake a week ago, I was captivated by the green of this tree, which contrasted with the darker trees bordering the lake. It was hard to photograph because I could only see it through branches- so I didn’t. But I saw it again on our way back- with a little girl under it- and knew I had to try. I was already envisioning it as a painterly image. I took the resulting photo into Lightroom and then Photoshop for some cloning work. Then, I used Topaz Simplify to remove details and give it a bit of a watercolor look. I blended it with the original image, bringing back some detail- and finished it off with some textures. Playing with images is part of what keeps stress out of my life- and it’s so much fun!
July has been a busy month; actually the whole summer has been busy. Trips to Kansas, Yellowstone and Tucson plus some fun social events have filled up summer. I’m not complaining- it’s not like I have to go back to school in August! We’re also taking a quick trip (4 days driving, one day there!) to the Bay Area for business and have some houseguests coming (yay!) in August. And I’m about halfway through Caroline Jensen’s Communicating with Color and Light class through Clickin Moms (it is fabulous!). Life is full and fun! I’m saying all this as a way to explain why I haven’t done much still life photography for the Studio Online. Something had to give, and I know I will be getting back to it.
But in the meantime, while I was at Eliphante yesterday, I FOUND some still life arrangements just sitting around. So I got my still life fix the easy way!
Artsy musical instruments
Random pots under a potting bench:
Aaaah- those colorful Tucson barrio doors! It was images like these that made me want to explore this area with my camera!
I took some time a few days ago to take some abstract macro shots of lilies. I added a couple textures for that painterly look I love- and the first one I also took into Topaz Simplify. Truthfully, because of the shallow depth of field, it looked pretty painterly already, but I love to fiddle around with my images. It is my form of a mindfulness meditation and satisfies my childhood ambition to be an artist when I grew up. 🙂
Even though we only spent two full days there, I still have Tucson photos to share! Here are two views of the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains taken from the balcony of our hotel room.
Double rainbow and rain!
Sunset
Music to read blogs by:
Taking cherry photos, editing cherry photos, EATING cherries, and listening to Neil Diamond SING Cherry, Cherry!
Lensbaby Sweet 35 (with macro converters in first image)
Textures and painting with Topaz Simplify in first image
One of the areas we enjoyed the most at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was the aviary- mostly because of the hummingbirds. As we wandered around the paths, we were able to catch glimpses of many of these cute little guys.
Probably the highlight for me of our trip to Tucson (beyond lying by the pool and having guacamole with every meal) was seeing the Sonoran Desert. I now get why people love the desert. The landscape there is different from what we’ve seen around Phoenix and definitely not like the high desert climate we live in- it is BEAUTIFUL and full of life. I would love to go back and see more.
This view is from when we stopped the car on the way to the museum.
This is the view next to the museum.
I can only imagine what this looks like at sunrise or sunset (these were around noon. . . and it was SO HOT! ). Beautiful country!
melinda anderson photography 